FIRST KASHRUT SOURCES · 1 OF 5
Two signs together
Read the Torah’s two land-animal signs together, compare Rambam’s formulation, and separate a permitted kind from prepared food.
In this lesson
Bring Torah learning to the table
Kashrut is the body of Jewish laws about what we may eat and how food is prepared. It belongs to halakhah, Jewish law that guides our actions. We begin with one question: which kinds of land animals does the Torah permit for food?
The Torah, the five books of Moses, gives the starting text. In Leviticus 11, Hashem, God, directs Moses and Aharon to teach Israel distinctions among living creatures. We will read the signs in verse 3, examine two of the passage’s contrasts, and then read how Rambam states the rule.
Two words will recur. טהור, tahor, and טמא, tamei, often appear in English as “pure” and “impure.” In our discussion of animal kinds, they distinguish a permitted kind from a forbidden kind for food. These are the source’s classifications, not a measure of dirt or an animal’s moral worth.
Read the two signs
כֹּל מַפְרֶסֶת פַּרְסָה וְשֹׁסַעַת שֶׁסַע פְּרָסֹת מַעֲלַת גֵּרָה בַּבְּהֵמָה אֹתָהּ תֹּאכֵלוּ.
Among the land animals, any that has a divided hoof, with the hoof fully split, and brings up cud: that you may eat.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
- מפרסת פרסה · A divided hoof
- The following words, ושסעת שסע פרסת, specify that the hoof is fully split. These descriptions belong to one hoof sign.
- מעלת גרה · Brings up cud
- Cud is food brought back up for further chewing. This is the second sign.
Cover the English and find the Hebrew words for bringing up cud. Then locate the words that describe the hoof.
1. Which phrase names the cud sign?
מעלת גרה names bringing up cud. The hoof wording begins with מפרסת פרסה and continues with the description of the full split.
2. Does the verse give one sign, two signs or three?
Two signs: the fully divided hoof and bringing up cud. The two descriptions of the hoof work together; counting them as two separate signs would turn the verse into a misleading three-item checklist.
One sign does not complete the pair
Verse 4 describes the camel as bringing up cud but lacking the required divided hoof. It concludes טמא הוא לכם, “It is tamei for you.” The passage itself gives us a case in which possessing one sign does not make the animal a permitted kind.
3. What does the camel example rule out?
It rules out reading the signs as alternatives: “bringing up cud or a divided hoof.” According to verse 4, the cud sign alone is not enough. We must keep the pair together.
Now try the reverse contrast before opening its English. Verse 7 describes the pig:
כי מפריס פרסה הוא ושסע שסע פרסה והוא גרה לא יגר
Use this key: כי = because; הוא = it; ושסע שסע פרסה = and its hoof is fully split; והוא גרה לא יגר = but it does not chew cud. Combine these with the hoof words above. Say which sign the verse affirms and which it denies.
4. How does verse 7 reverse the earlier example?
Our rendering is: “Because it has a divided hoof, with the hoof fully split, but it does not chew cud.” The pig has the hoof sign but lacks the cud sign. The verse again concludes that it is tamei. The camel and pig examples show the missing sign from opposite directions.
Hear the rule stated directly
Rambam, Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, organizes Jewish law in the Mishneh Torah. This later law code is a different work from the Mishnah, our sages’ earlier collection of teachings. His section called Forbidden Foods begins by teaching distinctions among permitted and forbidden kinds.
סימני בהמה וחיה נתפרשו בתורה, והם שני סימנין: מפרסת פרסה, ומעלת גרה, עד שיהיו שניהם.
The signs of domesticated and wild land animals are explained in the Torah, and they are two signs: a divided hoof and bringing up cud, with both required.
English rendering by Messianic Yeshiva
סימן, siman, means a sign; סימנין, simanin, means signs here. The final words עד שיהיו שניהם make the combined requirement explicit.
5. What does Rambam make explicit that the Torah’s examples helped us see?
Both signs are required. Leviticus 11:3 presents the pair, and verses 4 and 7 reject cases with only one. Rambam states the combined requirement directly in a law code. These are two source presentations of the same requirement, not two competing animal tests.
Repair a reading
A study note says: “A land animal qualifies if it has either the hoof sign or the cud sign. If it has both, that is an extra advantage.” Rewrite the note in one sentence and cite the shortest source phrase that corrects it.
6. What must change in the note?
Write: “The land-animal signs must occur together: the required divided hoof and bringing up cud.” Rambam’s עד שיהיו שניהם, “with both required,” supplies the direct correction. Both is the requirement, not an optional extra.
Keep the next question distinct
Identifying a permitted land-animal kind is one part of kashrut. Its meat still needs the required preparation. Rambam’s Laws of Slaughter 1:1 begins by requiring shechitah, the prescribed slaughter, before eating meat.
Keep two questions on separate lines in your notes: Is this a permitted kind? and Has this food met the requirements for eating? Learning the first distinction helps us ask the second accurately.
7. What is missing from “The kind has both signs, so this meat is ready to eat”?
The sentence moves from identifying the kind to deciding the status of particular meat without establishing the required preparation. The two signs address the kind. Laws of Slaughter 1:1 shows that further requirements remain.
Return next session
Without looking above, name the two signs, explain why the hoof wording counts as one sign, and use either the camel or pig example to show why one sign is insufficient. Then state what tahor means in this lesson’s discussion of kinds.
8. What should you recover?
The required divided hoof and bringing up cud must occur together. The description of the full split completes the hoof sign. The camel example lacks that sign; the pig example lacks the cud sign. Here tahor identifies a permitted kind for food. It does not by itself establish that a particular serving of meat is ready to eat.
Read in context
Read Leviticus 11:1–8 for the setting, signs and contrasting cases. Compare Mishneh Torah, Forbidden Foods 1:1–2 for Rambam’s formulation and Laws of Slaughter 1:1 for the preparation distinction. The English renderings and activities are our own.
Continue with Fins and scales to see how the sources discuss another group.