SHOCKING: Why God Wants Us to Eat Kosher Food & Sacrifices Animals | Reincarnation & Rectification

The truth is when Adam was originally created so eating eating animals was prohibited. There was not that was not part of man's diet. What was man's diet consisting of vegetarian he was a vegetarian. Someone asked me a question last week. You know isn't the idea of sacrificing animals primitive? We want to address it and hopefully explain what's really the base of corbanote sacrifices so we can appreciate because we are praying in ashmon every day for god to restore the temple and restore this the service. So if it's so primitive why are we why are we praying and hoping to return to such behavior and and offer up sacrifices once again. So to appreciate where sacrifices come from let's go back to the very very beginning. We know that when God made Adam, so Adam is the first person to bring up a sacrifice. Now I want to ask you guys what what did he was he thinking? What made him decide you know he he of course there was a sin of the of the sin involved the tree of knowledge and and part of his repentance you know it involved bringing up a sacrifice. What was he thinking? He's the first man created. there is no one. He's not copying anyone's prior behavior. He's the only one that exists. He decides, well, part of, you know, trying to rectify my standing with Hashem and come close to Hashem will include, let me think, what should I do? Should I pray? Should I beat my my my palm on my on my chest? You know what? I'll grab an animal and I'll slaughter it. That'll make God happy. The truth is when Adam was originally created, so eating eating animals was prohibited. There was not that was not part of man's diet. What was man's diet consisting of vegetarian? You're going to ask very nice. So man should be vegetarian, right? According to this man should be vegetarian. Why? If Adam was vegetarian, he's the first man. So we you see on our digestive system was is built to be vegetarian better, right? So let's all be vegetarians. Where does it come up that we should eat human eat animals? Where does that come up? So we see a shift after the flood in the generation of Noah and after. So God changed the dietary rules of of of man and included in what was permissible to eat animal meat to eat animals, steak, chicken, all the good stuff. Now why was there a change made? You know, was God didn't get it right the first time? So the truth is there's no way to understand the the reason why eating and animals were were were first prohibited and then became permissible without understanding the spiritual nature of the world. And that of course everything that God made although the end result is this physical world be for this physical world. There's spiritual worlds and spiritual dimensions that parallel this world. And the only way to get a clear picture of what this world is really all about is to see its parallel in the spiritual sense to the higher worlds that exist. Once we see what's existing up there, we'll be able to understand more clearly the nature of this world. >> My old admiration, what was the provision not to eat animals? >> It wasn't it wasn't it wasn't it wasn't part of what we what he was allowed to eat. wasn't told I mean the baby >> okay it wasn't an a it wasn't listed as one of the aot but it wasn't part of what he was was what he ate or what he was given to eat the Torah clearly expresses that God gave man food that food was was grown from the ground that's why the curse was such a terrible curse they weren't eating animals so it when when the earth no longer brought forth its produce easily and it was the sweat of the brow that men had to work very hard to get produce that's what they lived off of so that was the tre terrible curse, terrible punishment that mankind had to work hard and to to barely get what he needed to survive. I mean, if we could just go and barbecue some steak, so what would be the big punishment of not being able of the earth not producing what it's full? Anyway, so let's let's appreciate where where the shift what's really behind the shift. The cabala explains based on you know the teaching of the Arizal and the zohor is where the main sources of of where we learn kabala zor and the arizel explains it all in depth in his writings. So we he explains why meat wasn't originally part of what a person was supposed to eat because eating to tell you the truth eating the whole process of eating is really also part of the our job in this world. Um, we're taught the mafarian bring of course also based on on on on mystical ideas that on shabas when you eat that's also part of the the holiness of shabas and the spiritual elevation and rectification that takes place through learning Torah and praying on shabas. That's part of it and of and also which we wouldn't think we would think eating is just something that we physically enjoy. But the eating on Shabas when it's done for the sake of the sanctity of Shabas the pleasure of Shabas is also results in a spiritual rectification and elevation. That's why the de the gumar actually talks about uh with holidays is it or hashem there's