I just heard the topic tonight is on vegetarian vegetarianism. It's the Jewish approach, the Torah approach towards being a vegetarian. And we'll discuss whether it is proper or not, or what is the Torah outlook concerning a person being a vegetarian. Now, we know that there are two reasons why a person might want to be a vegetarian. One is a simple reason, for health reasons, you feel that vegetables and fruit and vegetables, things like that, are more are healthier than meat, then you would only eat veg- vegetables and things like that. That's one reason. Then there's another reason that some people have, which is not because of health, but because of shita, in their philosophy, their way of look, the outlook is that we should not eat anything that was alive. Things that had a life, so it's not proper to eat it. The main discussion today will focus on the second one, the one that those that think that the reason we shouldn't eat it is because it was alive, while this will also touch upon the idea of not eating meat and chicken and things like that for health reasons. If you want to use the Hebrew term for those people who do not eat meat because of not wanting to eat anything that had a life, we would call them, in Yiddish they're referred to as the צער בעלי חייםניקעס, the people who care about tzaar baalei chaim. Tzaar baalei chaim means they care about the pain, the tzaar, suffering of animals. So why kill an animal and have an animal suffer in order for a human being to eat that animal? Now, this seems to come from a very good feeling. It is proper, it's good for a person to feel to care, to care about an animal. And this has a place in Torah, and it has a place in halacha. We know that the idea of tzaar baalei chaim is a the an important halacha. In halacha, we learn that we're not allowed to be cruel to animals, we're not allowed to hurt animals, and there is even an opinion, and some even say that that's the halacha, that צער בעלי חיים דאורייתא. That means there's an argument whether this prohibition of not being cruel to animals or not hurting animals, is it a prohibition from the Chachamim, which would mean tzaar baalei chaim is only derabbanan, or is it a prohibition of the Torah? And many hold that the halacha is that צער בעלי חיים דאורייתא, that from the Torah, it is a prohibition of the Torah not to be cruel to animals. And there are different halachot that are based on this concept of tzaar baalei chaim. For instance, the main place where the Gemara talks about it is in Chumash we find a halacha that when you see someone going with a donkey or an animal and it falls under its load, you are obligated to help him. And the reason is because of tzaar baalei chaim, it's רחמנות, it's a pity on the donkey, and we have to help the donkey not the donkey shouldn't suffer. There are more dinim. For instance, there's a din that when a person has owns an animal, you have to feed your animal before you eat yourself, because of tzaar baalei chaim, the animal shouldn't suffer, you have to give the animal first to eat. The whole issur, the whole prohibition of אבר מן החי, that you're not allowed to eat take a piece off a live animal, is based on tzaar baalei chaim, you're not allowed to make an animals animal suffer. And it's interesting that this prohibition of אבר מן החי is one of the seven mitzvot that even goyim are commanded. Goyim don't have too many mitzvot, we have 613, they only have seven. Out of the seven, you can imagine, seven must be the most important ones. One of the seven mitzvot is they're not allowed to eat אבר מן החי, they're not allowed to eat a limb of a live animal, and the reason behind it is it's tzaar baalei chaim. So we see how the Torah is very careful with tzaar baalei chaim. Shechita, why is there the din that if you do eat meat, you have to shachat it in a certain way, and not just plain kill it? So it says one of the reasons, not the main reason, but one of the reasons is because of צער בעלי חיים. The least the animal suffers is through the shechitah the way we have it. And that's why if the knife, the chalaf, is not sharp enough, or it has a pegimah, it has a nick, and it's not smooth, then it's treif. Why? Because it was done without with צער בעלי חיים, without caring about the animal. So from all this, we do see that צער בעלי חיים is very, very important. So it would seem at first glance that if a person feels that because of צער בעלי חיים, because of not making an animal suffer, he should not eat meat or chicken or even fish—because there are different levels, some don't eat fish, some do eat fish—so it would seem that it has a place in Torah that a person should care, because the Torah, we know, just does care about צער בעלי חיים. On the other hand, if this would be true, there is nobody that cares about צער בעלי חיים like the Torah, and nevertheless, we don't find in the Torah a prohibition in eating meat. If it would be true that this feeling is right and that's how a person should feel, then the Torah would say that it's forbidden to eat meat. And we don't find that the Torah says that it's forbidden to eat meat. So obviously, even though the feeling a person might have why he doesn't want to eat the meat might have a place in Torah, but the result that because of that he doesn't want to eat meat doesn't seem to be right according to the Torah, doesn't seem to be correct. And the question is why? On the other hand, we do find that the Gemara says עם הארץ אסור לאכול בשר. An עם הארץ, which a person who is ignorant, but it really doesn't mean ignorant in learning, but it means a person who is not a yirei Shamayim, a person who is not really God-fearing, should not eat meat. Obviously there is something in not eating meat. We find that before the Mabul, before the flood, they were not allowed to eat meat. So we do see that there is something in not eating meat. On the other hand, sometimes we find not only are you allowed to eat meat, but there is a mitzvah to eat meat. Shabbos there is a mitzvah to eat meat. It says וקראת לשבת עונג, you should call pleasure for Shabbos. Shabbos you have to have pleasure, and in Gemara, Shulchan Aruch it says how do you express pleasure on Shabbos? מיט צולאנגען בבשר שמן ויין ישן, with fat meat and old wine. Fat meat means tasty meat. You should eat meat on Shabbos. On Yom Tov it says ושמחת בחגך, you shall be happy on Yom Tov. One of the things we do on Yom Tov to show our simchah, as it says, with meat. The original din was that you have to bring a korban, korbanot, take the sacrifices and you would eat meat from the sacrifices. But it says in Shulchan Aruch that nowadays, where we don't have korbanot, there's still an idea of fulfilling the mitzvah of שמחת יום טוב, of being happy on Yom Tov through eating meat. So we see that there is something special in eating meat. So we see from both sides. We see on one hand, it says an עם הארץ should not eat meat. Obviously it's not so good to eat meat, but it only says an עם הארץ shouldn't. But a talmid chacham, a person in a higher יראת שמים could eat meat. Sometimes there's a mitzvah to eat meat. And as we said, before the מבול you couldn't eat meat. We have to figure out what is this idea of eating meat or not eating meat, what is the idea behind it?

