A close friend of mine asked me to fire this question at the mi.yodeya community so here goes:
"I came across this rather interesting rendition of "kashrus Explained", not sure who authored it, but I was intrigued.
thought I would fire out a little "Mi Yodeya" challenge to you.
Challenge: can any of you point me to a rishon (point me to the actual source) thats says any of the first three things befeirush (explicitly)?
Kashrut Explained:
The purposes of Kashrut are:
- to limit the number of animals the Jew is permitted to kill and eat;
- to render the slaughter of the permitted animals as painless as possible;
- to cause revulsion at the shedding of blood;
- to instill self-discipline in the Jew; ( RSRH, Moreh Nevuchim, ...)
- to help sustain Judaism and the cohesion of the Jewish community;
- to raise the act of eating from an animal-like level. ( tanya, nefesh hachaim, others....)"
My friend is looking for Rishon-level sources for only 1-3.
(I personally have doubts as far as the veracity of #'s 2 and 3, and challenge anyone to come up with even a mainstream acharon that says such reasons)
(I also challenge the premise of purposes of Kashrus, as opposed to reasons and symbolism, but that is for a different question.)
(The list is from
The nine questions people ask about Judaism By Dennis Prager, Joseph Telushkin
Answer
For #2: Rambam says as much in Moreh Nevuchim, part 3. In ch. 26 he writes (Kapach translation, text online here):
אבל לאמיתו של דבר, כיון שהביא ההכרח לאכילת החי, הייתה הכוונה להקל מיתתו במה שקל להשיגו, לפי שאי אפשר להכות הצוואר אלא בסיף או כיוצא בו. והשחיטה אפשרית בכל דבר, ולהקלת המיתה הותנה חדות הסכין.
And in ch. 48 he repeats this idea:
וכיון שהביא הכרח טיב מזונו להריגתו, חפשנו לו המיתה היותר קלה, ונאסר לענותו בשחיטה הנפסדת ולא לנחרו ולא לחתוך ממנו אבר, כמו שביארנו.
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