Pesachim 74 a, b

Two days without a blog!  My learning of both daf 72 and daf 73 took place over Shabbat and so I did not blog.  Daf 73 ended Perek VI, and we move today to Perek VII: rules regarding the cooking preparation of the Paschal lamb offering.

We begin with a mishna that explains some of the basic rules: the Paschal lamb must be roasted using a spit made of pomegranate wood.  The rabbis question whether the lamb is to be roasted with its entrails, etc. near its head and separate from the body of the animal, or whether those parts should be placed inside the animal as it roasts.

The Gemara poses questions: why pomegranate wood and not palm, fig, oak, or sycamore?  Why a wooden spit and not a spit of metal; why not a grill? The answers: we should ensure that no water  emits from the utensil used to roast the lamb.  The meat must be roasted - it must be cooked directly by the fire and not through heated water, or a heated metal spit, or a spit/grill that does not allow the meat to be entirely touched by the fire.

The rabbis debate about the placement of the offering's legs.  After that discussion, they debate about the removal of blood from meat for the remainder of the daf.  Generally speaking, Torah law requires that blood must be removed from an animal during the slaughter.  However, we take this requirement further and encourage salting and rinsing of meat to allow any excess blood to be absorbed by the salt and then rinsed away.  In addition, today's daf teaches that the heart of the animal should be cut so that the blood inside has place to escape.

Finally, the rabbis extend this discussion to include breading on animals: does breading (with flour, etc.) prohibit the meat?  Perhaps blood will not escape from the animal and fall to the fire; instead, the blood could be absorbed into the flour of the breading.  And when meat is soaked in vinegar to remove blood, can the vinegar be reused?  The rabbis take these questions on in today's daf.

I could not help but be reminded of the strangeness of animal sacrifice as a religious ritual.  The notion of this sort of offering is completely foreign to me - and to most of us in today's era.   We have not had a Temple for a long, long time.  Why the immense effort to maintain that particular practice?

Of course, our Sages wanted to ensure that should the Temple be rebuilt, we would have clear, accurate directions on how to perform these rituals. But now... why do we continue to study this work, to repeat prayers that describe the offerings?  Most of us would agree that animal sacrifice is repugnant; an ancient practice with no meaning valuable enough to justify its return.

And another thing - what is it with Judaism and blood??  Today we are looking at laws regarding the removal of blood from sacrificial animals.  In the past, we have looked at blood as a source of ritual impurity, as the requirement when performing a brit milah, as the all-important marker of niddah for women.  Is it simply about blood as a life source; something symbolic of life in all living creatures?  Or is it more closely connected with the imminence of death that surrounds us at all times - more so in ancient times?

And of course I understand that many people would tell me that blood is to be avoided because the Torah tells us so.  For better or for worse, the more that I learn Talmud, the more that I recognize that these rules and ideas are reflections of the society that existed at the time that these words were recorded.  Perhaps the rituals were inspired by G-d and perhaps they came from people's best judgements. Either way, I hope to understand better our relationship with blood as I continue to learn.