{"id":63,"date":"2006-10-05T17:28:23","date_gmt":"2006-10-05T17:28:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/summametaphysica.com\/ge\/10000-the-epicenter-of-the-divine\/10007-focus-potential-and-the-mitzvot\/"},"modified":"2018-04-23T20:15:50","modified_gmt":"2018-04-23T20:15:50","slug":"10007-focus-potential-and-the-mitzvot","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.summametaphysica.com\/ge\/10000-the-epicenter-of-the-divine\/10007-focus-potential-and-the-mitzvot\/","title":{"rendered":"100.07 Focus: Potential and the ‘Mitzvot’ (pps.75-78)"},"content":{"rendered":"

hard cover page 75<\/p>\n

The first directive to man in the Torah is not what one might expect in a Divine text. It does not focus on interaction between God and man, nor on fraternal interaction between man and man. Rather, the first directive to man is peru urevu<\/em>, “Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 1:26). The first directive to Noah after the flood is the same (Genesis 9:12). Fulfillment of creator potential is a holy thrust of the cosmos, flowing directly from the core of the Divine essence.<\/p>\n

*<\/div>\n

We can now also begin to unravel the perplexing aspect of the two mitzvot<\/em>, each noted twice, whose affirmative performance, according to Scripture, is rewarded with long life: (1) “Honor thy father and mother” (Exodus 20: 12, Deuteronomy 26: 17), and (2) shiluach ha-kan<\/em>, the requirement to send the mother bird away prior to taking her young (Deuteronomy 22:6-7).For the link between creator and potential is sanctified and protected. Honoring the link is obligatory.262<\/sup> Destruction of the link in the mother’s presence is profane. Divine potential flowing through life potential was the original source of life; and thus, symmetrically, sanctification of potential is rewarded by long life.<\/p>\n

Nachmanides, in his commentary on the mitzvah<\/em> of shiluach ha-kan<\/em> declares: “Scripture will not permit a destructive act that will bring about the destruction of a species, even though it has permitted the ritual slaughtering of that species for food.”263<\/sup><\/p>\n

We are directed not to boil a kid (goat) in its mother’s milk (Exodus 23:19, 34:26; Deuteronomy 14:21)264<\/sup> This thrice-stated directive becomes the basis of the demanding kashruth laws of separating milk and meat. We are also directed not to sacrifice or kill an ox or ewe and their respective young on the same day (Leviticus 22:28).<\/p>\n

*<\/div>\n

Perhaps the psychic ground of the vast body of law permeating from these directives is the Divine sanctification of the link<\/p>\n

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262 <\/sup>See below in this section on the Torah’s tolerance of the consumption of animals.<\/p>\n

263 <\/sup>Ramban, Commentary on the Torah,<\/em> vol. 2, p. 448.<\/p>\n

264 <\/sup>Inasmuch as the boiling of a kid goat in its mother’s milk was also apparently a pagan rite, the thrice-cited proscription of this practice is also taken in some quarters as a general injunction against paganism.<\/p>\n

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between creator and potential which in no way must be profaned. While the partaking of the goat’s meat, its kid’s, or its milk individually is certainly permitted, the use of one of a creator’s (life-sustaining) potentialities to complete the termination of another of its (life-giving) potentialities is thrice forbidden. While the killing of an ox or its offspring is certainly permitted individually, the killing of both on the same day, whether for mundane or holy purposes, is forbidden. The sanctity of the creator link is clearly established and protected. Jewish law expands the kid\/milk directive into the voluminous laws requiring the separation of meat and milk products. The link of potential is thereby sanctified every day at every meal.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

The mitzvah<\/em> of bringing first fruits (bikkurim<\/em>) as an offering to the Divine is cited three major times in the Pentateuch (Exodus 23:19, 26; Deuteronomy 26: 1-11; also see Numbers 18:13). Even at face value the mitzvah<\/em> may be interpreted as a celebration\/sanctification of holy potential265<\/sup>. As the Divine is the cause behind all new fruit, we are instructed to bring a holy offering of the first of the new fruit.The particulars of this directive are amplified by the last tractate of the Mishnah order of Zeraim<\/em>. The Mishnah clarifies that if the vine from which the first fruits have been plucked has withered prior to the actual offering in Jerusalem, the offering is still brought, but no invocation266<\/sup> is made- niktzatz ha-ilan, mevi vi-eino korei.<\/em> The potential of the mother vine has an effect on the holiness of the first fruits.267<\/sup> Inasmuch as mitzuat bikkurim is a celebration\/ sanctification of holy potential, the “depotentializing” of the mother vine lowers the holiness of the fruit sufficiently to disquality it from the invocation of bikkurim<\/em>.<\/p>\n

