Parshas Noach

Why meat was eaten in Noach's time

Bereishis 6:12 "…all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth"

Shechitah only began from the time of Noach. The Gemara (Sanhedrin 59b) tells us that man was not permitted to kill animals for food from Adam until Noach. This is because everything in creation was holy before Adam's sin. Evil held no sway even over the animals and beasts and so they required no shechitah. It was completely forbidden to slaughter any soul and eat it, since it had no need of tikkun/spiritual rectification.
Tikkun was only required when everything fell into the grip of evil – after Adam's sin. Nevertheless, the tikkun did not start until Noach. It was he that started the tikkun of the world that had been damaged by Adam, as it states (5:29): "…this one will comfort us…from the earth that Hashem had cursed [on account of Adam]". The rebuilding of the world from scratch and its tikkun took place through him. For the entire world reached the nadir of its degradation during his time, as it says (6:12): "G-d beheld that the earth had become corrupt…" and the Mabul/Great Flood was required to destroy it.

All this arose from pe'gam ha'bris/blemishing the covenant/sexual sins, which was the start of the sin of Adam (mentioned by us elsewhere). During Noach's time the world reached the lowest level of pe'gam ha'bris, as it states (ibid.): "...all flesh had corrupted its way…" Chazal tell us (Sanhedrin 108a, etc.) that the blemish had reached even the animals and beasts – even they had 'corrupted their way'. For everything depends on the actions of Man, the exerciser of free choice. The entire world depends on him. The effect of his pe'gam reaches even to the animals and beasts, until even they 'corrupted their way'. Chazal tell us (Midrash Shmuel 12) that even at the time of Adam's sin, all sorts of animals and beasts tasted from the Tree of Knowledge.

And so a new world and tikkun needed to be established – to make an ark, in which all would enter, to bring in everything, elevate them from "the outside" {forces of evil] and gather all to their rooms in the ark – a tikkun of holiness. This is mentioned in the holy Zohar – that the main establishment of the world and its tikkun depended on the ark. The entire Creation needed to come, specifically to the ark. For the ark, as it relates to the concept of home, corresponds to teshuvah/returning and tikkun for the entire world that went to "the outside", to the "saddeh/field".

Therefore the tikkun of the world took place only after their exit from the ark. It was at that time that Noach offered sacrifices from all the pure species that correspond to the concept of tikkun ha'bris. And it was at that time that Hashem permitted Man to eat meat, as it says (9:3): "I give you everything [to eat], as green herbs". For now Man needed to eat meat, in order to effect the tikkun of the animals and elevate them accordingly. Thus the tikkun of shechitah started then. For at that time when all had become blemished, prompting the start of the tikkun, shechitah was needed for the purpose of eating and rectification. And all this was required to rectify the pe'gam ha'bris, which had been the sin of the generation of the Mabul, and Adam, the first man.

Related to this is the fact that fish do not require shechitah. They had not become blemished by the sin of the Mabul generation. Consequently, the Mabul had no power over them and they had no need to enter the ark at all, as Chazal explain (Sanhedrin ibid.) that the verse (7:23): "…of all that was on the dry land, died" comes to exclude the fish in the sea. The fish didn't die because they were unaffected by the sin of the Mabul generation, as it states (6:12): "all flesh had corrupted its way upon the ground" – upon the ground, but not in the sea. And so fish do not require the tikkun of shechitah that is an aspect of tikkun ha'bris – for fish had not blemished with pe'gam ha'bris.

And so fish represent an aspect of tikkun ha'bris/sexual rectification, as it says (48:16): "…may they [Ephraim and Menasheh] greatly reproduce/vayidgu" [related to dag/fish – see Rashi there]. For the natural habitat of the fish is in water. This protects them from pe'gam ha'bris, because pe'gam ha'bris reaches the aspect of affar/earth, related to "all flesh had corrupted its way upon the ground" – the blemish reaches the ground, as in (3:17) "…the earth is cursed for you…"
However, the concept of water is holy and pure. Blemish does not reach water, for water corresponds to da'as elyon/Supernal knowledge and chassadim gedolim/great acts of loving kindness. On the contrary, water purifies all spiritual impurity and contamination; no blemish affects it. Blemish only affects that which relates to affar – particularly the blemish of pe'gam ha'bris, whose root is from affar and which is the last aspect and vessel of everything in the world, on which everything stands.

Therefore, over the fish in the sea – that are covered by water – the ayin ha'ra/"evil eye" of the seventy nations has no power. Thus, fish were not blemished by the sin of the Mabul generation, the pe'gam ha'bris, and require no shechitah.

Hilchos Basar She'nit'alem Min Ha'ayin 2-6