Now, to get to it, let's first get to another point, which is the point of food בכלל, food in the Jewish religion. Now, we know food plays a very important role by אידן. להבדיל להבדיל the גוים, they even make fun of the אידן that they're always involved in food. But to be honest, they're they're right. We are always involved in food. If you make a חשבון like this, we celebrate Shabbos with food. Two meals, שלוש סעודות, three meals, it's all with food. יום טוב, ושמחת בחגך, we have to eat food. In Gemara actually we find an argument what we have to do on Yom Tov. On Yom Tov, one place it says in חומש that Yom Tov should be a Yom Tov to Hashem, and one place it says a Yom Tov to you. Now, to Hashem means that you have to celebrate the Yom Tov by learning and דאווענען, by spiritual matters. The other one, to you means to our things, through eating. So in Gemara there's an argument. One says that it's your choice: or כולו להשם or כולו לכם. If you want, the whole day of Yom Tov should be laHashem, to be דאווענען, learning, only spiritual matters. Don't eat. The other one says כולו לכם, a whole day, eat and drink and make merry, just eat food. The other opinion says no, חציו לכם וחציו להשם, half to Hashem and half to you. And that's actually how the הלכה is. The first half a day on Yom Tov we come to שול, we דאווען, we have a שיעור, we learn, we have to read read the Torah, half to Hashem, and then we come home and we have a meal, חציו לכם. So the הלכה is that you have to have חציו לכם, at least half should be to you. That means we have to eat on Yom Tov. Then there's another thing: specifically on Shavuos, so there the Gemara says כולי עלמא מודו, according to everybody, all opinions hold that on Shavuos you have to eat. Shavuos you can't follow the opinion that you want to do it כולו להשם, completely to Hashem, you have to eat. And the Gemara says why? The Rashi explains, brought down in the Shulchan Aruch, because it's the day the Torah was given, and you have to show Hashem how much you appreciate the Torah, you have to eat. Seems interesting. I would think that if you want to show how much you appreciate the Torah, you have to learn a lot, a lot of Torah. Says no, you have to eat! Obviously there is something special in eating. Every occasion is food. On the by for from when you're born, by a Brit, make a big party, you eat food. By the פדיון הבן, if you have a פדיון הבן, you have food. Then by the Bar Mitzvah, you have food, make a big seudah. By a Shalom Zachar, then you have by the ch a sunah, you have an aufruf, and you have a Kiddush, and you have food, and then you have a chasunah, and you have food. And you Sheva Berachot. What's Sheva Berachot, you celebrate the whole week. You have food. A maaseh with food, wherever we get לךדר, it's all food. By Yidden we're involved with food. What's the whole idea? The truth is, even in other things, like we know, the whole world, like the חסידישע רבי'ס, how do they speak Torah? They פיר a tish. What do you do by tish? מ'עסט. You eat food. A maaseh with food. Why is the inyan of food by Yidden so important? That we always are involved, everything every special food. For another thing, when a person finishes a whole masechta, a whole Gemara, and you make a siyum, how do you celebrate the siyum? You make a party. I would have think that if you celebrate a siyum, you finish a Gemara, you should give up a good shiur on that Gemara. You finish the Gemara, you finish the Gemara Berachot. Give a shiur on Berachot. No, you make a party, and we eat and we drink, and that's how you celebrate the siyum of the masechta. What's this idea of food? The pshat is like this. According to the way it you learn in chassidus and kabbalah, it's explained. We know that the whole purpose of why Hashem created the world, we all know, is לעשות לו יתברך דירה בתחתונים. Hashem wants a dwelling place in this low world. Basically, what it means Hashem wants that we should elevate the gashmiyus. We should elevate the physical part of the world, which is the whole world, everything that we can, elevate it and bring it closer to Hashem. Make the gashmiyus ruchniyus. Bring spirituality into the גשמיות'דיקע things. Now how do we do that? Well, through Torah u'mitzvos. First of all, it's through Torah u'mitzvos. Every time we do a mitzvah, since we do a we do the mitzvos with physical matters. Take the mitzvah of tefillin, how do we do tefillin? We take a physical piece of a pair of tefillin, a piece of leather and that's a mitzvah. How do we do the mitzvah of tzitzis? With wool. We have a בגד, a garment made of wool, and we have tzitzis made of wool. How do we fulfill the mitzvah of matzah? We take physical matzah, and we eat it. How do we do shofar, which every Most of the mitzvos are with physical matters, and every time we do a mitzvah, we elevate part of the gashmiyus of the world, and by doing that we have fulfilled we are we fulfilled the desire of Hashem to make this גשמיות'דיקע physical world into a dwelling place for Hashem, to bring it closer to Hashem. But when we do a mitzvah with a דבר גשמי, with a physical object, the reason why we do the mitzvah is only because