ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף בראשית 1:29

דם יחשב לאיש ההוא, דם שפך, “it will be considered as bloodshed for that man, he has shed (innocent) blood.” The severity of this legislation must be viewed against a background of ante-diluvial times. Before the deluge the lives of the animals were sacrosanct, i.e. man was not allowed to eat meat, only fruit and vegetables; we know this from Genesis 1,29: “here I have given you all herbage yielding seed that is on the surface of the entire earth, and every tree that has seed-yielding fruit; it shall be yours for food.” When, in the wake of man’s general corruption, the animals became corrupt also, and were saved from the deluge by Noach, man acquired the right to eat meat. This is why we need a prohibition here that animals that were slaughtered without first being brought to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting are prohibited to the Jewish people on pain of the karet penalty. Seeing that animal sacrifice substitutes for man’s dying for his sins, if such an animal has been killed for secular consumption, it is considered as if the killer had killed a human being. The status of the Israelites in the desert had much in common with the status of Adam in Gan Eden before the sin so that slaughtering an ox was similar to killing a human being (Isaiah 66,3, and Nachmanides on verse 11 in our chapter).

BLOOD SHALL BE IMPUTED UNTO THAT MAN. This means that [his guilt is as] of the time of Creation.¹⁶⁴Ramban’s intention is as follows. At the time of Creation the slaughtering of any living creature as food was forbidden (see Ramban on Genesis 1:29, Vol. I, pp. 56-58). Only after the flood was the killing of animals permitted (ibid., 9:5, pp. 134-135). Hence the meaning of the verse here is that if one slaughters an animal outside the camp, then since it is forbidden to him as food, it shall be imputed to him as if he is guilty of bloodshed “as at the time of Creation.” See also Ramban here on Verse 11. The verse is thus stating: “Now of all living creatures except man, I [the Eternal] have declared their blood to be as water, and their flesh as dung,¹⁶⁵Zephaniah 1:17. just as it is said [at the time of Noah], as the green herb I have given you all.¹⁶⁶Genesis 9:3. But if one slaughters an animal outside the camp, then [since it is forbidden to be eaten], it shall be imputed to him as if he had shed blood [of a fellow man].”

כי בצלם אלוקים עשה את האדם, for he has been set apart from all other creatures, so much so that God made עשה, him in His image by endowing him with an intellect. This is why humans are also held responsible for killing fellow humans, as they, no less than the animals, destroy a creature that had been made in God’s own image. If man had been forbidden to kill inferior creatures for food until given special permission to do so now after the deluge, how much more sacrosanct is the life of a human being who was created in God’s image? Remember that it required special permission by God for Adam and Eve to use even the plants as food for themselves, although the plants are inferior even to the animals. Keeping all this in mind, it is clear that in order for any creature to be allowed to destroy a human being, a special directive from God ordering this was required. And likewise did God command to spill the blood of a man for his sin, as He commanded in the Torah of Moses. And that is when they are fit for the death penalty according to their sin, every sinner according to what is fitting for him, since he already destroyed his [divine] image by transgressing God's commandments. One who transgresses does not possess a divine image or an intellect. The intellect is that which makes a slave obey his master, [seeing that he would suffer if he did not; therefore when a human being disobeys his master [God], he displays a lack of intellect, i.e., can no longer demand to be treated like a human being].