In Parashat Re'eh, the Torah tells us which animals we're allowed to eat, and which animals we're not allowed to eat. That those animals that have the simanim of מפרסת פרסה, מעלת גרה, that they have the signs that they have split hooves, and they are מעלת גרה, they chew the cud, those animals are kosher to be eaten. And those that don't do it are not kosher. Now since in this פרשה the Torah tells us which animals are kosher to be eaten and which are not, so therefore it is fit that in this פרשה we should discuss the general concept of kashrut, or אכילה ושתיה, the idea of eating only kosher food. Now really the word kosher means fit. But usually the word kosher is used concerning food, even though in Gemara and in Rambam and in other sefarim it is also used for other things. Whenever we're talking about something that is fit, we use the word kosher. But still, the expression that's used by people of kashrut is concerning food. That means that we eat food that is fit. Now concerning food that is fit, we find many categories. One is that there are certain foods which are fit, which are kosher, and certain foods which are not kosher. The foods themselves, they're allowed to be eaten, and the food themselves, some are not allowed to be eaten. Then you have certain foods that the only reason they're not allowed to be eaten is not because they themselves are not kosher, but only because of a combination. When you combine different things, that's when you're not allowed to eat it. Then you have certain things that you're allowed to eat, but the time is the cause that you shouldn't be able to eat. Then we have a third category of things, that it is not the time itself, it is the combination of the time and the food, that's what makes it forbidden. And then we have a category of things which are forbidden because of a certain פעולה, or of a certain act that was done to the food. The first category, which are those foods which are kosher and not kosher, that means kosher animals or non-kosher animals, kosher fish or non-kosher fish, so these are things which are kosher by themselves, or not kosher for themselves, not to do with any combination, has nothing to do with any time, the food itself is not kosher. Then concerning the second category, which are things which are forbidden because of a combination, that is an example of בשר וחלב. Milk itself is allowed, meat itself is allowed, it is just the combination of milk and meat that makes it asur. The other category, which is because of time, that is for instance Yom Kippur. Food is allowed, but on Yom Kippur the time does not allow a person to eat food, or any other fast days. Then we have the things which are a combination of food and time, that is for instance chametz on Pesach. It is chametz, the food itself, but the combination of the food with the specific time, with Pesach, that makes it forbidden. And then, the last category of things which are forbidden because of a certain פעולה, that would be for instance if you shachat-ed an animal, a kosher animal, but you didn't shachat it properly. So the animal is kosher, the time is kosher, everything is fine, just because of a certain פעולה, a certain act that was done to this, that makes it forbidden. Or for instance חלב עכו״ם or בישול עכו״ם, these are things that in themselves they're mutar, and they have nothing to do with a specific time, and nothing to do with a specific combination, it is just because the way it was done, that if a goy milked the cow, it is forbidden miderabbanan. If a goy cooked the food, it is forbidden miderabbanan.

The reason why certain foods are permitted and certain foods are asur, which means the reason for this mitzvah of kashrus, really is beyond understanding. It is not like those people who want to say that it is because of health reasons, it's healthier to eat kosher than to eat non-kosher food. Now the truth is that this is probably true, but this is definitely not the reason why we keep kosher. And not only that, it is not proper for a person to keep kosher because of that. Not only because then he would be doing this mitzvah, this din, shelo lishmah, not for the true reason, but he would be doing it shelo lishmah, but not only because of that. Because if the only problem would be that you're doing it shelo lishmah, then we know the famous מאמר חז״ל, לעולם יעסוק אדם בתורה ומצות שלא לשמה, שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. That a person should even do תורה ומצות שלא לשמה, not with the proper intentions, because from shelo lishmah you come to lishmah. So as long as you keep the mitzvah, it is good even if it's done shelo lishmah. But there's another problem if you keep kosher just because it is healthy. Because then, if for some reason, certain foods will not be healthy, or if there will be some kind of new invention that will make non-kosher food just as healthy as kosher food, then the person who keeps kosher just because of health, will stop keeping kosher. So therefore the reason we have to keep kosher is not because of this reason. It is just because it is a mitzvah of Hashem. Hashem said that this is forbidden, this is allowed, and just because Hashem wants it that way, it is the ratzon Hashem, that's why we have to keep it.

