Our Gemara on Amud Aleph continues a discussion from the previous Amud. One case under consideration is when a non-cohen eats from a chattas bird offering. Since the bird sin offering is slaughtered in an unusual manner, through melika, it is also considered to be a non-slaughtered corpse, aside from also being a sacrificial food forbidden to a non-cohen. To clarify, a typical bird or beast must be slaughtered from the front of the neck in a slicing motion that severs the windpipe and food pipe. On the other hand, melika is a specific act reserved for bird sacrifices where the cohen pierces the back of the neck with his sharpened thumbnail. Such an action would render an ordinary bird into a non-kosher corpse, neveila, but paradoxically, the bird sacrifice is specifically kosher this way only within the rules of sacrifices, and would be unfit if slaughtered in the routine manner. Therefore, our Gemara considers that if a non-cohen ate from this bird, not only is he violating eating from a non-authorized sacrificial meat, but also he is eating neveila, since melika is only considered a kosher slaughtering for the cohanim.

There is a fascinating Bereishis Rabbah (44:1) which notes the contradictory quality of the bird slaughtering rules.  After all, how could one act make the bird kosher, and the exact opposite which makes it unkosher in this setting, make it Kosher in a different setting? It is the same bird!

Rav said: Were not the mitzvos given so that man might be refined by them? . Do you really think that The Holy One Blessed be He cares if an animal is slaughtered by front or by the back of the neck? Therefore, mitzvos were only given to make humans better.

We will focus on the exact phrase, “mitzvos were only given to make humans better.” In Hebrew it’s as follows: “לֹא נִתְּנוּ הַמִּצְווֹת אֶלָּא לְצָרֵף בָּהֶם אֶת הַבְּרִיּוֹת.” The simple understanding of the word “Le-tzaref” is to refine in a furnace like one does with metals to burn off and separate the impurities. (The original metallurgical word form can be found in Shoftim 17:4 and its use metaphorically for refining people can be found in Shoftim 7:4) 

The simple meaning then is that the mitzvos are merely tests of loyalty, discipline and obedience and it really doesn’t make a difference how you slaughter the animal, so long as there is obedience and order. (This is not to say that one can be cavalier with the laws of shechita and sacrifices; once God made the law it must be respected, even if paradoxical.) However, this understanding is improbable and disquieting. Shall we accept that the mountains of rules and requirements in Torah have no intrinsic logic other than to teach Man how to serve and please God’s whims. The Rambam understands (Moreh III:26), explains this Midrash in a nuanced manner. 

Each commandment has necessarily a cause, as far as its general character is concerned, and serves a certain object; but as regards its details we hold that it has no ulterior object. Thus killing animals for the purpose of obtaining good food is certainly useful, as we intend to show (below, ch. 48.); that, however, the killing should not be performed by neḥirah (poleaxing the animal), but by sheḥitah (cutting the neck), and by dividing the esophagus and the windpipe in a certain place; these regulations and the like are nothing but tests for man's obedience.

The Rambam is saying that the majority of the mitzvos have a social, psychological and spiritual benefit. The overarching reason for a mitzvah may have more meaning than a specific detali. Thus there is great value in offering a sacrifice, being reminded of our mortality and how, without mindful development, we are no better than lambs to the slaughter. However, a minor precept within the structure may be more about having standardization and discipline. If one injury is a blemish and another is not, or one kind of action a kosher slaughtering while another is not, it may be less for a specific reason than for the need to have structure. By example, a child must have a bedtime to function well. Theoretically he can go to sleep from 7:30-9pm and still be healthy. But it is better to set a fixed bedtime instead of letting him flounder in inconsistency. That is more important than whether it is 730pm or 9pm.

Others find this idea untenable. How could something no less than the word of God be anything other than filled with significance down to the tiniest detail? Even the smallest precept of halakha is designed with a divine wisdom that accomplishes unknown spiritual effects throughout the cosmos that we cannot even begin to understand. 

Therefore, the Shalah (Toldos Ha‘adam Shaar Hagodol) interprets the word le-tzaref as to “attach”. The point of the Midrash is that God does not need any Mitzvah. However all the details of the mitzvos are designed to help humans attach to God through unknown mystical mechanisms. So true, the slaughter rules of the Bird sacrifice seem odd and contrary to other slaughter rules, but that’s because they don’t follow a simple logic of meeting God’s needs. Instead they function is a mysterious manner that are fine-tuned to enable attachment of Man to God. Also see Yismach Moshe (Chukkas 4), who says the same idea.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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