Devar/5769/Shoftim
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עברית
English
Only ye shall not eat the blood; thou shalt pour it out upon the earth as water (Deut 12:16)
The Torah continues: Only be steadfast in not eating the blood; for the blood is the life; and thou shalt not eat the life with the flesh (Deut 12:23) Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it out upon the earth as water (Deut 12:24) Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it out upon the ground as water (Deut 15:23). In several different places in our parasha the Torah speaks of the prohibition against eating blood.
Blood also appears as part of the offering service: and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out against the altar of the LORD thy God… (Deut 12:27). Perhaps for the blood is the life (Deut 12:23), and the offerings are brought to bring atonement for sins, which are a kind of spiritual defect. In any case, the prohibition against eating blood is absolute, and therefore we prepare meat with salt (to draw out the blood) before preparing it for eating.
Something which is less well known in our days, though it is practical halachah, is "chalita". The Rambam explains the matter like this: Meat does not become free of blood except one salt it very well, and rinse it very well. What does one do? First rinse the meat, then salt if very well and leave it covered in the salt for the length of time it takes to walk a mil. Then he must wash it very well, until the rinse water is clear. And then he must toss the meat into boiling water (but not lukewarm water) so that it immediately becomes whitened and blood not leave the meat (Laws of Forbidden Foods 6:10). That is to say that salting alone is insufficient to remove all the blood from the meat. Rather, we must do "chalita" on the meat in boiling water first, and only afterwards put it in the cooking pot. It is also possible to grill over a flame, without "chalita" first.
When we eat meat which was cooked in a pot without first having undergone "chalita", we are also eating the "residual blood" which escaped from the meat into the cooked dish -- and if we ate an olive's bulk or more of that blood, we are liable for the punishment of "stripes", from the Torah. (Laws of Forbidden Foods 6:4). Therefore we must be extremely careful when preparing meat dishes for our enjoyment. As the Torah says, Thou shalt not eat it; that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD. (Deut 23:25).
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