Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 9:4/אבן עזרא על בראשית ט׳:ד׳
אאך בשר בנפשו דמו. כן טעמו אך בשר עם נפשו שהוא דמו לא תאכלו, כטעם לא תאכל הנפש עם הבשר (דבר' יב כג) כי נפש כל בשר דמו כנפשו הוא וזאת הנפש המתנועעת והמרגשת היא הגוף:
1ONLY FLESH WITH THE LIFE THEREOF, WHICH IS THE BLOOD THEREOF, SHALL YE NOT EAT. The meaning of this verse is that you shall not eat flesh with its life (nefesh), which is its blood, as in and thou shalt not eat the life (nefesh, i.e., the blood) with the flesh (Deut. 12:23), and For as to the life (nefesh) of all flesh, the blood thereof is all one with the life (nefesh) thereof (Lev. 17:14). The nefesh (life) which moves and feels is the body.9 does not here refer to soul; it means body. However, by extension it also refers to the blood which gives life to the body. Krinsky has an alternate reading: the nefesh spoken of here refers to that which moves and feels within the body, i.e., the blood. According to Cherez, I.E. uses the term body for the blood.