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13 โ[1] ** ืืฉื ืืฆืื ืฆืื ืืื ืื ืขืืฃ, who hunts any beast or fowl, etc.** We need to analyse why the Torah had to write this whole introduction instead of merely writing that if someone slaughters or otherwise kills a free-roaming animal or fowl he has to cover its blood with earth. Furthermore, if it is a decree without the Torah revealing its rationale, why does the Torah not merely write ืืืกืื, "he shall cover its blood with dust," instead of writing ืืืกืื, which implies that he had to fulfil another commandment prior to covering the blood of the creature in question.
โ[2] I believe that by writing the words ืืฉืจ ืืฆืื the Torah intended to forbid the hunting of any species that are impure, i.e. whose meat is forbidden for Jews **to eat** although it may be used in another context. I have discussed this in my book ืคืจื ืชืืืจ item 117 in accordance with the view of Maimonides in his treatise *Maachalot Assurot* chapter 8 where he writes that permission to hunt is dependent on one's intention to hunt those free-roaming animals which we are allowed to eat. The fact that amongst the herd of animals one hunts there are some which do not qualify as food for Jews does not pose an halachic problem to the hunter in such an instance. This is the true meaning of the expression ืื ืืฆืื ืืฉืจ ืืืื, i.e. the activity of hunting is permissible only when its object is to provide you with permissible food. The Torah continues with ืืืกืื, [the emphasis being on the conjunctive letter ื Ed.] to draw our attention to the preceding ืืฆืื, namely not to engage in hunting animals for sport but only for food. The Torah writes that the permission to eat, i.e. ืืฉืจ ืืืื, is contingent on the covering of the blood of such animal by earth once it has been spilled i.e. ืืฉืคื ืืช ืืื. In Deut. 12,24 the Torah warns that blood of free-roaming animals must not be consumed either. This teaches that already in our verse the Torah was concerned with our not eating the blood even of free-roaming animals or fowl by writing ืื ื ืคืฉ **ืื ืืฉื**, that the life-force of all flesh, not only that of pure domestic animals, is situated in its blood. As a result of what we have just described you find three distinct commandments in our verse. 1) Not to hunt impure animals for one's pleasure; 2) Not to eat the blood of either ืืื or ืขืืฃ; 3) To cover the blood of such animals instead of pouring it down the sink, etc.
โ[3] I believe we can also detect in the expression ืืฉืคื ืืืกืื an allusion to the need to cover only some of the blood with earth whereas the rest may be poured down the sink, compare *Chulin* 88.
Version: Or Hachayim, trans. Eliyahu Munk
Source: http://www.urimpublications.com/or-hachayim-commentary-on-the-torah-5-vols.html
License: CC-BY