Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Deuteronomio 12:23

But the sin offering comes for a sin of action, which is done through the instruments of action that are dependent on the material that is acted upon like a female; therefore its offering is a female. And the main sin is dependent on specific organs, primarily the fat and the blood, and by them will be all disputes and all afflictions. For through the boiling of the blood all day, one will desire forbidden things, as it is written When your soul desires (Deuteronomy 12:20), and it is written For the blood is the soul (Deuteronomy 12:23). And similarly, when Yeshurun grows fat and fatness bulges from their eyes (Psalms 73:7), and their fat has closed their mouth (Psalms 17:10), then one is especially predisposed to sin. Therefore, from the sin offering, the fat and blood are offered, and the meat is eaten by the priests as a form of charity to feed the poor servants of our God, for through kindness and truth sin is atoned.

In אחרי מות (Wajikra 17, 11 ff.) wo Israel der Blutgenuss verboten wird, wechselt viermal der Ausdruck: כי נפש כל בשר ,הדם הוא בנפש יכפר ,כי נפש הבשר בדם היא כי נפש כל בשר דמו היא ,דמו בנפשו הוא. Betrachten wir diese Sätze, so tritt zunächst der Geschlechtswechsel היא und הוא hervor. דם ist Maskulinum, נפש Femininum. In dem Satze: נפש כל בשר דמו היא ist daher nicht דם Subjekt und נפש Prädikat, sondern umgekehrt, נפש ist das Subjekt und דם das Prädikat, nicht: das Blut ist die Seele, sondern: die Seele ist das Blut, d. h. alles, was das Blut tut, tut eigentlich die Seele. Jenes ist der materialistische Wahn, dieses die Wahrheit der תורה. Der Satz heißt: כי נפש כל בשר דמו בנפשו הוא ואמר לבני ישראל דם כל בשר לא תאכלו כי נפש כל בשר דמו היא כל אכליו יכרת, d.h. weil das von seiner Seele beherrschte Blut die Seele alles Fleisches ist, darum sagte ich Israels Söhnen: esset das Blut von keinem Fleische; denn die Seele alles Fleisches, sie ist sein Blut. Der hier sich wiederholende Ausdruck דמו בנפשו ist ein entschiedener Beleg für unsere Auffassung des בנפשו דמו an unserer Stelle. Nur der erste Satz: כי נפש הבשר בדם היא scheint diese Annahme umzustoßen. Allein dort soll uns nicht gesagt werden, warum das Blut zum Genusse verboten ist, sondern warum es sich als Repräsentant der Seele zum כפרה- Ausdruck für die Seele auf dem Altare eignet, und wie derselbe Grund auch dem Genussverbot zu Grunde liegt. Es dürfte daher das ב־ des נפש בדם in dem Sinne zu fassen sein wie רוח החיה באופנים, die אופנים waren durch den Geist der חיה bewegt, so auch hier: "denn die Seele ist in dem Blute lebendig, tätig, mit ihren Wirkungen gegenwärtig", in jeder Tätigkeit des Blutes siehst du eigentlich die Tätigkeit der Seele, כי הדם הוא, denn das Blut ist ja הדם, selbst דם ) ist ja das Prototyp des Leibes heißt ja eigentlich: Bild, Symbol, Repräsentant), alle Wirkung der Seele auf den Leib vermittelt das Blut, darum בנפש יכפר, erwirkt es כפרה nicht an sich, sondern durch die Seele, die es repräsentiert. Nur in משנה תורה. ( Dewarim 12, 23 f.), wo mit wiederholten und wiederholten Verboten vor dem Genusse des Blutes gewarnt und darauf hingewiesen wird, wie unser und unserer Kinder Heil daran geknüpft ist, daß wir uns vor dem Genusse des Blutes hüten, heißt es — scheinbar materialistisch — aber nach allem früheren sicher nur in zur Warnung abschreckender Hyperbel, geradezu כי הדם הוא הנפש, damit es uns und unseren Kindern in schärfster Entschiedenheit gegenwärtig sei, wie wir mit dem Blutgenuss tierische Reize und Regungen unserem Menschenwesen einverleiben würden.

