Commentaire sur La Genèse 9:5

ואך את דמכם HOWEVER YOUR BLOOD — Although I have permitted you to take the life of cattle yet your blood I will surely require from him amongst you who sheds his own blood (see Bava Kamma 91b).

AND SURELY YOUR BLOOD ‘LENAPHSHOTHEICHEM’ (OF YOUR LIVES) WILL I REQUIRE. This is as if it were written, your blood ‘naphshotheichem,’ [without the letter lamed], and meaning “your blood which is your lives.” This is similar to the verse, ‘Lechol’ (To all) the instruments of the tabernacle,¹⁸⁷Exodus 27:19. [which means all the instruments needed for the tabernacle, the letter lamed in the word lechol being redundant]. So also, the third ‘l’Avshalom’ (to Absalom),¹⁸⁸I Chronicles 3:2. [which means, “the third, Absolom,” the lamed in the word l’Avshalom is redundant].
It is possible to explain your blood ‘lenaphshotheichem’ as meaning benaphshotheichem (in your souls), for the life of all flesh, the blood thereof is all one with the life thereof.¹⁸⁹Leviticus 17:14. Likewise, And ye shall eat no manner of blood in all your dwelling places, ‘la’oph velabeheimah’ (to fowl and to cattle),¹⁹⁰Ibid., 7:26. which is to be explained as “in fowl or in beast.”
The correct interpretation is that Scripture is saying, “the blood which is the life in you I will require.” He is thus declaring that the blood is one with the life, and He intimates that one incurs the death penalty for spilling the blood upon which life depends, but not for spilling the blood of those limbs on which life is not dependent. Our Rabbis have expounded this verse as an injunction against suicide,¹⁹¹Baba Kamma 91b. the verse stating, “I will require your blood from your own souls.”

ואך את דמכם לנפשותיכם אדרוש, although I will not punish you for spilling animal’s blood, I will hold you responsible for shedding the blood of fellow human beings. Human beings, all human beings, are more precious to Me than the lives of animals. This retribution for spilling the blood of human beings may on different occasions be applied in different ways: It all depends on the worthiness of the person under attack or potential attack. If, for instance, the person deserves saving, the words מיד כל חיה אדרשנו ומיד אדם are meant in the preventive sense, i.e. G’d will save such a person’s life be it under attack from animals or from human beings. If, in the eyes of G’d, the person under attack does not deserve being saved from violent death, this still did not give the animals or other human beings the right to kill him. Therefore, in such instances, ipso facto, G’d will exact retribution from the killers.

אך את דמכם לנפשותיכם, even though I have permitted the blood of animals, i.e. you may kill animals, I have not permitted the animals to kill you, seeing that I have given them into your control, and not vice versa.

דמכם לנפשותיכם אדרוש, “(but) I shall demand your (human beings’) blood if it results in loss of your life.” The meaning is: “your blood,” i.e. that which is the essence of your lives, I shall demand an accounting for seeing that the blood is what makes flesh viable. I will demand such an accounting from every mammal a well as bird (who kills a human being). The word חיה in this verse is comprehensive and not restricted to predatory animals. An alternative meaning of the verse could be: “blood which is of the type that is vital, without which death results, I will demand an accounting for, whereas blood in the capillaries which is not vital is not subject to the same kind of capital punishment.” This verse is an allusion to the verse שופך דם האדם באדם דמו יישפך, “Whosoever sheds the blood of man will have his own blood shed by man” (court). (verse 6) This would more clearly spell out that only spilling the life-blood of a human being is subject to the death penalty.

