Written by Hindy, כה אב תשפ”ג, August 11, 2023
This week’s parsha, Parshat Re’eh, introduces and lists a good 55 mitzvot. This parsha is jam-packed with instruction and guidance, but because of this, some ideas may fly straight over our heads. One tool used to interpret the verses this week which helps us avoid this is intertextuality. One very specific pasuk alludes to one of the 7 Noahide Commandments, of not eating a limb from a living animal, but the phrasing itself is quite similar to another pasuk in Parshat Acharei.
Devarim 12:23 of Parshat Re’eh states,
רַ֣ק חֲזַ֗ק לְבִלְתִּי֙ אֲכֹ֣ל הַדָּ֔ם כִּ֥י הַדָּ֖ם ה֣וּא הַנָּ֑פֶשׁ וְלֹא־תֹאכַ֥ל הַנֶּ֖פֶשׁ עִם־הַבָּשָֽׂר׃”
But make sure that you do not partake in the [consumption of] blood; for the blood is the life, and you must not consume the life with the flesh.” It is pretty clear to see how this is a continuation of the Noahide Law. Similar to this is the verse in Parshat Acharei which can explain the pasuk in this parsha. It states, “כִּ֣י נֶ֣פֶשׁ הַבָּשָׂר֮ בַּדָּ֣ם: For the life of the flesh is in its blood”. This means the designation of the blood of a korban is to atone for the sins of the one who brings it, as if to say that the life of one offering is for another.
Blood is the physical life force of a body; the circulatory system works with all the nerves firing, serving as messages from the brain to keep the body upright. Blood is not something appetizing, at first it doesn’t even make sense that this is a necessary mitzvah to learn and review. The mitzvah must go further than ‘be careful not to consume blood,’ because that alone is unimportant; it is irrelevant. The repetition actually emphasizes the importance of vigilance where meat consumption is involved. This vigilance explains the extra comments on the topic of blood, and why we must be stringent with this mitzvah.
Our explanation of this is found in the writings of R’ Shmuel Yerushalmi on the MeAm Loez, who states that, “The Gentile nations of the time believed that the consumption of blood would physically strengthen a man, while our spiritual sustenance comes from the observance of the Torah and mitzvot.” Thus, it is taught that the Jewish soul may thrive with yet another law to set us apart from the other nations. The consumption of blood was a practice in many of the worldly cultures of the time. The institution of korbanot, which prohibits the blood of the animal as something the kohen and others can eat once used, is one of the mitzvot which sustains us spiritually. This of course, is largely in contrast to the belief of blood consumption being something to sustain and strengthen the physicality of man.
Thus, a seemingly obvious mitzvah is still incredibly important. To us, it is quite clear that the coppery taste of blood is gross, and not to be digested intentionally. But, the instance of time during which Moshe was commanding this, was a time where this exact ruling was not scrupulously (or otherwise) followed by the rest of the world. That is why it had to have been explicitly mentioned to the Israelites, so that they did not fall into the untrue beliefs of the other nations, and their unsafe practices. Parshat Re’eh gives us a friendly reminder that there is so much around us which can be elevated when we do follow the Torah’s guidance, and do not listen to nor follow the preposterous ideas of the outside, sometimes-cultish practices in the world.
Shabbat Shalom,
Hindy