Vayikra 11:8

8 Of their basar shall ye not eat, and their nevelah shall ye not touch; they are temei’im (unclean ones) to you.

Vayikra 11:8 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 11:8

Of their flesh shall ye not eat
Meaning, not of swine only, but of the camel, coney, and hare:

and their carcass shall ye not touch;
which must not be understood of touching them in any sense; for then it would have been unlawful for a Jew to have rode upon a camel, or to take out and make use of hog's lard in medicine; but of touching them in order to kill them, and prepare them for food, and eat them; and indeed all unnecessary touching of them is forbidden, lest it should bring them to the eating of them; though perhaps it may chiefly respect the touching of them dead:

they [are] unclean to you:
one and all of them; for as this was said of each of them in particular, so now of all of them together; and which holds good of all wild creatures not named, to whom the description above belongs, and which used to be eaten by other nations; some of which were called Pamphagi, from eating all sorts, and others Agriophagi, from eating wild creatures, as lions, panthers, elephants {l}


FOOTNOTES:

F12 Plin. l. 6. c. 30. Solinus, c. 43.

Vayikra 11:8 In-Context

6 And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but separateth not the hoof; he is temeiah (unclean) unto you.
7 And the chazir (swine), though he separate the hoof, and be separated into double hooves, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is tamei to you.
8 Of their basar shall ye not eat, and their nevelah shall ye not touch; they are temei’im (unclean ones) to you.
9 These shall ye eat of all that are in the mayim; whatsoever hath fins and scales in the mayim, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.
10 And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that swarm in the mayim, and of any nefesh hachayyah which is in the mayim, they shall be sheketz (abomination, detestable) unto you;
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