From one who spills his own blood. [Rashi know this] because if it refers to spilling another's blood, this was already mentioned: ומיד האדם. (Kitzur Mizrachi)

Beim Menschen tritt das Verhältnis der Seele zum Blute noch gesonderter hervor. Beim Tiere war das Blut בנפש, somit immerhin noch in einem innigen, organischen Zusammenhange. Das Blut des Menschen aber ist nur לנפשו, seiner Seele gehörig, bestimmt, untertan; ganz so wie bei der Schöpfung der Tier- und Menschenseele jene mit dem Leibe zugleich der Erde entsprang, diese aber, einem dem irdischen Leibe völlig fremden Ursprunge angehörig, als "Hauch Gottes" in den Körper trat. —

ואך את דמכם לנפשותיכם אדרוש, “however for your own life-blood I will demand an accounting;” this is to be understood as an accounting for their death by people who deliberately strangle themselves as an act of suicide, avoiding the shedding of their blood in the process. B’reshit Rabbah, 34,13, explains the need for this verse as being that we might think that when Chananyah, Mishael and Azaryah, (Daniel chapter 3 where their Babylonian names are used) agreed to be thrown into a fiery pit, clearly committing suicide, albeit as an act of sanctifying the name of the Lord, this was forbidden also. The reason that this verse was introduced by the word: אך, was to exclude such suicides, even that of King Sha-ul, who did not want to give the Philistines the satisfaction of having killed a king who had been crowned with the approval of the Lord. (Samuel I 31,4) In both of these instances the victims did not execute themselves but were executed or meant to be executed by someone else. Committing suicide with one’s own hands is an absolute no no. According to the opinion of Rabbi Shimon bar Avraham, also known as אוכמן, the Rabbis did not make allowances for what King Sha-ul had done. There is a true story of a Rabbi, who at the time of persecutions of Jews practicing their faith, personally killed many young Jewish children in order to forestall the Christians from raising them in the Christian faith. One of his Rabbinical colleagues was very angry at that Rabbi on that account, referring to him as a murderer. The first Rabbi did not heed the second Rabbi’s warning not to become a murderer. Thereupon the Rabbi opposed to killing the infants said that if he had been right, his colleague would die a violent and painful death. Not only did the gentiles seize and kill that Rabbi-(who had killed the infants), but they stripped off his skin and placed sand between it and his flesh. Shortly thereafter, the decree forbidding the Jews to practice their faith was cancelled. If the first Rabbi had not killed all the infants, they would have been saved when the decree was cancelled.

But (ach) your blood of your lives will I require: Because it permitted to spill the blood of beasts, it forbade the spilling of the blood of man, even one's own blood. [This is] so that they will not say, "Is it not that [since] the blood of a beast is permitted for us to spill because they live through us, [so] too a man who lives through himself should be permitted to kill himself? Hence it is stated, "of your lives I will require"...

ואך את דמכם, “yet your (human) blood”, etc; this is a warning to any animal not to kill any human being, as G-d would hold it responsible for harming humans. Rashi explains the verse as follows: the peculiar wording is to include killing, including suicide that does not involve the actual shedding of blood, such as by strangulation.

לנפשותיכם YOUR LIFE — Even though one strangles himself (Genesis Rabbah 34:13) so that no blood flows from him yet I will require it from him.

