To Sell, or to Give? Increasing Holiness When Unloading 'Neveilah'

Parshat Re'eh

by Rabbi Avi Billet

“Don’t eat ‘neveilah’ (meat from the carcass of an animal that dies a natural death) – give it to the ‘ger’ who lives in your gates, and he shall eat it. Or sell it to the ‘stranger.’ For you are a holy nation to the Lord your God. Don’t cook kid in its mother’s milk.” (Devarim 14:21)

 The word ‘ger’ in this sentence clearly does not refer to the person who converts to Judaism, because the convert is a Jew who is obligated in all the mitzvot of the Torah. This is why the Midrash Aggadah (quoted by Rashi) identifies the ‘ger’ as a ‘ger toshav,’ one who rejects idolatry, embraces Jewish sovereignty, lives with the Jewish people, but does not join the Jewish people through what we would call conversion. The stranger, notes the Ibn Ezra, does not live with the Jewish people.

 It is understandable that meat that is forbidden will be given away or sold. But why does the Torah say to give it to the ger toshav, but sell it to the stranger? Why can’t the owner earn a profit no matter where his ‘neveilah’ goes? Why can’t he give it to the stranger? These questions are addressed in the Talmud Chullin (114b), where Rabbi Meir suggests that indeed a person can go either route with either kind of person, giving or selling to whomever one pleases.

 And yet the Torah’s language remains specific, and it warrants an explanation. In that Talmudic passage, Rabbi Meir further suggests that the Torah is teaching us a priority. We should be giving the ‘ger’ before we sell to the ‘stranger.’ While Rabbi Yehuda argues saying such an order of priority is obvious, one wonders how obvious it really is. Wouldn’t turning a profit, and the concept of parnasah (earning a living), be more obvious than giving things away - especially when we're not talking about an item that can be given as tzedakah, as a fellow Jew has no need or purpose for this meat?

 We do have a mitzvah to ‘love the ger.’ (Devarim 10:19) But there is confusion as to which type of ‘ger’ that sentiment refers to. Is it the colloquial ‘ger’ – one who has become a full Jew? Or does it refer to the ‘ger toshav?’

 This is why a different understanding is imperative in helping us understand why the Torah distinguishes between giving and selling, and between the ‘ger toshav’ and the ‘stranger.’ The Alshikh focuses on the Kedusha (holiness) aspect that is drawn out in the verse. What is “kedusha?” Kedusha does not come from any superiority inherent in any individual. All people are the same – they are all descendants of Adam and Noach. What raises a person’s kedusha level is that “I serve God, while the nations of the world serve other gods.” 

The same holds true, Alshikh continues, for the neveilah itself. A living cow has the potential to produce Kosher meat, if it is slaughtered properly. But if something happens to it, such as if it dies naturally, its meat is neveilah and forbidden to the kosher consumer.

 The same is true for the “stranger.” He too is a descendant of Noach, and therefore a potential contributor to the godliness of the global family of humanity. But something “happened” to him, in that he clings to idolatry, which allows him to partake of neveilah.

 But the ‘ger toshav’ is different than the ‘stranger’ because he has rejected idolatry, and should therefore not be eating neveilah. However, since he nonetheless eats neveilah, we are commanded to give it to him for free, because it’s not the idolatry distinction that distinguishes the ‘stranger’ from the ‘ger toshav,’ but the question of kedushah. And His holiness factor, in turn, is what informs whether he can be gifted food prohibited to Jews, or whether he needs to pay for it.

 In a sense, we have redefined kedusha, and what it means to be holy. For the Jewish people, our kedusha is enhanced by our closeness to God, and through doing deeds that enhance our connection to God. For people who are not Jewish, it is not mitzvot which contribute to their holiness, but their rejection of that which takes away from God’s holiness with respect to humanity.

 It becomes our duty to embrace those that reject any notion of idolatry, or any notion of worship that is distinct from the worship of God. As should we support , in any way we can, anyone who promulgates a Godly existence, in a manner similar to how we embrace our God. And if supporting such efforts with free meat that is forbidden to us is an acceptable form of appreciation to them, the Torah makes it our priority to share such commerce, before we sell it to someone else for a profit.

 This is how holiness is spread in the world.