The Blood is the Life: Why the Torah Forbids Eating Blood

The Torah warns us repeatedly not to eat blood: “Any blood you shall not eat” (Vayikra-Leviticus 7:26), explaining that “the blood is the life” (Devarim-Deuteronomy 12:23).

As the halachic guide, Sefer HaChinuch, teaches:

“Besides its coarse and unrefined nature, eating blood can cause a person to acquire a measure of cruelty. For one swallows from living creatures that very thing in them upon which life actually depends and to which their spirit is attached.”

Ramban (Nachmanides) similarly explains that consuming blood introduces “density and coarseness” into the human soul. In forbidding the consumption of blood, the Torah seeks to refine our characters and distance us from cruelty.

Blood of Animals, Birds, Fish, and Insects

Torah law forbids eating the blood of:

• Domesticated animals (beheimah)

• Wild animals (chayah)

• Birds (off)

 Permitted by Torah law:

• Fish blood

• Locust blood

Rabbinic safeguard:

• The Talmudic Sages prohibited consuming any blood at all, as otherwise, a person might be seen drinking permitted blood and the assumption made that it was from a forbidden source.
• This prohibition is called mar’it ayin (literally: appearance to the eye) and it is a broad halachic principle that refers to doing something that looks prohibited even if it isn’t.
• The prohibition of mar’it ayin applies even when no one can see, as a safeguard.
• The sole exception is fish blood, which may be consumed as long as there is a clear sign that the blood is from fish, such as leaving fish scales on the side of the cup.

Human Blood

Rabbinic prohibition (mar’it ayin):
Human blood is prohibited in order to avoid misunderstandings—someone might think it’s animal blood.

Practical case:
If someone is eating something (such as a slice of bread) and blood from their gum drips onto it, they must scrape off the blood from the food before eating.

Permitted:
Blood originating from inside one’s own mouth may be swallowed, as there’s no concern of mar’it ayin (since no one could possibly see the person swallowing it).

Raw Meat

Torah law:  only forbids blood that has separated from the meat and flowed out, or moved within the meat (such as would occur if one slices it, or even chews it).

Permitted:
Blood still absorbed inside the meat as long as it has not been disturbed.

• It is permitted to take a raw piece of unsalted meat that has not been koshered, and eat it as long as the surface blood is thoroughly rinsed off with water. In practice, however, we do not do this, following the halachic opinion that chewing such meat is likely to be prohibited.

Blood Spots in Eggs

• Blood in the yolk (yellow):
  Indicates the beginning of an embryo and the entire egg is forbidden.

• Blood in the white (albumen):
  One removes the blood spot and the rest of the egg is permitted for consumption.

Eggs from modern-day factory-farmed chickens:

Eggs laid without fertilization by a rooster, produced by the hen alone due to warmth, can never develop into chicks. Therefore, even if blood is found in the yolk, it is considered to be a dirt stain. One removes it due to mar’it ayin, but the rest of the egg is permitted.

Even if some of the eggs somehow were fertilized, since this is unlikely we proceed from the assumption that all the eggs are incapable of producing life. 

This is why we hard-boil eggs in their shells without being concerned that they need to first be checked.

Raw egg mixtures

If an egg with genuine blood in the yolk (forbidden) is mixed into other beaten eggs in a bowl:

• The whole mixture is forbidden unless there are sixty-one kosher eggs against the one forbidden egg.

• The halachic principle here is that the non-kosher item is nullifed in the presence of 60-times more of the kosher item. Since eggs vary in size, we add an extra egg to ensure that there’s a true sixtyfold ratio.

If the yolks remain separate:

• Each yolk without blood is permitted, but the egg whites from the mixture are forbidden, since they absorbed from the forbidden egg.

If the egg in question with a reddish stain in the yolk is from a factory-farmed chicken and was mixed into other eggs:

• The mixture is permitted for consumption, as the red stain is not genuine blood.

Eggs from Non-Kosher or Fatally Injured Birds

• An egg found inside a bird that is a neveilah (died without shechitah--kosher slaughter) or treifah (mortally injured) may not be eaten.

• Selling such an egg even to a non-Jew is forbidden, out of concern it could be resold to a Jew.

Mixtures:
If one forbidden egg is inadvertently mixed with two kosher eggs, all are permitted, since the majority is kosher and the forbidden egg is not identifiable.

In Conclusion

By forbidding the eating of blood, the Torah guides us toward spiritual refinement and compassion, steering us away from cruelty. As Sefer HaChinuch explains, consuming blood leads to the absorption of the very life-force of animals which negatively impacts our souls. By observing these laws carefully, we honor the Torah’s vision of an ethical, spiritually-aware Jewish life.