What the prophets eat – Sh’mini
We take it for granted that the prophets are male, but a comment of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev on this sidra focusses on a verse that says otherwise.
The sidra goes into great detail about permitted and forbidden foods.
Rabbi Levi Yitzchak points out that the non-kosher animals seem to share the characteristic of cruelty, which tells us that a person who eats such animals can be affected by a spirit of heartless cruelty.
If this applies to the ordinary person, all the more does it apply to the individual capable of becoming a prophet.
Who is it who has potential prophetic gifts? Joel 3:1 says, v’nib’u b’neichem uv’noteichem, “Your sons and daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions”.
If people, males or females, have the capacity to be prophets, it is all the more important, says Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, that they refrain from any foods – or deeds – which could sully their minds, hearts, souls and spirits.