Hashem said so. There's no other reason why a person would stand up and take a horn and blow it on a certain day of the year. The only reason we do it is because Hashem said so. The only reason we bench אתרוג on Sukkos, is because Hashem said so. We put on tefillin every morning, Hashem said so. There's no other reason. It's not part of the normal, natural natural behavior of a human being. It is an addition to what normal behavior is. There is something that we do for the sake of Hashem. No one's going to wake up in the morning and take two boxes and put them on his hand and on his head, and wrap them around with straps. He's going to be meshuga. It's not normal. You only do it because Hashem said so. So as much as this is a mitzvah done with a physical object, which mimela automatically means that we're raising up, we're elevating the physical object, but to begin with our whole involvement in these actions are only spiritual. There's a spiritual reason why we do these physical acts. So really, basically, we start off, already when we start, we're using a physical object, but on the other hand, we're doing a spiritual act. When we eat, we have to eat for our natural need, for our physical, natural need. So when we eat food, we're doing something which is very, very much gashmiyut. Not only are we involved in physical objects, because the food is physical, but the reason why we do it is a physical thing, it's a physical need that we have to eat. And if we are able, when we eat, to elevate the food that we eat, then we have accomplished the דירה בתחתונים, the bringing the gashmiyut closer to Hashem, more even than through a mitzvah. When we do a mitzvah, like I said, we take the gashmiyut, the physical object, and we bring it closer to Hashem, but there we bring Godliness into a physical object, but it's a physical object is just the tool that we use, but the whole behavior is spiritual. While when we eat, the act is a physical act, and nevertheless, we bring Godliness in it. How do we bring Godliness into the food that we eat? By eating l'shem Shamayim. A person eats with the proper intentions, with the intentions that he will serve Hashem with the koach, with the strength that he will get from the food. When we eat food with a bracha before we eat, we bentsch after we eat, so this brings ruchniyut into the gashmiyut, this elevates the food. Which is the reason why eating a meal is compared to a korban. It says in Gemara in different places that every time we eat, it's like we sacrifice, we bring a sacrifice to Hashem, a korban. Now, we know that there is nothing as great as bringing korbanot. We're waiting for Mashiach, one of the things we're waiting for is so we'll be able to bring korbanot. Korbanot is a very important thing. And it says when we eat it's like a korban, that is the reason why we're not allowed to sit, that you're not allowed to sit on a table that you eat on. Not only a table that you learn on you're not allowed to sit, you're not allowed to sit on a table that you eat, and it says the reason is because the table that you eat on is like a korban. That's one of the reasons why we dip our bread into the salt, because every korban used to have salt, it's like a korban. Now, why when a person eats it's like a korban? Because the whole idea of a korban is that you, and we once explained it in the shiur we had about korbanot, that a korban is that you take a physical animal and you burn it, and it it's elevated, and becomes closer to Hashem. That's actually what happens to food. If you If a person eats l'shem Shamayim the way you're supposed to, with the proper intentions that you eat in order to have the koach, to be strong, to be healthy, to be able to serve Hashem, to be able to daven, to be able to learn, to be able to do mitzvot, so the food that you eat is elevated, and becomes closer to Hashem. And since it becomes closer to Hashem, it's exactly like a korban. The korban is The idea of a korban is to elevate the animal or whatever other parts were there in the korban to Hashem, and that's why it's called korban. Korban means לקרב, to be closer, you bring things closer to Hashem. The food becomes a korban. Because when you eat, really, even though you do it because the person needs the food for his physical health, but there is also a spiritual reason behind the food that a person eats. This is one of the reasons, I explained once, when we spoke about kashrut, why is there a concept of kashrut? Because since eating is a spiritual act, therefore, just like there has to be physical instructions of what you could eat and what you can't because of the physical aspect of it, there have to there has to be instructions from the spiritual aspect of what is able to be eaten, and what you could elevate and what you can't elevate. Things which are so low that you can't elevate, they're forbidden. Things which can be elevated, they're permitted. That's why in Hebrew, the words permitted and forbidden are mutar and asur. Asur means forbidden, mutar means permitted. The word asur and mutar have another meaning. Asur means tied, and mutar means untied. That's the translation