Vayikra 11:20

20 All fowls that creep, going upon all fours, shall be sheketz unto you.

Vayikra 11:20 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 11:20

All fowls that creep
Or rather "every creeping thing that flies"; for what are designed are not properly fowls, but, as the Jewish writers interpret them, flies, fleas, bees, wasps, hornets, locusts so the Targum of Jonathan, Jarchi, Ben Gersom, and Maimonides ^F25:

going upon [all] four;
that is, upon their four feet, when they walk or creep:

[these shall be] an abomination to you;
not used as food, but detested as such.

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FOOTNOTES:

F25 Maacolot Asurot, c. 2. l. 5.

Vayikra 11:20 In-Context

18 And the white owl, and the pelican, and the osprey,

19 And the stork, the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat.

20 All fowls that creep, going upon all fours, shall be sheketz unto you.

21 Yet these may ye eat of every winged insect that goeth upon all fours, which have jumping legs above their feet, to hop withal upon ha’aretz;

22 Even these of them ye may eat: the arbeh (locust) after its kind, and the katydid after its kind, and the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind.