 The prohibition of eating "chelev" is also, in addition to the Torah, one of the 613 commandments that, according to the Talmud, were given to Moses on Mount Sinai.In Biblical Hebrew, the word for fat is "chelev" (חֵלֶב), and it is first used for the "fats" of Abel's offering, and most often used for fats of animal sacrifices on the altar of the Tabernacle or Temple.The same word is also used in the phrase "the fat of the land."