Blood is the Soul

...so don't put it in your mouth!

Parshat Acharei Mot

by Rabbi Avi Billet

The coming holiday of Pesach always brings back images of blood – Blood as a sign on the doorpost, that is. The Shakh, in his commentary on Parshat Bo, claims the blood that was placed on the doorposts was a combination of the blood of the lamb and blood gathered in a major circumcision festival that was necessary to allow people to partake of the Korban Pesach (Paschal lamb). He specifically identifies the blood from the circumcision as coming from the act of circumcision and the removal of the mucosal membrane (no mention of from the act of metzitzah!).

            

Of course, in that context, the blood served as a “reminder” (so to speak) to God of the covenant that connected our people to Him for eternity. The sign, as it were, was significant for the people as well, because their own blood was in it. (Maimonides,Guide 3:46, quoting the teaching from Yechezkel 16:6)

            

In our parsha, we see one of the Torah’s many revisits to the prohibition against consuming blood. We are all familiar with the idea that blood must be removed from the meat of any animals we eat. The Torah here (17:11) states, “For the soul of the flesh is in the blood, and I have therefore given it to you [to be placed] upon the altar, to atone for your souls. For it is the blood that atones for the soul.”

            

The blood of offerings is meant to bring about atonement for people. How it does that – the mechanism, etc. – is God’s business.

            

Rabbane Bachaye quotes Maimonides and creates a picture we can hopefully utilize to understand this.

            

Maimonides writes (Guide 3:46) that the prohibition against consuming blood is meant to create a distance, so that a person not involve oneself in the craft of demonic work. For when the Israelites left Egypt, they were experts in this craft, having learned it from the Egyptians. Part of their necromancy was to sprinkle blood, and when they wanted to divine into the future, they would consume the blood.

            

This is why the Torah prohibited the eating of blood, in an effort to change the mindset of the people, and to channel the use of blood towards sprinkling on the mizbeach to achieve atonement.

            

A proof to this connection is 17:10, in which God says, “ I will set My attention upon the soul who eats the blood,” which is a similar language used to indicate displeasure with the choices of those giving their children to the idolatry of Molekh.

            

Rabbenu Bachaye adds to the teaching of Maimonides, saying, “The soul of the flesh is in the blood” (a notion repeated in 17:11 and 17:14) shows us that the soul and blood are mixed together. Much like diluted wine – you can’t extract the water or the wine from the other – the two are intertwined. Furthermore, 17:14 concludes saying “for the soul of any flesh IS its blood.” They are no longer two entities mixed together. The blood and the soul are one.

            

This is why we must be very careful about how we view blood, and how we treat it. When it is the blood of an animal, in the context of a korban, it has its own purpose. We were given the permission and the allowance to slaughter animals to bring about atonement. We were also given permission (perhaps secondarily) to eat animals, and to remove and dispose of their blood in a respectful manner.

The Pesach doorway-blood stands to teach us that blood can serve a very important function. But one place where it does not belong is in the mouth. As the Shakh notes that the blood which was placed on the doorposts was drawn out from circumcision and priah (the membrane removal) and not from Metzitzah, it is important to make clear that perhaps any act in which blood from one entity (animal or human) comes in contact with another human’s mouth is against the Torah (which would obviously exclude when a person has a wound in one’s own mouth).

            

Blood is sacred. Blood is life. Blood is the soul. And there is no allowance in the Torah for taking blood and placing it in the mouth of a person who strives to follow what the Torah instructs. We have allowances for removing blood of a korban and blood of circumcision. But our goal is raise the soul up, and not to draw from someone else’s soul into our own mouths. How dare we?