2,318. Eiver Min HaChai

Maachalos Assuros 5:1

According to the oral tradition, when the Torah says, “Do not eat the soul with the meat” (Deuteronomy 12:23), it prohibits eating the limb of a living animal. Regarding the limb of a living animal, Noah was told, “The flesh with its soul, its blood, you may not eat” (Genesis 9:4). The prohibition of the limb of a living animal applies to kosher domesticated and wild animals and birds but not to non-kosher species.

Maachalos Assuros 5:2

“Limb” means both a limb that has flesh, sinew and bone like a hand or a foot, and an organ that doesn’t have a bone, like the tongue, testes, spleen, kidneys, heart, etc. However, when it comes to an organ without a bone, the prohibition of the limb of a living animal applies whether one removed the entire organ or just part of it. If a limb has a bone, one isn’t liable until he removes it in its entirety, i.e., with its flesh, sinew and bone. If one removes just the flesh from a living animal, he is liable for eating a treifa as was previously explained, not for eating the limb of a living animal.