Read as Blood.

[John D. Brey]

. . . the primary meaning of blood דם is "image" [". . . for in the image of God he made man." (Gen. 9:6)]. . . But your blood, which belongs to your souls, is Mine, not yours. . . The special meaning of דרש is to demand one's property that was entrusted with someone . . . Man's duty---as implied by his name אדם ---is to be God's representative . . . the Divine soul [resides] within every man.

Hirsch Chumash, Bereshis, 9:6.​

The statements above are a mishmash taken from Rabbi Samson Hirsch's commentary on Genesis 9:6:

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God He made man.
​

R. Hirsch interprets the verse to mean that man's blood doesn't belong to him, that it's God's soul mixed with an earthen altar, such that man doesn't have the right to take another man's life (euphemistically "shed the blood") since in doing so he's infringing on God's property: "The special meaning of דרש is to demand one's property that was entrusted with someone" (Hirsch Chumash at 9:5).

Ironically the verse justifies capital punishment by implying that the same reason a person is not to shed the blood of another man, i.e., because the blood is God's, gives the man's peers the authority to shed his blood as recompense for his error.

In other words, since God's blood resides in the murderer's peers, they have the god-given right to cast a judgment of death on the murderer. They possess God's blood, soul, such that they can demand the life of the murderer with god-given authority, speaking from, and on account of, the blood of the slain victim. The blood, or soul, of the victim resides also in his or her peers.

The ideas is that the soul of God ("blood" and "soul" are parallel concepts in the Tanakh) resides in man. The blood of God is the blood found in man. Man is created in the blood (image דם) of God.


John

 

[Unveiled Artist]

. . . the primary meaning of blood דם is "image" [". . . for in the image of God he made man." (Gen. 9:6)]. . . But your blood, which belongs to your souls, is Mine, not yours. . . The special meaning of דרש is to demand one's property that was entrusted with someone . . . Man's duty---as implied by his name אדם ---is to be God's representative . . . the Divine soul [resides] within every man.

Hirsch Chumash, Bereshis, 9:6.​

The statements above are a mishmash taken from Rabbi Samson Hirsch's commentary on Genesis 9:6:

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God He made man.
​

R. Hirsch interprets the verse to mean that man's blood doesn't belong to him, that it's God's soul mixed with an earthen altar, such that man doesn't have the right to take another man's life (euphemistically "shed the blood") since in doing so he's infringing on God's property: "The special meaning of דרש is to demand one's property that was entrusted with someone" (Hirsch Chumash at 9:5).

Ironically the verse justifies capital punishment by implying that the same reason a person is not to shed the blood of another man, i.e., because the blood is God's, gives the man's peers the authority to shed his blood as recompense for his error.

In other words, since God's blood resides in the murderer's peers, they have the god-given right to cast a judgment of death on the murderer. They possess God's blood, soul, such that they can demand the life of the murderer with god-given authority, speaking from, and on account of, the blood of the slain victim. The blood, or soul, of the victim resides also in his or her peers.

The ideas is that the soul of God ("blood" and "soul" are parallel concepts in the Tanakh) resides in man. The blood of God is the blood found in man. Man is created in the blood (image דם) of God.


John

I had to read this a couple of times. The context is blood means life. It and spirit/breathe are some of the major things that makes up a living being, animal, insect, and human. Blood carries oxygen. Though, in the Roman/Christian days to me how they view blood sounds barbaric. Slaughtering animals for food and sacrifice rather than just sacrifice makes more sense in judaism.

But blood is life. It reminded me of people slaughtering their "for their blood."

 

[John D. Brey]

I had to read this a couple of times. The context is blood means life. It and spirit/breathe are some of the major things that makes up a living being, animal, insect, and human. Blood carries oxygen. Though, in the Roman/Christian days to me how they view blood sounds barbaric. Slaughtering animals for food and sacrifice rather than just sacrifice makes more sense in judaism.

But blood is life. It reminded me of people slaughtering their "for their blood."

