For the source text click/tap here: Zevachim 25
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Our Mishna is focused on the initial kabbalat ha-dam, and the Gemara quotes a baraita that teaches that the blood that is collected and used for sprinkling can only be dam ha-nefesh – the life-blood – and not blood of the skin or the draining blood. This is derived from the repeated use of the term middam happar – the blood of the bull – (see, for example, Vayikra 4:5) which is understood to mean that the requirement is the blood that comes directly from the bull at the moment of slaughter.
When an animal is slaughtered, the very first blood is dam ha-or – blood of the skin – meaning the blood that is part of the small blood vessels that carry nutrients to the skin. Once the slaughterer’s knife reaches the main arteries, the dam ha-nefesh – the life blood that flows as long as the pumping action of the heart continues – will be spilled. This blood is called dam ha-nefesh because it is the blood that keeps the animal alive and with its loss will bring about cessation of the activity of the heart and ultimately, death.
We explore the blood ritual and the transition from Bible to Talmud.