of the word. Those things which are tied to the קליפה, which are tied so low that you can't elevate it, those the Torah says are forbidden. Because the only reason the Torah allows us to eat is because through eating, we will elevate the food. So if you can't elevate it anyway because it's tied someplace low that you can't elevate it, that you can't eat. Those things which are not tied to קליפה, they are untied, and therefore we're able to elevate it, those things are permitted. And that's the idea of mutar and asur. That's the whole idea of kashrut. Why is there such a thing as kashrut? We're not going into why this is kasher and this is not kasher, but the whole concept that there has to be an idea of kashrut makes sense. Because since eating also has a spiritual spiritual aspect to it, and as I'm explaining, not only also has, but the main part is the fact that it has a spiritual aspect to it, so therefore, there have to be there has they have to be spiritual guidelines of what you can eat and what not. And we takeh see like just like physically there are certain things which are not healthy, certain things which are only healthy at certain times, certain things which are only healthy if you don't combine it with other things, there are certain times you shouldn't eat, the same thing in רוחניות. You have certain foods which you could eat, certain foods not, certain foods are okay, but if you combine it with something else, no good, milk and meat you can't combine, certain things you can't eat at certain times, you can't eat chametz on Pesach, certain days you shouldn't eat at all, Yom Kippur you have to fast, because just like there are physical guidelines to the physical aspect of eating, there are spiritual guidelines to the spiritual aspect of eating. And this is the idea of kashrut, but this is all based on one point. The idea is that when we eat, we elevate the food. And by doing that, we fulfill the wishes of Hashem to elevate this גשמיות'דיקע world, even more than we fulfill the wishes of Hashem when we do mitzvot. Just like it says in חסידות that we know there is a concept of בכל דרכיך דעהו, that in all your ways, meaning in all our own things we should serve Hashem. כל מעשיך לשם שמים, whatever you do should be l'shem shamayim. Not only when we do mitzvot. When we do our own things, we have to do it l'shem shamayim, for the sake of Hashem. So it says in חסידות, as much as we elevate the גשמיות'דיקע world when we do mitzvot, when we do כל מעשיך לשם שמים we elevate even more. Because when we do mitzvot, after all, we're to like I said before, we to begin with are involved in spiritual matters. A mitzvah is a spiritual thing. But when we're involved in our own things, which are more gashmiyut, and nevertheless we use it for Hashem, so then we penetrate even to a lower aspect of the world and we bring it closer to Hashem. And the same thing is with food, that when we eat, we do something for our own needs, and nevertheless this becomes a spiritual thing. So by eating food, we bring the food closer to Hashem, and that's why food is like a korban. So from all this, I'm just this is all like really an introduction. This is the reason why, whenever we want to celebrate a spiritual thing, we want to celebrate that the Torah was given on Shavuot, we want to celebrate that we were able to learn another Gemara and we made a siyum, want to celebrate that we are able to bring our child into a bris, to a pidyon haben, to a chatanah. How do we celebrate it? By showing Hashem that we appreciate the fact that He gave us the opportunity to do the mitzvot, which the purpose of doing the mitzvot is to elevate the gashmiyut to Hashem. So how do we how do we show it? By by food. Because when we eat, the concept of eating is the best example of elevating the gashmiyut and bringing it closer to Hashem. So we think we're we're doing it so we should enjoy the food. We're really doing it so we should be able to elevate the food, and that's how we show to we show Hashem that we really appreciate what's behind the mitzvot. But after all this comes out that when we eat food, we elevate the food and we bring it closer to Hashem. This is the reason why, according to the Torah, as much as the Torah cares about צער בעלי חיים, cares about cruelty to animals, cares about not hurting an animal, nevertheless, as far as the Torah is concerned, there is nothing wrong in eating meat. And not only there is nothing wrong in eating meat, the Torah encourages certain times to eat meat, which is Shabbos and Yom Tov, etc., etc. And it's all because of what we said before, because when we eat food, not only do we do a favor to ourselves, but we're doing a favor to the food that we eat. One might think that we're hurting the animal. We're doing a favor to the animal if we eat the meat of the animal. We're doing the animal a favor. And the way we're doing the animal a favor, especially when it comes to meat, is in twofold, two ways. Number one, let me explain, the fact that we eat, and we eat l'shem shamayim, we bring it closer to Hashem, but there is more to it, there are some details to it. The details are as follows.