In Judaism the "soul" resides in the blood. So the life, or the breath of life, as you point out, is in the blood.

But Rabbi Hirsch points out, as is the teaching of Judaism, that there are two kinds of life: animal life, represented by the blood of an animal, and divine life, God's life.

God breathes his "nefesh" (blood) into the earthen altar of Adam's body such that Adam becomes a new kind of life distinct from the animals. Adam has God's blood, God's breath, God's soul. He's literally the Godman.

In the Tanakh, man is authorized to shed the blood of an animal since man is a higher being than the animal. But man is not allowed to shed the blood of man, since that blood belongs to God, it is God's to give or take.


John

 

[John D. Brey]

. . . the primary meaning of blood דם is "image" [". . . for in the image of God he made man." (Gen. 9:6)]. . . But your blood, which belongs to your souls, is Mine, not yours. . . The special meaning of דרש is to demand one's property that was entrusted with someone . . . Man's duty---as implied by his name אדם ---is to be God's representative . . . the Divine soul [resides] within every man.

Hirsch Chumash, Bereshis, 9:6.​

The statements above are a mishmash taken from Rabbi Samson Hirsch's commentary on Genesis 9:6:

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God He made man.
​

R. Hirsch interprets the verse to mean that man's blood doesn't belong to him, that it's God's soul mixed with an earthen altar, such that man doesn't have the right to take another man's life (euphemistically "shed the blood") since in doing so he's infringing on God's property: "The special meaning of דרש is to demand one's property that was entrusted with someone" (Hirsch Chumash at 9:5).

Ironically the verse justifies capital punishment by implying that the same reason a person is not to shed the blood of another man, i.e., because the blood is God's, gives the man's peers the authority to shed his blood as recompense for his error.

In other words, since God's blood resides in the murderer's peers, they have the god-given right to cast a judgment of death on the murderer. They possess God's blood, soul, such that they can demand the life of the murderer with god-given authority, speaking from, and on account of, the blood of the slain victim. The blood, or soul, of the victim resides also in his or her peers.

The ideas is that the soul of God ("blood" and "soul" are parallel concepts in the Tanakh) resides in man. The blood of God is the blood found in man. Man is created in the blood (image דם) of God.


John

. . . The thread (compiled into the essay dam Adam) covered all this inside out. It's old hat. . . But it's a stepping stone to more esoteric exegetical essentials.

As the sages point out over and over, parah adumah, the red cow, is the Chok of the chukkim. The Chok of the chukkim is the singular "decree" (chok) necessary to make heads or tails of every other decree (all chukkim).

For the sake of the non-Jew it's necessary to point out that a "chok" (plural "chukkim") is a "decree" given by God whose meaning and symbolic import is unknown. Why, for instance, can't a Jew eat pork? Why, for instance, remove flesh from that particular organ? . . . The answer to all of these strange decrees resides in the Chok of the chukkim: the decree of decrees, the supra-rational rationale necessary to understand God's reason for all other seemingly non-rational decrees: Parah Adumah.

Many of the sages (to include R. Hirsch) are shocked to read the text implying that the red cow is the "decree of the Torah." The red cow, parah adumah, is not just one of many decrees (chukkim) in the Torah, its The Decree of the Torah: it's the Decree upon which every other decree rests.


John

 

[Unveiled Artist]

In Judaism the "soul" resides in the blood. So the life, or the breath of life, as you point out, is in the blood.

But Rabbi Hirsch points out, as is the teaching of Judaism, that there are two kinds of life: animal life, represented by the blood of an animal, and divine life, God's life.

God breathes his "nefesh" (blood) into the earthen altar of Adam's body such that Adam becomes a new kind of life distinct from the animals. Adam has God's blood, God's breath, God's soul. He's literally the Godman.

In the Tanakh, man is authorized to shed the blood of an animal since man is a higher being than the animal. But man is not allowed to shed the blood of man, since that blood belongs to God, it is God's to give or take.


John

How does that change when god ordered people to kill? Is a live or the blood of a human not of god once he has committed a sin that warants death?