Responsum: Poem on Ritual Slaughter

12th Century

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Menaḥem sent this halakhic poem (monorhymed and metered according to Arabic-style quantitative metrics) and its rhymed-prose preface to an otherwise unknown proselyte, who had requested that Menaḥem clarify the Karaite perspective on ritual slaughter. The Rabbanite view held that Karaite slaughter rendered the animal unkosher, equivalent to a nevelah, the carcass of an animal that died of something other than kosher slaughter. Although Deuteronomy 12:21 calls for proper slaughter, the biblical text does not give details about what this is. Rabbanites cited this silence as evidence that an oral tradition had accompanied biblical revelation, which would have given such details. Karaites, however, frequently read this verse contextually, as simply referring to the requirement in Deuteronomy 12:16 not to consume the animal’s blood. Menaḥem’s invocation of melikah, wringing the neck of the bird, has a longer history in Karaite legal thought. ‘Anan ben David considered wringing the neck to be the proper method of slaughter, whereas other Karaites interpreted melikah to be slaughtering with a knife at the front of the neck. Menaḥem’s own view on this matter is not clear.

This is the letter that our teacher Menaḥem the Karaite sent to ‘Aqilas the Proselyte by the hand of R. Se‘adya the Rabbanite, regarding the laws of ritual slaughter.

We are fulfilling your request; we are doing your desire; we feel the yearning of your heart; our wish is to do it; and we are taking counsel against our opponents, who slander and criticize us. May our arrows hasten like a sharp arrow into the heart of our enemies, and may the God of Israel help us. We put our trust in the Lord, our refuge, and we acknowledge Him with praises. May your Rock protect you, and may you trample your enemies with your feet; may your family bring about their end, and may fear befall them from you.

I begin, first of all, in my opening words,

to sing to the creator of the soul among creatures.

He created humanity from a clod of earth,

and set it up over all other life.

He gave humanity a mouth and understanding, from God,

to be like a crown, a diadem.

He crowned them with glory and beauty, graced them with glory,

to come close to total truth and stay far from falsehood,

To cling to their Rock’s yoke, to keep his word as commanded,

and willingly to serve him with righteous deeds.

He established the earth and supported it on its foundations;

but they moved and were unable to support the gates above them.

He set up others, likewise, to be foundations of the world,

and to establish its construction on all sides.

He hewed them and upon them He placed the foundations and the earth,

the heavens and its pillars, all bound together.

The four portions of understanding are established trebly;¹

through them is the upright path for old and young. [ . . . ]

[The Torah’s] inside is pure, and enlightens the ignorant.

It calls forth: “Drink my wine, like precious, flowing waters.”

It is the first of all wisdom. Anything before it is nought,

wearisome words, fruit of all disaster.²

If all those with understanding would ascend to the heavens,

they would merely be opening their mouths with wicked lies.

This [Torah] was given long ago to Moses;

it is a treasure for us, and its statutes are clear.

Its faithful testimony is written inside it:

the just knowledge of the rulings of the Creator of the luminaries.

Who could speak vanity, whose mouth’s words would be haughty

to cause many to stumble and to declare pure [foods] impure?³

He says that a nevelah [nonkosher cadaver] is one that has been produced through sheḥitah [kosher slaughter];

if this is a nevelah, then what is proper kosher sheḥitah?!

[God] imparted true knowledge—a great task:⁴ it is what is called sheḥitah.

Those that understand its language will pursue the interpretations.⁵

Understand also melikah, on the opposite side,

and milah; their meaning is known and decreed. [ . . . ]⁶

Those who pursue the faith acknowledge and declare

the words’ interpretation. They will shine as the luminaries shine.

Precious faith is constructed of great measure, entirely encompassing,

far and wide beyond all other precious things.

Translated by Gabriel Wasserman.

Notes

[The reference is obscure.—Trans.]

[Meaning obscure, but clearly a dismissive expression toward wisdom that is not of the Torah.—Trans.]

[That is, Rabbanites said that Karaite slaughter was not acceptable, and that its result was nonkosher meat, since the Karaites do not rely on the Oral Torah to know how to slaughter, and the Bible never gives specific instructions on how to perform slaughter.—Trans.]

[The language of this line is very obscure, and apparently based in part on Daniel 10:1. The translation is tentative, and understands tsava as “task” (cf. Job 7:1, where it means “term of service”).—Trans.]

[What the language calls sheḥitah, namely making a cut in a certain part of the neck, is what it means. There is no need for a rabbinic Oral Torah, since the meaning of the word is known through the Hebrew language itself.—Trans.]

[The words melikah and milah also mean “cutting,” just like sheḥitah; but whereas sheḥitah refers to cutting the trachea in the front of the neck, melikah refers to making a cut from the opposite side, the back of the neck, and milah means making a cut on the foreskin. The meaning of these words is “known and decreed” to people that know the Hebrew language.—Trans.]

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam.