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17 [1] **The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: **
[2] **Speak to Aaron, to his sons, and to all the children of Israel, **as the upcoming passage is somewhat related to the Tabernacle but most of it applies to the entire nation, **and say to them: This is the matter that the Lord has commanded, saying: **
[3] **Any man from the house of Israel who shall slaughter a bull or a sheep or a goat in the camp, **as the Israelite camp in the wilderness was large and it is reasonable to assume that those who lived in the inner part of the camp did not wish to trouble themselves with leaving the camp to slaughter animals, **or who slaughters it, **such an animal, **outside the camp, **e.g., in a field used as pasture for the flock,
[4] **and to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting he did not bring it, to present an offering to the Lord before the Tabernacle of the Lord, it will be accounted as blood for that man; he has shed blood, and that man shall be excised from among his people. **All animals must be slaughtered in the Tabernacle courtyard as offerings. One who slaughters an animal in the wilderness, outside the Tabernacle area, is punished with excision. Excision is a punishment that is administered by God rather than an earthly court. There are various opinions regarding the precise meaning of the word “excision,” including untimely death or the cutting off of the soul in the World to Come.
[5] **So that the children of Israel shall bring their slaughtered animals that they **currently **slaughter in the open field, and they shall bring them to the Lord, to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, to the priest, and they shall slaughter peace offerings to the Lord. **They may no longer slaughter animals wherever they wish.
[6] **The priest shall cast the blood on the altar of the Lord **that is **at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and burn the fat for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. **During their time in the wilderness, the children of Israel were not permitted to slaughter unconsecrated animals for their meat, as explained above. Instead, they were required to consecrate the animals whose meat they wanted to consume as a peace offering. The blood and fats of a peace offering, which may not be eaten even in the case of a non-sacred animal, are burned on the altar. The breast and thigh are given to the priest, and the rest of the animal is eaten by the individual who has brought the offering (see 7:28–36).
[7] **That they shall no longer slaughter their offerings to the satyrs, after whom they go astray. **This phrase constitutes an independent commandment and provides the reason for the prohibition against slaughtering animals outside the Tabernacle. 33 **This **prohibition against bringing offerings to satyrs **shall be an eternal statute for them, for their generations. **
[8] Following the commandment that in the wilderness animals may be slaughtered only for the purpose of bringing offerings, the verse adds a detail that applies for all generations:
**And to them, **the children of Israel, **you shall **also **say **the following: **Any man from the house of Israel, or from the strangers who reside among them, who offers up a burnt offering, **which is entirely consumed on the altar, **or a feast offering, **much of which is eaten by people,
[9] **and to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting does not bring it to present it to the Lord, that man shall be excised from his people. **Presenting an offering outside the Tabernacle or the Temple is a serious transgression that renders one liable to the severe punishment of excision.
[10] This verse provides an additional prohibition concerning the slaughter of animals for food.
**Any man from the house of Israel, or from the stranger who resides among them, who eats any blood, I will direct My attention to the person who eats the blood, **in the form of retribution, **and I will excise him from the midst of his people. **
[11] **For the life, **the life force, **of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you **only to sacrifice **on the altar to atone for your souls, as it is the blood that shall atone for the life. **The blood, upon which life depends, may be used only to atone for the soul of the individual who slaughters the animal as an offering to God. One is permitted to eat meat, the dead flesh of the animal; however, blood, which represents the life force of that creature, is for God only and may not be consumed. 34
[12] **Therefore I said to the children of Israel: Every person among you shall not eat blood, and the stranger who resides among you shall not eat blood. **This broad prohibition applies to all the children of Israel, including gentiles who join them. The Sages interpret the phrase “every person among you” as including even minors, thereby indicating that adults are required to ensure that children do not eat blood. 35
[13] A related commandment:
**Any man from the children of Israel, or from the strangers that reside among them, who shall hunt game of a beast or a bird that may be eaten, **according to the criteria specified elsewhere, 36 **he shall pour out its blood and cover it with dirt. **Not only is blood prohibited from being eaten, but it may not be left exposed. Beasts, meaning undomesticated animals, and most birds may not be brought as offerings. This commandment to cover the blood applies to undomesticated animals and birds, which are generally hunted; it does not apply to domesticated animals. 37
[14] **For the life of all flesh, its blood is with its life; therefore I said to the children of Israel: The blood of all flesh you shall not eat, because the life of all flesh is its blood. **To symbolize the limits of human power over life, **anyone who eats it shall be excised. **
[15] Up to this point, the verses have introduced various commandments pertaining to the killing of animals. These include the prohibition against eating meat from an animal that was not brought as an offering, which applied only while the children of Israel were in the wilderness; the prohibition against bringing offerings outside the Tabernacle or Temple; the prohibition against eating blood; and the obligation to cover the blood of an undomesticated animal or bird that has been slaughtered. The next commandment refers to animals that were not necessarily killed by human beings:
**Any person who shall eat an unslaughtered carcass or a mauled animal **that has suffered a fatal injury, 38 **whether he is native or stranger, he shall wash his garments and bathe in water, and he is impure until the evening, and he shall be purified. **Not only is it prohibited to eat such animals, but having direct physical contact with their carcasses, or even moving their carcasses indirectly, renders a person impure (see 11:27–28, 39–40). However, since this verse specifically refers to eating the carcass, the Sages explain that it refers to a unique type of impurity, contracted specifically from the carcass of a kosher bird, and not through contact or by being moved, but only when it is swallowed. 39
[16] **But if he does not wash and he does not bathe his flesh, he shall bear his iniquity. **An impure person is not required to purify himself immediately, as there is no prohibition against being ritually impure. He violates a prohibition only if he touches consecrated food items or enters the Temple. Priests generally did not own land and could not grow their own produce, and so this prohibition was undoubtedly an important concern of theirs, since consecrated food items comprised a significant portion of their diet. The same prohibition also applied to the entire nation while they were in the wilderness, during which time they were permitted to eat meat only if the animal had been brought as an offering; however, even after it became permissible to eat unconsecrated meat, one who was impure could still come into contact with consecrated food. Because this is a severe prohibition, the verse emphasizes the importance of maintaining ritual purity. 40
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
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