Conclusion of the Installation Rites
On the eighth day of the installation rites, 1 Nisan 2449, after erecting the Tabernacle and performing all the rites he was commanded to perform himself, Moses summoned Aaron, Aaron’s sons, and the elders of Israel, to inform them that now that he had completed the installation rites, God had commanded him to have Aaron enter the Tabernacle and perform the rest of the day’s rites, and that Aaron was not doing so on his own initiative.

Moses said to Aaron, “Take for yourself a calf in its second year as a sin-offering, and a ram as an ascent-offering, both of them unblemished, and bring them near before GOD. The calf will signify that God has forgiven you for your part in the incident of the Golden Calf.

You must speak to the Israelites, saying, ‘Take collectively a he-goat as a sin-offering; a calf and a lamb, both in their first year and both unblemished, as an ascent-offering;

an ox and a ram as peace-offerings, to slaughter before GOD; and a grain-offering kneaded with oil and baked as unleavened loaves, for today GOD is appearing to you by manifesting His presence in the Tabernacle you have built, but in order for this to happen, we must first perform these rites.’”

They went and took what Moses had commanded them to take to the front of the Tent of Meeting, and then, once again, the entire community approached the Tent of Meeting and stood before GOD.

Moses said, “This – the following procedure – is what GOD has commanded you to do in order that the glory of GOD appear to you.”

Aaron, still cognizant of his role in the incident of the Golden Calf, was embarrassed and afraid to approach the Altar, so Moses said to Aaron, “Why are you embarrassed? You were chosen for this role! Approach the Altar and offer up the young calf as your sin-offering and the ram as your ascent-offering, atoning for yourself and for the people, and offer up the he-goat, the calf, and the lamb as the people’s sacrifice, atoning for them, as GOD has commanded.”

Aaron’s Sin-Offering Calf
So Aaron approached the Altar and slaughtered his sin-offering calf.

Aaron’s sons received the blood in a vessel and brought the blood to him. He dipped his finger into the blood, placing some on the protrusions of the Altar and pouring the rest of the blood onto the base of the Altar.

He burned up the fat, the kidneys, and the diaphragm, along with part of the liver from the sin-offering on the Altar, as GOD had commanded Moses.

As commanded, he burned the flesh and the hide in fire, outside the camp. This was an exception to the rule that only sin-offerings whose blood is applied to the Inner Altar must be burned up.

Aaron’s Ascent-Offering Ram
He slaughtered the ascent-offering. Aaron’s sons received its blood in a vessel and presented the blood to him in the vessel, ready for application on the Altar, and he took it from them and dashed it upon the northeast and southwest corners of the Altar, such that the blood could be considered to be encircling the Altar.

They also presented the ascent-offering to him cut into its prescribed pieces, ready for burning up, along with the head. He burned them up on the Altar.

He washed the innards and the legs, and burned them up on the Altar, on top of the burning fat parts of the ascent-offering.

He then brought forward the animals for the people’s sacrifice. He took the people’s sin-offering goat, slaughtered it, and performed all the procedures of a sin-offering on it, just like the first sacrifice he had offered up, his own sin-offering.

He brought forward the calf and the lamb for the ascent-offering and offered it up according to the regulation of a voluntary ascent-offering, for the procedures followed for voluntary and obligatory ascent-offerings are identical.

He brought forward the grain-offering, filled his palm with a fistful of it, and burned it up on the Altar. As commanded, he performed all these rites after the morning ascent-offering, which Moses had already offered up.

The People’s Peace-Offering
He slaughtered the ox and the ram as the people’s peace-promoting feast-offering. Aaron’s sons received their blood in vessels and presented the blood to him in these vessels, ready for application on the Altar, and he took it from them and dashed it upon the northeast and southwest corners of the Altar, such that the blood could be considered to be encircling the Altar,

and they also presented the fats and their associated parts from the ox and from the ram, including the tail (in the case of the ram), the fat covering the innards, the kidneys, and the diaphragm with part of the liver.

