Abel's sheep

Ydfrankel@aol.com
Fri, 11 Jul 1997 11:28:29 -0400 (EDT)

Dovid Teitelbaum wrote:
>I don't know where people get the idea that one was not allowed to eat meat
>until after the Mabul (flood), the only requierment that one finds in the
>Torah is not to KILL animals. Maybe Abel waited till they died and then ate
>them.

Tosfos (group of talmudic commentators) in trachtate Sanhedrin 56B, DH
(opening words) "awchal," makes this very point. The fact is (according to
Tosfos) that G-d prohibited the slaughtering of animals for personal non
obligatory consumption (slaughtering for sacrifices or clothing, etc., was
always permitted) but *permitted* the eating of animals that died some
other way.

Sincerely,
Yitzchok D. Frankel
Long Beach, NY