We know that the world is divided into four categories: דומם, צומח, חי, and מדבר. דומם are all the things, unmovable things like the earth, rocks, that's דומם. צומח is the plant life. חי is the animal life. And מדבר is the human being. Those are the four categories of the world. Everything in the world is divided is included in one of these four categories. We learn in chassidut and in other sefarim, too, the goal of which each one of these four categories is that the lower category should be elevated, should be raised up to the category above it. That is the goal. The goal of the ground, of the earth, which is דומם, is to become צומח. That's what happens. When you plant something in the ground and it grows, it's the earth that gives the thing that grows the צמיחה, that gives it the growth. We know that in the ground, it says in chassidut there is the כח הצומח, there is this power of growth. But when you don't plant anything, nothing will grow. For many reasons why it won't grow, but it's there. And when it makes things grow, part of that ground which is דומם is elevated and now becomes צומח. Now, when an animal comes and eats what grows, and if that, those, that grass, or whatever it was, that was in the category of צומח is now digested in the animal and becomes part of the animal, that צומח is elevated to the category of חי. It became part of חי. And the goal is to reach the next step. So now the צומח reached the step of חי. When an animal is eaten by a human being and digested, and we know that the food turns into the blood and flesh of a person, דמו ובשרו כבשרו, it becomes a person, so now what really happens is that the חי, the animal which was in the third category of חי, becomes now part of a human being. So the חי was elevated to the level of מדבר, which is the human being. So the whole goal of an animal is if it can be eaten by a human being. If an animal is not eaten by a human being, it stayed in its level, so it never reached its goal, never reached what it was supposed to do. So when we eat a בהמה, when we eat meat, what we're really doing is doing a favor to that animal, that now the animal is not in the level of חי anymore, it's in the level of מדבר. That's number one. But the truth is it goes a step further. We said that every category is supposed to reach the next step. Where does the מדבר go? The מדבר, a human being, which is the top, where does he go? Well, he goes to the next step. What's the next step? Well, since the מדבר, a human being, is the highest level of the creation, so what's the next step, the higher level? The Creator. These are four categories of creation. The next step is the Creator. So the goal of the מדבר, he should leave his level and become the Creator. Now, how can a human being become the Creator? What it means really is that a Yid—a goy in his way, but mainly by a Yid—a Yid is able to go out of the boundaries of the נברא, the boundaries of the creation, and actually attach himself and become united with the Creator. How do we do that? By doing mitzvot, learning Torah, we become united with the Creator. So a Yid, his goal is to leave the level of מדבר and become the level of, so to speak, similar to the Creator. The Gemara says that concerning certain things Hashem says, you became a שותף למעשה בראשית, you became a partner to the creation. That means that we are, kivayachol, so to speak, creators. We are part, connected to Hashem. Now, when a person eats meat which came from the animal, not only does that elevate the animal which is חי and brings the animal up to a higher level, which is the מדבר, but now that he's part of the מדבר and the מדבר reaches the level of the בורא, of the Creator, so what you're really doing is you're pulling up the חי, the animal, also to the level of the בורא. So how can a person ever think that by me eating meat I'm doing some I'm I'm harming or doing something wrong, something negative against a living creature? It's true! But this is for the benefit of that living creature. That's why when it comes to שחיטה, the Gemara uses a לשון \"אין ושחט אלא ומשך\", that ושחט, שחט means to pull. Every time we שחט an animal in order to eat it, what we're really doing is we're pulling that animal up to a higher level. And this is all connected to what I said in the beginning. When we eat food, we elevate the food and we bring it closer to Hashem. In detail when we look at it, when we שחט an animal and we eat an animal, and it's שחט'ד כשר and we do everything the way we're supposed to, what we're really doing there is we're elevating it. And we're elevating it to a level where the animal itself could never reach, and this is its goal! It's like everything else, the goal is to reach the next step, and if you could go after that even higher, and this is what we do. The only thing is, when we elevate food to a higher level, not everything is so easy. Certain things are harder to elevate and certain things are easier. Those things which are eidel'er, finer, not so coarse, not so megusham, we could call it, I don't even have a better word for it, not so megusham, not so grob, that's easier to elevate to spirituality. Those things which are more megusham, much more grob, and things which are more coarse, it's harder to elevate. It's not so easy. So it says, for instance, in animals itself, it says in Kabbalah and Chassidut, it's easier to elevate chicken than meat. בהמה דקה, like sheep, easier than a בהמה גסה, than a, than a bull, a cow, because that's more, that's coarse. It says fish easier to elevate than even than chicken, certainly than meat. It's interesting, the Rambam says in Hilchot Deot, when he talks about different physical things, he says that if a person plans to eat fish and meat in one meal, he should first eat the fish and then he should eat the meat. And he gives the reason, because it's easier to digest fish than meat. So what you should do is first let your stomach get used to digesting this, the lighter things, and then when it's in the middle of digesting, then you could eat the meat, and it should digest more. That's the simple peshat in the Rambam, and that's what we have to learn. But in Chassidut we learn a deeper peshat in the Rambam, when he says it's easier to digest fish, it doesn't only mean physically, that the stomach can digest, we're talking about spiritually, because the elevation that we cause to the food that we eat is also digesting. It's digesting it spiritually. First the lighter things, and then the harder things. But even when we eat the meat, it's also to digest it spiritually. That's the purpose.

