006 - הִלְכוֹת מַאֲכָלוֹת אֲסוּרוֹת פֵּרֶק ו

Laws of Ma'achalos Asuros, Chapter 6

1. One who eats a kezayis of blood: if deliberately, he is liable to kares; if inadvertently, he brings a fixed sin-offering (chatas kevu'ah). The Torah states explicitly that one is liable only for the blood of domestic animals, wild animals and birds, whether impure or pure, as it says, "וְכָל-דָּם לֹא תֹאכְלוּ, בְּכֹל מוֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶם, לָעוֹף, וְלַבְּהֵמָה" ("and you shall eat no blood in any of your dwellings, whether of bird or of animal," Vayikra 7:26). A wild animal is included in "animal," as it says, "זֹאת הַבְּהֵמָה, אֲשֶׁר תֹּאכֵלוּ . . . אַיָּל וּצְבִי, וְיַחְמוּר" ("these are the animals you may eat . . . the hart, the gazelle and the roebuck," Devarim 14:4–5). But for the blood of fish, locusts, creeping creatures and crawling creatures, and human blood, one is not liable as blood. Therefore the blood of pure fish and locusts may be eaten; even if he gathered it in a vessel and drank it, it is permitted. The blood of impure locusts and fish is forbidden, because it is the essence of their body, like the milk of an impure animal; and the blood of creeping creatures is like their flesh, as we explained.

2. Human blood is forbidden by the words of the Sages if it has separated, and one is given lashes for rebelliousness for it. But blood of the teeth one swallows without concern. If he bit into bread and blood came out on it, he scrapes off the blood and then eats, since it separated.

3. One is liable to kares only for blood that comes out at the time of slaughter, nechirah or chopping off the head, as long as it has a reddish color; for the blood gathered inside the heart; and for the blood of bloodletting as long as it spurts out. But the blood that seeps at the start of bloodletting before it begins to spurt, and the blood that seeps at the end of bloodletting when the blood begins to stop, one is not liable for; it is like the blood of the limbs. For the spurting blood is the blood with which the life goes out.

4. Residual blood (dam hatamtzis) and the blood of the limbs, such as the blood of the spleen, the blood of the kidneys, the blood of the testicles, the blood that gathers in the heart at the time of slaughter, and the blood found in the liver, one is not liable to kares for. But one who eats a kezayis of it receives lashes, as it says, "וְכָל-דָּם, לֹא תֹאכֵלוּ" ("and you shall eat no blood," Vayikra 3:17; 7:26). Concerning liability for kares it says, "כִּי נֶפֶשׁ הַבָּשָׂר, בַּדָּם הִוא" ("for the life of the flesh is in the blood," Vayikra 17:11): one is liable to kares only for the blood with which the life goes out.

5. A fetus found in the innards of an animal: its blood is like the blood of one that was born. Therefore the blood found gathered inside its heart makes one liable to kares, but the rest of its blood is like the blood of the limbs.

6. The heart, whether for roasting or for the pot: he tears it open and removes its blood, and afterwards salts it. If he cooked the heart without tearing it, he tears it after cooking, and it is permitted. If he did not tear it, one is liable to kares only if it was the heart of a domestic animal, since it contains a kezayis of the blood inside the heart, for which one is liable to kares.

7. The liver: if he cut it and threw it into vinegar, or into boiling water until it turned white, it is permitted to cook it afterwards. All Israel have already adopted the custom of singeing it over the fire and afterwards cooking it, whether cooked alone or with other meat. Likewise it is a widespread custom not to cook or roast the brain of the head until it is singed over the fire.

8. A liver that was cooked without being singed over the fire or scalded in vinegar or boiling water: the whole pot is forbidden, the liver and everything cooked with it. It is permitted to roast liver with meat on one spit, provided the liver is below; if he transgressed and roasted it above the meat, he may eat.