a contradiction in verses and the the contradiction would imply in one place it implies that that the holidays were given for us to enjoy in another place it implies that the holidays were given for us to use to serve hashem more. So what is the nature of a holy day? Is a holy day meant to be spent fasting and praying and learning and we become like angels? Well, that's what we do on Yam Kipper. But Yam Kipper is called the day of affliction. The holy days that we have i.e. the holidays and Shabbat included are days where on the one hand we do pray and we do learn and there is a sanctity there and we are ascending and trying to transcend this mundane world because it's the essence of the day is holy. But part of that holiness is to indulge indulge in eating and enjoying the food we eat and having delicacies. And it's even more than that. It's not only that, oh, God said, I'll give you some time to relax. No, that enjoyment becomes part of our divine service and accomplishes spiritual rectifications and elevations according to Kabala. And this is the deeper meaning as to why there's this whole discussion of and like why we have to decide and do we split and and ultimately Shabas everyone agrees there's a split part of Shabas has to be for God and part of it has to be for you because in both avenues in both directions we are accomplishing our purpose in this world. Now with that said we can appreciate an interesting play on words that a says I may I may have said this before but it's worth mentioning again on shabas we talk about the mitz of on shabas it starts with the letter the same three root letters spell the word nega on means pleasure and enjoyment and nega means affliction and explains that the same type of behavior that we do on holidays and on chabas to enjoy the physical world, to enjoy the food we eat, to eat delicacies, to spread a lavish table and eat like a king and and and and enjoy wine and meat and it the actually expresses to buy fatty meat which was in the time very delicacy, you know, and wines good the things that that are pleasurable to the pallet and that we enjoy dessert. Now, of course, one shouldn't overindulge. The the the the idea of sanctifying the Sabbath with with enjoyment doesn't mean to become a glutton and just like, you know, pig out. That's for sure not that's counterproductive. As a matter of fact, the mad the angel that taught the Bose warned him against overindulging on Shabbat because it would detract ultimately. But the general idea of indulging is part of the divine service. Now, the word nega coming back to my point, the word nega means affliction. So explains that to behave the same way that we're told is a mitzvah to behave on Shabas. It's on it's pleasure and it's a gift from Hashem to enjoy and it's an opportunity to take the physical and enjoy it without the negativity involved. Usually on a weekday if we would behave the same way and eat the same delicacies, it's called the nega. It's an affliction to the soul because six days of the week is the work week. We're meant to work on ourselves and work on the world. It's not a time to relax. It's not a time to indulge in in the in the physical delicacies and pleasures. And then when you do, it detracts from the sanctity and the purity of your soul. On Shabbat and on holidays, when you indulge in the physical, the food and the delicacies, it doesn't detract again without getting carried away with it. So with this, we can also appreciate the whole concept of eating meat, which goes back to the generation of Adam and then Noah. The same way that on Shabas eating is part of serving Hashem. So too in the times of Adam, eating was part of one's divine service. God made a whole world and everything he made in it has a purpose. We we'll start to explain. We generally break down all of existence into four levels. There's inanimate like rocks and dirt. This is inanimate objects. There's no life and growth, but they exist. God has to create earth. Without God's creative power, [clears throat] the earth wouldn't exist. So the same way that God creates a tree which grows, which is animate, it grows. He also creates the earth which doesn't grow. So we look at earth and rocks as if they're lifeless, but the truth is there's life inside of rocks and earth as well. There's divine sparks and there's vitality that comes from the creative power of Hashem within the inanimate objects of this world. Otherwise, they wouldn't exist. God added a level of existence in creating the animate objects like the the trees which grow and of course now we see a different form of life. We see something that and a sign of a tree being alive is that it in fact grows and the the trees are able to give out fruit which are edible. That's a secondary level of existence. So you have inanimate animate which is really the the the plant life is the second level. The third level, God adds an additional level of existence onto the idea of the trees which grow and plants that are able to grow in creating animals. And he brought now a different level of life into the animals. They have a a a soul, an animal soul, which you can also call a