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It is through G-d alone that you have the right to use the creatures of the world for food. It is to Him alone, if you do not eat brutishly, that your eating and drinking is dedicated, as a gathering of strength for His service. It is He alone who knows the creatures around you and yourself, as He created both them and yourself. And now when He says unto you, Take these of my creatures for food, but not those - the alleged increase of your powers through partaking of them as food is contrary to my will; they make you less capable in My holy service! - Do you nevertheless wish to stretch out your hand to partake of them? Do you wish to scorn G-d, to imply that he is not the Master of his Creatures, not the Master of yourself? Do you wish to scorn yourself and to say that you have only the vocation of an animal, that you may be animal-like in behavior - merely for the satisfaction of the stomach, that most foolish of all idols? What can G-d care about such things? First of all, is that really your affair? Is it not G-d's and G-d's will alone that you should serve with everything? And then, even if by abstention from forbidden food you would avoid physical illness only, is not your body also holy to G-d? Are you yourself to make sport of the powers of your body? However, it is not only a matter of avoiding physical illness; it is one of avoiding something worse, a derogation of the sanctity of spirit and heart, the incurring of incapacity for the holy mission of Israel. And do you ask such a question? The purpose of the dietary laws is only to keep men pure and ennobled, say the Sages. You say you do not understand how these foods can be harmful. Even if you were never to understand and even if experience were never to teach you how instincts can be aroused or controlled by bodily gratification, how mental clarity can thus be improved or killed, how even animals may become bloodthirsty and wild through one food, tame and mild through another food, would it not be enough for you that G-d, from Whom alone, in any case, your power over these things derives, has refrained from giving you the right to partake of these foods? Is it not enough that G-d, to whose service you should preserve and dedicate the powers of body and soul that have been granted to you, has forbidden you the alleged increase of your powers by means of these gratifications? Is it not enough that you, by eating them, misuse G-d's goodness, become unrighteous towards Him, towards His creatures, towards yourself, and act contrary to His will - your task? You should observe the commandments of the Torah and have regard to its laws, because they are G-d's behests and the limits set to man by G-d, not because you too think them correct. Even those commandments whose reason you believe you have understood, you should not fulfill because of this, for then you would be listening only unto yourself, whereas you should listen to G-d. You should obey because G-d has given you the commandments and, as with all creatures, so should you also be G-d's servant with every manifestation of your being. That is your destiny.
And how can you be sure you have grasped the reasons for these Divine laws? Do you really know the nature of the creatures around you? Do you know your own nature? How nourishment is related to the bodily powers to those of the soul, the organ of which is the body? Only when you know all this - not only theories concerning it - only when you know yourself and your exact place in the sphere of creation as your Creator knows you and your place -only then may you be surprised at not being able to understand the reason for these laws. Allow yourself, therefore, to be guided by your Creator and your G-d, Who has led you out of Egypt so that you will be holy unto Him - and be holy as He is holy and summons you to holiness.
The dietary laws may be classified into the following categories:
1) Which animals are permitted for food; which are not.
2) Which parts of the animal are permitted; which are not.
3) Conditions under which permitted animals are prohibited.
4) Method of slaughtering animals which should serve as food.
5) Food-substance compounds which may not be eaten.
6) Relationships of mixtures of the permitted and the forbidden, and the vessels that have absorbed forbidden food.
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