This is the reason why it says an am ha'aretz should not eat meat. Why? Because a person who's not in a higher level, for him it's harder to digest spiritually the meat, because the meat is much more coarse. And even though we said before that it's for the benefit of the animal to be eaten, but when is it for the benefit of the animal to be eaten? If the person who eats it will elevate it to the level you're supposed to. But if you won't elevate to the level you're supposed to, then it's not for the benefit of the animal. And therefore it says an עם הארץ, אסור לאכול בשר, should not eat meat. On the other hand, there is another peshat. The word asur, we said before, means tied. An am ha'aretz is tied to eat meat. That means he really wants to, because it's something, since he's in a low level, so he's more fargrobt, he's more coarse, so he would want to eat meat. But it's better he shouldn't. But the, a person who is not an am ha'aretz, who is in a higher level, is able to eat meat and able to digest it spiritually, able to elevate it. Before the mabul, because the world was in a lower level, it was before the purification that the world took, that happened through the mabul, we know that the mabul was not only a punishment for the people, but it also was a purification to the world, therefore the mabul was for forty days, similar to a mikveh. Mikveh is forty סאה, because the mabul was a mikveh to the world, so the world became tahor, became pure. The world reached a higher level. Only afterwards are we allowed to eat meat, because only then are we able to, to elevate the meat. But before the mabul, the people were not ready for it, so that's why they were forbidden to eat meat. But after the mabul, we are able to. Certain times, everybody should eat meat. Shabbos and Yom Tov, there is a special כח השם gives every single Jew, that we are able to elevate even the meat, even, even those people who during the week maybe should not eat meat, but not for the same reasons that other people say they shouldn't eat meat, because צער בעלי חיים and that you shouldn't eat meat. The reason they shouldn't eat meat, because they can't elevate it. But on Shabbos and Yom Tov, Hashem said, I give everyone this ability to elevate the meat, and therefore it's a mitzvah to eat meat on Shabbos, to eat meat on Yom Tov, because then we are able to elevate it, and then we are able to do that favor to the animal. During the week, maybe not. There were tzadikim that would not eat meat the whole week. Again, not because of צער בעלי חיים. They did not eat meat the whole week because they felt that they're not worthy or not able to elevate the meat, which is the coarse part of the food. They can't elevate it. But the truth is these people who felt that way, they were really the ones that could do it. You know, that's how it usually works. You say this is similar to the story of the Tzemach Tzedek. Once a shochet came to the Tzemach Tzedek and said to him, \"Rebbe, I want to give up my shechitah.\" So the Tzemach Tzedek says, \"Why?\" So he says, \"I'm, I'm afraid. To be a shochet you have to be a real, real yerei shamayim, you have to have fear of God, because any small thing makes it treif, and no one knows the difference, so if you're not a yerei shamayim, then no one's going to know. No one knows whether you shachat'd properly or not. You do it. So I'm afraid.\" So the Tzemach Tzedek says to him, \"So who should be the shochet? The one that's not afraid? The one...\" one is afraid, he has to be the shochet. The same thing here, the one that feels that he can't elevate the meat, he's the one that's able to eat it. But there were tzadikim that would not eat meat all week because of this. But otherwise, for the idea of being afraid of tzaar baalei chaim, or even for health reasons that a person feels it's not healthy, so if it's takeh not healthy for this specific person, then a person's supposed to watch his health. But we have to also keep in mind the other thing, that by eating it, we are elevating the meat, and therefore it is right that from time to time a person should do it, because then, otherwise, you're missing that aspect in our life which is what the Torah wants us to do, is to get involved with the meat and elevating it from time to time. Shabbos, Yom Tov, things like that. But during the week, if the reason is because the person is afraid of tzaar baalei chaim, then it's wrong. If a person feels he can't elevate, then maybe it's a good idea. The truth is, nowadays, we don't have to wait till we're on a very high level to elevate. For us it's enough if we eat with a bracha, and we bentch afterwards, and we don't even have to eat l'shem shamayim like the tzadikim used to eat with the greatest kavanot, as long as we eat normally, thinking that we want to be healthy, we want to be Jews. That's enough and that elevates it, so we shouldn't be afraid of that. There's a story, everyone heard, but I'll repeat the story with the, with Rebbe Maharash when he brought in the two people, everyone knows this. Rebbe Maharash was once sitting, and his two children, Rebbe Rashab and Raza, Raza was the older one and Rebbe Rashab was the younger one, they were both little children, they were playing outside. And he overheard them talking. The father was sitting by the window and they were talking about, they were little kids, 3 years old, 4 years old or something like that, they were talking about what's the difference between a Jew and a goy? And each one was saying whatever he thought. So Rebbe Maharash calls them in and he says, I want to show you something. Calls them in and he says, go bring me the, bring me the First he brought in Ben Tzion the, the משרת. And he says to Ben Tzion the משרת, calls him in and says, how are you? Fine, Baruch Hashem. He says, did you eat today? Said, Baruch Hashem, I ate. Said, did you eat enough? Baruch Hashem, זאט! I'm happy, I'm satisfied. He said, why did you eat? Well, I