Parsha_Push Achrei Mot

Many times, there is a gap between how most people perceive certain actions and how the Torah addresses them. Sometimes the gap appears in the Torah itself, when it relates to the same actions differently in different places. In our Parsha, the Torah deals with people slaughtering meat in the desert. According to many, the case in mind is slaughtering for the sake of eating meat, without bringing it as an offering. The Torah describes this slaughtering as shedding blood.
Elsewhere shedding blood is described as murder: “Whoever sheds human blood, by human [hands] shall that one’s blood be shed; For in the image of God was humankind made”. Nowadays many consider eating meat as murder, but they probably wouldn’t approve of sacrifices or eating holy meat, either.
The surprise comes when we see that when the Torah describes that on entering the land of Israel, it will be permissible to meat, as long as one makes sure to shed the blood on the ground. In our parsha also animals and fowl can be eaten if one sheds the blood and covers it.
So, despite the negative use lately of the concept “context matters” to justify anti-Semitism, context does actually matter. The Torah addresses circumstances differently according to the context. In the desert one could not eat non-sacred meat, just like Adam and Eve were allotted only fruits and vegetables in their diet. Once Noah left the ark, and once the people of Israel enter the land of Israel, eating meat is permitted. But not only do the rules change, the context affects the language. When regular meat eating is prohibited, slaughtering the meat is parallel to murder, but when permitted, the blood shedding is a requirement.
In recent days, our soldiers have been sent to shed blood, following on from God’s words to shed the blood of murderers and to prefer our own lives to our enemy’s. Our sages learned of the high value of life from the verse in our parsha that the laws of God are intended for the sake of living, and yet sometimes the right thing to do in a particular context is to shed the blood of those threatening that life itself.
May we pray that we live to keep the mitzvot, safe and secure.