Sefer HaChinuch ספר החינוך

The commandment of the impurity of the eight swarming creatures: That the eight swarming creatures are impure and render impure, as it is stated (Leviticus 11:29), “And this shall be impure for you from the swarming creatures that swarm on the ground: the mole, the mouse and the lizard, etc.”

From the roots of the commandment, [we need to] preface [that] anyone who has intelligence will not have a doubt that there was never a man that grasped to know all wisdom to its end, that nothing of it be hidden from him. As behold even about our teacher Moshe, peace be upon him, they, may their memory be blessed, said (Rosh Hashanah 21b), “There are fifty gates of understanding, and they were all given over to Moshe, except for one.” And likewise, the wise King Shlomo said about himself (Ecclesiastes 7:23), “I said, ‘I will be wise,’ but it is distant from me.” And also any one with a brain in his skull will not have a doubt that God, may He be blessed, is the Father of wisdom and it is from Him — it comes out that it is all included in Him. And there is also not any doubt that the Father of all good would only command something to His creatures for their good and for their benefit, and to distance any injury from them. And therefore, when we grasp some of the commandments with our wisdom, to know the benefit that accrues to us from them, we shall rejoice about it. But when we do not grasp the benefit to us from them, with our wisdom, we must nonetheless think that with the extra wisdom that God, may He be blessed, has over every creature, He knows the benefit to us in that commandment. And therefore, He commanded us about it.

And they, may their memory be blessed, already informed us (Sanhedrin 21b) why we do not know the reason for all of the commandments; and they said that the thing is that it not become a stumbling block for us. And they brought a proof, as behold, the reason for three of them was revealed, and a great man of the world stumbled upon them. And let not a quibbler think to come against me with the metaphor that they, may their memory be blessed, said (Pesachim 28a), “The spoon carved by the carpenter will burn his mouth with mustard,” about that which I said now: That God, may He be blessed, hid the reasons from the commandments from us, and [yet] I have raised my hand to speak about them to my youth. As my teachers have already preceded me to speak several things about them in the Midrashim and in other places, by way of their simple understanding. And the depth of their wisdom, the strength of their understanding and their great holiness is stored in them — and even all the winds of the world cannot move them. And [regarding] anyone who is [able to] deepen counsel in their simple understanding, because he longs to “peer through the lattice,” to delight in the splendor of their vision and to gather from their leaves to gird himself with them - it is not fit to place blame upon him, but to bless him and to mention him for praise, “in the [place] that he is there”.

And now after this preface of ours — that the wisdom of God is greater than all wisdom and that He only commands a thing for our good and for our great benefit — we have no difficulty or question in all of the prohibition of foods and distancing of impurity, in everything that the benefit to us is not known and graspable by investigation; as we truthfully know, it is all for the good. And do not wonder, my son, about the matters of impurity, if it is very hidden from every creature — as it is possible that impurity injures the soul and makes it a little sick. And so [too,] have I heard the thing from the mouth of sages. And [it is] similar to that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Yoma 39a), “‘And thus become impure (v’nitmeitem) through them’ (Leviticus 11:43) — it is written [spelled] ‘and you shall become foolish (nitamtem)’”; meaning to say that the springs of the intellect, which is the living soul, is spoiled a little with the matter of impurity.

And do not wonder about the intellect being spoiled with physical things, even though that is not its type. As due to the partnership of the soul with the body, such occurs to it regardless. And if so, we — the sons of man — in the poverty of our intelligence, do not know the soul and its nature. And [so] how are we to tire ourselves to know its healing or sickness by way of investigation? Is it not that there [can be] no strategy for physicians in healing until they know the essence of the sickness? And therefore regarding all of the distancings of impurity that are in the Torah, we should not dig for their roots until we come to complete knowledge of the matters of the soul — to know its nature, where it comes from and where it is going. And understand this and know it, as in it there is a bit of an answer to all the roots of the commandments of impurity and purity. [This is the case] to the point that there is like a veil over our faces regarding the novelty of the red heifer that renders the pure impure, but purifies the impure. And there too will we write at length about the matter, with God’s help, [so as] to receive reward for the effort to find desirable words.

The laws of the commandment: For example, that which they, may their memory be blessed, said (Mishnah Kelim 1:1) that eight swarming creatures are called a primary source (av) of impurity, meaning to say that they render a man and vessels impure by touch; and if the vessels are of clay, they render them impure once they enter its space (hollow). And this is the distinction that there is in the matter between that which is called a primary source and that which is called a derivative (velad) — as that which is called a primary source renders a man and vessels impure, but that which is called a derivative does not render a man and vessels impure. And the swarming creatures only render impure after they die, as it is stated (Leviticus 11:31), “in their being dead, he shall become impure.” And it is specifically these swarming creatures that render impure, but all other swarming creatures — the snake, the scorpion and all that are similar to them — do not render impure at all. And the law of the swarming creatures is that they do not render impure by carrying without touching [directly]; and that one that touches them does not render his clothes impure when they are upon him at the time that he touches them. And the measure of the impurity of the swarming creature is like [the size of] a lentil. As behold, we found that the Torah renders them pure undifferentiatedly, and there are some of these swarming creatures that are only like a lentil. And all of the swarming creatures combine to [the measure of] like a lentil — meaning to say, even a little of this one and a little of that one combine to [form the size of] a lentil, to render impure; such that you not say that the liability is only like a lentil from one [creature] by itself (Meilah 15b).

And the law of living flesh that is separated from a swarming creature, a complete limb, the kidney, the liver, and the tongue (Chullin 128b); the law of their blood, their tendons, their claws, their skins and their eggs (Meilah 17a); the law that anyone that is rendered impure by them is forbidden from eating the priestly tithe and consecrated food and entering the Temple until he immerses [in a ritual bath] — and the matter of immersion is like we will explain in its commandment (Sefer HaChinukh 175), with God’s help — and that even after his immersion, he is forbidden to eat even the priestly tithe until the sun sets, and afterwards he is pure and eats; and the rest of its details are elucidated in the Order of Tahorot, and mostly in Tractate Kelim and Tahorot. (See Mishneh Torah, Laws of Other Sources of Defilement 4.)

And [it] is practiced in every place and at all times by males and females, regarding that anyone who is rendered impure by swarming creatures is called impure and does not emerge from his impurity until he immerses in water, like his law. And nonetheless now that — on account of our iniquities — we do not have a Temple nor pure objects, we should not count it in the tally of commandments practiced. And anyone who is rendered impure — and even on purpose — at any time, does not have a sin with this; but rather he is not permitted to touch consecrated things until he becomes pure. And nonetheless anyone who understands, should distance impurity, as the soul is elevated with purity.

And Ramban, may his memory be blessed, wrote that we should not count all the laws of impurities in the tally of the commandments; and in his Book of Commandments (on Sefer HaMitzvot, Positive Commandments 96), he wrote a correct reason for his words, and the intellect inclines towards him. And from my desire for brevity in this composition, I did not want to write all of his arguments, but behold in Commandment 96 in his book, you will find the matter at length. And at the end of the matter he said that God prevented us from doing [certain] things in impurity, and [so] it remained to make known to us what thing is impure; and he said that they are the touching of the dead and the swarming creatures and the others — all that are mentioned in the Torah — and that we should not truthfully count them as commandments of their own. And this is [like] that which we said that the [Temple service] of someone with a blemish is prevented, and [so] it remained for us to know which thing is a blemish. And in fact we do not count each and every blemish as a commandment.