Are we Allowed to Eat a Dead Fetus?
Divine Code for November 4, 2022
Today: Pages 270-271
From 5:5 -- 5:10
For people who are sensitive to the subject of killing an animal and do not eat meat, feel free to skip these parts.
If the head of a living fetus emerges from the mother's body, the other is considered as having given birth to a live baby. It is not necessary for the entire head to emerge. As long as its frontal head emerges (the part that is seen when looking straight on at the animal), it is considered as having been born alive; at that point it becomes an independent entity from its mother (even if it retracted its head in to the mothers womb), and it is forbidden to cut from it a limb or meat while it is alive. Even if one cut off meat from a part of the live fetus that was still inside the mother's womb (after the majority of its forehead emerged) and left it in the mother's womb - regardless of whether the mother is alive or not - the meat remains forbidden, and is considered as if it was removed from a living animal.
If the fetus dies in the womb after it has retracted its head, it appears that it is permitted to cut pieces from it and take them out while the mother is still alive (and surely one may remove the whole body) and eat them, as there is no prohibition of eiver min ha hai in this case.
It is forbidden to cut a dead fetus from the mother's womb (aas explained in topic 5:8) because it looks like the removal of eiver min ha hai. However, when the animal was partially born and then retracted its head, it is considered independently an unslaughtered carcass and not the mother's flesh, and it does not have any prohibition of eiver min ha hai.
Curious about the whole page? You can read it in The Divine Code.
Reading schedule the Divine Code
Yesterday: Topic 5:1 - 5:4
Tomorrow: Topic 5:11 - 5:15
Brought By Sarah Bakker
Sarah Bakker is a blog writer and illustrator for the Noahide Academy. Raised with a traumatic childhood, she found the truth and has been a Noahide for many years. She uses her experience and the knowledge combined with her creative talents to teach others. Art, food, photography and music are some of her passions and likes to share it with the world.
Sources
The Divine Code (Third Edition)
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