JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

Bibliography: Dubnow, Hist Russ, 3 (1920), 37f.; Budushchnost’,
3 (1902), 87–90, 105f.; Voskhod, 21 no. 6 (1902), 8f.
[Chasia Turtel]
BLONDHEIM, DAVID SIMON (1884–1934), U.S. Romance
scholar. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Blondheim studied at
Johns Hopkins University where he became professor of Romance
philology in 1924. During his studies at the École des
Hautes Études in Paris he began to work on the notes left
by A. *Darmesteter on the Old French glosses, over 1,000
in number, in Rashi’s talmudic commentaries. Blondheim,
after collating these with early manuscripts, restored their
original form, established their exact meaning and published
them as the first volume of his Les glosses françaises dans les
commentaires talmudiques de Raschi (1929). He then proceeded
to study each term in all its ramifications, but on his
untimely death left only 125 completed studies. They were
published posthumously as the second volume of his Glosses,
with his biography and a very extensive bibliography (1937).
The vast amount of historical and philological documentation
gathered by Blondheim offers an invaluable source of
information.
Examining, at the same time, the biblical translations in
Romance languages in medieval Jewish manuscripts, Blondheim
was struck by the particular form of the glosses in the
different sources and by the close connection between them.
He first published 30 such Old French glosses found in Jewish
texts (his doctoral dissertation, in Romania, 39 (1910), 129ff.),
and went on to prove that the specific traits of these Judeo-
Romance texts is encountered also in the earliest Latin Bible
translation known as the Vetus Latina. This was the theme of
his major work Les parlers judéo-romans et la Vetus Latina
(1925). He concluded that the Jews in the Western Roman
Empire must have spoken their own koiné, which developed
into the various Judeo-Romance dialects, and that Jews were
responsible for the translation of the Septuagint in the Vetus
Latina. Blondheim’s views, however, did not obtain general
approval, being criticized in particular by Cassuto, Banitt
(Berenblut), and Fiorentino.
Blondheim’s minor writings included many other contributions
to the medieval Judeo-Romance dialects, e.g., medieval
Judeo-French hymns. His indefatigable scientific endeavors
did not hinder him from taking an active part in Jewish
affairs, both philanthropic and Zionist. Blondheim prepared
the first English translation of L. *Pinsker’s Auto-Emancipation
(1904, 1916 2 ). His life ended on a tragic note. His manuscripts
and papers are now in the National and University Library,
Jerusalem.
[Menahem Banitt]
His son, SOLOMON HILLEL BLONDHEIM (1918– ), Israeli
physician, worked in various New York hospitals and did research
into metabolic diseases and bilirubin metabolism before
emigrating to Israel in 1951. There he joined the Hadassah-University
Hospital in Jerusalem, becoming head of the
metabolic unit and laboratory (1957) and associate professor
blood
of medicine (1966). He was professor emeritus in the hospital’s
department of medicine.
Bibliography: H.H. Shapiro, in: Modern Language Notes,
49 (1934), 1199ff.; Cassuto, in: Studi e materiali di storia delle religioni,
1 (1926), 145ff.; Fiorentino, in: Archivio Glottologico, 29 (1937), 138ff.;
idem, in: JQR, 42 (1951/52), 57ff.; M. Berenblut (Banitt), Judaeo-Italian
Translations of the Bible (1949), 197ff.; idem, in: Revue de linguistique
romane, 27 (1963), 245ff.
BLOOD. In the Bible there is an absolute prohibition on
the consumption of blood. The blood of an animal must be
drained before the flesh may be eaten (Lev. 3:17; 7:26; 17:10–14;
Deut. 12:15–16, 20–24). This prohibition is not found anywhere
else in the ancient Near East. Moreover, within Israelite legislation
it is the only prohibition (coupled with murder) enjoined
not on Israel alone but on all men (Gen. 9:4). It is thus
a more universal law than the Decalogue.
That none of Israel’s neighbors possesses this absolute
and universally binding prohibition means that it cannot be a
vestige of a primitive taboo, but the result of a deliberate, reasoned
enactment. This is clear from the rationale appended to
the law: blood is life (Lev. 17:11, 14; Deut. 12:23). Men (the sons
of Noah) are conceded the right to eat meat, if they drain off
the lifeblood, which belongs to the Creator (Gen. 9:3–4, see
*Noachide Laws). Israel has an additional obligation to drain
the blood of sacrificial animals on the authorized altar, “for it
is I who have assigned it to you upon the altar to expiate for
your lives; for it is the blood, as life, that can expiate” for your
lives when you take the animal’s life for its flesh (Lev. 17:11; cf.
verse 4; see *Atonement).
An unresolved problem is presented by a second blood
prohibition, differently worded: loʾ toʾkhelu ʿal ha-dam (“do not
eat over the blood”; Lev. 19:26; I Sam. 14:32–33; Ezek. 33:25).
Various interpretations of this have been offered: in one, ʿal is
interpreted as “with” (so LXX, ad loc.; for usage, cf. Ex. 12:8;
23:18; Lev. 23:18, 20; et al.). Thus, the two prohibitions are synonymous:
both forbid blood as food. A second interpretation
holds that ʿal means “over,” figuratively. The situation envisaged
is that the blood has not been consumed, but has been spilled
to the ground instead of being brought to the altar. Such a profane
disposition of the blood is forbidden by this law. This accords
with the requirement of the priestly code (and of King
Saul, I Sam. 14:32–33) that all permitted flesh must be sacrificed
(Lev. 17:11, above). However, it is not in agreement with
the Deuteronomic Code, which allows profane slaughter and
expressly orders that blood be spilled upon the ground (Deut.
12:15, 21–22). ʿAl has also been interpreted as “over,” literally, in
which case the prohibition refers to a pagan rite (see Ibn Ezra
and Samuel b. Meir (Rashbam) on Lev. 19:26, and Maimonides,
Guide, 3:46). According to a recent formulation of this
view by Grintz, it harks back to the worship of underground
deities, who drank the blood out of a pit in which the animal
was slaughtered (e.g., Odyssey, 10:530–40).
Blood plays a pervasive role in the cult. When daubed
on the horns of the *altar or sprinkled inside the sanctuary
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3 771