For both animals, after Aaron waved the fats, breasts, and leg – for which purpose the breasts and leg were on top of the fats – they flipped these parts of the animal into the hand of another priest, and thereby they placed the fats on top of the breasts, and Aaron burned up the fats on the Altar.

Before this, Aaron had already waved the breasts and the right hind midleg as a wave-offering before GOD, as Moses had commanded them.

Aaron’s Blessing
Having concluded the special rites for this day, Aaron, still standing atop the Altar, lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them, using the text of the priestly blessing (which, although it would only be given a month later, was already known). He then descended from the Altar, after having offered up the sin-offering, the ascent-offering, and the peace-offering. But still no fire had descended from heaven to devour the sacrifices. Aaron felt that this was his fault, because God had not fully forgiven him for the role he played in the incident of the Golden Calf. He complained to Moses, “I did all this only because you told me to; did you intend to embarrass me like this?”

So Moses and Aaron went into the Tent of Meeting, firstly so Moses could instruct Aaron how to perform the rite of the incense, but also to pray that God manifest His presence by sending fire down from heaven to devour the sacrifices, thereby showing that He accepted them. Then they came out and blessed the people, first referring to their own performance of the installation rites during the past week, saying: “May the pleasantness of God, our God – His presence – rest upon us in all that we have done.” Then, addressing the people directly, they concluded, “And through Aaron’s performance of these rites, may the Divine Presence rest upon your handiwork, the Tabernacle.” After they finished praying and blessing the people, the glory of GOD finally appeared to all the people, as follows:

Fire went forth from heaven, descending from before GOD, and consumed the ascent-offering and the fats upon the Altar. All the people saw this, sang praises, and fell upon their faces, prostrating themselves before God.

The Death of Nadav and Avihu
Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu, each took a fire pan, put coals that were on fire in it, placed incense upon the fire, and thus brought before GOD (i.e., into the Holy of Holies) a fire that was foreign – i.e., unauthorized – as far as they were concerned, inasmuch as He had not commanded them to offer it up (or offer it up in this way), although He had indeed commanded Moses to offer it up.

This incense offering did indeed elicit a revelation of the Divine Presence similar to the one that had just occurred: fire went forth from before GOD (i.e., from the Holy of Holies). However, in this case, because Nadav and Avihu had offered the incense improperly, the fire issued in the form of two pairs of flames that entered their nostrils and consumed them – i.e., their souls, leaving their bodies and clothing intact – and thus they died there, before GOD.

Seeing that they died, Moses said to Aaron, comforting him, “This is evidently what GOD spoke about when He said, ‘I will be sanctified through the example I will make of those whom I have chosen to be nearest to Me, and in this same way I will be honored before all the people.’” Aaron and his sons were silent, accepting God’s decree and Moses’ consolation.

Moses summoned his cousins Misha’eil and Eltzafan, the sons of his and Aaron’s uncle Uzi’eil, and said to them, “In order not to allow the sadness of this tragedy to mitigate our joy over the dedication of God’s Tabernacle, draw near and carry your dead relatives from before the Sanctuary to outside of the camp.”

So Misha’eil and Eltzafan approached and carried Nadav and Avihu, who were still dressed in their intact, priestly tunics, to outside the camp, as Moses had spoken.

Moses’ Instructions to the Mourners
Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Itamar, “Those mourning the death of close relatives – even priests – must let their hair grow uncut for at least 30 days and rend their garments, as an expression of mourning. The high priest, however, must not observe these practices. Inasmuch as all three of you are being installed as priests and are thereby participating in the inauguration of God’s Tabernacle, it is not appropriate for any of you to dampen the joy of the celebration by observing mourning practices. For this reason, the stringencies that normally apply only to the high priest apply today to all three of you. Therefore, do not let your head’s hair grow and do not rend your garments, so that you not die – for doing so will be accounted a capital offense – and lest He be angry with the entire community. Rather, let your brothers, the entire house of Israel, bewail the death of your family members, the victims of the conflagration that GOD has set ablaze, in your stead and on your behalf. This will also serve as a precedent, that the community must participate in the grief of its spiritual leaders when they are in mourning.