AT THE HAND OF EVERY BEAST WILL I REQUIRE IT. I wonder: if “the requiring” is here meant in its usual sense, i.e., from the hand of the beast as well as from the hand of man, in both cases there will be punishment in the matter, but the beast has no reason [with which to discern between good and evil] so that it should be punished or rewarded! Perhaps this principle applies only to spilling man’s blood; every beast that will devour him will itself be devoured, for such is the decree of the King. And this is the reason [why Scripture says of an ox that killed a human being], the ox shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten.¹⁹²Exodus 21:28. This is not a form of monetary punishment for the owner since even an ownerless ox is subject to the death penalty,¹⁹³Baba Kamma 44b. and the command applies alike to the sons of Noah⁶⁴See Seder Bereshith, Note 222. and to the Israelites. The meaning of Who so sheddeth man’s blood¹⁹⁴Verse 6. would thus be, “all shedders” whether beast or man, their blood will be required by the Court on earth and¹⁹⁵“And.” The Tur, quoting Ramban, has “or.” by the hand of Heaven.
It is possible that the meaning of the expression, at the hand of every beast, is that the vengeance upon the shedder of blood will be at the hand of every beast, just as it is said, That she hath received of the Eternal’s hand double of all her sins.¹⁹⁶Isaiah 40:2. Thus He says, “Surely your blood will I require and avenge at the hand of every beast for I will send against the murderer all beasts of the earth, and I will also send against him the hand of man, and he will not escape them.” Similarly, Because of all mine adversaries I am become a reproach,¹⁹⁷Psalms 31:12. meaning “because of the hand of all mine adversaries;” This is the portion of a wicked man from G-d, and the heritage appointed unto him by G-d,¹⁹⁸Job 20:29. [meaning this is the portion of a wicked man by the hand of G-d].
Perhaps the requiring at the hand of the beast means that she should not devour man for so He established their nature. The secret of the matter is that at the time of creation He gave man every herb bearing seed… and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree… for food,¹⁹⁹Above, 1:29. and to the beast He gave every green herb for food,²⁰⁰Ibid., Verse 30. and Scripture says, and it was so,²⁰⁰Ibid., Verse 30. meaning that such was their nature and habit. But now when He said of man that he may slaughter the lower living creatures for food and it was so placed in nature or habit that living creatures should eat each other, it became necessary to command that the other living creatures be unto men a prey to their teeth²⁰¹Psalms 124:6. while they are to fear men and not devour them. And He said, And surely, your blood of your lives will I require, in order to hint that He will not require the blood of one beast from the hand of another. This being so, it was thus left to them to devour one another. And this is the reason why He mentioned here the prohibition of spilling the blood of man; it is on account of the permission given here for slaughtering, which became the customary way of spilling blood since in the opinion of our Rabbis,²⁰²Sanhedrin 56b. Adam had already been admonished against spilling blood. But on account of the permission for slaughtering, it became necessary for Him to say, “I have permitted you to spill the blood of every living thing except your own blood. This is forbidden to you as well as to all living things for it will not be their nature to spill it.”

This is the meaning of the apparently redundant words מיד איש אחיו אדרוש את נפש האדם, where the word אדרוש refers to the life of a human being that has already been killed. We find the word אדרוש in both senses depending on circumstances, compare Ezekiel 34,10. The emphasis on איש את אחיו, refers to G’d exacting such retribution from humans for killing humans, seeing that this is not their nature, or should not be their nature. He will not exact retribution from an animal which killed a human being who, in G’d’s eyes, had already forfeited its right to live.

לנפשותיכם, the meaning of this word is that if an animal kills a human being it becomes guilty of death itself, unless I use the animal to exact retribution form wicked people, as in the case of the bears who killed the youngsters who had mocked the prophet Elisha (Kings II 20,23, or Kings I 13, entire chapter). [the fact that the lion had not touched the corpse of the man he had killed, showed that the lion had acted as G’d’s messenger, had not acted from impulse in order to still its hunger. Ed] Also in the תוכחה in Leviticus 26,22 G’d specifically announces that He would use the free roaming beasts as His agents to wreak vengeance of the Jewish people who had sinned deliberately and for a long period of time. Our sages (Bereshit Rabbah 34,13) explain the words דמכם לנפשותיכם, as a warning not to commit suicide (especially to people who thereby expect to escape G’d’s retribution) The message is that the person who killed himself will be held accountable in the hereafter. They said further that the word אך at the beginning of the verse excludes such apparent suicides as Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah, being prepared to become martyrs to demonstrate their faith in the G’d in heaven