Nevertheless, concerning certain details, we do find explanations given in the sefarim, which really is not the ikar reason, and we don't do it because of that, but nevertheless, it is brought down in sefarim certain reasons for certain inyanim. For instance, the reason we are not allowed to eat certain animals, so the Ramban says and it says in other Rishonim, because the person gets the תכונה, the person gets the characteristics, the qualities of the animal that he ate. So therefore, if he would eat a חיה טורפת, he would eat the meat of a wild animal that kills, this will give the person the same characteristics as that animal. And also if you shachat a beheima, even if it's a kosher beheima, but you didn't shachat it properly, so then the achzariyut, the bad middah that's there in shachating it not properly will be transferred to the person. When a person shachats kadin, you shachat an animal properly, so this shechitah is the most humane way of killing the animal, with the least pain. If you kill it in a different way, you don't shachat it, you kill it in a different way, or even if you shachat it, but there is not a כשר שחיטה, that means that it wasn't done the best way that should be for the suffering of the animal, that means that there is a certain amount of achzariyut, of tzaar, of pain for the animal, and the person who killed it didn't care about the pain. So when the person eats that meat, so the middah of achzariyut that was involved in the killing of the animal is transferred to this person who's going to eat the meat. And that is the reason why we shouldn't eat it. Concerning, for instance, basar bechalav, why we can't eat meat that's mixed with milk, that is a gezeirat hakatuv. For that there is no reason. That is one of the chukim, that there is no reason whatsoever. And also we find in different places that eating chazir, the reason we're not allowed to eat chazir is also considered a chukah, a mitzvah which has got no reason at all. And why we mention specifically chazir more than other animals? Because by chazir there would be a reason you should be able to eat it, because it says in Shulchan Aruch that the stomach of a chazir is similar to the stomach of a human being. It says in the dinim of taanayot, that when there is a plague you have to fast, so it says if there's a plague on chazirim, you have to fast, and it says the reason is because chazirim are similar to people, their בני מעיים, their inside the stomach is similar to people. So therefore it would make more sense that you should be able to eat chazir. And nevertheless, the Torah said you're not allowed, so that is a gezeirat hakatuv, that is just a din, a chukah of the Torah without a reason. But concerning not eating other animals, as we mentioned before, there is a reason. But after all the reasons that we give, this is not the real reason why we keep these mitzvot. The real reason is only because it is the ratzon of Hashem, it is the will of Hashem, and we do what Hashem wants.

Nevertheless, the general idea that there has to be certain rules which is beyond our understanding concerning the food that we eat, that is understood in sechel. In other words, we don't understand in sechel why this food is forbidden, this food is allowed, this combination is forbidden, this combination is allowed, etc., etc. But the general idea that there has to be certain qualities mitzad a spiritual matter concerning the food, that is something that we understand with our sechel. In other words, even the logic of a person would force a person to say that there must be some restrictions in the spiritual level concerning the physical food that we eat. And the explanation is as follows: We see that food keeps the person alive. If a person wouldn't eat, then he would die. So the food keeps the person alive, which means the food keeps the nefesh in the guf. A person is made up of two parts. He has the guf, the body, the physical part of the person, and then you have the nefesh, which gives the person life, the life of the person. In order to keep the person alive, what you have to do is do something to keep the combination of the nefesh with the guf together. Because this is the difference between a live person and a dead person. A live person has the whole body, the physical body is there just like when he was alive. The difference is that before there was a nefesh in this body, and now there is no more nefesh. So what food does, it keeps the nefesh in the body, which means it keeps the combination, the צירוף of the nefesh with the guf. Now normally, in order to keep two things together which are far apart, two extremes or two opposites, it has to be done through a ממוצע, through something that will combine both extremes. Now there is no greater two two extremes, two opposites, than the nefesh and the guf. The guf is physical, the body is physical, the nefesh is spiritual. Now as much as we have two extremes in this world, it doesn't come to the two extremes as ruchniyut and gashmiyut, physicality and spirituality. So therefore, to combine the nefesh and the guf is combining two opposites. Now how can you combine these two opposites? You must have something that will hold them both together. There must be a link in between the two extremes to keep them together. This would be even if you just want to put two opposites close one to another. The way it is by the guf and the nefesh, it's not just that the guf and the nefesh are very close, but they become so united that they become one. The body becomes a live body. It's not like a motor of a car, that the motor makes the car move, but the car doesn't become a live car. But by the person, the guf and the nefesh are so united that the life becomes part of the body, that the body becomes a live body. That's concerning the general life of the body, and the same is concerning the individual kochos, the individual abilities and attributes a person has, and the individual senses a person has. For instance, the fact that a person is able to see, the pshat is that his physical eye sees, even though the physical eye is just a piece of flesh, but because there is a nefesh in that eye, so the eye is able to see. So it's the physical eye that becomes a keli to the sight, which means that the nefesh and the guf, the כח הראיה, the ability to see that comes from the nefesh, and the physical