And, as you have been commanded, and similar, too, to a high priest, do not go out of the entrance to the Courtyard of the Tent of Meeting, lest you die, because GOD’s anointing oil has been placed upon you.” They did as Moses told them.

God addressed the following legal passage to Aaron directly – rather than through Moses – in reward for his having accepted his sons’ punishment without protest. GOD spoke to Aaron, saying,

Officiating in the Tabernacle While Intoxicated
“Do not drink wine in such a way that will lead to intoxication, neither you nor your sons with you, neither when you enter the Tent of Meeting nor when you approach the Outer Altar, so that you not die, for doing so is a capital offense. This is an eternal statute for your generations.

Only when you are sober is there any reason to distinguish between which actions render the sacrifices you offer up holy and which disqualify them, rendering them profane; and between priests who are ritually defiled and therefore unfit for service and those who are not ritually defiled and therefore fit for service – whereas if you are intoxicated, whatever sacrificial rites you perform are automatically disqualified, even if you had performed them correctly and were undefiled when you performed them.

Similarly, only a sober person is fit to instruct the Israelites regarding all the rules that GOD has spoken to them through Moses; an intoxicated person is unfit to teach. Nevertheless, a sage who does render a legal decision while intoxicated is not subject to the death penalty, as are priests who officiate while intoxicated.”

The Aftermath of the Death of Nadav and Avihu
Moses spoke as follows to Aaron and his surviving sons, Eleazar and Itamar: “Take the portions of the grain-offerings left over after their memorial portions were burned up as GOD’s fire-offerings and eat them as unleavened loaves. You must eat these grain-offerings near the Altar, i.e., within the Tabernacle precincts, for they are sacrifices of superior holiness.

You must eat them in a holy place, i.e., the Tabernacle precincts, because they are sacrifices of superior holiness, and for this same reason” – here Moses addressed Aaron alone – “the priests’ portions are only your portion and your sons’ portion from GOD’s fire-offerings but not your wives’ or daughters’ portions. Eleazar and Itamar must eat them, even though their brothers died today, for so have I been commanded by God, that today is an exception to the rule.”

Addressing again Aaron and his two sons together, Moses continued, “You must also eat your portions of the installation peace-offerings; however, you do not have to do so within the Tabernacle precincts, for, being peace-offerings, they are sacrifices of lesser holiness. Therefore, you must only take care to eat the breast used as the wave-offering and the right hind midleg used as the raised-offering in an undefiled place, i.e., anywhere within the borders of the Israelite camp. Furthermore, you may eat your portions of these sacrifices together with your sons and your daughters, for although they have been given only as your portion and your sons’ portion from the peace-promoting feast-offerings of the Israelites – i.e., only priests receive portions – you and your sons may share your portions with the female members of your families.

As explained previously with regard to all peace-offerings, the priests must bring the hind midleg used as the raised-offering and the breast used as the wave-offering placed on top of the fats used as fire-offerings in order to wave them as a wave-offering before GOD. It will belong to you and to your sons with you as an eternal entitlement, as GOD has commanded.”

Moses inquired about the sin-offering he-goat for the first of the month when he noticed that Aaron and his sons were not eating it, and discovered that it had been burned. Wondering if Aaron and his sons had decided that being in mourning precluded them from eating any sacrifices other than the two grain-offerings that had been mentioned explicitly, Moses inquired about the other sacrifices and found that they had been eaten. So he became angry with Aaron for his seemingly careless attitude toward God’s instructions. But out of respect for Aaron, he instead accosted Eleazar and Itamar, Aaron’s surviving sons, demanding a response to his question,

“Why did you not eat the sin-offering for the first of the month? Was it perhaps at any time not in the holy place, i.e., the Tabernacle precincts, thereby being rendered unfit for consumption – for it is a sacrifice of superior holiness, which becomes disqualified if taken out of the Tabernacle precincts?” They answered, “No, it was not.” “If so,” Moses continued, “why did you not eat it as required? God has given it to you to eat in order to thereby gain forgiveness for the sin of the community – in case anyone unknowingly entered the Tabernacle or ate sacrifices while either they or the sacrifices were in a state of defilement – to effect their atonement before GOD! The atonement of the community is contingent upon your eating the sacrifices, so even if you wished to be more stringent than was required of you – by refraining from eating them because of your state of mourning – you had no right to be!

