Many people wonder how the Torah allows the consumption of animal meat. Although it’s been proven that Jewish slaughtering is a painless process,[1] still, how does the Torah allow us to kill an animal in order to eat its meat? Isn’t it cruel?
The answer may be understood with an analogy about a king who wished with all his might that his son (and successor) would become an educated man, an artisan, and a man of G-d. Therefore, he encouraged him to devote himself to his academic studies, take music and art lessons, and so on. Unfortunately, his son chose a different path. He despised his studies and lived a life without purpose, and as we know, lack of purpose leads to boredom,[2] which eventually leads to destructive behavior. When the king saw his son’s drastic deterioration, he called his son over and without giving him a choice, gave him a piece of land to cultivate. The son of the king became a farmer and saw much blessing in his work. He was very proud of the produce he had grown. Even though visitors were surprised to see the son of the king involved in manual labor, anyone who knew the whole story understood that was the wisest move the king could have made.
This applies to us as well. When the first man was created, the King of the Universe had designated a spiritually distinguished position for him to fill in the world. At that time, he did not have permission to eat the meat of animals—he was only allowed to eat plants, as it says:
So G-d created Man…G-d said, “I have given you all the herbage yielding seed that is on the surface of the entire earth, and every tree that has seed-yielding fruit; it shall be yours for food.”[3]
However, when human beings started deteriorating in their spiritual levels to the point where they began stealing and murdering each other with the attitude of “to each his own,” they were granted permission to kill animals and eat their meat in order to help them achieve two goals:
A. To appreciate the superiority of the human being—as man is the crown jewel of creation, and the sanctity of human life—as humans are different than all the animals by virtue of the fact that we are permitted to kill them for our consumption. Through this observation, they will ultimately stop killing their fellow men.
B. To prevent them from eating human flesh (like the cannibalistic forest dwellers), despite their steep moral decline. They will satisfy their earthly desire for meat by eating animal meat that is permissible to them. This permission was granted to them in the new era after the Flood, as it says:
G-d blessed Noach and his sons, and He said to them, “…the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, in everything that moves on earth and in all the fish of the sea; in your hand they are given. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; like the green herbage I have given you everything.”[4]
For these two reasons it would be a mistake for someone to come along and ban the consumption of animal meat—because until the arrival of the Messiah when humanity will achieve its perfection, the danger will still exist.
It became forbidden for the people of Israel to eat most animals when they received the Torah and were chosen to become “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”[5] Some of the forbidden animals include predators, those that eat carcasses, and all those that live in and are sustained by filth. Only the physically and spiritually gentle ones among the animals were permitted, as eating them does not cause any harm to the body or soul of a Jew. Even this was only permitted provided that the animal does not endure any pain.
As far as the pure animals that we are allowed to eat, we were commanded to cover their blood after they are slaughtered,[6] so that we feel embarrassed by this act and remember that we are not yet on the proper spiritual level befitting for humanity. (Only the meat of an animal that’s domesticated needs to be cared for by humans—we are not required to cover its blood after slaughtering it because there is less shame in the meat of these domesticated animals than the meat of birds and animals that have no owner.) Even though we are allowed to eat the meat, we are not allowed to consume its blood, as blood is the essence of the nefesh and eating it induces negative effects and cruelty. Therefore, we were commanded to salt the meat with coarse salt or roast it in order to remove as much of its blood as possible.
However, when the world reaches its state of perfection during the time of the redemption, and humans and animals return to their lofty level the prohibition of eating meat will be restored. (See the words of Maharchu in Shaar HaMitzvot regarding the high level the animals were on before the sin of Adam.[7] When the level of man declined, he brought the whole world down with him.[8]) But today, we must recognize our deficiencies and not prohibit meat, as doing so will lead to human cruelty. We can see this happening today with people who have extreme mercy on animals but are cruel toward humans. As it says, “Those who slaughter man shall kiss the calves.”[9] The psychological explanation for this is that there are two opposite forces working together within man:
A. A destructive force that wants to harm or even do away with anyone who disagrees with his wishes.
B. A conscience that demands good-heartedness, kindness, and compassion toward his fellow.
Therefore, a person whose destructive force is more dominant toward other people will tend to calm his conscience by being extremely compassionate toward animals. After all, he does not feel threatened by a cat or a rabbit as much as he does by humans. The opposite is also true: Someone who supports animal rights more than the Torah demands may find himself becoming cruel to humans.
Notes and Sources
[1] See The Coming Revolution, “Jewish Slaughtering.”
[2] Ketubot 59b.
[3] Bereishit 1:27–29.
[4] Bereishit 9:1–3.
[5] Shemot 19:6.
[6] As it says, “Any man of the Children of Israel and of the proselyte who dwells among them who will trap a beast or bird that may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.”
[7] Shaar HaMitzvot (Parshat Ekev, s.v. “kavanat ha’achilah” [the intention of eating]): “Adam examined all the nefashot of the animals and that’s why he was not allowed to eat any of them. And know that the animals of Creation were on a loftier level than the animals after the sin of Adam. This is why we should not be surprised by the spiritual level of the donkey of Rebbe Pinchas Ben Yair, who had a greater spiritual awareness than many of the sages.”
[8] Refer to Rashi (Bereishit 1:6) that even the animals were fed by the Tree of Knowledge. Refer to Etz HaChaim (gate 49, ch. 3).
[9] Hoshea 13:2.
Adapted from “The Keys to Life” by Rabbi Zamir Cohen