The Prohibition of Blood
איסור דם
Together with the permission to eat meat outside the framework of a sacrifice, we were forbidden to eat the blood, as it is stated: “When the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as He has promised you, and you say, ‘I shall eat some meat’… you may slaughter any of the cattle or sheep that the Lord gives you, as I have instructed you; and you may eat to your heart’s content in your settlements… But make sure that you do not partake of the blood; for the blood is the life, and you must not consume the life with the flesh…” (Devarim 12:20-23). That is, the blood has a special purpose – to sustain the life of the animal – and therefore, although the Torah permitted us to eat meat, it did not permit us to eat the blood.
There are two types of blood: dam ha-nefesh (lifeblood) and the rest of the blood. Dam ha-nefesh is the blood that spurts forcefully after sheḥita, with which the soul departs; one who eats it deliberately is liable to karet, whereas one who eats the rest of the blood is liable to lashes (Keritot 20b; SA YD 67:1). In dam ha-nefesh the vitality of the animal is more pronounced, and therefore when a sacrifice is offered, it is from this blood that one sprinkles on the altar in order to atone for the soul. It turns out that one who eats it also affronts the honor of Heaven, for he eats the blood that was fit to be sprinkled on the altar. As it is stated in the passage dealing with sacrifices: “And if anyone of the house of Israel or of the strangers who reside among them partakes of any blood, I will set My face against the person who partakes of the blood, and I will cut him off from among his kin. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have assigned it to you for making atonement for your lives upon the altar; it is the blood, as life, that effects atonement” (Vayikra 17:10-11).
Since blood is meant to sustain the life of animals and not for human consumption, the Rishonim wrote that one who eats blood may acquire animalistic traits and the trait of cruelty in his soul (Ramban; Ḥinukh 148).¹
Notes (1)
- The prohibition of blood applies both to non-kosher species and to kosher species whose meat is forbidden because of nevela or tereifa, and one who eats their blood transgresses two prohibitions: first, the general prohibition that applies to them, and second, the prohibition of blood. As will be explained in the next section, there is no prohibition of blood for the less developed species, such as fish and locusts; and if they are non-kosher fish and locusts, one who eats their blood transgresses one prohibition, that of eating non-kosher species (Keritot 21a).
The prohibition of dam ha-nefesh is similar to the prohibition of ḥelev, for both are fit for the altar, and the punishment for both is karet (above 21:1, note 1). However, there is a difference between blood and ḥelev: ḥelev is forbidden only in species of domesticated animals that are fit for a sacrifice, and not in kosher species of wild animals, such as the deer and the hart, which are fit to be eaten but unfit for a sacrifice. Likewise, there is no prohibition of ḥelev in non-kosher species that are forbidden to be eaten. But the prohibition of blood is based on the fact that blood is meant to sustain life, and therefore it is forbidden to eat the blood of all animals, even non-kosher ones (Mishna Ḥullin 117a; SA YD 66:1). Accordingly, one who eats their dam ha-nefesh, with which their soul departs, is liable to karet.
It is explained in the Gemara (Keritot 4b) that three times in the Torah it is stated that for blood with which the soul departs one is punished with karet: 1) Vayikra 7:27: “Anyone who eats blood shall be cut off from his kin.” 2) Ibid. 17:10: “And if anyone of the house of Israel or of the strangers who reside among them partakes of any blood, I will set My face against the person who partakes of the blood, and I will cut him off from among his kin.” 3) Ibid. 17:14: “For the life of all flesh – its blood is its life… anyone who partakes of it shall be cut off.” One is for the blood of a sacrifice, the second for the blood of ḥullin (non-sacred animals), and the third for the blood of wild animals and birds – that even though it was covered with earth as the Torah commands, the punishment for eating it is karet. Five more times it is stated that it is forbidden to eat blood: 1) Vayikra 3:17: “It is a law for all time throughout the ages, in all your settlements: you must not eat any fat or any blood.” 2) Ibid. 7:26: “And you must not consume any blood, either of bird or of animal, in any of your settlements.” 3) Ibid. 17:14: “For the life of all flesh – its blood is its life. Therefore I say to the Israelite people: You shall not partake of the blood of any flesh.” 4) Devarim 12:16: “But you must not partake of the blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.” 5) Ibid. 12:23-24: “But make sure that you do not partake of the blood; for the blood is the life, and you must not consume the life with the flesh. You must not partake of it; you must pour it out on the ground like water.” Three of them serve as warnings for the three types of blood with which the soul departs, whose punishment is karet. The fourth is for dam evarim (blood of the limbs), that is, blood that was absorbed in the limbs and came out of them. The fifth is for dam ha-tamtzit (seeping blood), the blood that came out of the place of sheḥita after the soul had already departed. It is worth adding that one of the meanings of the Torah’s warning to be strong in not eating the blood is that one must take pains to kasher the meat in order to remove the blood from it (Rashbam; R. Yosef Bekhor Shor).