eye become one, that the eye itself is able to see. And the same is with every other part of the body. Even the sechel which is in the moach, in the brain of the person, so the physical brain of the person becomes united with the כח השכל, with the ability of understanding, that his physical brain understands. That is because his physical brain becomes one with the nefesh. So as hard as it is to connect two opposites when you want to put them close to each other, certainly it is hard when you want to make them both into one thing, one unit. Certainly, if we're talking about the two extremes, the two opposites of ruchniyut and gashmiyut, that to unite them and make them into one unit, certainly there has to be something that would connect them. On the other hand, if we want to really look at it, this is not such a big pele, because after all, this is part of the creation. Just like the whole creation of the world is a pele, is a wonder how it's possible that the world should become יש מאין, something from nothing, nevertheless we say this is what Hashem did, He created the world. So all these pelaim, all these wondrous things that we find in the world are all part of the creation. So even though when we start thinking about it, it seems like it's impossible to unite two opposites and make them into one, nevertheless, this is the way Hashem created the world, so just like the general creation of the world is a pele, is, so to speak, against what we really would understand would be, because in truth there is nothing but Hashem, and to create a world is against, so to speak, the truth, nevertheless Hashem did it, so Hashem put into the nature this peleh also, that there should be a combination between the guf and the nefesh. In other words, why are these two things opposites? Because Hashem created them that way that they should be opposites. So the same Hashem who created them as opposites, created them in such a way that they could unite, even though they are opposites. U'meila there is not such a big wonder that there could be a combination between the guf and the nefesh. And even though we see in other things that you can't combine two opposites, for instance, if you try to put seichel into a stone, it'll never work. As much as you'll try to explain an idea to a stone, the seichel will not enter it, because seichel is one level, and a stone is another level, and these two don't mix, and therefore you could never combine the two. So how could you combine ruchniyus and gashmiyus, the guf and the nefesh? The answer is because this is the way Hashem made it. Hashem created the stone, and Hashem created seichel, and He created them as opposites, they cannot be combined. Nevertheless, Hashem created the guf and the nefesh that they could be combined. So this is not such a big peleh.

But when it comes to a Yid, by a Yid there is a peleh of how we could have the combination between the guf and the nefesh, because the nefesh of a Yid is not like lehavdil a nefesh of other human beings, that it is just a life that is put in in order to make the person alive. The nefesh of a Yid is a neshama. The nefesh of a Yid is a חלק אלוקה ממעל ממש, it is a chelek, a part of Hashem Himself, as the pasuk says, כי חלק השם עמו, that His nation is part of Him, which means that the life that a Yid has is not just because this is part of nature, Hashem created the world such a way that there should be human beings, there should be a body, and there should be a life, and the life itself is part of the creation. And this life gives life to the body. But by a Yid, Hashem said, \"I put into a Yid that his life comes from a source which is beyond nature. It is part of Hashem, not part of the creation.\" As far as the creation is concerned, as far as מעשה בראשית is concerned, there is no need for this special nefesh. As we see that people live without such a נפש, להבדיל גוים, they don't have this special nefesh, and they still live. So as far as creation is concerned, for a human being to exist, you don't need this special nefesh, which is a חלק אלוקה ממעל ממש. You could live just with a regular nefesh, which we call the נפש הטבעית, the natural nefesh that gives the person life. So the nefesh that a Yid has is a nefesh which is beyond nature. It is not because of nature that the nefesh is there. This is a nefesh that was given specially to Yidden, and this was given at the time of Matan Torah, when Hashem chose Klal Yisrael as His nation, He put into the Bnei Yisrael a special nefesh which is beyond nature. Now, being that this is beyond nature, to combine, to connect this nefesh with the guf, with the body, these are two extremes. The regular nefesh, that is also part of nature, so as far apart the nefesh from the guf is, nevertheless, as we said before, they are both part of nature. But the נפש האלוקית, since this is beyond nature, this cannot essentially connect itself, be מצטרף, combine itself to the guf. And therefore, there has to be some link in between to connect the nefesh and the guf. And that is through the food. As we see that when a person eats food, his neshama stays in the body. Now, in order for the food to be able to combine both extremes, the food to be the link in between, we understand that the way a link can combine two opposite extremes is that the link itself is made up of both. And therefore, the food must have been made up of both. In order to keep the neshama in the guf, the food must have physical qualities, which is the part of the guf, and it must have spiritual qualities, which are the qualities of the neshama. And that's the inyan of kashrus. The physical part of the food, that is the quality of the food that's connected to the guf. The הלכות of kashrus, the restrictions and הלכות of kashrus in the food, those are the spiritual qualities of the food. So from this we understand that a person must eat kasher, because in order for a Yid's neshama to stay in his body, you must have the food that combines the guf with the neshama should have the qualities of the neshama also. If you don't keep kashrus, then all that it has is the qualities of the guf, but in order to be a link between two opposites, it must have the qualities of both. And therefore, if you keep kasher, then you have the qualities of the neshamah also in the food, and therefore the food is able to be the link that combines both