vital soul. Their soul gives them this vitality to move around and to live and to exist. They breathe. They have instincts. It's it's it's accepted that animals function on a level of instincts. They don't have a yet that this next level which we're going to talk about. But the level of animal is a third level of existence. All animals exist on that level in general of course. Now this fourth level of existence is man. God made a speaking being. And he gave that person that he made Adam and all of Adam's descendants intellect. Now intellect is has a few ways that it we benefit from intellect. First of all, one of the benefits of intellect is that we can perceive our own existence and we can contemplate an an animal as sophisticated as they may seem. You can put a monkey in a suit, but it's still a monkey. Now, the point is that a monkey is not going to he might scratch his forehead because you could train a monkey to scratch his forehead, but he's not going to be asking those fundamental philosophical questions. You know, am I satisfied with my life? What's my purpose? Am I accomplishing? Animals are not going to think like that. They might instinctively do good things. They might risk their life to save their children. They might even save human beings from danger sometimes, but it's not their existence is not comparable to that of a human being, which is it's funny because when you think about it, when a person has a pet and he loves his pet. So, he's he's he's giving the pet his, you know, all of his capacity to love and care to his pet. And he thinks the pet's reciprocating, you know, but the pet's not really reciprocating. The pet is acting back in as much as an animal can instinctively. Of course, it's going to be happy when he gets fed and he's going to show what the person perceives as this affection like a, you know, he needs a wife. He doesn't need or she needs a husband, not a a pet to to have all this affection back and forth. It's the wrong place to invest. But anyway, that's that's obviously a side point. We'll get to the back to the main discussion. So human beings are the pinnacle of creation and they represent again the ability to discern and understand and with that ability to discern and understand we've been we have the opportunity and the essence of this gift is really to perceive God and to turn in the direction of serving God. Now within the category of human beings there's another distinction. God made Adam as the father of all mankind and and as a result of the sin there was a descent in the level of Adam himself. uh and there were generations until Abraham Abraham shows up on the scene and Abraham represents the restoring of the of the beginning level of Adamishon before the sin and Abraham reached a level of belief and understanding in Hashem and a devotion towards serving Hashem that he was rechosen to be the father of the nation of Israel until Abraham came along. So all mankind would have been one nation. That's why we talk about the tower of Bavl when they were all one language, one people. Had the world got their act together then? Then God would not have had to separate the world into [clears throat] 70 nations. It would have been one nation under God and would have had its general system like we would have think. Some people believe in that system till today that the world is really a melting potter. We all are one people. They are half correct. That was the original plan and in potential the Ram Khal explains and the Azizal also explains that had we got our act together as a whole mankind we would not have been separated. But once God divided the world into 70 nations, 70 languages and he selected Abraham and his descendants to be the nation of Israel. So they took on the responsibility of Adamishon to carry on and what man was originally this this connector between the divine and creation became the role of the Jewish people. That is why the Jewish people are a chosen people. We are supposed to be a light onto the other nations. That is why we were given the land of Israel which is the center of the of the world. It's where heaven and earth unite. The dream that YaKob had with the latter, it says that the latter went from earth and connected heaven. So the connecting between heaven and earth is exactly where Adam where Yakov went to sleep and had his dream. And we're told that that exact place is of course the place where the Ba Mikdash was, which is the same place where Adam Marish was created from. Same place he went back to to offer up his sacrifice. when he brought the first sacrifice up. So to Noah when he brought his sacrifices after the flood, same place, the place where the Msbah was ultimately built in the Ba Mikdash. That is where Yakov went to sleep. That is where Yitzk was taken to be sacrificed until God said not to. And of course they sacrificed in this place the animal and that is where we have our B mikdash built and that is where the western wall is until today where we write those nice notes we mentioned and we go to pray because that's where the divine presence rests and now we can appreciate the connection between all of this. Uh there's