Q&A: Prohibitions of Benefit
Prohibitions of Benefit
Question
Hello Rabbi,
In Maimonides, in the Laws of Forbidden Foods, it says:
“Every place where the Torah says, ‘you shall not eat,’ ‘you shall not eat [plural],’ ‘they shall not eat,’ or ‘it shall not be eaten’—this implies both a prohibition of eating and a prohibition of deriving benefit, unless Scripture explicitly specifies otherwise, as it does regarding a carcass: ‘to the stranger within your gates you may give it, and he may eat it’ (Deuteronomy 14:21); and regarding fat, where it says, ‘it may be used for any other work’ (Leviticus 7:24). Or unless it is explained in the Oral Torah that deriving benefit from it is permitted, such as creeping creatures, swarming things, blood, a limb from a living animal, and the sciatic nerve—for all these are permitted for benefit by received tradition, even though they are forbidden to eat.”
According to this, are impure animals, wild animals, birds, and fish forbidden for benefit? And what about grain from the new crop? And if not, why not?
Best regards,
Answer
The source of Maimonides’ statement is the passage in tractate Pesachim 21b-23a. There you can see that there are very many exceptions to this rule—in fact, there is almost nothing that actually follows it. It seems to me that in the end they find only non-sacred animals slaughtered in the Temple courtyard, but I haven’t checked that right now. And the reason is that in each such exception there is a special indication from the Torah, and it is as if the Torah had spelled it out explicitly, as with a carcass.
See in this regard my article on the sciatic nerve and leavened food on Passover: https://mikyab.net/%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%9E%D7%94-%D7%9C%D7%92%D7%99%D7%93-%D7%94%D7%A0%D7%A9%D7%94-%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%97%D7%9E%D7%A5-%D7%91%D7%A4%D7%A1%D7%97-%D7%9E%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%9D-%D7%94%D7%94%D7%99%D7%A1%D7%98%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%99/