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Week 155 - Shabbat - 16 November 2002

HULLIN: CHAPTER 3: MISHNAH 1

These are accounted terefah among cattle: if the gullet is pierced, or the windpipe is torn, if the membrane of the brain is pierced, if the heart is pierced as far as its cavity, if the spine is broken and its cord severed, if the liver is gone and nothing remained, if the lungs are pierced or are deficient. R. Shimon says, Only if the main bronchial tube is pierced. If the maw is pierced, if the gall bladder is pierced, if the intestines are pierced, if the innermost stomach is pierced, or if the greater part of the outer one is torn. R. Yehudah says, If large, a handbreadth, if small, the greater part of it. If the omasum or the reticulum is pierced on the outside. If it fell from the roof, or if most of its ribs are broken, or was mauled by a wolf. R. Yehudah says, If small - when mauled by a wolf, if large - when mauled by a lion. A small bird - when mauled by a hawk, if a large bird - when mauled by a large bird. This is the general rule: If it could not live in a similar state, it is terefah.

Kehati

The Torah states (Ex. 22:30): "..neither shall you eat any meat that is torn (terefah) of beasts in the field, you shall cast it to the dogs. Rambam (Hil. Ma'akhalot Asurot 4:6-9) explains: "Terefah in the Torah denotes an animal mauled by a wild beast, e.g., a lion, leopard, etc., or a fowl mauled by a bird of prey, e.g., a hawk, etc, It cannot mean that it was mauled and killed, since death renders it nevelah, and there is no difference whether it died naturally or was killed by a sword or by a lion. Hence it means that, while torn, it did not die. But if a terefah that did not die is forbidden, I might have thought that if a wolf dragged the kid by its leg, tail or ear, and a person who pursued it saved it from its jaws, it should be forbidden, since it was torn. Therefore, the Torah says: “neither shall you eat any meat that is torn (terefah) by beasts in the field, you shall cast it to the dogs" - this implies none other but meat rendered fit for a dog.

This teaches us that terefah in the Torah denotes an animal torn and mauled by a wild beast, that, while critically wounded, has not yet died, which, even though slaughtered before it died, is forbidden as terefah, since it cannot recover from the wounds it sustained. Thus the Torah forbade both that which died - the nevelah - and that which, though still alive, is critically wounded - the terefah. Just as regarding death there is no distinction between natural death and dying through a fall, between choking to death and being mauled to death by a beast, so also is there no distinction in the case of a dying animal between one torn and battered by a beast and one most of whose ribs were broken on falling from a roof, and one whose organs were crushed when it fell, and one hit by an arrow that pierced its heart or lungs, and one whose heart or lungs were perforated by disease or most of its ribs disintegrated, and the like - since all dying animals, whether killed by man or by Heaven, are terefah.

Why then does the Torah specify "torn" (terefah)? Because Scripture speaks in terms of common occurrences. Otherwise, we would conclude that it is forbidden only if rendered terefah in the field, but not in the yard; hence, evidently Scripture speaks in terms of common occurrences. In essence, this verse teaches us that if the animal is dying of its wounds and cannot survive such a wound, it is forbidden. Hence our Sages stated (in the conclusion of our mishnah): ‘This is the general rule: If it could not live in a similar state, it is terefah.’

Mishnahs 1 to 5 specify the injuries that do and those that do not render a beast or a bird terefah. All the terefah categories listed in this chapter were handed down to Moses on Sinai. Our mishnah lists eighteen defects that render a beast terefah.

These are accounted terefah among cattle: If the gullet is pierced - the least perforation of the gullet's red outer and white inner skins - even if the punctures do not face one another - renders the animal terefah; 2) or if the greater part of the windpipe is torn across its width, the animal is terefah; however, when torn lengthwise, even if the slightest top section, near the head, and the slightest bottom section near the lungs remained intact (as explained in the next mishnah), the animal may be eaten because this heals up. - Rambam rules that an animal with a pierced gullet or a torn windpipe is nevelah (Hil. Shehitah 3:10;23); 3) if the membrane of the brain is pierced - two membranes cover the brain, the upper, attached to the skullbone, and the lower which houses the brain; the slightest puncture of the lower membrane renders the animal terefah, whereas a perforated upper membrane alone does not; 4) if the heart is pierced as far as its cavity - whether the major left or minor right cavity (Rambam), the animal is terefah; but if the heart's flesh alone was punctured without reaching the cavity, the animal is kasher.

One mishnah here stipulates "as far as its cavity," although the same applies to the former cases, because the heart has thick walls that may be punctured without reaching its cavity; not so in the case of such organs as the gullet or the membrane of the brain which are thin, and a perforation is bound to reach the cavity (Tosefot Yom Tov; Tiferet Yisrael); 5) if the spine - the line of bones running along the middle of the animal s back from the skull to the hips - is broken and the greater part of its - i.e., the whitish spinal - cord - that issues from the brain is covered with a thin membrane and extends to the end of the spine, is severed laterally, even if the spine remains intact; our mishnah states "if the spine is broken" as the general cause of the spinal cord's severance - the animal is terefah; 6) if the liver is gone and nothing remained - according to the Gemara, if less than an olive's bulk was left in the region of the gall bladder, and an olive's bulk in the most vital place, i.e., where the liver is attached to the diaphragm, the animal is terefah, but if an olive's bulk remained in either of these places, it is kasher; 7) if the two thin membranes of the lungs are pierced up to the lung itself, the animal is terefah; 8) or are deficient, e.g., lacking one of the five lobes.

