Author: Nadav Caine
Mindful Slaughter: The Only Allowance for Killing Animals by Nadav Caine
Why did God command animal sacrifice? Leviticus chapter 17 answers clearly: "Any Israelite who kills an ox, or lamb, or goat, in or outside the camp, and who doesn't bring it to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting to sacrifice it to God [literally: bring it close to God] at God's dwelling-place, he is guilty of murder: he has shed blood; and he shall be cut off from among his people." (Lev 17:3-4) Sacrifice exempts one from this punishment because sacrifice is the returning of the nefesh, the life-force, to God. That life-force resides in the blood. "For the life force (nefesh) of the flesh is in the blood; and I have set it for you upon the altar to atone for your life-forces; for it's the blood that makes an atonement for [your] life-force. (Lev 17:11) If you kill an animal, you have forfeited your own life by murdering it, unless you take it to God, hold onto its head as the priest slaughters it, mindfully return its life to God, and then, in most cases, sharing the meat communally.
In Leviticus, the industry of slaughter and butchering is not permitted, as it would be organized murder, severing the meat-eater from his returning the animal's life to God. In fact, one cannot outsource the killing of an animal for food at all. One must hold onto one's animal and mindfully return its life to God directly. It's not until Deuteronomy chapter 12 that eating meat without sacrificing is permitted: an uncomfortable concession to those who crave meat but live too far from the single remaining altar, now in Jerusalem. Even in the brief mention of this concession, it's not clear whether one can have someone else do the slaughtering for you.
Is Deuteronomy an improvement, or a concession that loses the very meaning of sacrifice originally? What if each of us only ate meat when we took an animal ourselves to the altar, held onto its head, and consciously returned its life-force to God? And if Deuteronomy is a concession, all the more so our additional concession that we be permitted to buy meat without ever offering its life back to God personally? And if Levitical sacrifice were a Buddhist or Navaho practice, would young Jews embrace it in a way they wouldn't something Biblical?
Acharei Mot challenges us to relate to animals as living creatures, not walking food, and while we are permitted to take their flesh for meat, it should only be done with consciousness, personal involvement, and, as a pratically matter, only special occasions. Only when we do so do we become the holy people and a light unto the nations that Leviticus famously demands we be.
Nadav Caine is in his final year of rabbinical school at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles. He lives with his wife and daughter, and works as the Spiritual Leader of Ner Tamid, in San Diego.
Why did God command animal sacrifice? Leviticus chapter 17 answers clearly: "Any Israelite who kills an ox, or lamb, or goat, in or outside the camp, and who doesn't bring it to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting to sacrifice it to God [literally: bring it close to God] at God's dwelling-place, he is guilty of murder: he has shed blood; and he shall be cut off from among his people." (Lev 17:3-4) Sacrifice exempts one from this punishment because sacrifice is the returning of the nefesh, the life-force, to God. That life-force resides in the blood. "For the life force (nefesh) of the flesh is in the blood; and I have set it for you upon the altar to atone for your life-forces; for it's the blood that makes an atonement for [your] life-force. (Lev 17:11) If you kill an animal, you have forfeited your own life by murdering it, unless you take it to God, hold onto its head as the priest slaughters it, mindfully return its life to God, and then, in most cases, sharing the meat communally.
In Leviticus, the industry of slaughter and butchering is not permitted, as it would be organized murder, severing the meat-eater from his returning the animal's life to God. In fact, one cannot outsource the killing of an animal for food at all. One must hold onto one's animal and mindfully return its life to God directly. It's not until Deuteronomy chapter 12 that eating meat without sacrificing is permitted: an uncomfortable concession to those who crave meat but live too far from the single remaining altar, now in Jerusalem. Even in the brief mention of this concession, it's not clear whether one can have someone else do the slaughtering for you.
Is Deuteronomy an improvement, or a concession that loses the very meaning of sacrifice originally? What if each of us only ate meat when we took an animal ourselves to the altar, held onto its head, and consciously returned its life-force to God? And if Deuteronomy is a concession, all the more so our additional concession that we be permitted to buy meat without ever offering its life back to God personally? And if Levitical sacrifice were a Buddhist or Navaho practice, would young Jews embrace it in a way they wouldn't something Biblical?
Acharei Mot challenges us to relate to animals as living creatures, not walking food, and while we are permitted to take their flesh for meat, it should only be done with consciousness, personal involvement, and, as a pratically matter, only special occasions. Only when we do so do we become the holy people and a light unto the nations that Leviticus famously demands we be.
Nadav Caine is in his final year of rabbinical school at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in Los Angeles. He lives with his wife and daughter, and works as the Spiritual Leader of Ner Tamid, in San Diego.
A d'var torah about the permissibility of animal slaughter. Originally distributed on the Hazon CSA listserve.