9. The spleen may be cooked even with meat, for it is not blood but flesh that resembles blood.

9. One who breaks the neck of an animal before its life goes out: the blood is absorbed into the limbs, and it is forbidden to eat its meat raw, even if he scalded it. Rather, what should he do? Cut the piece, salt it very well, and afterwards cook or roast it. We have already explained that one who slaughtered a domestic animal, wild animal or bird and no blood came out of them, they are permitted.

10. Meat is not rid of its blood unless he salts it very well and rinses it very well. How does he do it? He first rinses the meat, then salts it very well, and leaves it in its salt for the time it takes to walk a mil; then he rinses it very well until the water comes out clear, and throws it at once into boiling water, but not lukewarm, so that it turns white at once and no blood comes out.

11. When meat is salted, it is salted only in a perforated vessel, and only with coarse salt like coarse sand, for fine salt like flour is absorbed into the meat and does not draw out blood. He must shake the salt off the meat, and afterwards rinse it.

12. All these things apply to meat that is to be cooked. But for roasting, he salts it and roasts it at once. One who wishes to eat raw meat salts it very well and rinses it very well, and afterwards eats it. If he scalded it in vinegar, it may be eaten raw, and the vinegar in which he scalded it may be drunk, for vinegar does not draw out blood.

13. Vinegar in which meat was scalded may not be used to scald a second time. A piece that turned red in the vinegar, both it and the vinegar are forbidden, until he salts it very well and roasts it. Meat that turned red, and likewise the testicles of a domestic or wild animal in their membrane, and likewise the neck in which are the blood vessels full of blood: if he cut them and salted them properly, they may be cooked. If he did not cut them, but roasted them on a spit, and roasted the neck with its opening facing down, or roasted all of them on the coals, they are permitted.

14. The head of an animal that he roasted in an oven or a furnace: if he hung it with the place of slaughter facing down, it is permitted, for the blood comes out and flows away. If the place of slaughter was to the side, its brain is forbidden, for the blood gathers into it; the rest of the flesh on the bones outside is permitted. If he placed it nose down: if he put a reed or a rush in it so that it stays open and the blood comes out through the nose, it is permitted; if not, its brain is forbidden.

15. One does not place a vessel under a roast to catch its juices until all its reddish color is gone. How is it done? He throws a little salt into the vessel and leaves the vessel until it is roasted; he takes the fat on top, and the liquid below, under the fat, is forbidden.

16. Bread on which roasted meat was cut may be eaten.

16. Fish and birds that were salted together, even in a perforated vessel: the fish are forbidden, for fish is soft and absorbs the blood that comes out of the bird. Needless to say if he salted fish with the meat of a domestic or wild animal.

17. Birds that he left whole and filled their cavity with meat and eggs and cooked them are forbidden, for the blood comes out into them, even though he salted them very well, and even if the meat inside them was boiled or roasted. If he roasted them, they are permitted, even though the meat inside them is raw, and even with their opening facing up.

18. Intestines that he filled in this way with roasted or boiled meat, or filled with eggs, and boiled or roasted them, are permitted, for intestines do not hold blood. So the Geonim ruled.

19. Birds that he coated with dough and roasted, whether whole or cut up: if he coated them with coarse flour, even if the coating turned red, he may eat the coating, for since it is coarse flour, it crumbles and the blood comes out. If he coated them with wheat flour from moistened grain: if the coating was white as silver, he may eat of it; if not, it is forbidden. If he coated them with other flours: if they turned red, they are forbidden; if they did not turn red, they are permitted.

20. A knife with which he slaughtered may not be used to eat something hot, until he heats the knife white-hot, or sharpens all of it on a whetstone, or sticks it ten times into hard ground; if he cut something hot with it, it is permitted. Likewise he should not cut radish and similar sharp things with it in the first place; if he rinsed the knife or wiped it with a cloth, he may cut radish and the like with it, but not something hot.

21. A bowl in which he salted meat, even if it was glazed with lead, may never be used to eat something hot, for the blood has already been absorbed into its earthenware.