Behold, its blood was not brought into the Sanctuary, which would also have necessitated burning it, so you should have surely eaten it within holy precincts, even though your brothers died today, as I commanded you with regard to the grain-offering, which, like the sin-offering, is a sacrifice of superior holiness and which therefore can be taken as a precedent for the sin-offering!”

The Resolution
Although Eleazar and Itamar could have responded conclusively to Moses, they felt it would not be respectful to Aaron, their father, to speak in his presence, nor would it be respectful to contradict Moses, their teacher. So they remained silent and waited for Aaron to respond. Seeing this, Aaron said harshly to Moses, “Did they offer up their sin-offering or their ascent-offering today before GOD? Therefore, inasmuch as tragic events like these befell me, and I am in mourning, if I had eaten a regular sin-offering today, would it have pleased GOD? He Himself has taught us that mourners may not eat sacrificial meat!”

Moses heard and understood this explanation, and accepted it. It pleased him so much that he was not ashamed to admit that Aaron’s argument was superior to his, and he let it be known that he accepted Aaron’s conclusion even though he only heard it from him, not from God. In his anger, what was obvious to Aaron eluded him.

GOD spoke to Moses, instructing him to convey His words to Aaron, so that he in turn should say to his sons Eleazar and Itamar:

Mammals Permitted and Prohibited for Consumption
“Speak, the two of you, to the Israelites, saying: ‘The following are the creatures that you may eat.’” As Moses (and in turn, Aaron, his sons, and the princes) mentioned specific animals, he showed them specimens of each. “‘Among all the land-animals:

Any whose feet are not only partially cloven but completely split into at least two sub-feet, and that regurgitates its cud. You must only eat such animals. The prohibition against eating animals that do not meet these requirements, couched later as a restrictive commandment, is here also subject to an active commandment. If there is a fetus inside such an animal, once you slaughter the mother you may eat the fetus without having to slaughter it separately; even if it could survive on its own, you may kill it without ritual slaughter.

But of those animals that regurgitate the cud or have split feet, you must not eat: the camel, because it regurgitates its cud but does not have completely cloven feet; eating it renders you spiritually defiled,

the hyrax, because it regurgitates its cud but does not have completely cloven feet; eating it renders you spiritually defiled,

and the hare, because it regurgitates its cud but does not have completely cloven feet; eating it renders you spiritually defiled,

and the pig, because it has cloven feet that are completely split but does not regurgitate its cud; eating it renders you spiritually defiled.

You must not eat them, because they exhibit only one of the two signs of permitted animals. Similarly, you must not eat other animals that exhibit only one of the two signs, and certainly not animals that exhibit neither of the two signs. Nonetheless, you transgress the prohibition against eating such animals only by eating of their flesh, not of their bones, sinews, horns, or hooves. If you eat these, you transgress only the active commandment to only eat permitted animals. During the pilgrim festivals, you must not touch their carcasses, because doing so renders you ritually defiled.

Fish Permitted and Prohibited for Consumption
Among all creatures that live in the water, you may eat these: Any creature in the water that has fins and scales. Among the creatures that live in the seas, rivers, or any other body of non-stagnant water, you may eat only these.

But if it lives in a sea, river, or any other body of non-stagnant water, then among all the crawling creatures in the water and among all the living creatures that live in the water, you must consider loathsome – and therefore not eat – whatever does not have fins and scales.

