Tub Taam - The Book (3)

The Hebrew edition of Tub Taam opens with a frontispiece adorned with Scriptural verses in a style typical of Rabbinic treatises of the period.

The border text is made up of verses 64 through 80 of chapter 119 of the Book of Psalms. It is in verse 66 that the phrase Tuv Ta'am appears - the only place in the entire Hebrew Bible where that combination of words can be found. This verse translates:

Teach me good discernment and knowledge for I have believed in Your commandments.

So here, in its only Biblical context, the expression Tuv Ta'am refers to good discernment - the ability to perceive, and judge well, proper spiritual direction and understanding. In other places in the Bible the word ta'am alone is used to mean "taste" or "reason" - referring to the discernment of both the senses and the intellectual powers.

Thus the choice of Tuv Ta'am as the title of this work refers to the reasoned, tasteful, well-discerned quality of the Divine laws of shechita - the Jewish manner of slaughtering animals for food - this in contrast to the initial observations of the ASPCA inspector.

The text in the center of the page summarizes the purpose of the book: to respond to the criticisms of the non-Jewish authorities regarding shechita, and to demonstrate the purity and painlessness of the Torah process, in contrast to the general practice of striking the animal on the head with a sharp iron instrument.

Those who are familiar with Hebrew will appreciate that the year of publication is expressed by extracting the number from the text of an appropriate rabbinic quote. In this case the year 5635 (1875) is extracted by gematria (number to letter numerology) from the Mishnah in Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers):

By three things is the world sustained: law, truth and peace. As it is stated (Zachariah 8:16), "Truth, and a judgement of peace, you should administer at your gates."

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At this point in this blog, I shall be moving on to continuing the family history. If there are those who would like to have access to the complete text of Tub Taam, please let me know and perhaps I can make it available in a digitized form.