Shemini: Why Can’t We Eat Bugs?

Sometimes I tackle topics that are too broad or deep for a 1-page article. This was one of those times. Still, I hope that the question and briefly stated answer at least provide food for thought.

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Shemini: Why Can’t We Eat Bugs?

The final topic addressed in Parashas Shemini is the prohibition against entomophagy (eating insects):

Every sheretz (swarming creature) that swarms upon the ground – it is sheketz (detestable), it shall not be eaten. Everything that creeps on its belly, and everything that walks on four legs, up to those with numerous legs, every sheretz that swarms upon the earth, you may not eat them, for they are sheketz … For I am Hashem your God – you are to make yourselves kadosh (holy), for I am kadosh; and you shall not make yourselves tamei (impure) through any sheretz that creeps on the earth. For I am Hashem Who brings you up from the land of Egypt to be a God unto you; you shall be kadosh, for I am kadosh. (Vayikra 11:41-45)

The basic question is: What’s so bad about eating bugs? Entomophagy is beneficial in numerous ways: insects are nutrient-efficient, sustainable and environment-friendly to farm, and have the potential to yield a number of other health benefits – yet, the Torah calls them “detestable.” This question is strengthened in light of a statement of the Sages (Bava Metzia 61b), who ask: “What is difference here, such that the Merciful One wrote: ‘Who brings you up from the land of Egypt,’ [as opposed to the usual: ‘Who brought you out from the land of Egypt’]?” They answer: “The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: ‘Had I brought the Jewish people up from Egypt only for this matter, so that they would not become impure by consuming creeping animals, it would be sufficient for Me.’” This is difficult. Didn’t Hashem bring us out of Egypt to fulfill the promise He made to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, or to give us the Torah, or so that we could be ‘a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’ (Shemos 19:6) and ‘as a light unto nations’ (Yeshayahu 51:4)? If He only brought us out to stop eating bugs, would that have been “enough”?

The prohibition against eating insects, like all kosher laws, is one of the chukim (decrees) – mitzvos that have reasons which are not obvious. Accordingly, there are many theories as to why the Torah prohibits the consumption of these species: some are predicated on assumptions (right or wrong) about the physiological effects of eating these creatures, others are based on symbolic ideas in ethics or philosophy, and others are based on mystical or esoteric traditions. But perhaps the simplest explanation is provided by Rabbeinu Bachya ben Asher:

The superior level of kedushah (holiness) of Israel over the other nations consists solely in [the observance of] Torah and mitzvos, for with Torah and mitzvos, their intellect will be strengthened, and their appetitive faculty weakened … and because of this, we were commanded in the mitzvos regarding prohibited foods and prohibited relationships … [for] through the mitzvos [such as these], the appetitive faculty is weakened and the rational faculty, for the sake of which man was created, prevails … The idea is that a person should abstain from [giving in to] the appetitive desires and should only utilize them for that which is necessary, because if a person is drawn after food and drink and sexual relations to excess, he will destroy his soul and his body … but anyone who minimizes [indulgence] even within the realm of the necessary and removes himself from complete excess is called “kadosh.”

According to Rabbeinu Bachya, “kedushah” is not a mystical or metaphysical quality that inheres in one who observes a kosher diet; rather, it is a human perfection acquired through the practice of self-restraint. To become kadosh is to cultivate a life in which one’s “divine spirit” (i.e. the rational faculty) prevails over the animalistic part of one’s nature. The laws of prohibited foods and prohibited sexual relations are designed to facilitate this type of development, as reflected in the Rambam’s decision to codify both categories of mitzvos in the Sefer Kedushah section of the Mishneh Torah. In line with this understanding, R’ David Tzvi Hoffmann (ibid.) explains: “Our pasuk tells us that the prohibited foods cause the soul to become detestable – in other words, they awaken the animalistic drives, thereby strengthening the appetitive faculty, which dominates man and crushes the divine spirit [within].” Perhaps this explains the statement of the Sages: if Hashem only took us out of Egypt for the most minimal level of kedushah – abstaining from eating a single category of creatures, which many of us already regard as detestable – that basic human perfection, alone, would have been a sufficient warrant for the Exodus.

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