eat, so I should be healthy. He says, why you want to be healthy? So I should be able to say a kapitel Tehillim, so I should be able to do another mitzvah. He said, now go, please call me the קוטשער, the goy, the wagon driver. Wagon driver comes in and he says to him, you know, how are you? Fine. Eat today? Sure, I ate. And he says to him, eat enough? Plenty. Why did you eat? Same thing, I should be healthy. Why do you want to be healthy? כ'קען נעמען א גוטע ביסל משקה, I should be able to take a drink and enjoy myself. So he says to them, see, you're looking for the difference between a Yid and a goy, here you see the difference. They both eat, they both are satisfied, they both are happy. He's happy so he should be able to say a kapitel Tehillim, and when he finished saying that, ער האט געגעבן א קרעכץ, he sighed, feeling that he's still not doing enough. And look at this guy, this goy, he's just to have a good time. So we're talking here about a simple a Yid, not a big baal madreigah, a person with a high level that is able to have kavanos and elevating the food. Just eating that way, thinking to yourself, I'm eating so I should be healthy, I should be a a Yid, I should do That itself is enough to elevate. So a person might be afraid not to eat meat because he's not enough to elevate, as long as we eat it with a proper even small kavanos. Like the other story, it's from the Baal Shem Tov with a person who had the big plate. I once told this story I think last year, that the Baal Shem Tov used to send different talmidim to different places to watch different people do things to learn from them how to behave. So once a person asked the Baal Shem Tov, I want to learn how to eat leshem Shamayim. So he said, go to this and this man. So he came to the house, he assumed that he's probably going to see a great tzaddik, you know, especially if he eats leshem Shamayim, he probably eats very little, as how can you eat a lot? He would have assumed he assumed he's going to see a little skinny guy, he's going to watch him eat. Came to the house, it didn't look like a house of a tzaddik, the guy he wasn't home, didn't see much ספרים. Anyway, asked the wife, she said he's out into the forest, he's going to come home later. So he waited in the house, the guy walks, a big husky guy, so then he couldn't understand how this guy eats leshem Shamayim. He walks in, sits down, and he thought, well, maybe he just was born that way. Sits down, and he asks his wife, come on, give me the food! That doesn't sound like eating leshem Shamayim. Sat down and he thought, maybe that's the way he talks. She piled up a plate, and he started eating, fresen, like I don't know, he's couldn't understand, what's he going to learn from him? So when he finished eating, asks him, re'av Yid, tell me, what did you have in mind when you were eating? So he says, I'll tell you the truth. I once was going to my work, and I heard a noise. Followed the noise, I saw goyim beating up a a Yid, they wanted to kill the a Yid. So I I'm pretty strong, so I took my strength and I fought with these goyim, and I chased them away, and I saved the a Yid. I got hurt, but I saved the a Yid. So from then on, whenever I eat, I have in mind if ever, ever a goy starts up with a a Yid, I should have the strength to beat them up and save the a Yid. And that's why I eat. I eat a lot, so I should have that koach. So he understood that's eating leshem Shamayim. So what I'm trying to say is eating leshem Shamayim doesn't mean big madreigot of big tzaddikim or old chasidim. In our levels, we could eat if we eat like a a Yid is supposed to eat, and we eat kosher, that's called eating leshem Shamayim. And if we eat leshem Shamayim, then we elevate the food. And then we do a favor to the food that we eat to elevate it. And therefore, to take the approach of being a vegetarian because we're afraid that we're going to hurt the animal, no one in the world cares about hurting somebody or even hurting an animal like the Torah does. And nevertheless, the Torah says, \"Don't worry about it.\" Why? Because you're not hurting the animal, you're doing the animal a favor. This was I created the world, Hashem says I created for a purpose. The purpose is to elevate it. Everything should go up to a higher level to the next step. You will be helping the animal when you do it. Now sometimes, like I said, it may be possible that a person is not at that level, but a Shabbos, a Shabbos and Yom Tov, and on occasions like the occasion of a bris or other places, some feel that a bris must have meat. Okay, nowadays, people, you know, do a bris in the morning, they don't have meat. But some people are makpid that at least to have a little bit of meat. The idea of having having meat. They say I I heard a story from the mohal from Schein, says that he heard a story, Rabbi Shein, by the Belzer Rebbe, the old Belzer Rebbe, that somebody came to him saying that complaining his son if this wasn't learning well or something. And the son was already 13 years old. So he says to him, \"When you made the bris, did you have meat by the seudah?\" He said, \"No.\" Says, \"That's your problem.\" So he told him, \"Make a party now with meat for the bris, and that'll help.\" So Rabbi Shain has a minhag, whenever he comes to a bris, he comes with a piece of chicken in his pocket. Just in case there is no meat there, there should be meat for this reason. So an occasion like that or an occasion of a chunah or an occasion where it's a תורה'דיקע special occasion, it's saying that we shouldn't eat the meat because of tza'ar ba'alei chayim because it's not what the Torah wants. The Torah says eat and elevate the food. And when you elevate the food, you are bringing a korban to Hashem. And by us doing this now, bringing korbanot through just simple eating, this is a way to be zocheh that we'll have the real korbanot, which is when Mashiach will come and we'll have the Beit Hamikdash. Okay. Yes.

