By Rabbi Yair Hoffman for the Five Towns Jewish Times
No, this article is not about Kashrus. It is about another Torah halacha. Exo, is a startup company based in Silicon Valley that sells protein bars. And while it is true that the Exo protein bar is most definitely not kosher, this article is about the concept of Bal teshaktzu – making oneself disgusting. The Exo protein bar, by the way, is made out of crickets.
Gross? No question. And it may be a bit shocking that investors have backed this venture to the tune of $5.6 million in financing thus far. Why has so much money been invested in this venture when the majority of Americans are so thoroughly disgusted by it? These investors believe, no doubt, that with the right marketing, these views can be changed.
Our concern, however, deals with probing the nature of this prohibition of Bal teshaktzu. Indeed, the classical case of Bal Teshaktzu as discussed in the Torah deal with bugs, as the Torah tells us (Vayikra 11:43), “You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creeps about, neither shall you make yourselves unclean with them, that you should be defiled.” The prohibition is listed as negative Mitzvah #179 in the Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvos and is found in Shulchan Aruch YD 116:6.
NOT JUST BUGS
The prohibition of Bal Teshaktzu is not restricted to bugs and creepy crawly things. It is violated whenever someone consumes something completely disgusting – such as anything with vomit in it, or a disgusting liquid.
BIBLICAL OR RABBINIC?
There is, however, a debate as to whether this prohibition is Rabbinic or biblical (See PMG 13:1 who cites various views in this debate). The Bais Yosef (YD 116 “V’assur”) is unsure as to whether the Rambam’s view is that it is Rabbinic or whether it is Biblical and it is just that one does not receive malkos – lashes – for violating it, rather receiving makas mardus – Rabbinic lashes.
The Sefer Yereim (#73) holds that the violation is biblical as does the TaZ. Most other Poskim, however, hold that it is Rabbinic (See Levush YD 116:6, Ritvah Makos 16a). Thus, whenever, the Talmud cites the verse in the Torah (as in Shabbos 90b and Makkos 16b) it would be considered, an Asmachta according to this view, an allusion.
Yet there is more to it than this. Some are of the opinion that it is only Rabbinically forbidden when the item is disgusting only to him. If the item is considered disgusting according to most people – then it is still considered a Torah prohibition (See Shoel UMaishiv MB Vol III #122). The Shoel UMaishiv’s opinion, in fact, is a bit more nuanced. He compares it to the laws of Chol HaMoed, where the parameters are left to Chazal to determine what are the borders of the Biblical violation.
BEYOND FOOD
And it is not just the food that could be considered a violation of Bal Teshaktzu. Martha Stewart fans take note: Bal Teshaktzu can be violated in the manner of eating, such as with one’s hands, as well as from very disgusting vessels (YD 116:6).
FOR MEDICAL PURPOSES
There is, of course, an exception to the violation of Bal Teshaktzu. When done for medicinal purposes, there is no violation (See PMG 384:3, Pri Chadash 81:3).
NOT GOING TO THE BATHROOM
Holding it in when one must use the bathroom is also a violation of Bal Teshaktzu, as the Gemorah in Makkos 16b states, but here it depends upon how badly one must go. In Orech Chaim 92:2 the Shulchan Aruch writes that if one has such an urge in the middle of Shmoneh Esreh one delays until one finishes the prayer. The Ramah qualifies this as only if it is a minor urge. If it is a strong one than one stops the Shmoneh Esreh. There is also a debate in halacha as to whether the prohibition applies to passing water as well or whether it is limited to the excretion of solid matter. The Mishna Brurah (3:31) rules that it applies to both. There is no prohibition in these areas regarding non-liquid and non-solid states.
There is also an exception to the prohibition if one delays on account of seeking a place that would be more Tznius (Mishna Brurah ibid).
What if someone has to go to the bathroom but other people are davening Shmoneh Esreh and one would have to walk in front of them? The Aishel Avrohol (Botshash Siman 102) writes that one is certainly permitted to do so, in order to avoid violating Bal Teshaktzu. It would seem that if there is another way around, one should take that one, however. Parenthetically, Rav Elyashiv zatzal once ruled (see Chashukei Chemed Megillah 22b) that one may rely on this Aishel Avrohom to permit returning a Sefer Torah to a room where people are in the middle of davening.
