Kosher eating refines all Creation

במדרש זאת החיה אשר תאכלו כל אמרת אלוה צרופה כו' ניתנה תורה לצרף את הבריות כו'.

In the Midrash: "These are the living creatures that you may eat" — "Every saying of Hashem is refined (tzerufah)" (Mishlei 30:5)… the Torah was given in order to refine (le'tzaref) people.

The Sefas Emes opens by linking the kosher animals of the parsha to the verse "every saying of Hashem is refined," and to the teaching that the Torah was given to "refine" — to purify and elevate — Hashem's creatures.

כי בוודאי האדם צריך לחבר ולקרב כל הנבראים בשורש עליון.

For certainly a person must join and bring near all created beings to the supernal root.

Man's task is to connect every creature back to its higher source in Hashem.

כי יש דצח"מ.

For there are four levels — domem, tzomeiach, chai, medaber (inanimate, vegetative, animal, speaking).

Creation is structured in four ascending tiers, from the lifeless mineral up to the speaking human.

וצומח נצמח מעפר ודומם.

And the vegetative (tzomeiach) grows from the dust and the inanimate (domem).

Each level draws up the one beneath it: plants grow out of, and thereby elevate, the soil and minerals.

וחי ניזון ע"י צומח.

And the animal (chai) is nourished by means of the vegetative.

Animals feed on plants, drawing the vegetative level up into the level of living creatures.

ובע"ח מזין למדבר.

And living creatures provide nourishment for the medaber (the speaking human).

Animals in turn nourish the human being, so the lower levels are progressively raised toward man.

והנה בנ"י נבחרו מהמדברים ולכן צריך להיות ג"כ מיוחד מיני ב"ח בפרט אל בנ"י שהם מיוחדין וע"י אכילת איש הישראלי שע"י זה מוסיף כח בעבודת הבורא ית'.

Now Bnei Yisrael were chosen from among the "speakers" (the human level), and therefore there must likewise be specific kinds of animals designated in particular for Bnei Yisrael, who are themselves set apart; and through the eating of a Jew, by which he adds strength in the avodah of the Creator.

Just as Bnei Yisrael are a chosen, set-apart species of humanity, so certain kosher animals are designated specifically for them — animals whose elevation is completed when a Jew eats them and uses that strength to serve Hashem.

עי"ז צריך לקרב ולהעלות כל מיני הדצח"מ להשי"ת.

Through this he must bring near and elevate all the kinds of the four levels to Hashem.

By eating with holy intent and using the energy for avodah, the Jew lifts the entire chain — mineral, plant, animal — up to Hashem.

וזה אמרת אלוה צרופה להיות כל מה שנברא בעשרה מאמרות נעשה צירוף א' כלי מיוחדת להבטל להשי"ת.

And this is "Every saying of Hashem is refined (tzerufah)" — that everything created by the Ten Utterances should become a single "refinement"/combination (tzeiruf), one unified vessel to be nullified to Hashem.

Playing on tzerufah (both "refined" and "combined"), the goal is that the whole of creation, made by the asarah maamaros, be fused into one purified vessel of bittul, wholly given over to Hashem.

והתורה מורה דרך איך לקרב כל הבריאה וז"ש שניתנה לצרף הבריות:

And the Torah shows the way how to bring all of Creation near, and this is the meaning of "it was given to refine the creatures."

The Torah is the practical guide — including the laws of kosher eating — for how to draw all of Creation close to its source; this is why it was given "to refine" Hashem's creatures.

Summary: The kashrus laws express man's mission to refine and elevate all of Creation. The four levels of existence — mineral, vegetable, animal, human — each lift up the one below, and Bnei Yisrael, the chosen among humanity, complete the chain when a Jew eats designated kosher animals and channels that strength into avodas Hashem. In this way "every saying of Hashem is refined": all that was created by the Ten Utterances is fused into one purified vessel of bittul to Hashem, and the Torah is the guide given to accomplish this.