And every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth shall be held abominable; it shall not be eaten. (Vayikra 11:41)

At the end of the Parsha, the Torah speaks about us not eating insects, cockroaches, creepy-crawling creatures. Rashi quotes the Tana Divei Rebbe Yishmael, who says that if it wouldn’t be for anything else, just that the Bnei Yisrael would not eat these insects, that would have been enough of a reason to take them out of Egypt. Rav Moshe Feinstein (1895 –1986) asks on this statement of Chazal: Most people in the Western World already feel so repulsed by these types of insects that they would not eat them even without a commandment. Insects are disgusting to most people, unlike ham and other non-kosher foods. So, what is so special about the Jew not eating these bugs?

He answers based on our practical application of this Mitzvah. Most people would generally prefer not to eat bugs, but if a bug happened to be in their lettuce, it wouldn’t bother them that much. However, it would bother Jews, who do not eat bugs because it is a commandment of Hashem. This is demonstrated by our being extra careful to continuously check to ensure that our foods are clean from bugs so that we don’t consume bugs even in very small amounts or even accidentally.

He explains this with the following idea: Even though we are naturally repulsed by these bugs, being that the Torah commanded us not to eat them, the commandment gives it religious significance, and we are by far more careful than a gentile would be. He calls not eating the bugs because they are repulsive a “shelo lishma” way of doing a mitzvah. We don’t eat bugs because we understand it is repulsive, but we also understand that it is a commandment from Hashem, and we get credit for relating to it as a mitzvah. This turns it into a Mitzvah Lishma.

Rav Shimshon Rafael Hirsch (1808 – 1888) takes this to another level. He tells us that the word “sheketz” means something which is diametrically opposed to our being. We are a holy people, and these creepy, crawly things are the opposite of who we are. Therefore, most of the things which we are not allowed to eat, we are not even allowed to possess or do business with them because they are a contradiction to our definition of being a Jew (albeit with a few exceptions, such as dealing with the forbidden fat (chelev), or owning non-kosher animals which are used for working purposes).

In English there is an expression “You are what you eat.” It seems that this idea has roots in Chazal, and we should not eat the things which are a contrast to what and who we are. I believe this is the basic understanding of a Chasidic statement, that a person who is careful regarding what he eats becomes a holier Jew.

Someone once came to Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (1910-1995) and asked him: I know someone who wants to start becoming religious. He is willing to start with either Shemiras Shabbos or keeping kosher, what should I tell him? Rav S.Z. said kashrus. The person asked, “But a person who violates Shabbos is punished with death by skila, whereas violating kashrus is only a negative commandment?!” Rav S. Z. answered that since the food one eats affects one spiritually, the quicker the person stops eating treif, the quicker he will be ready to become fully religious.

May we merit to eat only those things which are not only good for us physically but are good for our souls as well.