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Text Excerpt
דם שאינו נשפך כמים — אינו מכשיר. מתקיף לה רב שמואל בר אמי: הרי דם התמצית — דנשפך כמים, ואינו מכשיר!
Conversely, blood that is not poured out like water but is received in a vessel to be sprinkled on the altar does not render produce susceptible to contract impurity. Rav Shmuel bar Ami strongly objects to this: There is the blood squeezed from an animal after slaughter once the initial spurt of blood has concluded, which is poured like water, as it is unfit for sprinkling upon the altar. And nevertheless, this blood does not render produce susceptible to impurity.
אמר ליה רבי זירא: הנח לדם התמצית, דאפילו בחולין נמי לא מכשיר.
R' Zeira said to him: Leave aside the blood squeezed after the initial spurt, which is an exceptional case, as even from non-sacred animals it does not render produce susceptible to ritual impurity either. With regard to the halakha that blood renders produce susceptible to ritual impurity, the legal status of blood squeezed after the initial spurt is not that of blood at all.
קבלה מיניה רב שמואל בר אמי, דאמר רחמנא: ״רק חזק לבלתי אכל הדם כי הדם הוא הנפש״, דם שהנפש יוצאה בו — קרוי דם, דם שאין הנפש יוצאה בו — אינו קרוי דם.
The Talmud comments: Rav Shmuel bar Ami accepted this statement from R' Zeira and cited a verse that supports it. As God states: “Only be strong not to eat the blood; for the blood is the soul” (Deuteronomy 12:23). This verse indicates: Blood with regard to which the soul leaves the body when it is spilled is called blood; however, blood with regard to which the soul does not leave the body when it is spilled, but which is squeezed out afterward, is not called blood.
תא שמע: דם שנטמא וזרקו, בשוגג — הורצה, במזיד — לא הורצה. מדרבנן, ודלא כרבי יוסי בן יועזר איש צרידה.
The Talmud cites an additional proof that the impurity of liquids is by Torah law. Come and hear: With regard to blood that became ritually impure, and a priest sprinkled it on the altar, the following distinction applies: If he did so unwittingly, the offering is accepted. If he sprinkled the blood intentionally, the offering is not accepted. Apparently, blood becomes ritually impure by Torah law, even if it does not transmit impurity to other items. The Talmud rejects this contention: This impurity is by rabbinic law, and this ruling is not in accordance with Rav’s explanation of the opinion of R' Yosei ben Yo’ezer of Tzereida, as he maintains that sacrificial blood does not become impure at all.