Chullin 34 – People Who Eat The Food as of it Were a Sacrifice

Previously we quoted the rule that “if one slaughtered a domesticated animal, a wild kosher animal, or a bird, and blood did not come out of them, ... their meat may be eaten with unwashed hands.” We also said that this rule cannot be talking about sacrifices, because wild animals were never brought as sacrifices in the Temple. Rather it was talking about the meat bought with the money of the second tithe.

However, there is a problem with this understanding. While it is true that one cannot eat the food of the second tithe while being impure, the mention of the hands implies that one cannot even touch the food – and that nobody ever said. Therefore, we must re-interpret the rule as talking about sacrifices after all. What about the argument that wild animals were never brought as sacrifices? That is true, and we have to further modify our understanding as talking about people who undertook to eat regular food with all the stringencies applicable to sacrificial meat. Such a diet could include venison. Game meat can be confused with regular meat, so game meat was also treated stringently.

Art: Evert Pieters - Preparing The Meal