חקת עולם תהיה זאת, not to offer sacrifices to the demons even though they were not being equated with deities in any manner, but were considered only as creatures that could be employed by their human masters. They even used to employ such demons for errands to distant countries. We have documented proof of this in the case of Joseph Shida [the demon named Joseph].(Sanhedrin 59, compare Nachmanides) and about the demon who was prominent in the household of Rav bar Rav Ashi (Chulin 105). Had such demons been considered deities it is inconceivable that people of Rav Ashi’s stature or Rav Pappa’s stature would have had any track with them whatsoever.
It is reported in the Talmud that whereas little is known about the manner of these demons’ creation, they are known to eat and drink just as human beings. It is further worthy of mention that the sages, collectively, referred to the phenomenon of the demons as מזיקים, destructive, harmful phenomena. They multiply in a manner similar to humans and they die a regular death. They see without being seen themselves.
Apparently, although they are composed of composite material, their bones are extremely thin and transparent. The author speculates that just as ordinary human beings in common with the animals possess a נפש חיוני “intangible life-force” which, seeing that it dies with the body it inhabits, as distinct from the human נשמה which is an intangible spirit emanating in the celestial regions, is basically terrestrial in nature, these demons are “powered” by such a life-force. The reason we find that “life-force” referred to on occasion as נפש is the fact that it cannot exist without its tangible partner, the one which feeds on food and drink secured from what is available in our terrestrial universe.
Consider the very fact that the Torah describes “blood as the life-force” (Deuteronomy 12,23). If someone were to sacrifice blood to such a creature, especially, seeing that it is powerful enough to sustain the life of such creatures, the blood sacrificed to such creatures would be equivalent to keeping these demons alive. (compare Maimonides, Moreh Nevuchim,3,46 on the subject).
This would be a violation of the statement in Chulin 105 כל מידי דצייר וחתים וכייל ומני לית לן רשותא למשקל מינעה. This is a conversation between the “owner” of a demon, Mar bar Rav Ashi, according to which the demon who had not paid back a loan on time to the “owner” claimed that his power to collect objects in this world did not include objects which were clearly defined and visible. From this Tossaphot Taanit 8 divrey hamatchil אלא בדבר concludes that if clearly defined and visible phenomena in this world were out of bounds to the demons unless they were definitely ownerless, phenomena which are not visible to us humans belonged to the category of phenomena over which such demons did have control.
At any rate, when a situation exists when many people find such demons useful and pliable to their wishes, people indulged in offering them blood so as to endear themselves to these creatures and to get them to perform their wishes. The people offering these gifts of blood used to eat it themselves also, in order to share more common ground with these creatures. Some people even made a point of consuming the blood of such “gifts” to the demons in the vicinity of the Temple. They were under the impression that these demons were performing their dances in that vicinity. They hoped to ingratiate themselves with these creatures by showing them this kind of “respect.”
When G’d decided to sanctify us and He separated His people from dependence on such demons and taught us not to pursue such ultimately useless phenomena and put our trust in them, seeing that contrary to a superficial perception they are really mazikim, destructive forces, as our sages correctly described them, He levied a severe penalty on people who continue such relationships as they used to entertain with demons. The penalty of karet means severance from one’s own people’s eternal future. (verse 10)
G’d levied a similar penalty on eating blood and offering gifts to these demons as He had levied at the time in Gan Eden when he forbade eating from the tree of knowledge on pain of man becoming mortal, i.e. losing an aspect of his infinity on this earth. (Genesis 2,17). The Torah rationalized its prohibition and the severity of the penalty by stating: “for the soul (intangible life-force) of the flesh is in the blood.” This is the Torah’s way of referring to the almost invisible essence of these creatures. On the one hand, this essence is called nefesh “life-force,” on the other hand it is referred to as blood, as once the blood stops coursing through the veins of the body it feeds it is the end of the existence of both the body and life force of such creatures. G’d added (verse 11) ואני נתתיו לכם על המזבח לכפר, “I have given you an opportunity to present this blood on My altar in order to facilitate your atonement for your life-force.
The point G’d is making is that as opposed to these demons for whom such blood is an essential part of their nutrients, enabling them to stay alive, I, the Lord, do not need anything like this for Myself; on the contrary, I have provided you My people with an opportunity to remain alive yourselves by achieving atonement for your sins by means of sacrifices involving the life blood of the animal you are offering.
Sacrifices, offerings, in order to be meaningful as expiation, must be in a certain reciprocal relationship to the donor. If the donor had been guilty of forfeiting his life, only someone else’s life, in this instance the blood of the sacrificial animal, can possibly achieve this kind of atonement in lieu of the sinner’s lifeblood himself. Other parts of the sacrificial animal being burned up on the altar, similarly, correspond to the parts of the body of the donor which had been guilty of committing the sin for which the donor hopes to atone. (compare author on Leviticus 1,2)