Daf HaYomi B'Halacha Daily Email

Eating raw unsalted meat

It is forbidden min haTorah to eat the blood of an animal. This prohibition includes blood that flowed out of its original place as well as blood that is found in the veins of the animal. Blood that is absorbed in a piece of meat is permitted. Meat is salted before cooking in order to prevent absorbed blood from being extracted during the cooking process, which would cause the meat to become forbidden. One may choose to eat a raw piece of meat without having it undergo the salting process, as long as all the blood on the surface is washed off.

[ביה"ל תק, ו, ד"ה וטוב]

Salting after seventy-two hours

As mentioned, salt has the ability to draw out blood that is embedded in meat. The salting process must be done within seventy-two hours of shechitah. Once seventy-two hours has passed, the blood will no longer be able to be extracted with salt. It can still be drawn out when the meat is cooked (but, as explained above, the cooked meat would become forbidden as a result). The only way to eat meat in this situation would be to roast it over an open flame, so that the heat of the fire can extract the blood. The Rema rules that prior to roasting the meat, it should first be washed and lightly salted. If within seventy-two hours of shechitah the meat is soaked in water, the ability to remove the blood through salt will extend for another seventy-two hours from the time that the soaking began.

[משנ"ב תק, כט; ביאורים ומוספים דרשו, 25-24 ;שו"ע יו"ד עו, ב, וראה עוד שם, ושם סט, יג

Is raw meat muktzeh?

In the days of Chazal, there were people who used to eat raw meat. Therefore, raw meat was not muktzeh (even on Shabbos). The poskim disagree about whether this only applies to meat of a fowl or whether it also includes an animal’s meat. Under pressing circumstances, one may rely on the lenient opinion. Now that raw meat is no longer eaten, contemporary poskim disagree about whether all raw meat is muktzeh. Many poskim are stringent, though a minority view maintains that the ruling of Chazal can still be relied upon.

[ביה"ל תק, ו, ד"ה וטוב; ביאורים ומוספים דרשו, 30]

One may salt the meat of an animal even if it was shechted before Yom Tov. Although there was ample time before Yom Tov to salt the meat, one is not obligated to do so.

One who shechts on Yom Tov is permitted to salt all the meat of the animal (even the parts that he is not planning to eat) using specific methods.

It is forbidden to salt food for preservation on Shabbos and Yom Tov. This prohibition is mid’rabonon, and the Rishonim disagree about why it is forbidden. Some explain that it is similar to preserving hides, which falls under the melachah of me’abed (tanning). Others explain that preserving foods is similar to pickling and soaking foods, which is comparable to bishul (cooking).

Using building supplies for firewood on Yom Tov

An expensive object that breaks on Shabbos

Bringing wood in from the field

PLEASE NOTE: The information in this email is for learning purposes only. Please review the Mishna Berura and Biurim U'Musafim before making a halachic decision. Hebrew words are occasionally transliterated to enable a smoother reading of the text. Common Ashkenazi pronunciation is generally used in these cases.