Cannibalism: Eating People

Are people kosher? What is the status of cannibalism in Judaism?

Shalom!

Thank you for your question!

Indeed, according to many halachic authorities, there is no true prohibition against eating human flesh or its by-products. In fact, it is essentially permissible to consume human blood. For example, one whose mouth is bleeding is permitted to swallow the blood (though we don’t drink human blood that has left the body lest it appear that one is consuming forbidden blood)

Other authorities disagree and rule that eating human flesh is forbidden by Torah law and is derived from a verse in the Torah. God commanded Adam to keep a vegetarian diet, and so it was until the episode of the Flood. After the Flood, God told Noach that remess (animals) were now permitted to be eaten. Remess is a term which refers to animals of the field thereby implying that non-remess (i.e. people) may not be eaten. As the Rambam writes:

Human flesh is forbidden…The Torah lists seven species of animals, about which it says, “These are the animals that you may eat.” This implies that anything else may not be eaten. And a prohibition derived from a positive commandment is a positive commandment in and of itself.

There is also a view that prohibition against cannibalism is an institution of the rabbis. So too, eating a human being who died would anyways be forbidden under the prohibition against deriving any benefit from the dead.

While the true source for the prohibition against eating human flesh might be subject to debate, it is unanimous that it is forbidden to do so. Of course, one is permitted to consume anything in extreme circumstances like to save one’s life.

Ramban, Vayikra 11:3; Bechorot 5b; Ketubot 60a (Ramban, Ritva,Ran); Rambam, Hilchot Ma’achalot Assurot 2:3, 3:4; Teshuvot Harashba 1:364; YD 66:10 .