Unfit Instead of Unclean (Lev. 11)

My children and I were doing our daily Torah study this morning and we began Vayikra (Leviticus) chapter 11. This is the chapter where Yahweh gives the laws concerning clean and unclean animals. I always explain it to my children like this: Yahweh has a menu and we are to only eat those things that are on His menu.

In studying this morning we realized that it may be a bit more suitable to refer to unclean animals as unfit animals. The Hebrew word here is tamei and carries the meaning of not permissible to eat.

When we look at a horse and a goat we see that the horse looks just as "clean" as the goat; or maybe even more so (lol). However, just because the horse looks clean does not mean he is tahor (fit to eat). Yahweh has declared the horse as being unfit, not necessarily unclean.

Either way the message is the same; just a thought for this fine morning.

EMJ