an interesting story which will hopefully shed more light on this. Sometimes stories are the best way to express some ideas. Um we know that that there's a concept called reincarnation. It means that a person that was living in one lifetime if he for whatever different reasons it could be because he committed some type of sin or it could be that he did not fulfill his purpose and he is he wants to come he's supposed to come back into the world in order to elevate his soul more so that he can have an animal. >> Ah so that's what we're we're going to address right now. Anyone who's already familiar with these concepts is already accepts it. I mean before you're told you might think it doesn't make any sense but according to Kabala a person can come back as an animal now what what what possible reason could there be for that and what possible benefit could there be in that is hard to for our intellects to grasp but again when we understand how the all the worlds work together as one whole unit that God is in control of. So we understand that the secrets of reincarnation and how that it can occur in an animal is all part of the rectification of a person's soul in things that it has to go through. One particular story for example that's recorded from the you know is is interesting a particular soul for different whatever reasons we won't get into the details required to come back in a fish and that will would have will was going to eventually help that soul find its its its rectification. Now with leaving out the details as to what it did to have to come back in a fish, but the the story talks about the fish being you know at the you know sold at the market and the fish the the soul in the fish realizing that you know I if if I get bought by by some person that's not religious that's not going to make the braha on me it could affect his rectification. So he the the soul was praying let me be bought by a righteous person and lo and behold Hashem ordained that that came and bought the fish prepared it for shabas and when they ate it on shabas it was the right way for the for for that soul to get its tikun when we make blessings on food we we we that's part of the the secret depth of what happens when we eat food and we make blessings on food you know not always is that the case but possible potential case is that there's A there's a soul there that needs to be elevated through the the braha, through eating the food kosher, through the learning of Torah together while you eat. All of this helps to elevate the food again. And this is all this just extension of what happened in the B mikdash. The rabbis tell us that the that the table of a person today takes the place of the misme of the altar because the same way that today when we eat food, we can elevate the food. So the essential elevation really took place in the BA mikdash and we're just on a smaller level trying to continue that that idea. So with everything we said I think it it comes out very clear how important and necessary it is this all these concepts of eating and also the sacrifices as well. >> What about different animals like >> okay so this is a connected related question >> out of the whole of the animal. Okay. So we have to just like there's different different types of animals and we know that there are different nations. The nation of Israel was instilled with a particular aspect of holiness by virtue of being a descendant of Abraham. So to animals their spiritual root will determine whether they're fit to be sacrificed on the altar or not. Not every animal can be put on the altar. We have a special mitzvah to take the the donkey and to either you know um either to to kill it or to be p it to redeem it with a kosher animal to put on the altar. So you're asking a good question. What why can't we eat kazir? So the same question will be asked why can't you offer up a kazir on the altar or why can't you offer up a donkey on the altar? So obviously it's not just arbitrary. Okay God doesn't like the the donkey. what God likes a bird more than a donkey or he likes a cow more than a donkey. It's all they're all all his creations. So the real depth to why certain animals are fit to be brought up as sacrifices and of course also fit to be eaten and certain animals are not is because of the spiritual essence and nature of those animals. To understand this really we have to go back and explain the whole concept of these different categories of spirituality. There's a realm of of s of holiness. There's a realm that's outside of the realm of holiness but remains neutral. And there's a third realm which is called a realm of negativity, a realm of of of evil and impurity. So I'll explain now. All of the animals, there is not an animal that's born holy. There's no animal that's intrinsically holy. Only the the Jew has a holy nishama. It's called a part of Hashem. Only the Jewish person, the nation of Israel has this element of sanctity instilled within them. And that is why it says in parha's kadoshim God gives us a command. You should be holy because I am holy. The obvious question is asked and we all must ask it. What's the connection