CHASSIDIC PEARLS BY RABBI LAZER BRODY PARSHAS SHEMINI

"You shall sanctify yourselves and you shall be holy, for I am holy; you shall not contaminate yourselves" (Vayikra 11:44) The Torah concludes its elaboration of the forbidden foods at the end of this week's portion by commanding us to be holy. The juxtaposition of the two ordinances, "you shall sanctify yourselves" and "you shall not contaminate yourselves" indicates that eating foods that are permitted by Torah is a precondition for holiness. Holiness in our eating is not only what we eat, but how and how much we eat. Rebbe Nachman of Breslev explains (Likutei Moharan I:60), that one's intellect is reflected in one's countenance. The more a person possesses true wisdom, the more his or her face is illuminated. When a person's eating is not in holiness, however, he loses the facial illumination, and falls into an intellectual and spiritual slumber. In other words, as Rebbe Nachman states specifically elsewhere (Ibid. 263), when a person overeats, he loses his human aura, intellectual and spiritual acumen, and resembles an animal instead. How can this be?