Halakhah su Levitico 11:2

A cursory discussion of this subject by Rabbi Avraham Meir Israel appears in the Tevet–Kislev 5733 issue of Ha-Ma'or. The pertinent sources may be found in Darkei Teshuvah 79:15. Surprising as it may appear, there is no explicit biblical injunction against partaking of human flesh. Nevertheless Rambam's position, Ma'akhalot Assurot 2:3, is that a biblical prohibition may be inferred from Leviticus 11:2. The general statement "These are the living things which you may eat among all the beasts that are on the earth" is followed by an enumeration of specific categories of permitted animals. Since, of course, no mention is made of human flesh it may be inferred, declares Rambam, that cannibalism is forbidden. Ritva, in his commentary on Ketubot 60a, is also of the opinion that human flesh is biblically forbidden, but for an entirely different reason. According to Ritva, the flesh of a deceased individual is subsumed under the general prohibition against partaking of "unslaughtered" flesh, a prohibition which applies to the meat of any animal not slaughtered in the manner required by Jewish law.

The command of checking the signs of a beast or animal: That we were commanded to check the signs of a [domesticated] beast or [wild] animal when we want to eat of them - and they are that it brings up (chews) its cud and completely splits [its hoof], as it is stated (Leviticus 11:2-3), "This is the animal that you shall eat, from every beast upon the earth: All that separate the hoof, etc." And the language of Sifri, Shemini, Chapter 3:1 is "'It shall you eat' - it is for eating, but an impure animal is not for eating"; meaning to say, and we learn from it a negative commandment for an impure animal. And a negative commandment like this is called a negative commandment that comes from the implication of a positive commandment. And it is stated in another place, "And you shall differentiate between a pure beast and an impure, etc." (Leviticus 20:25). And it is also written (Leviticus 11:47), "To differentiate between the impure, etc."