between us and God? Because God is holy. Well, God's holy because he's the creator. We're just human beings. Why should we be holy? Because God is holy. Who says because God is holy that we have the capacity to be holy. So the the commentators answer that it's because God instilled within us a part of of the divine aspect of a divine soul within the nation of Israel. Therefore because we have within us this potential kadusha this potential sanctity we have a command to activate it to be holy. So only the the nation of Israel has this intrinsic sanctity within them. All of the rest of creation doesn't have the sanctity. But all of the rest of creation can be divided into two parts. There's the neutral part. And when we say an animal is kosher, the word kosher really just means prepared. Something means to prepare it. The word kosher kin is just means ready or prepared which which is essentially in this deeper sense is saying that all of the animals that we define as kosher are from this neutral realm >> which means they're ready and able to be elevated but they're not they're not holy yet until you take the animal and slaughter it properly and draw the blood and if you make any mistakes in that process then the animal becomes forbidden. U asser user the word user we translated as forbidden but you know what the real root words user alfin I'm sorry alf it means tied up bound it's tied it's bound and what in spiritual terms it means is all of the animals that are forbidden are really bound and tied up in this third realm that we mentioned it's a realm of impurity and of negativity and since they're bound up in that realm so they're counterproductive if a if a Jewish person eats from these impure you know you know negative spiritual items like pig like a like anything that's uncos all these you know these delicacies the nations of the world it's a delicacy shrimp lobster all these animals the spiritual nature of those animals are detrimental to the to the spiritual well-being of a of of of a Jewish person and of course also at the same time they become unfit to offer on them as because they their spiritual nature nature is not able to be elevated to sanctity and the whole purpose of the misbak the altar was to elevate to the realm of sanctity. So you it's like it's like it doesn't work. So that's that's that again your your question about kosher and not kosher is really answered all together with all of this that animals that are from this neutral realm that are able to be elevated are both kosher to eat when you prepare them properly and when it's done correctly it elevates into the realm of kaduca it becomes whole you can elevate it to holiness the second realm we said which is the impure realm is like the pig and the donkey and all of the other uncoosure animals on the one hand they also they can't be used as sacrifices because They cannot be elevated. And furthermore, if a person would eat them, it's going to be dam it's going to damage his soul. So, he's not allowed to eat them. >> In resurrection, can a can can God send this man down become a >> You're asking an interesting question. In reincarnation, can can a person be sent into an uncultured animal? The answer is yes for different reasons. As a matter of fact, all of this is discussed in the writings of the Arizal, as we mentioned. uh what sins will warrant being brought down in this type of animal or this type of animal. And there are documented stories from the mystics that confirm all of this. It's not uh don't think it's to take it lightly. These were the holiest people that that you know the zohar was written by Rabai and the Arizal was taught by Elijah the prophet himself. So the the information we get about reincarnation should not be taken lightly. That would be a grave mistake. And uh when we talk about being reincarnated in animals, as as unusual as that might sound to uh to the naive person or the the person that's never heard it before, well, get familiar with it. Study it and you'll realize it is part of Judaism. It is part of our Torah. >> Can this person be redeemed? >> Yes. The whole purpose of reincarnation, >> the whole purpose of reincarnation is for that person to be redeemed. It's for that person to rectify his his sins or his mistakes, shortcomings, whatever, however you want to define it and receive the elevation and that he's that he needs. It's in order to him for him to eventually get his true place in the world to come either whether it's in Ganedan until Msiah comes or when Mashiach comes in the ultimate world to come. The purpose of everything we go through in this life, any suffering we go through, whether it's uh sickness, whether it's being reincarnated in in these disgusting type of animals even and and and there's a lot of suffering involved when that takes place. All of it is in order to and of course ganim, the greatest suffering that we can imagine. 11 months, 12 months in ganam is terrible. All of that is in order for the soul to ultimately receive the good that that that it's that it's going to get later. I think we've covered everything for now and thank you all for coming. Uh have a good uh day.