Covering of the blood

Who is Commanded The mitzvah applies to the slaughterer. If he has not performed it, then it devolves on anyone, according to Maimonides. The Blessing The Jewish sages implemented a special blessing before doing this mitzvah: "Blessed are you Lord, our G-d, ruler of the universe, who sanctified us with his commandments and commanded us regarding covering blood with dirt" == Rationale ==

There are several rationales given. The Sefer ha-Chinuch describes how given that "the blood is life", we cover it before eating the meat because there would be cruelty in eating the meat with the life in front of the eater (in the spirit of the prohibition on eating live meat). According to Rav Kook, covering the blood was intended to express shame for killing the animal we eat, thereby educating humanity to gradually reduce its meat consumption. ==References==