The Mishnah in Makkos (8a) says: “One who throws a stone into the public domain and kills – he goes into exile.” The Gemara immediately asks: how is it possible that someone who threw a stone into the public domain must go into exile? He is considered intentional (meizid), for he should have checked to ensure no one was there! And indeed, the Gemara struggles greatly with this question until it finds a particular scenario – where someone threw a stone into a place where people are not expected to be at that time – in which case, he is called unintentional (shogeig), and therefore must flee to a city of refuge. But in all other cases, there is no doubt that someone who throws a stone into the public domain is a meizid and liable for the death penalty.
Later in the mesechta, there is another Mishnah (13a): “And these are the ones who receive lashes... one who eats neveila and treif meat, creeping and swarming creatures.” The Gemara (16b) brings: “Abaye said: one who eats a [certain type of] water creature – receives four sets of lashes; an ant – five lashes, because it is a creeping creature that swarms upon the earth; a wasp – six lashes, because it is a winged creeping creature.” The question arises: is there a connection between these two statements?
A significant portion of Parashas Shemini deals with the kashrus of food. And so it is written in our parsha (11:44): והייתם והתקדשתם‘ הארץ על הרומש השרץ בכל נפשותיכם את תטמאו ולא ,אני קדוש כי קדושים - ‘And you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am holy, and you shall not defile your souls with any creeping creature that crawls upon the earth.’ Rashi explains: ‘To transgress many prohibitions over them, and each prohibition entails lashes. This is what the Talmud says: one who eats a [certain type of] water creature – receives four; an ant – five; a wasp – six.’ And not only this, but Chazal expound on the posuk “And you shall become impure through them (וְ נִ טְ מֵ תֶ ם)”: Do not read “venitmeisem” but “venitamtem” – that eating forbidden foods stupefies (blocks) the heart. If so, one might ask: What do they want from me? That I should stop eating? Of course, this is not the intention of the Torah, for the Torah says: “And you shall live by them.” So how is it possible to continue eating and not stumble?
The answer is found in the words of the Gemara we brought: just as a person who throws a stone into the public domain is called a meizid because he should have checked that no one was there, so too must we check everything before it enters our mouths – that it is kosher and contains nothing forbidden. Baruch Hashem, our generation has been merited with kashrus systems that do the work – but it is incumbent upon each individual to find out which kashrus is reliable, and of course, to check everything before putting it in one’s mouth. And one who does all that he can – Heaven helps him not to stumble.
