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Text Excerpt
ולחזקיה, למאי הלכתא איתקש דם למים? לכדרבי חייא בר אבא, דאמר רבי חייא בר אבא אמר רבי יוחנן: מנין לדם קדשים שאינו מכשיר — שנאמר ״לא תאכלנו על הארץ תשפכנו כמים״, דם שנשפך כמים — מכשיר, שאינו נשפך כמים — אינו מכשיר.
The Talmud asks: According to Ḥizkiya, who says that: You should not eat, indicates only that eating is prohibited but that benefit is permitted, for what halakha is blood juxtaposed to water? According to his opinion, there is no need for the verse to teach that one may benefit from blood. The Talmud answers that he needs this verse to derive that which was taught by R' Ḥiyya bar Abba, as R' Ḥiyya bar Abba said that R' Yoḥanan said: From where is it derived that the blood of sacrifices does not render food susceptible to ritual impurity? As it is stated: “You should not eat it; you should pour it out upon the earth like water” (Deuteronomy 12:24). Blood that is poured out like water, such as that of a slaughtered, non-sacrificial animal, renders food susceptible to ritual impurity. However, sacrificial blood, which is not poured out like water and is instead sprinkled on the altar, does not render food susceptible to ritual impurity.
והרי אבר מן החי, דכתיב ״לא תאכל הנפש עם הבשר״, ותניא, רבי נתן אומר: מנין שלא יושיט אדם כוס יין לנזיר ואבר מן החי לבני נח — תלמוד לומר ״ולפני עור לא תתן מכשל״, הא לכלבים — שרי!
The Talmud further challenges R' Abbahu’s opinion: And yet there is the prohibition against eating a limb cut from a living animal, as it is written: “Only be steadfast in not eating the blood; for the blood is the life; and you should not eat the life with the flesh” (Deuteronomy 12:23). And it was taught in a baraita that R' Natan says: From where is it derived that a person may not offer a cup of wine to a nazirite, who is prohibited from drinking wine, and that he may not offer a limb cut from a living animal to a descendant of Noah, who is prohibited by Noahide law from eating a limb from a living animal? The verse states: “You should not put a stumbling block before the blind” (Leviticus 19:14). Causing another person to sin is like placing a stumbling block before a blind person; one who does so violates this prohibition. The prohibition of giving a limb from a living animal to a non-Jew is apparently due only to the prohibition of placing a stumbling block. However, it is permitted for one to throw it to dogs. Therefore, despite the fact that the verse says: “You should not eat it,” apparently there is no prohibition against benefiting from this prohibited item. This challenges R' Abbahu’s principle.