מיד כל חיה אדרשנו, “I will demand such account from any living creature.” Nachmanides questions the expression אדרשנו, “I will demand an accounting of,” as not applicable to animals which do not have the intelligence to understand such commandments. How can creatures without intelligence qualify for punishment for not obeying laws? He answers that the shedding of human blood may be an exception, and that this is not in the nature of a punitive reprisal but is a law promulgated by the Creator as a sort of axiom. This is also the meaning of the words סקול יסקל השור, “the offending ox must surely be stoned to death” in Exodus 21,28, where this is not to be construed as a penalty for the owner of the beast, as the same procedure is applicable to an ox that killed a human being even though he may not be owned by a specific person at all, but is a free-roaming animal. The Torah’s command to mankind in general is the same as the Torah’s legislation for the Jewish people later on. The meaning of the words: שופך דם האדם באדם דמו ישפך, is then that anyone, man or beast, which sheds human blood will be put to death by a human tribunal as the violent death of a creature bearing the image of G’d cannot remain unaccounted. In the absence of a court that can put the offending human or animal to death, sentence and execution will be at the hands of heaven. It is further possible that the words מיד כל חיה ומיד האדם can allude to this heavenly intervention in avenging the killer, so that the word מיד should be understand as על יד. Perhaps the very fact that the nature of many beasts is to kill, is the reason the Torah warns that such instinct when practiced against humans is perverse. The mystical dimension of the subject is that at the time of the creation G’d assigned all the herbs to be food for man; after that the Torah wrote ויהי כן, “it remained so,” i.e. the vegetarian diet of man became the norm. (Genesis 1,28) Now that G’d had permitted man a meat diet provided the animal eaten had been killed first, and it had become the norm that living creatures feed on one another, it became necessary to legislate limits as to who might be killed and who not, and by whom. G’d therefore instilled within the animals a natural awe of man, which would restrain them from attacking and killing him. This is why the Torah commanded אך את דמכם לנפשותיכם אדרוש, to indicate that G’d would not hold an animal responsible for killing and feeding upon other animals. This is the reason why the subject of bloodshed had to be introduced at this juncture, seeing that for the first time killing some of G’d’s creatures for the sake of eating had become permitted. According to the view of our sages (Sanhedrin 56 interpreting the words על האדם), Adam himself had already been warned concerning this. The reason for the prohibition to kill man is the fact that he was created in the image of G’d, as our verse concludes.

Also if he strangles himself. [Rashi knows this] because otherwise, why does it say לנפשותיכם?

אך rad. נכה, wörtlich: ich schlage ab, schließe aus. Während in den vorhergehenden Sätzen das Tier samt dessen Lebensbedingungen dem Menschen in die Hand gegeben war, und die höhere Dignität des Menschenwesens schon die Beschränkung des אבר מן החי- Verbotes diktierte, indem בשר אדם und בשר בהמה wohl verwandt sind und dieses in jenes einverleibt werden, nimmer aber נפש בהמה in irgend einer Weise in נפש אדם übergehen dürfe: erscheint hier diese Dignität in noch schärferem Gegensatz. Der Tierleib und des Tieres Blut und Seele sind euer, stehen zu eurer Verfügung; euer Blut aber, das euren Seelen angehört, ist mein, ist nicht euer, das אדרש, das fordere ich als mein Eigentum, als zu meiner Verfügung stehend, und fordere Rechenschaft über jeden Tropfen desselben. דרש ist speziell das Zurückfordern und Rechenschaft fordern über ein fremden Händen anvertrautes oder sich in fremden Händen befindendes Eigentum. So ודרשתי את צאני מידם (5.8.9.22,2) עד דרוש אחיך אתו Indem .(Jechesk. 34., 10) Gott von dem der Menschenseele übergebenen Blute אדרש ausspricht, hat er unser Blut als sein Eigentum vindiziert, und uns das Verfügungsrecht auch über das eigene Blut versagt. Es ist dies zunächst das Verbot des Selbstmordes.