BACK TO THE EXO BAR
So, matters of Kashrus aside, will a change in attitude about how revolting comsuming crickets might be, remove the prohibition of Bal teshaktzu on these bars? The answer is that it would not, because the verse talks about this very case. The debate as to whether it is Rabbinic or biblical only revolves around the applications of the violation on matters beyond bugs, but all would agree that the bug consumption itself is forbidden and not subject to majority opinion or not. Of course, the protein bar is completely forbidden on account of Kashrus issues, this article was merely a discussion of the additional prohibition of Bal Teshaktzu.
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7 Responses
It’s all Perception.
What’s worse than eating a tongue of a cow, or those Shrotzim which are permitted.
What complicates the halachos of Bal Teshaktzu is the subjective nature of what people find disgusting.
Cheese (even the kosher kinds) is a perfect example. There are cheeses that have a really strong odor to them that many people still love to eat (otherwise, no one would bother to make them).
Let’s also not forget that there is a variety of locust that is considered kosher (Mishna, Kodashim 59a: “Any kind of grasshopper that has four walking legs, four wings, two jumping legs and whose wings cover the greater part of its body is kosher.”), yet few westerners would consider even tasting one no matter how many revered Orthodox rabbis attested to its permissibility.
Perception? Not exactly. In fact not at all. HKB”H said these bugs are disgusting and is m’tameh/m’tamtem, and the “permitted ‘sheratzim'” are not. He said the entire Yetzias Mitzrayim was worth it just to receive the one mitzvah to not be m’tameh oneself through the consumption of these sheratzim. Torah Emes noson l’amo, v’chayei olam nata b”socheinu. Our perception is not in the picture here.
@blubluh – Revered Orthodox Rabbis can attest to its (technical) permisibility, but the halachah requires an unbroken mesorah/kabbolah on their kashrus as well. In other words, while the simanim attest to its having all the kosher simanim, deeming it a (technically) permissible species, those alone would not grant any “westerners” permission to eat it. In fact, nothing and nobody could since we “westerners” (i.e. non-teimonim) do not have the needed mesorah.
#4 shuali – Your interpretation of Mesorah/Kabbolah is far from universally accepted. According to many, many poskim, if one group of Jews have a Mesorah that something is Muttar, then another group of Jews who have no Mesorah on the matter can rely on the first group and treat the item in question as Kosher. This is to be distinguished from a case where one group has a Mesorah that something is Kosher and the second group has a Mesorah that it is non-Kosher – in that case, the second group has to keep its Mesorah. But where there’s no contrary Mesorah – just a lack of any Mesorah – there are definitely those who hold that the first group’s Mesorah can be relied upon.
an Israeli Yid
A few years ago i listened to a cassette tape recording spoken by Rav Moshe Feinstein ztz”l in his own voice, in Yiddish, about this topic, and while it was a whole development of points, he did emphasize that it is very important not to base our refraining from eating certain foods such as insects, on the subjective feeling that they are disgusting. We don’t eat them, not because of a reason the “aku”m” may not choose to eat something, but because Hashem said assur, bottom line. One’s sense of “disgusting” can change depending on many things including culture, just like many other aspects of moral relativism. Kashrus halacha has of course some rational points but is basically in the realm of chok and mystical issues.
shauli, you have a poor grasp of the Gemara there ( beginning of ezehu neshech) The gemara asks: is the the walue of the mitzva that great? Then the answer is that there is the “extra credit” of regarding the remasim with abhorrence. IOW laws of ribis + laws of remasim/shekatzim + the aquired abhorrence thereof= reason enough for yetzias miztrayim.
The source for transfer-ability of Mesorah is Yoreh Deah peh bais Shach 11, and more recently Igros Moshe YD34 on the kashrus of pheasant. To their credit, Greenspan and Zitovsky sought out senior citizens of Yemenite and North African background to save a dying mesorah of which grasshoppers were eaten.
For the gentile world, and for us, if hagav eating ever returns to vogue, this is good news. Ba’avonoaai harabim, I saw a video of a mealworm and cricket growing facility. They made the claim that per square foot they produce many times more protein than a beef feedlot operation, due to the nature of the product. Worms and insects, being cold blooded, do not require the massive amount of energy for homeostatic temperature control.