*<\/div>\n

Potential becomes a salient element elsewhere as well. The proscription of neveilah<\/em> (Deuteronomy 14:21), i.e., the prohibition of eating of a carcass which has died, as opposed to having<\/p>\n

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265 <\/sup>The usual explanation is hakaras ha-tov-<\/em> acknowledgment of God’s good. Our interpretation would be a further refinement of this general explanation.<\/p>\n

266 <\/sup>“Arami oued avi <\/em>. . .”<\/p>\n

267 <\/sup>See also T. B. Berachot 40b.<\/p>\n

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been properly slaughtered, may be related, as well. Having entered a state of “nonpotentiality” by nonritual means, its purity level has been lowered to unacceptable levels.<\/p>\n

*<\/div>\n

An examination of the textual placement of these directives provides fascinating juxtapositions. The directive of kid\/milk is stated three times. In its first two (Exodus 23:19, 34:26) it appears in the same verse as, and exclusively with, the directive of bikkurim<\/em>. The third occurrence (Deuteronomy 14:21) appears in the same verse as, and exclusively with, the proscription of neveilah<\/em>. The verse immediately following contains the directive of tithing. The underlying motif is not so obscure, after all.<\/p>\n

*<\/div>\n

Newtol Press, professor of biology at the University of Wis- consin, observes that the laws of kashruth, with regard to permitted and prohibited animals, have the clear effect of conserving the earth’s energy and the survivability potential of vulnerable species.268<\/sup> In particular, the most vulnerable of the vertebrates, carnivorous animals, are protected by forbidding them as a source of food. Of the mammals, only herbivores that are also ruminants (e.g., cows) i.e., which can digest even plentiful grass, are permitted. This subset of vertebrates has the greatest chance of finding sufficient food, and it is this subset alone which is permissible as food. Aside from any other reasons for it, kashruth has the effect of preserving the ecological potential of planet earth.<\/p>\n

Ideally, the Torah would have preferred vegetarianism, and indeed, this was the Torah position before the Flood. As a concession to mankind, the Torah permitted the slaughtering and consumption of animals. Within this context, the Torah then maximizes potential, as noted above.<\/p>\n

*<\/div>\n

While man is clearly given dominion over earth (Genesis 1:26, 9:2-3), he is also given the responsibility for preserving the earth. He must protect life-giving potential even in military<\/p>\n

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268 <\/sup>Newtol Press, “Kosher Ecology,” Commentary <\/em>79, no. 2 (February 1985).<\/p>\n

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contexts. Deuteronomy (20:19-20) directs that only non-fruit-bearing trees may be cut down for siege works. The rabbis further extended this prohibition to proscribe shifting the course of a stream for the military purpose of drying up trees,269<\/sup> condemned the stopping up of wells,270<\/sup> and proscribed the killing of animals unnecessarily.271<\/sup><\/p>\n

The laws of kashruth, the rabbinic injunctions against bal tashchit<\/em> (unnecessary destruction), the laws of shmitah<\/em> (fallow fields during the seventh year) and land redemption upon Jubilee (Leviticus 2523-24), have, aside from their more obscure metaphysical rationales, the ecological effect of first preserving, and then increasing, the world’s physical potential.<\/p>\n

Life and death have I placed before thee, the blessing and the curse. Mayest thou choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy descendants.
\n-Deuteronomy 30:19 (cf. 30:15, 11:26)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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269 <\/sup>Sifrei, Shoftim, sec. 203.<\/p>\n

270 <\/sup>Pesachim 56a.<\/p>\n

271 <\/sup>Chullin 7b; Tosefot Baba Kamma 115b, based on Avodah Zarah 30b. See Robert Gordis, “Ecology in the Jewish Tradition,” Midstream, <\/em>October 1985, p. 22.<\/p>\n

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