לנפשותיכם, according to Rashi, this refers to people who strangulate themselves. The passage is intended as an answer to people who deny that G-d operates vis a vis man through a system of reward and punishment, i.e. reward after the body has died and punishment after the body has died, and who therefore see in suicide a way of avoiding being held responsible for their actions on earth. Clearly a system of reward and punishment, unless it included posthumous reward and punishment, would be meaningless, and would not act as deterrent not to sin. In B’reshit Rabbah, 34,13 the word אך in our verse is understood as including the mortally wounded King Shaul who completed dying by falling intentionally on his own sword to escape being killed by the Philistines whom he did not want to be able to claim that they had killed G-d’s anointed king. Others believe that it applies to Chananyah, Mishael and Azaryah, who had consulted with the prophet Ezekiel before submitting to being thrown to the lions by Nevuchadnezar. Some authorities do not agree that they were permitted to do so.

מיד כל חיה AT THE HAND OF EVERY BEAST — Because the generation of the Flood sinned and they were therefore freely exposed to become food for wild beasts which would have power over them — as it is said (Psalms 49:21), “He is ruled over by wild beasts like the beasts that perish” (these being the prey of other animals) (Shabbat 151b) — it was therefore necessary to proclaim a punishment against wild animals on their account.

מיד כל חיה אדרשנו, the offending animal which killed a human being will itself be killed by another animal. Even though the principle of reward and punishment is not generally applicable to any species other than the human species, seeing that only man possesses intelligence so that he can be held responsible for his sins, when animals attack human beings G’d did restrict their instincts, and holds them responsible for not respecting the צלם אלוקים, the divine image in which man has been created. Chabakuk 2,17 phrases this principle as ושד בהמות יחיתן, “the destruction of beasts will overwhelm you.” Moreover, when speaking of retribution, we read in Kings I 13,28 ולא שבר את החמור, “nor had it mauled the ass.” [this proved that when the lion had killed the man of G’d, it had acted as an instrument of G’d’s justice. Ed]

ואך את דמכם לנפשותיכם אדרוש, ”however, your blood for your (own) lives I will demand (an accounting for)” You must not reason that just as it is permissible for you to kill animals seeing the animals which are alive nowadays have all been kept alive by man (Noach), that a human being who is alive by his own efforts is also in charge of his own body and may decide to kill himself, I will demand an accounting for anyone committing suicide. In the event that you might think that just as I permitted you to kill animals, they have the right to see in you the enemy and they may kill you with impunity, I reassure you by saying that I will demand an accounting for your lives from any creature (if they killed you).

מיד כל חיה אדרשנו, “I will demand an accounting from any animal concerning him.” Any animal which will kill a human being will be held accountable for its deed by G-d. It happened that a rooster had killed a human being and that the family of the victim brought that rooster to the court and the court executed it by stoning it.
The Torah continues ומיד האדם, “and from the human being, etc.” This refers to instances where there are witnesses to the murder. In other words: man must judge murder when there are witnesses, whereas G-d will judge the murderer when there is no evidence which is admissible in a human tribunal.

מיד כל חיה; wie Gott sein Walten gegen die Tierwelt übt, liegt außer unserem Gesichtskreise. In dem späteren jüdischen Gesetze tritt ein Teil dieser Bestimmung im .hervor שור הנסקל

מיד כל חיה אדרשנו, “I will demand an accounting from every living creature for having shed it.” This is meant to prevent man from using animals to kill his foes, claiming that he had not killed anyone. A different interpretation of this phrase: “I, G-d, will demand an accounting directly from the animal concerned. Compare Exodus 21,29 where not only the owner of the ox who gored is to be stoned but also the ox itself.

ומיד האדם AT THE HAND OF MAN — At the hand of one who kills with premeditation, when there are no witnesses to the murder, will “I” require it.

ומיד האדם, if man kills man, G’d reserves the right to exact retribution from him either in this life or in the hereafter.

