Slaughtering Meat "Outside"

     The Torah in Parashat Acharei-Mot issues a prohibition against slaughtering animals outside the Mishkan (17:2-3).  The precise meaning of this prohibition is subject to debate.  Rashi (17:3) explains that the Torah refers here to offering sacrifices outside the Mishkan, whereas the Ramban, following the view of Rabbi Yishmael cited in the Gemara (Chulin 16b) – and following the straightforward reading of the verses – explains this prohibition as referring to what is commonly called “besar ta’ava.”  According to Rabbi Yishmael, in the wilderness Benei Yisrael were prohibited from eating meat outside the context of sacrificial offerings.  They were permitted to eat meat only when offering shelamim sacrifices in the Mishkan, and it is to this temporary prohibition that the Torah refers in this verse.

            The Torah in this context explains the reason underlying this prohibition: “They shall no longer offer their sacrifices to the spirits after whom they stray” (17:7).  It seems that the requirement to bring sacrifices – or perhaps even all animals to be slaughtered – specifically to the Mishkan would ensure that Benei Yisrael would not offer sacrifices to the spirits which were believed to exist in the wilderness.

            Abarbanel, in his introduction to Sefer Vayikra, cites a Midrashic passage (Vayikra Rabba 22), which elaborates on this verse by way of an analogy:

This may be compared to a prince who indulged inappropriately, and would regularly eat neveilot and tereifot.  The king said, “Let him always eat them at my table, and then he will refrain [from eating improper foods] by himself.”  Similarly, as Benei Yisrael were passionately drawn toward idolatry, and would bring their sacrifices to spirits…the Almighty said: Let them offer their sacrifices before Me in the Tent of Meeting, and they will then withdraw from idolatry.

As Benei Yisrael had grown accustomed to offering pagan sacrifices, God instructed them to bring sacrifices exclusively to the Mishkan, so they would gradually be weaned from their idolatrous tendencies.  Abarbanel points to this passage as a Midrashic source for the famous, controversial view of the Rambam, expressed in his Guide for the Perplexed (3:32), that the institution of sacrifices was introduced only because Benei Yisrael had grown accustomed to pagan worship, and needed to be gradually led away from idolatrous mores.  Seemingly, this comment in the Midrash expresses this precise perspective, explaining that God commanded Benei Yisrael to bring their sacrifices to the Mishkan so that they would not offer them to the pagan deities.  Rav Baruch Epstein cites this Midrashic passage in his Tosefet Berakha, noting that had the Rambam made mention of this Midrash, he would have spared himself much of the criticism which his bold theory invited.

            However, Rav David Tzvi Hoffman (as cited and discussed by Professor Nechama Leibowitz, Studies, Parashat Vayikra) noted that Abarbanel’s citation of this Midrash represents a faulty text of the passage in question, and that it does not provide any evidence of the Rambam’s theory.  In the analogy as cited by Abarbanel, the king wanted his son to bring his forbidden foods to the royal table, and gradually he would learn not to eat them.  Correspondingly, then, Benei Yisrael brought their sacrifices to the Mishkan so they would not offer them to idols.  However, in the correct text, Rav Hoffman writes, the king wants his son to eat regularly at the royal table, not to eat his foods at the royal table.  After all, why would a king allow the consumption of forbidden foods at his table in the palace?  His intent was to accustom his son to royal, dignified protocol so that he would overcome his negative tendencies.

            In this vein, Rav Hoffman explained the Midrash as referring to Rabbi Yishmael’s interpretation of the verse, as discussed above, that during Benei Yisrael’s sojourn in the wilderness, they were allowed to slaughter animals only in the context of sacrifices.  This would ensure that they do not slaughter animals to the spirits, as they had been accustomed to do.  Rav Hoffman writes:

The view is not even referred to here that the aim of the sacrifices was to prevent idolatry.  What the Israelites are commanded here is merely to partake only of the meat of sacrifices.  The Midrash does not belittle the importance of sacrifices.  On the contrary, they are given an important place in the precepts of Judaism.  The worshipper who partakes of the sacrifice sits at the table of the Lord.

The Midrash here is not discussing at all the reason underlying the concept of sacrifices.  Rather, it seeks to explain the particular requirement that applied (according to Rabbi Yishmael) during this period that meat be eaten only in the sacrificial context.  This unique provision served as a safeguard against pagan sacrificial worship, by ensuring that animal slaughter be conducted only at “the table of the Lord,” in the solemn, sacred aura of the Mishkan, where God’s presence was felt and thus no idolatrous thoughts could be entertained.

Courtesy of Yeshivat Har Etzion - www.etzion.org.il