Prayer for Divine Assistance for Avoiding Eating Bugs

Parashat Shemini

Prayer for Divine Assistance for Avoiding Eating Bugs
 
It is so tedious and grueling to check properly for bugs.
Hashem, help me spot a suspicious dot in any of my jugs!
 
Please grant me enough patience to endure and cope
with the process of soaking and rinsing out the soap!
 
Ensure that every tiny creepy-crawly spider
will through the soapy water become a slider!
 
Strengthen my eyesight so I will be able to inspect
my grains and greens for a trace of any hidden insect!
 
I want to enjoy my organic plants
without any aphids or straying ants!
 
Please let not any insect ever so small
into my salad or green smoothie fall!
 
May nothing unseemly in my food be found
of the crawling creatures that creep on the ground!
 
Let me not take a bite of a torn bug leg,
a fly wing, or even a tiny insect egg!
 
Neither let me cause my family to eat
anything unkosher, salad, soup, or meat!
 
Please help me to keep every family dish
completely kosher whether meat or fish!
 
 May no powdery moth
fall into our chicken broth!
 
Any four-legged worm that creeps on its belly,
stay far away from my homegrown apple jelly!
 
I ask you Hashem to please help me assure
that no yucky bug will make our food impure.
 
I pray that none of these will contaminate our heart,
so, they won’t cause us to become from Hashem apart.

Based on the Book of Vayikra Chapter 11 verse 23 24, 41 44. 

 

ספר ויקרא פרק יא פסוק כג וְכֹל שֶׁרֶץ הָעוֹף, אֲשֶׁר לוֹ אַרְבַּע רַגְלָיִם שֶׁקֶץ הוּא, לָכֶם:

“But all winged swarming things, which have four feet, are an abomination to you” (Vayikra 11:23). 

ספר ויקרא פרק יא פסוק כד וּלְאֵלֶּה, תִּטַּמָּאוּ...          

“By these, you shall become impure…” (Vayikra 11:24).

 

ספר ויקרא פרק יא פסוק מא וְכָל הַשֶּׁרֶץ, הַשֹּׁרֵץ עַל הָאָרֶץ  שֶׁקֶץ הוּא, לֹא יֵאָכֵל:

“Any creeping creature that creeps on the ground is an abomination; it shall not be eaten” (Vayikra 11:41).

 

ספר ויקרא פרק יא פסוק מב 

כֹּל הוֹלֵךְ עַל גָּחוֹן וְכֹל הוֹלֵךְ עַל אַרְבַּע, עַד כָּל מַרְבֵּה רַגְלַיִם, לְכָל הַשֶּׁרֶץ, הַשֹּׁרֵץ עַל הָאָרֶץ לֹא תֹאכְלוּם, כִּי שֶׁקֶץ הֵם:

“Whatever goes on its belly, and whatever goes upon all fours, or whatever has many legs, among all creeping creatures that creep on the ground, you shall not eat, for they are an abomination” (Vayikra 11:42). 

ספר ויקרא פרק יא פסוק מג אַל תְּשַׁקְּצוּ אֶת נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם בְּכָל הַשֶּׁרֶץ הַשֹּׁרֵץ וְלֹא תִטַּמְּאוּ בָּהֶם וְנִטְמֵתֶם בָּם:

“You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping creature that creeps, and you shall not defile yourselves with them, that you should become impure through them” (Vayikra 11:43).

 

ספר ויקרא פרק יא פסוק מד  

כִּי אֲנִי הָשֵׁם כ, אֱלֹהֵיכֶם, וְהִתְקַדִּשְׁתֶּם וִהְיִיתֶם קְדֹשִׁים, כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אָנִי; וְלֹא תְטַמְּאוּ אֶת נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם, בְּכָל הַשֶּׁרֶץ הָרֹמֵשׂ עַל הָאָרֶץ:

“For I am Hashem your G-d; sanctify yourselves therefore and be holy; for I am Holy, and you shall not defile yourselves through any creeping creature that crawls on the ground” (Vayikra 11:44).

 

תלמוד בבלי מסכת יומא דף לט/א תנא דבי רבי ישמעאל עבירה מטמטמת לבו של אדם שנאמר ולא תטמאו בהם ונטמתם בם אל תקרי ונטמאתם אלא ונטמטם תנו רבנן (אל) [ולא] תטמאו בהם ונטמתם בם אדם מטמא עצמו מעט מטמאין אותו הרבה מלמטה מטמאין אותו מלמעלה בעולם הזה מטמאין אותו לעולם הבא:

In the school of Rabbi Yishmael it was taught, Sin blocks the heart of a person, as it is stated: “Do not impurify yourselves with them, so that you should not be thereby impurified” (Vayikra 11:43). Do not read [that term as]: “And be impurified [venitmetem]”; rather, [read it as]: And your hearts will be blocked [venitamtem] (Babylonian Talmud, Yoma 39a).

 

1. Insects which live in water: Four prohibitions (Vayikra 11:42, 11:43, 11:44).

2. Insects which crawl on the ground: Five prohibitions (Vayikra 11: 41, 11:42, 11:43).

3. Flying insects: Six prohibitions (Vayikra 11:24, 11:41, 11:42, 11:43).

4. An insect is only prohibited if it can be seen with the naked eye, even if it appears as only a tiny dot. This includes insects whose color precludes their discernment against the background of the fruit.

5. The eggs of insects are prohibited, but they are nullified within a mixture of sixty times more. 

6. A whole insect is never nullified in a mixture of even a thousand times more.