You must consider them so loathsome that you will not even eat other food with which they were cooked or pickled if their taste is still recognizable in it. If their taste is not recognizable, however, you may eat the other food. You may not eat of their flesh; however, you may eat their bones and fins, if they have any. With regard to creatures that live in stagnant water, you may consume them along with the water they live in, even if they do not possess fins and scales and even if they are still alive. But you must consider their carcasses loathsome – and therefore not eat them – once they leave or are removed from their native water.

Fish that possess fins and scales when in the water but shed their fins or scales when they leave the water remain permitted for consumption; you must consider loathsome – and therefore not eat – only any creature that does not have fins and scales while it is in the water.

Fowl Permitted and Prohibited for Consumption
Among fowl, you must consider the following loathsome and not eat them. And not only must you not eat them yourselves, they must also not be eaten by others – e.g., minors – through your agency, for they are to be considered so loathsome that you will not even feed them to your young children, even though they are technically exempt from keeping the Torah’s laws until they reach majority. The griffon vulture, the bearded vulture, the osprey,

the various other species of vulture,

any type of species of crow,

the ostrich, the cuckoo, the gull, the various species of sparrow hawk,

the screech owl, the cormorant, the barn owl,

the bat, the pelican, the magpie,

the stork, the various species of heron, the hoopoe, and the ataleif. All other fowl are permitted for consumption.

Flying Crawling Creatures Permitted and Prohibited for Consumption
You must consider loathsome – and therefore not eat – any crawling creature that also flies and walks on four legs – such as flies, wasps, mosquitoes, and forbidden species of grasshopper.

However, among all the flying crawling creatures that walk on four legs, you may eat from those (a) that have jointed leg-like extensions above their regular legs, close to their necks, with which they hop on the ground; (b) that have four wings; and (c) whose wings cover the greater part of their bodies.

From among those that satisfy these criteria, you may eat the following: the red locust and all varieties of its species, the yellow locust and all varieties of its species, the spotted gray locust and all varieties of its species, and the white locust and all varieties of its species.

Nonetheless, it is only any four-legged flying crawling creature that does not satisfy these criteria that you must consider loathsome. You may, however, eat five-legged flying crawling creatures that do not satisfy these criteria, as long as they are members of the four above-named species of locust. Additional laws concerning animals prohibited for consumption will be given presently.

Defilement by Contact with Animals Prohibited for Consumption
You will become ritually defiled through contact with the carcasses of the following animals. Anyone who touches their carcass will be ritually defiled until he immerses himself in a mikveh during the day and then waits until nightfall,

but anyone who carries their carcass must also immerse his garments in a mikveh, besides becoming ritually defiled himself until he immerses himself in a mikveh and then waits until nightfall.

You must consider the carcass of any animal whose feet are partially cloven but not completely split into at least two sub-feet, and that does not regurgitate its cud, to be ritually defiled, meaning that anyone who touches it will become ritually defiled. An example of such an animal is the camel. The same rules apply to any animal that is forbidden for consumption.

Among all the animals that walk on four legs, you must consider the carcass of any animal that walks on its paws to be ritually defiled, meaning that anyone who touches their carcass will be ritually defiled until he immerses himself in a mikveh and then waits until nightfall. This includes dogs, bears, and cats.

Anyone who carries their carcass must immerse his garments in a mikveh, besides becoming ritually defiled himself until he immerses himself in a mikveh and then waits until nightfall. You must consider these animals ritually defiled in this respect, as well.

Although all crawling creatures (except the types of grasshoppers mentioned above) are prohibited for consumption (since none of them satisfy the requirements for permitted animals), only the carcasses of eight types of them impart ritual defilement. You must consider the following ritually defiled among crawling creatures that crawl on the ground: the carcasses of the weasel, the mouse, the toad and all varieties of its species,

the hedgehog, the chameleon, the lizard, the snail, and the mole.

