Rabbi Chaim Richman
Rabbi Chaim Richman is the Director of the International Department of The Temple Institute in Jerusalem."You are what you eat."
This modern catchphrase finds its most perfect expression in the concluding verses of parashat Shmini:
"For I am the Lord your G-d, and you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, because I am holy." (Lev. 11:44)
This is the only reason offered for the long list of living creatures that we can and can't eat that precedes it.
We can bring a taste of the Holy Temple to our own tables by regarding every morsel we place within our mouths as no less real than an offering upon the altar.