The Prohibition of Ḥelev
איסור חֵלֶב
The ḥalavim (forbidden fats) are part of the fats in the meat of a domesticated animal, and when an animal is offered to God, there is a mitzva to burn its ḥalavim and sprinkle its blood on the altar. Following from this, the Torah forbade eating ḥelev and blood: since the ḥelev is fit to be burned for God, and the blood is sprinkled on the altar, Jews are forbidden to eat them. As it is stated: “Aaron’s sons shall dash its blood against all sides of the altar. He shall then present as his offering from it, as an offering by fire to God, the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is about the entrails; the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, that is at the loins… The priest shall turn these into smoke on the altar as food, an offering by fire, of pleasing odor. All fat is God’s. It is a law for all time throughout the ages, in all your settlements: you must not eat any fat or any blood” (Vayikra 3:14-17) (the prohibition of blood will be explained in the next chapter).
The prohibition of ḥelev applies to the three species of domesticated animal – cattle, sheep, and goats – which are the ones fit for a sacrifice, as it is stated: “Speak to the Israelite people thus: You shall eat no fat of ox or sheep or goat” (Vayikra 7:23). But there is no prohibition of ḥelev in the fats of the seven species of kosher wild animals (ḥaya), for sacrifices are not offered from wild animals. Likewise, there is no prohibition of ḥelev in kosher birds; and although there are species of birds that are fit for sacrifices, their fats have no special status, for a bird burnt-offering is offered entirely on the altar, and in a bird sin-offering all its flesh is eaten by the kohanim (Ḥullin 117a). The prohibition is to eat ḥelev, but it is permitted to derive benefit from it and to use it for work and trade (below 37:10).
The prohibitions of ḥelev and blood are especially severe: the punishment for other forbidden foods, such as non-kosher animals and creeping creatures, is lashes, whereas the punishment for one who eats ḥelev or blood is karet (spiritual excision), because they are fit to go up on the altar as an offering to God, and whoever eats them disgraces sacred things and cuts off his soul from the source of its life. As it is stated: “If anyone eats the fat of animals from which offerings by fire may be made to God, the person who eats it shall be cut off from his kin… Anyone who eats blood shall be cut off from his kin” (Vayikra 7:25-27).¹
Notes (1)
- In Mishna Keritot 1:1, all the types of eating punishable by karet are listed: 1) an impure person who ate kodesh (sacrificial meat); 2) ḥelev; 3) blood; 4) notar (eating sacrificial meat after the time allotted for eating it has ended); 5) pigul (eating the meat of a sacrifice that was offered with an invalidating intention to eat it or to burn its sacrificial portions after their time); 6) ḥametz on Pesaḥ; 7) one who eats on Yom Kippur. The last two prohibitions are seemingly exceptions, since they are not connected to sacrifices, but they express faith: the prohibition of ḥametz on Pesaḥ is meant to recall the Exodus from Egypt and God’s providence over His people, and the prohibition of eating on Yom Kippur expresses God’s covenant with His people, whom He commanded to fast so that He would atone for their sins. In addition, the fast itself is considered a sacrifice. Thus, in all the eating prohibitions punishable by karet, there is an affront to the honor of Heaven – which is the foundation of faith.
The Torah prohibition of eating ḥelev applies when one eats it in the normal manner, that is, cooked; without cooking, it is forbidden by rabbinic law. One who deliberately eats a ke-zayit (the volume of an olive) of ḥelev is liable to karet, and if inadvertently, he is liable to bring a sin-offering (Rambam, Ma’akhalot Assurot 7:1; 14:10). One who eats less than a ke-zayit transgresses a Torah prohibition but is not punished (Yoma 74a, according to R. Yoḥanan). If one who ate a ke-zayit of ḥelev was warned that he would be punished with lashes, he receives lashes and is exempted from karet (Makkot 23a; Rambam, Sanhedrin 17:7. Beit Yosef YD end of §157 wrote, based on the Ge’onim, that those liable to karet who want atonement may accept lashes even without having been warned, and thereby be exempted from karet. According to the Ma’or and Ramban on Makkot 23a, once a person has repented he is exempted from karet, even without lashes).
One who slaughters an animal and finds a dead fetus in it – its ḥelev and its gid ha-nasheh are permitted to be eaten. If it is alive and walked on the ground, since it requires sheḥita, its ḥelev and its gid are forbidden. According to the Rambam, even if it did not walk, if its months of gestation were completed, its ḥelev is forbidden (Rambam, Ma’akhalot Assurot 7:1-3; Tur and Beit Yosef YD 64:2. By contrast, the blood of a shlil and a fetus is forbidden). One who eats the ḥelev of a nevela or a tereifa transgresses two prohibitions: the prohibition of nevela or tereifa, and the prohibition of ḥelev (Ḥullin 37a).