This sheet on Leviticus 17 was written by Ben Freed for 929 and can also be found here
“Meat comes from the grocery store, where it is cut and packaged to look as little like parts of animals as possible. The disappearance of animals from our lives has opened a space in which there’s no reality check, either on the sentiment or the brutality.” Food author Michael Pollan’s observation in the New York Times is also true for many modern Jews who keep kosher. “Checking” food to ensure it meets our kashrut standards primarily involves letters, circles and stars we find on packaging, rather than checking lungs, blood or sinews.
Leviticus 17 is filled with rules legislating aspects of the meat production process that are—for many of us—unfamiliar and uncomfortable. Who has the right to kill animals intended for consumption? What is done with the blood?
This past year I had the privilege of studying shechita—the rules and practice of kosher slaughter—under Rabbi Shlomo Zacharov at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. One of the practices we studied comes from verse 13: anyone who kills a bird for food “shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.” This mitzvah of kisui dam (covering the blood) is one we still observe to this day for chickens and other fowl.
Before “shechting” (ritually slaughtering), we make sure earth is placed on the ground and once the process has been completed, we “cover” the blood with more earth. We read three times in Chapter 17 that the “soul” of a creature is in its blood. This “burial” practice forces us to pause after we have taken a life to honor the animal whose flesh will find its way onto our plate. It’s important to remember that true kashrut intended we build in time to pause, reflect and appreciate what had to happen for us to enjoy the schnitzel we’re having for dinner.
Leviticus 17 is filled with rules legislating aspects of the meat production process that are—for many of us—unfamiliar and uncomfortable. Who has the right to kill animals intended for consumption? What is done with the blood?
This past year I had the privilege of studying shechita—the rules and practice of kosher slaughter—under Rabbi Shlomo Zacharov at the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem. One of the practices we studied comes from verse 13: anyone who kills a bird for food “shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.” This mitzvah of kisui dam (covering the blood) is one we still observe to this day for chickens and other fowl.
Before “shechting” (ritually slaughtering), we make sure earth is placed on the ground and once the process has been completed, we “cover” the blood with more earth. We read three times in Chapter 17 that the “soul” of a creature is in its blood. This “burial” practice forces us to pause after we have taken a life to honor the animal whose flesh will find its way onto our plate. It’s important to remember that true kashrut intended we build in time to pause, reflect and appreciate what had to happen for us to enjoy the schnitzel we’re having for dinner.
Ben Freed is a third-year Rabbinical student at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City.
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