Yes. So that a person who is a vegetarian for that purpose or any other purpose except a health purpose, he stopped the process of elevation, he stopped at the plant level? Yes. So, wrong. It's wrong. It's wrong. Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. Yes. So at brisim we're supposed to have meat? Being like by the Sephardim that they make it in the evening, so meat does Why not? It's not Who knows? You should have a little bit at least. There are some people who should be able to have it. Not everyone does it. I'm just bringing out a point. Not everyone does it. It's not a din, it's not a din. In what category does fish fall under? Chicken is Does that include fish, meat? Fish and chicken in the category of meat, so if you're eating one of the three you're eating it's the same? No, fish is not meat. Chicken is meat. Where how does a where do they fit in the four categories? It's still chai. Fish is still a living thing, so it's the third category, fish. It's the third category? It's not צומח, it's not the plant life. It's the animal life. So it's still, but not considered It's not considered meat. Because it's not meat. In the plant in the animal life, you have animals that are meat, animals which are not meat. So in other words, you're of of the the the third category you're saying is There are a lot of separate categories in that category. And chicken? Chicken is more like meat, yes. You see, chicken you can't eat with fish, with milk. And miderabbanan you can't eat it with milk, but fish you could. We don't anyway, there's a minhag not to eat fish with milk, but different reasons. But it's not בשר בחלב. Why the division? Because it's a different category. The Torah only אסר'ט it, only forbidden real real meat, real meat to chicken. The whole category is called animals. That's animals, so? Animal is a general category. In the animal category, we have a lot of levels. So what about the way as far as animals the way that we're what we do to them? Should be very kind to them. We don't. In veal or for instance different chemicals It's not forbidden, because the Torah never spoke about that, but it's definitely not the right thing to do. Yeah. Not not kasher. Not kasher. You don't break the legs. If you break the legs, it's not kasher. So, you shouldn't be cruel. If it's cruel to animals, you shouldn't be. Right, that's what I'm saying. It's not kasher, right, so we don't break the legs. If No, whatever whatever is done that's cruel to the animals should not be done. Well, maybe let's start let's start. People let's start doing something. Yeah, but that has nothing to do with eating it later. One of the things it says in sefarim is not to do not to hunt. Hunting for pleasure is against the Torah. Yeah. Even the goyim shouldn't hunt. If they have to hunt for food, then they should do it. But not to hunt for pleasure, because that is tza'ar ba'alei chayim. But otherwise, for eating purposes, then you're allowed, not only you're allowed, it's a good idea. Yes. Before the sin, they were vegetarians? Before the sin was only three hours. In the Torah. Yeah, but there's no the issur of eating meat that was given was not given on the day of the of creation. Maybe they didn't need it, because that time the whole elevation process was not needed, because the world was on a much higher level. The whole elevation process started later. No, started after the עץ הדעת. After he ate the עץ הדעת. After he sinned, but before that, the whole elevation wasn't there. Was an animal. That's how we know, that's But one of them was an animal. Yeah, but that elevation through eating was not really needed, because of the it was before the sin. To מתן תורה. Till Avraham and then by מתן תורה. But still, there was a there was a a purification that took place in the world at the time of the מבול. Right, the mikveh. By some people, that's to make the that the גשמיות of the body should not interfere with a person's service of Hashem. But anyway, this is not does not fit with the Baal Shem Tov's style. Baal Shem Tov said that you should not fast, you should eat, and by doing that we do we accomplish more than we accomplish with fasting. They say it's easier to fast l'shem shamayim than to eat l'shem shamayim. That's why it's a greater avodah, greater service of Hashem, when you eat l'shem shamayim than when you fast l'shem shamayim. So it's even greater to to eat than to fast. Right. Asurim, that's tied, matir is untie. You untie the asurim, right.