ואך את דמכם, “however your blood, etc.” It is possible that when King Sha-ul committed suicide by telling his arms bearer to finish him off (Samuel I 31,4) he thought that he committed a meritorious act denying the Philistines the boast that they had killed the anointed one of G’d. This is why the Torah uses the diminutive word אך, when writing this legislation, to tell us that there are situations, such as when Chananyah, Mishael and Azaryah agreed to be thrown into the fiery furnace, that this was not considered suicide but [after consultation with the prophet Ezekiel Ed] an act of sanctifying the name of the Lord. . Commentators raised the question why we needed a special verse to sanction actions such as those by Chananyah, Mishael, and Azaryah, as the correctness of their conduct was based on simple logic. By comparing their behaviour with the frogs which invaded Pharaoh’s and the Egyptians’ homes knowing that they were courting their own death by doing so. The answer given is that the analogy with the frogs is not foolproof as the frogs had not been commanded to by Pharaoh or Moses to injure or kill themselves. The word אך on the other hand, is also not sufficient excuse to exempt people such as Chananyah and colleagues, unless we also invoke the logic by comparing them partially with the frogs. The word אך would only teach us that Chananyah and others like him would not be held culpable for such acts of suicide, not that they committed a meritorious deed. This is why we require both the word אך and the example of the frogs to teach us that under the proper circumstances suicide can be a מצוה, meritorious deed.

ומיד האדם וגוי. Von dem Tier fordert Gott דם האדם, von dem Menschen aber נפש האדם. Der Mensch als אדם, als von Gott eingesetzter Stellvertreter, die Erdwelt bis in ihre niedrigsten Wesen hinab zu schützen und nach göttlichem Willen zu verwalten, und als איש אחיו, der in jedem Menschen den gleichen gottentstammenden Bruder erkennen soll, sollte gewiß als אדם sich hüten, sich an dem heiligsten und höchsten irdischen Wesen — einer נפש האדם — zu vergreifen, und als אחיו schon aus der Tiefe des eigenen Bewusstseins in dem Menschenbruder den zur Erde gehauchten Gottesgeist erkennen und achten. Unsere ganze Humanität beruht darauf, dass wir nicht als Leib mit Leibern, sondern als Geist mit Geistern verkehren und in jedem Menschen diesen Geist erkennen. Jedem Menschen ist die נפש eines jeden Menschen anvertraut, und wenn durch Schuld eines Menschen eine Menschenseele früher von hier fortgeht, als es Gottes Wille ist, der sie hierher gestellt, so vermisst sie Gott hier, ist sie דורש מידו; auch die kleinste Spanne Zeit des mühseligsten Menschen ist Gott heilig; und wer sich oder andern auch nur um eine Sekunde das Hiersein verkürzt, eine Sekunde früher das Band löst, das die Seele durchs Blut mit dem Hiersein verknüpft, ist Gott verantwortlich.

מיד איש אחיו, “of every man of that of his fellow man;” man must not conclude that seeing that all the beasts have become permitted as food (after death of the animal) so human carcasses have also been permitted to him as food.

מיד איש אחיו AT THE HAND OF EVERY MAN’S BROTHER — At the hand of a man who loves him like a brother and slays him accidentally will “I” require it, unless he go into banishment (in one of the Cities of Refuge) and pray for forgiveness for his iniquity. For even one who kills another by accident needs atonement: therefore if there are no witnesses to the deed to make him liable to banishment and he does not humble himself, the Holy One, blessed be He, will require it of him, just as our Rabbis explain the text, (Exodus 21:13) ‘‘But God causes it to come to hand”, in Treatise Makkot (Makkot 10b): The Holy One, blessed be He, causes them (the man who killed by accident and had not expiated the murder and the man who killed with premeditation) to meet at the same inn. The former in ascending a ladder falls upon the latter and kills him and has therefore — the accident having been seen by men — to go to banishment.

אדרוש, “I will demand an accounting even of anyone killing himself, or who kills a fellow human being in the absence of witnesses who could bring him to justice before a human tribunal.” Open murder must, of course, be dealt with by human tribunals.