Parashat Re’eh פָּרָשַׁת רְאֵה

In this week’s parsha, we read the laws of kashrut, of how to make our food, especially meat, kosher, and also which animals we are permitted to eat.  We learn that we ARE allowed to eat giraffes, but we are not allowed to eat STORK, just as two examples. At times, we get reasons for why or why not; in other cases, I think we know that we are dealing with a CHOK, or a rule that we follow BECAUSE it is a rule.  A rule that we follow because God ordains it, and for no other reason.  There’s a passage I want to pull out, something that seems pretty straightforward; and sometimes when something seems straightforward, we can gloss over it. So let’s focus on it for a moment. Here’s the passage:

When the Lord, your God, expands your boundary, as He has spoken to you, and you say, "I will eat meat," because your soul desires to eat meat, you may eat meat, according to every desire of your soul.

ככִּֽי־יַרְחִיב֩ יְהֹוָ֨ה אֱלֹהֶ֥יךָ אֶת־גְּבֻֽלְךָ֘ כַּֽאֲשֶׁ֣ר דִּבֶּר־לָךְ֒ וְאָֽמַרְתָּ֙ אֹֽכְלָ֣ה בָשָׂ֔ר כִּֽי־תְאַוֶּ֥ה נַפְשְׁךָ֖ לֶֽאֱכֹ֣ל בָּשָׂ֑ר בְּכָל־אַוַּ֥ת נַפְשְׁךָ֖ תֹּאכַ֥ל בָּשָֽׂר:

When the Lord your God “expands your boundaries.”  According to Rashi, the interpreter who almost always prefers the simplest possible explanation, this passage means that the Israelites were allowed to eat meat once they entered the Promised Land. And he infers from that, that they were NOT allowed to eat meat in the desert unless it was part of a ritual sacrifice. After all, let’s not forget that they had manna that kept them alive and provided sustenance for 40 years. Rashi takes this passage to mean that, once in Eretz Israel, the people would DESIRE meat AND they were allowed to fulfill that desire. 

Rabbi Akiva disagrees. Akiva maintains that the Israelites were allowed to eat non-kosher meat in the desert, so as not to offend the other tribes they encountered in their travels. I don’t know where in the Torah he gets that idea, because I myself don’t know of any passage that suggests that.  But we do know that our sages loved a good debate, even across the centuries. So, for Akiva, the passage is telling us that once we enter the Promised Land, there will be no more permission to eat anything other than kosher meat. 

To me, it’s the phrase “expand your boundaries” that’s really fascinating.  Some scholars interpret the phrase to mean that the Israelites will secure property, and that new property will literally expand their boundaries. Others argue that the passage ‘expand your boundaries’ refers to the movement INTO the Holy Land.  Rashi CONNECTS the idea of expanding your boundaries with the idea of eating meat—for Rashi, the only justification for eating meat is that you have wealth, you have abundance. That makes some sense, for I am guessing that meat wasn’t easy to come by, especially if the best selections were saved for ritual sacrifice.  It’s also ironic, because I know that many animal rights activists argue that we do not NEED to eat meat to survive. The Torah seems to be recognizing that fact but still to give us permission to eat meat as long as it’s the right kind of animal slaughtered and cooked in the right kind of way. 

That’s a debate for another time.
But “expand your boundaries” may also be a metaphor for the new life that the Israelites will now have to take on. No more manna. No more miracles. And, perhaps most importantly, no more Moshe.

They MUST expand their boundaries.  Basically, they must GROW UP.  They are now responsible for themselves and for all the spiritual and mundane aspects of their new lives. —and what they eat is now no longer automatically provided to them but is rather part of the new set of instructions that God and their rebbe Moshe provide for them.