“And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof; he is unclean unto you.”
The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. The rabbit — like the hyrax — chews the cud (technically it practices caecotrophy, consuming its own pellets, which ancient Israelites apparently observed as cud-chewing) but lacks the divided hoof. Three of the four partially-qualifying animals chew the cud without a divided hoof; one (the pig) has a divided hoof without chewing the cud. The pattern communicates that the cud-chewing criterion alone is insufficient: the rabbit that chews is still unclean without the hoof. Partial holiness is not holiness.
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