154. The other question POSED BY THAT GENTILE was that the people of Yisrael do not partake of animals found dead or those not ritually slaughtered, nor of the filth and dirt of reptiles and insects as do the other peoples, but are nevertheless weaker than they are. This is how it is. For the heart, which is soft and weak and is the king and the sustenance of the other limbs, does not take from man's food for its nourishment other than from the clearest and purest of all the blood that is made from food, and its food is clean and clear and is softer and weaker than all the rest. And it leaves the remaining waste matters of the blood for the other limbs, and the other limbs are not concerned AS TO THE CLEANLINESS OF THEIR FOOD, but take all the waste matters, even the worst, and they are strong as befits them.

155. This is why all the other limbs have skin eruptions and scabs, bright spots and leprous boils, and the heart has none of them, for it is clean and clear, and has no blemish whatsoever. Thus the Holy One, blessed be He, took Yisrael, who is clean, clear, and without blemish, for Himself, as scripture says: "You are all fair, my love; there is no blemish in you" (Shir Hashirim 4:7). Rabbi Yosi came, kissed his hands, and said: If I had come into the world just to hear this, it would have been sufficient.