Torah Portion: Mishpatim

…and its flesh shall not be eaten (Shemos 21:18).

 It is a negative commandment that we not eat the flesh of an ox sentenced to stoning (for having killed a person), even if it was properly ritually slain. This law is not limited specifically to an ox, but any domestic or wild animal, or bird that killed a human and was sentenced to death by stoning [may not be eaten].

Among the roots of the mitzvah is the aim that we should acknowledge that whatever was the cause of misfortune is to be detested and abhorrent to both God and people — even if it acted unintentionally, such as an animal which has no developed intelligence, and all the more so if it was deliberate. By putting this on our minds, it will influence us to be very careful in all our deeds that no disaster ever issue from our hands.

The prohibition against eating its flesh applies to both men and women; but only in the Land of Israel and only when there are ordained judges, for they are the ones authorized to sentence an ox to stoning.