Taamei Hamitzvos - Eating a Living Animal
Mitzvah #452; Yoreh Deah §62
One of the seven mitzvos that apply to all mankind is the prohibition against eating a limb that was removed from a living animal (eiver min hachai). This mitzvah teaches us compassion, because there is nothing as cruel as eating an animal alive, and doing so influences a person to have a cruel nature (Rabbeinu Bechaye and Sefer HaChinuch).
We may add that this act is also savage and animalistic. Carnivorous animals such as lions prefer to eat fresh meat, and meat is freshest when the animal is alive. Since a human being is a soul combined with an animalistic body, we have inherent animalistic desires, and the Torah commands us to control them.
The Torah terms eating a living animal “eating the soul together with the flesh” (Devarim 12:23). Based on this verse, Radvaz (Metzudas David §189) explains that the Torah prohibits eating a living animal because it is like eating its soul. One must first slaughter the animal in order to separate the soul from the body.
Why does this mitzvah apply to all humanity? The reason appears to be that extreme cruelty and animalistic savagery offend basic moral sensitivities. To illustrate this point, Nevuchadnetzar, an infamously cruel and immoral king, was once found eating a live hare. While his other atrocities were well-known, he did his utmost to keep this act secret (Shabbos 149b and Tanchuma, Va’eschanan, Buber ed., §1).
It is a wonder, therefore, that the practice of eating live animals still exists in some cultures today.
