Sicha, 20 Menachem-Av 5746,
Likkutei Sichos vol. 19 pg. 222,
And Sicha, Shabbos Parshas Re’eh 5719
A. When You Desire to Eat Meat
In this week’s Torah reading, the Jews are told: Upon entering the Land, you will be permitted to eat meat whenever your soul desires. (Source 1)
Let’s explore the Torah’s stance on eating meat:
Adam was initially forbidden from eating meat, but after the Flood, he was permitted (Sources 2-3). The Rebbe explains that this was because after the Flood humanity weakened physically, and meat became a health necessity.
B. The Elevation of Sparks Through Eating Meat
The health aspect is connected to a spiritual fact: Before the Flood, people could suffice with the sparks of holiness found in plant life. However, after the Flood, higher sparks of holiness, found only in animals, were needed, hence meat became permitted.
Chassidic thought explains that ritual slaughter is the way to elevate the sparks of the animal to holiness. The Talmud states, “‘Slaughter’ means to draw” (Source 4), and Chassidut infuses these words with deeper meaning: the slaughterer draws the animal out of the physical realm and elevates it to spirituality. This is essentially the reason why we are permitted to slaughter animals, despite the suffering it causes them—because through the shechitah, the animal becomes part of the person, and later, through performing a mitzvah with the energy from the meat, the animal is elevated to become part of holiness—G-d. (Source 5)
When observing the world around us, we see how the inanimate fulfills its purpose by being absorbed into plant life; the plant’s purpose is to be absorbed into animal life; the animal’s purpose is to be absorbed into human life; and the purpose of human life is to elevate the energy of everything and connect it to G-d. (Source 6)
C. Who Can Elevate the Sparks?
Rabbi Yishmael says that when the Israelites were in the desert, they were forbidden to eat meat out of desire (rather only when offering a sacrifice), and only when they entered the Land of Israel were they permitted to eat meat. (Source 8)
Why?
The Rebbe explains: When can one eat meat? When there is an expansion of spiritual capacities, and a person has the ability to elevate the meat. In the desert, the Jews lived in a spiritual bubble where they received all their needs miraculously, with no connection to materialism. Therefore, they were not given the ability to elevate materialism. This is why they were forbidden from eating meat out of desire. Only when they reached the Land of Israel, where they had to engage with the material world to eat and live, did they also receive the ability to elevate and sanctify the meat, which is why they were then permitted to eat it.
When the soul hungers for the divine spark within the meat, it manifests in the body’s craving for physical meat, so that through this, the soul’s hunger for the divine spark within the meat can be satisfied.
