Halachot and Customs
Is it permitted to suck blood that comes out of the finger?
Question
I injured my finger, a shallow cut, and blood flowed from the cut. I sucked and licked the finger, while waiting for it to be bandaged and also knowing that a superficial wound would heal quickly because of coagulating substances found in saliva, as animals do instinctively, and hence the expression "licking one's wounds." Observant friends pointed out to me that according to halacha it is forbidden to drink blood. I replied that this is my own blood, and it should not be regarded as drinking but as self-healing, and in my view there is no halachic problem with it. After all, when there is bleeding from the gums, a person "drinks" his blood, and many suffer from such bleeding because of a toothbrush, to the point that it would seemingly have been necessary to add to the list of sins recited on the High Holidays, "We have sinned before You in drinking our own blood," because of how common the phenomenon is. My friends stood by their claim. Who was right?
Thank you very much!!!
Answer
Shalom Rav,
It is permitted to suck blood that comes out of the finger, however if the dripping has stopped and the finger remains dirty with blood, it is forbidden to put it in the mouth because of marit ayin.
Sources: the Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah (siman 66, seif 10) writes that human blood, if it has separated from the body, is forbidden because of marit ayin; therefore, if one bit bread with his teeth and blood from his teeth came onto the bread, he must scrape it off, but he may suck blood between the teeth.
And see there in Kaf Hachayim (ot 47) that if one’s finger is dripping blood, it is permitted to suck it, since it is clear that the blood is coming from the finger; and where there is clear indication, it is permitted even with human blood. This is likewise written by Beit Lechem Yehudah (ot 8) in the name of the Orchot Mishor, and by Rav Erech HaShulchan (end of ot 9) in the name of the Tosafot Keritot (daf 21b). So too wrote the Pri Chadash (ot 15) that through a recognizable sign it is permitted, similar to fish blood. Likewise wrote Keriti (ot 12), Zevach Tzedek (ot 33), and Ben Ish Chai (second year, parashat Toharot, ot 1).
And Kaf Hachayim continued and wrote: even though Rav Knesset HaGedolah in Hagahot Beit Yosef (ot bet nun) בשם Damasek Eliezer and Beit Lechem Yehudah prohibited it, Rav Zevach Tzedek wrote there that nevertheless, for the sake of many who are listening, and moreover this is a matter of rabbinic law and we rule leniently. And there (ot 48) he brought in the name of the Ben Ish Chai, that if the dripping has stopped and the finger remains dirty with blood, it is forbidden to put it in the mouth because of marit ayin.
And see further in Shevet HaKehati responsa, volume 13 (siman 110), and in Shevet HaKehati responsa, volume 5 (siman 125, ot 2-3).
With blessings,
Hillel Meirs