The above-mentioned creatures are the ones among all crawling creatures whose carcasses you must consider ritually defiled, in that anyone who touches them when they are dead will be ritually defiled until he immerses himself in a mikveh and then waits until nightfall. A piece of the carcass of one of these creatures imparts ritual defilement only if its volume is equal to or greater than that of a lentil.

All the aforementioned animals do not only impart ritual defilement to you: if any of these dead creatures falls upon anything, it will also become ritually defiled, i.e., prohibited from being brought into precincts that are off-limits to ritually defiled people, and disqualified for holding consecrated food. This rule applies whether the object be any wooden vessel, garment, hide, or sack – in fact, any implement with which work is done. In order to purge it of its ritual defilement, it must be immersed in the water of a mikveh, but even after that it will remain ritually defiled until nightfall, after which it will be rid of this defilement.

In contrast, no earthenware vessel becomes ritually defiled unless the carcasses of any of these animals fall into its interior, but not if they merely touch its exterior. If they do fall into it or are suspended inside it, however, whatever food or drink (as will be specified presently) is inside it will become ritually defiled, even if the defiling creature did not touch the vessel or the entity inside it. Moreover, you must shatter the vessel itself, for earthenware vessels are not freed of ritual defilement any other way; immersing them in a mikveh does not purge them of ritual defilement.

As to the types of food and drink that are susceptible to ritual defilement: Any portion of food that is usually eaten – and, if it is a fruit or vegetable, upon which water has fallen once it was plucked from the ground or its tree – can become ritually defiled. In addition, any of seven specific beverages that can be drunk in a vessel – water, wine, olive oil, blood, milk, dew, and bee honey – can become ritually defiled. Not only contact with water, but also contact with any of the other just-mentioned beverages that can be drunk in a vessel will render plucked food susceptible to becoming ritually defiled, even if the food had already dried off at the time of defilement.

Anything upon which any part of the carcasses of these aforementioned animals falls will become ritually defiled. Thus, a portable earthenware oven or stove, once they have become ritually defiled as described above, must be demolished – similar to the case of the earthenware vessel described previously – and their pieces reassembled into a new oven or stove if you wish to use them to prepare ritually undefiled food. If, however, you want to use them to prepare ritually defiled food, which you may eat as long as you understand the restrictions that doing so places upon you, you may keep them intact for use in their defiled state. In contrast, an immovable oven or stove that is built into the ground does not contract ritual defilement, even if it is earthenware.

It was just mentioned that water contained in a vessel can become defiled if the carcass of a defiling creature falls into it. But the water in a spring, a cistern, or a gathering of water (mikveh) that is built into or hewn out of the ground remains undefiled, even if a defiling carcass falls into it. Furthermore, a ritually defiled person who immerses himself or herself in a spring, cistern, or gathering of water that is built into or hewn out of the ground becomes rid of this defilement, either totally or partially, depending upon the situation. Nevertheless, even someone who is inside such a mikveh when he or she touches the carcass of these creatures will become defiled. In order to be rid of defilement, the person must separate from the carcass and immerse himself again.

Regarding the role of liquids in rendering plant-derived foods susceptible to ritual defilement, the rule is as follows: If any part of the carcass of any of these aforementioned animals falls upon any sown plant while it is still sown, i.e., before it has been uprooted, it remains undefiled,

but if water or any of the other six aforementioned liquids is put upon sown plants that have been uprooted, or the uprooted plant falls into any of these seven liquids, and then, even after they have subsequently dried off, any of their carcasses falls on them, they become ritually defiled for you.

Defilement by Contact with Animals Permitted for Consumption
If an animal that you are permitted to eat dies by any means other than proper ritual slaughter, one who touches its carcass will be ritually defiled until he immerses himself in a mikveh and then waits until nightfall, just as in the case of one who touches the carcass of an animal forbidden for consumption. In contrast, touching such an animal’s bones, sinews, horns, hooves, or hide does not render a person ritually defiled. If the animal was properly ritually slaughtered, its carcass does not impart ritual defilement, even if the animal is found to have been suffering from a fatal disease or injury.

