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There are special instructions found in Leviticus 7 and Leviticus 17 regarding the fat and blood of animals:

  • The children of Israel shall not eat any of the fat [Heb: chelev] from cattle, sheep, or goats. (Lev 7:23)
  • The chelev from an animal which dies (by implication: dies without slaughtering for food or sacrifice) and the chelev of an animal torn by beasts may be put to any other use but shall not be eaten. (Lev 7:24)
  • Whoever eats the chelev of an animal offered to the LORD shall be cut off from his people. (Lev 7:25)

 

  • The children of Israel shall not eat any blood, either of bird or beast, in any place where they live. (Lev 7:26)
  • Any person who eats any blood shall be cut off from his people. (Lev 7:27)

 

G-d expands upon the commandment to abstain from eating blood:

And any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. 'For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.' Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, 'No person among you may eat blood, nor may any alien who sojourns among you eat blood.' So when any man from the sons of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, in hunting catches a beast or a bird which may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth. For as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, 'You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off.' (Leviticus 17:10-14)

 

 

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Today is

Yom Chamishi, 18 Adar II, 5784

Thursday, March 28, 2024

 

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