To What does the Creator Require Us to Give Recognition?
For August 22, 2022
Deuteronomy 12:23
רַ֣ק חֲזַ֗ק לְבִלְתִּי֙ אֲכֹ֣ל הַדָּ֔ם כִּ֥י הַדָּ֖ם ה֣וּא הַנָּ֑פֶשׁ וְלֹא־תֹאכַ֥ל הַנֶּ֖פֶשׁ עִם־הַבָּשָֽׂר׃
"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."
This is an admonition against the eating of a limb from a live animal and it is one of the seven Noahide Laws.
If meat from certain types of animals is taken for human consumption, G-d has commanded that in the process of slaughtering, it is required to wait until the animal's life has departed. Thus we see that the Creator requires us to give recognition to the animal's connection with its spiritual dimension, which is its enlivening soul. This connection departs when the heart has permanently stopped pumping blood.
The first part of this verse deals with the prohibition of eating blood. This is a specific Jewish prohibition. Noahides were permitted to eat blood, since it was not meat. It is, however, permissible for a Noahide in this case to go beyond the letter of the Noahide Law and refrain from consuming blood. But it is not the halakha.
Brought By Angelique Sijbolts
Angelique Sijbolts is one of the main writers for the Noahide Academy. She has been an observant Noahide for many years. She studies Torah with Rabbi Perets every week. Angelique invests much of her time in editing video-lectures for the Rabbis of the Academy and contributes in administrating the Academy's website in English and Dutch. She lives in the north of the Netherlands. Married and mother of two sons. She works as a teacher in a school with students with special needs. And is a Hebrew Teacher for the levels beginners en intermediate. She likes to walk, to read and play the piano.
Sources
Chabadapp: chumash with Rashi
Go(o)d for You p. 17
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