One who carries a part of the carcass of a permitted animal whose volume is equivalent to the volume that one who eats of the same carcass would have to ingest in order to be culpable for punishment for doing so, i.e., the volume of an olive [approximately 29 ml or 0.05 pint] or more, must immerse his garments in a mikveh, besides being ritually defiled himself until he immerses himself in a mikveh and waits until nightfall. Thus, one who carries the carcass of a permitted animal must purify himself exactly as one who carries the carcass of a forbidden animal: he must immerse his garments in a mikveh, and he himself will remain ritually defiled until he immerses himself in a mikveh and then waits until nightfall.

We discussed previously which flying crawling creatures are permitted and prohibited for consumption. Any non-flying crawling creature that crawls on the ground is considered loathsome, and therefore it must be neither eaten by you nor fed to others – e.g., minors. In contrast, a non-flying crawling creature that began its life inside a fruit or vegetable and has not yet crawled on the ground (or emerged from the fruit or vegetable in any other way) is not forbidden for consumption.

Among all crawling creatures that only crawl on the ground, you may not eat the snake, who moves about bent over and then falls on its belly; any creature that moves about only on its belly, such as a worm; the scorpion, who walks on four legs; and any creature that walks on more than four legs, such as a beetle, including any type of centipede or other creature that has many legs. You may not eat these, for they, too, must be considered loathsome.

Non-Flying Crawling Creatures Prohibited for Consumption
You must not make yourselves loathsome by eating any crawling creature that only crawls on the ground. You must not spiritually defile yourselves by eating them, for if you do, you will remain spiritually defiled in the afterlife through having eaten them in this life, unless you properly repent beforehand.’”

God instructed Moses to tell Aaron to tell his sons to conclude this section by saying in His name, “For I am GOD, your God, and therefore, just as your God is holy, so must you sanctify yourselves; then you will also be holy in the afterlife, just as I am holy. As stated, you must not defile yourselves by eating any crawling creature that crawls on the ground. I am repeating this prohibition in order to make you liable to multiple punishments if you transgress it – subject to what kind of forbidden creature you eat.

You must obey these commandments because I am GOD, who brought you up from Egypt on the condition that I be your God and you submit to My decrees. Thus, you must be holy in this respect, because I am holy and command you to be so. But in any case, you should appreciate these restrictions; in fact, if I would have taken you out of Egypt solely in order to forbid you to eat these creatures – which the Egyptians and others do eat – you should have considered it a significant enough spiritual elevation for you to thank Me.

The above section is the law regarding the permissibility of eating mammals, fowl, all living creatures that move in water, and all creatures that creep on the ground, as well as the ritual impurity contracted by contact with them.

Further Requirements for Animals Permitted for Consumption
With regard to animals that are permitted for consumption, you must additionally be proficient and practiced in the laws of ritual slaughter as well as expert in identifying the signs of fatal diseases or injuries for which you must inspect the animal after slaughtering it. Specifically, you must be easily able to distinguish between improper ritual slaughter, which causes the animal’s carcass to be ritually defiled, and proper ritual slaughter, which leaves the dead animal ritually undefiled. For example, if, when slaughtering cattle, sheep, or goats, the trachea was cut only halfway, the slaughter is invalid and you will become ritually defiled if you touch the animal’s carcass, whereas if its trachea was cut even slightly more than halfway, the slaughter was valid and the dead animal does not impart ritual defilement. The difference between these two cases is very slight, so you must learn how to distinguish between them. Similarly, when you examine an animal after it was properly ritually slaughtered, you must be able to distinguish between an animal that is allowed to be eaten and an animal that may not be eaten. Specifically, if there are indications that the animal had been suffering from a fatal disease or injury, it is forbidden for consumption – despite it having been properly ritually slaughtered; however, if it does show signs of disease or injury but only of one that is not fatal, it is permitted for consumption. The difference between these two cases can be very slight, so you must learn how to distinguish between them.”