Shulchan Arukh Yoreh De'ah · Siman 28

Shulchan Arukh Yoreh De'ah 28 — English translation

Translation: Sefaria Community Translation. Section numbers match the Hebrew text above.

1. 1One who slaughters a wild animal or a bird needs to cover its blood, whether it was just trapped now or whether it was already ready in his hand. Rema: And the covering is a commandment onto itself, but the slaughtering is valid even if [the blood] was purposely not covered.
2. 2One is obligated to make a blessing before he covers [the blood]: "... who sanctified us with his commandments and commanded us on covering blood in dirt." Rema: One who slaughters for the first time, makes a blessing of "that he gave us life" on the covering but not on the slaughtering since it damages a creature.
3. 3the Koy animal which is questionable if it's a wild animal, and mixed-breeds that come from domesticated and wild animals, one needs to cover their blood and there is no blessing made. And we don't slaughter them on holidays. And if they were slaughtered [on a holiday] their blood it not covered. And [after the holiday] at night, if [the blood's] imprint is recognizable, he should cover it.
4. 4The buffalo, we have the custom to not cover its blood. Rema: There are those who question if a buffalo is a "wild" ox or maybe it's a [species] of wild animal, therefore, it's good to cover [the blood] without a blessing or to also slaughter a bird and then he is able to make a blessing on the covering on account of the bird.
5. 5There needs to be loose earth below [the blood]. And one needs to designate it verbally, and there are those that say that there is no need.
6. 6One covers it with his hand or with a knife or with another utensil, but not with his foot so that the commandments aren't denigrated on account of it.
7. 7If one slaughtered and there was no earth below, he needs to scrape off the blood [from the knife] and put it on loose earth and cover it with loose earth.
8. 8The one who slaughters he is the one who should cover. And if he didn't cover and someone else sees [the blood, the other person] is required to cover it.
9. 9If one slaughters a hundred wild animals or a hundred birds or he slaughtered a wild animal and a bird in the same place, he does one covering for all of them.
10. 10One who slaughters and the blood got absorbed into the ground, if the imprint is recognizable he is required to cover it.
11. 11If the wind covered it he is exempt from covering it; but if after [the wind covered it] it returned and uncovered it, he is required to cover it. But if he himself covered it and it became uncovered, he is not required to cover it again.
12. 12Blood that fell into water or if water fell into the blood, if there is still the appearance of blood one is required to cover it, but if not he is exempt.
13. 13If the blood became mixed with red wine or the blood of a domesticated animal, we view the wine and the blood of the domesticated animal as if it were water, and if [the blood] would have mixed with that amount of water it would have still have had an appearance of blood one is required to cover it.
14. 14If one slaughtered a bird or a wild animal and then slaughtered a domesticated animal on top of it he is exempt from covering the blood, but if he slaughtered a domesticated animal and then slaughtered a bird or a wild animal on top of it he is obligated to cover the blood. Rema: If one slaughtered a bird or a wild animal and afterward while slaughtering another one it became a carcass (invalidly slaughtered) in his hand, if he knows that the latter's blood covers the former's blood he is exempt from covering, but in the simple situation he is obligated to cover it.
15. 15Blood that sprayed and that's on the knife, if there is no other blood but it one is required to cover it, and he scrapes it off and covers it in order that there should also be earth below it. However, if there is other blood there one does not need to cover it because there is no need to cover all the blood. Therefore, there is no need (to wait) to cover until all the blood comes out. Rema: However, he should wait until [the blood] starts dripping down in order that he should cover some of the life-blood.
16. 16One who slaughters for a sick person on Shabbat he does not cover, even if he has a shovel already stuck in the ground. And [after Shabbat ] at night, if [the blood's] imprint is recognizable, he should cover it. And there are those who say that if he had ash set aside to cover dung there is something to covering the blood even on Shabbat .
17. 17One who slaughters and it became a carcass (invalidly slaughtered) in his hand or one who slaughters and finds [that the animal] has signs that make it unfit, he is exempt from covering it. And so too, if a deaf person or a mentally challenged person or a child slaughtered and there was no one watching them, there is an assumption that the they had a botched slaughter and it is exempt from being covered.
18. 18One who slaughters, even if he only wants the blood, he's obligated to cover. How should he perform [the slaughtering instead?] He should stab or tear out [the organs] in order to be exempt from covering.
19. 19One needs to check the signs and the knife before the covering in order that one doesn't come to make a wasted blessing.
20. 20One who slaughters a wild animal does not cover [the blood] until he checks the lungs, and if he finds a questionably invalid signs, he covers without making a blessing. And this is the law for all invalidations that arise from a questionable status, for example that [case] where we're worried that maybe [the knife] became notched while [cutting] the skin, and so too all similar cases. Rema: But anything that according to the law is valid [and] it's only [ruled invalid] because we're strict on it, for example if one cut the entire neck, and similar cases, one is obligated to cover [the blood].
21. 21One who has no earth to cover with should not slaughter. Rema: Rather, he should wait until he has earth. And if he is travelling in the desert or on a ship, and the bird is not worth the loss of a garment that he would [need to] burn for its ashes [to cover with] or the gold that he would [need to] grind [to cover with], the sages enacted to slaughter and to keep the blood in a garment or a sandal and make a blessing, and when he reaches a place with earth, he should wash the garment or the sandal so that the blood comes out, and cover it without a blessing, and this is the custom.
22. 22One who slaughters a wild animal or a bird and blood did not come out of it, it is permitted.
23. 23All things that if one plants seeds in them they would sprout, they are included in "earth" and one may cover [blood] with them. And if they don't sprout, if they are called "עפר" ("earth") one may cover with them. Therefore, one may cover with dung, and with very fine sand, [fine] enough that the potter doesn't need to crush it at all, and with lime, and with an earthenware shard and brick and barrel stopper of earthenware that was crushed, and with ground stones and ground earthenware shards, and scraps of fine flax, and sawdust, and with food or garments that were burnt until they were made into ash, and with powdered coal, and with stibium, and with millstone dust. But one may not cover with coarse dung, and not with sand that a potter needs to crush, and not with flour and bran-flour, and coarse bran, and not with ground metal if it's not burnt [to ash], except for ground gold which is called "עפר" ("earth"), as it is written "and it has earth of gold" . And ash is called "עפר" ("earth"), as it is written "And they should take for the impure from the earth, the burnt [ashes] of the sin-offering" .
24. 24One may not cover with desert earth because it's damp earth and [seeds] don't sprout in it. Rema: And therefore, one may not cover with earth that's damp from water, for example swampy earth. And one may not cover with snow.

License: CC0