When One Plus One Equals Three
There is good and there is good. What is the test that our goodness is the more sophisticated and pure variety?
Linked!
In this week’s parsha we find the following verse:
“The first of the fruits of your land you shall bring to the house of G-d your G- d.”
The very next verse reads:
“Do not cook a kid in the milk of its mother.”
These two commandments are lumped together in this week’s parsha, and many of the Biblical commentators provide differing views as to why they are linked.
One way this juxtaposition can be explained is by understanding the nature of giving. When one is inclined to make an offering to G-d, it is only natural for one to want to give their best. And, indeed, the Mitzvah of giving the first fruits was intended for precisely that reason. Usually the first fruits of the season—for which one has toiled to produce—is the most precious. Yet, the person gladly gives it away as an offering to G-d as a way of expressing gratitude, love and devotion to Him.
One might therefore have thought that it would be proper to offer G-d a similar “gift” that also expresses the idea of giving that which is first and most precious. The word “kid” mentioned here is understood by all commentators as a reference to a young animal—the parallel to the first fruits. Cooking the kid in the milk of its mother symbolizes giving away the animal even at this tender age when it is still dependent on its mother’s milk. One might have thought— based on the preceding verse that requires bringing the first fruits—that this too would be an expression of dedication to G-d.
And this is where the Torah draws the line.
While G-d appreciates our gesture of giving the first and choicest of our possessions to Him, G- d does not want us to do something for Him that expresses a lack of sensitivity to G-d’s creatures. As commentators point out, cooking an animal in the milk of its mother is an act of cruelty.
Why Sacrifices?
One is entitled to ask: If G-d does not appreciate the offering that involves cruelty to others, why does the Torah allow animal sacrifices? In truth, we can expand the question to all consumption of meat. Why does G-d allow us to cause pain to animals? If we take this line of questioning to its logical conclusion we can even challenge our right to destroy any part of creation such as plants and trees for human consumption. Who gives us a right to dominate other forms of life?
Indeed, those who do not believe in a Creator who gave the world a purpose and the means through which we realize our goal—by way of the Mitzvos—cannot truly find justification for human existence if we are simply an accident of evolution.
Only a person who believes in a Creator who created us with a purpose and made us depend on the rest of creation for our existence can find legitimacy in consuming other parts of creation provided it is within the parameters of propriety as determined by G-d’s Torah..
To elaborate:
It is axiomatic in Judaism that animals—as well as all other forms of life, physical and spiritual such as angels—were created for a higher purpose. When they are utilized for that higher purpose in ways the Torah approves of, they are considered to have been “elevated” into a higher sphere.
When we consume kosher vegetation or kosher animals and use the energy to do good, a seismic and cosmic change has taken place. The entire universe—that influenced directly and indirectly the development of that piece of food—has experienced its elevation from the level of a created being to the level of the Creator. The minerals, plants, animals and people who were instrumental in doing the G- dly act all become elevated to the level of the Divine.
Conversely, when we utilize any of the earth’s resources and utilize them incorrectly, or derive the benefit in a manner that contradicts G-d’s will as articulated in the Torah, it does not elevate anything. Even if we do the forbidden act with the objective of elevating it, it does not get elevated. Moreover, it actually causes it, the person who offers it and the whole world to be degraded; it destroys the Divine potential of that resource.
The Third Party
Returning to the original point of not cooking a kid in the milk of its mother even if our intentions are good; the lesson from this idea is obvious:
There are so many times that we give things and services to others as our way of showing concern, friendship and love for another. The lesson conveyed here by the Torah is that we must always ensure that what we do to express our generosity and good will to others is not at the expense of a third party.
In fact, the test of whether our generosity is impelled by our need to show how good we are, or whether it is out of genuine concern for the other is how sensitive we are to a third individual while we are engaged in our acts of kindness to the second person.
This lesson can perhaps shed light on the saying of the Lubavitcher Rebbe that was intended to explain his custom of distributing dollars to thousands of people every Sunday afternoon when they would meet with him for his blessings. The dollar, or its exchange, that he would give each individual was to be donated to tzedakah (with an added on contribution). The Rebbe explained:
“My father-in-law [the Rebbe’s predecessor, Rabbi Yoseph Yitzchak Schneersohn] would say: ‘Whenever two Jews meet they should think of what they can do for the benefit of a third individual.’”
In other words, when the Rebbe would meet with individuals who came to him for his blessing and counsel the Rebbe would utilize that opportunity to generate assistance and generosity for a third individual or cause.
“There is kindness and there is kindness (Zohar).”
In the present day and age of exile, our senses are dulled and our kindness often lacks the purity and sincerity that it ought to possess. By contrast, in the Messianic Age, when the veil of darkness and insensitivity will finally be removed, our positive qualities will shine brightly and not be tainted in any fashion.
But Judaism does not believe in sitting back and waiting for the good times to unfold. The way we bring Moshiach and the age of unadulterated goodness is by trying to behave that way in these last moments of exile.
When we look out for the well-being of others even as we are doing good, we express kindness that springs from a well of pure G-dly energy within our souls. We are, in effect, accessing, the spark of Moshiach, the Ba’al Shem Tov stated exists within each and every one of us.
When we reveal that core of G-dliness, we prepare ourselves and the whole world for the coming of Moshiach.
From the book Light from the Future: Parshas Mishpatim by Rabbi Heschel Greenberg, published by the Jewish Discovery Center.
