Q&A: Do Not Make Yourselves Detestable
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Do Not Make Yourselves Detestable
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Can the prohibition of “do not make yourselves detestable” carry halakhic weight against actions that are halakhically required? [Or actions that are preparations for a commandment, etc.] For example, eating leavened food on Passover.
Thank you
Answer
I’m not sure I understood. Do you mean: can “do not make yourselves detestable” override a halakhic obligation? On the face of it, it seems like any other obligation. If it is Torah-level, then a positive commandment overrides a prohibition; if it is rabbinic, then not, and so on. A specific example would need to be examined.
There are medieval authorities who understood, based on the plain sense of the Talmud’s wording, that “do not make yourselves detestable” is a Torah-level prohibition. Other medieval authorities wrote that it is only a rabbinic decree, and that the exposition in the Talmud is merely a textual support. Maimonides wrote that the prohibition is indeed from the Torah, but it is not included among the other Torah prohibitions for which lashes are prescribed, because it does not fit the plain meaning of the verse.