05 May, 2001
12 Iyyar, 5761
Focus Passage: Leviticus 17:1-16
The Sanctity of Life
Life is sacred because it belongs to G-d. More so, mankind is so made in the image of G-d that to shed innocent blood is to forfeit one's life (Gen. 9:6). For this reason the sixth commandment said: "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13a). On that basis one also builds the interlocking structure of personal relationships. That is, what we do to one another, we in some mysterious way do to G-d. Life is the gift of G-d, live out in stewardship and ultimately returned to G-d. Life is sacred, as is human personality, because it is uniquely related to G-d.
Where does life reside? For modern individuals with a holistic view of personality and a reasonable understanding of physiology, a variety of answers might be given. But for the ancient Israelite the answer was far more simple. Life is in the blood (Lev. 17:14). Perhaps this conclusion rested on seeing an animal or a person bleed to death. Because life, sacred to G-d, was located in the blood, to blood also was given "unusual" sanctity. Blood must not be consumed in normative ways as food. Even in sacrificial rites the blood was returned to G-d by sprinkling or dashing it on the altar or other places in the sanctuary. Blood belonged to G-d because life belonged to G-d. Hence both are sacred.
Four stipulations uniquely governed Israel's relationship to blood. Any animal slain must be slaughtered at the sanctuary as a peace offering to G-d (vv. 1-7). No person could offer sacrifices at a place other than the sanctuary, as might have been done by the head of the household at earlier times (vv. 8-9). No person was permitted to eat blood (vv. 10-13), and nothing which "eats what has died or has been torn by beasts" (v. 15), whatever the manner of death could be eaten (vv. 14-16). Through these regulations Israel sanctified the blood, recognizing that it, like G-d, was "wholly other" than the animal order.
Reverence for life rests at the core of these regulations, for it was not merely blood but life which was of fundamental concern. Recognizing the sanctity of all life was another way by which the people of the Covenant manifested dedication to G-d. So fidelity and dedication to G-d continue, even to this day to manifest themselves through reverence for life. respect for human personality and the dignity accorded persons made in the imager of G-d are ways in which contemporary Jews continue to express their dedication to G-d.
It should be noted that this points out only one of the many reasons that Judaism conflicts with Christianity over the person of Jesus. Christianity claims that G-d required the "blood" death of Jesus as an atonement for the "sins of the world." The Torah would point to the love of G-d for human life, and that G-d does not condone human sacrifice, nor the shedding of blood of an innocent individual.
Shalom U'Vracha,
Thomas, Greta, and Talie