R. Shimon says, the animal is terefah only if the main bronchial tube - i.e., the major lung artery on which all the pulmonary bronchi converge - is pierced; 9)

If the maw is pierced - even minimally, if up to the gastric cavity; 10) if the gall bladder is pierced - on the side other than that adjacent to the liver; 11) if the intestines are pierced where no other protecting intestine adheres to it around the puncture; 12) if the innermost stomach - the large pouch into which the food passes from the gullet - is pierced as far as its cavity, it is terefah; 13) or if the greater part of the outer one is torn - i.e., the flesh that hugs most of the outer stomach. This refers to the thick membrane that covers the entire abdomen from the chest to the thigh. A small part of the stomach is concealed underneath the pectoral ribs and the greater part underneath the above membrane; if most of the membrane that covers the major part of the stomach is torn, the animal is terefah (a variant interpretation of the inner and outer stomach is presented in the Gemara).

R. Yehudah says, if a large animal, whose greater part of the outer stomach exceeds one handbreadth, is terefah if a handbreadth is torn, if a small animal whose outer stomach measures less than a handbreadth, is terefah if the greater part of it is torn. The halakhah follows R. Yehudah; 14-15).

If the omasum or the reticulum is pierced on the outside - the reticulum, a helmet-shaped organ at the end of the stomach, is flanked by the omasum, whose wall is attached to that of the reticulum, and there is an opening in this double wall. The food passes from the rumen to the reticulum, thence to the omasum, then to the stomach (abomasum), and finally to the intestines; if the omasum or the reticulum is pierced on the outside, i.e., not where they are joined, the animal is terefah. If their linked walls are pierced, the animal is kasher, since even if perforated there remains movement between one and the other, if one of the attached walls of the omasum and reticulum is pierced the other protects it. (Our mishnah's reference to the omasum prior to the reticulum, in contrast to their actual location, calls for an explanation. Tosefot Yom Tov, who raises this question, leaves it unanswered. Some commentators suggest that at a certain period these terms came to be reversed - Encyclopedia Talmudit; 16)

If it - the animal - fell from the roof and was slaughtered immediately, it is terefah, since we suspect that this [the fall] caused its limbs to be crushed. However, if after the fall the animal walked the distance corresponding to its own height, it is kasher. Likewise, if it was slaughtered after surviving twenty-four hours, even though it did not walk or stand up; however, it must undergo an examination to insure that its limbs had not been broken; 17) or if most of its ribs are broken - twenty-two marrow-filled ribs, eleven on either side, proceed from the animal's spine, and if the greater part, i.e., twelve ribs, were broken, the animal is terefah. The Gemara confines this restriction to a fracture in the rib's half nearest the spine, where it affects its survival; however, if the half nearest the chest is broken, it remains kasher; 18) or was mauled - clawed with the forelegs and infected - by a wolf.

R. Yehudah - who explains the First Tanna's ruling - says, Only if it is a small animal, e.g., a sheep or goat, but not a large animal, e.g., an ox, is it rendered terefah - when mauled by a wolf, but even if it is a large animal it is terefah - when mauled by a lion.

Only a small bird, e.g., a pigeon is terefah - when mauled by a hawk, whereas even if a large bird - e.g., a goose or hen, is terefah - when mauled by hagas, a large bird, variantly rendered as hagaz, a bird of prey, possibly an owl or a falcon.

This is the general rule: If it - an animal - could not live in a similar state, it is terefah - i.e., it may not be eaten. According to the Gemara, "this is the general rule" extends the restriction to other kinds of terefah not listed in our mishnah (see Gemara and commentators).

HULLIN: CHAPTER 3: MISHNAH 2

And these are kasher among cattle: If the windpipe is pierced or slit. How deficient may it be? Rabban Shimon b. Gamliel says, Up to an Italian issar. If the skull is defective but the membrane of the brain is not pierced, if the heart is pierced but not as far as its cavity, if the spine is broken but the cord is unsevered, if the liver is gone but an olive's bulk remained, if the omasum and reticulum are pierced one into the other, if the spleen is gone, or the kidneys are gone, if the lower jaw is gone, if the womb is gone, if dried up by the hand of Heaven. If stripped of its hide - R. Meir declares it kasher but the Sages declare it terefah.

Kehati

And these are kasher among cattle - the following defects do not render an animal terefah: If the windpipe is pierced or slit lengthwise and some of the upper part, near the head, and some of the lower part, near the lungs, remain intact, it is kasher; some require at least one ring at the top and one at the lower end to remain unimpaired (Gemara). How deficient may it be, when pierced, for the animal to remain kasher?

Rabban Shimon b. Gamliel says, Up to an Italian issar - if the hole is smaller than this Italian coin, it is kasher; if equal to or larger, it is terefah; there are several opinions concerning the size of an issar; it is held by some to equal the greater part of the windpipe's diameter. If the skull is defective but the membrane of the brain is not pierced - according to one view the animal is terefah if the hole in the skull is the size of a sela, even if the membrane of the brain is intact; this is contested by some authorities (see the commentators); if the heart is pierced but not as far as its cavity, if the spine is broken but the greater part of the core is unsevered it is kasher;

If the liver is gone but an olive's bulk remained adjacent to the gall bladder and another olive's bulk in the most vital part, as explained in the preceding mishnah; a variant version reads "but anything remained"; if the omasum and reticulum are pierced one into the other, i.e., at their juncture, as explained in the preceding mishnah; if the spleen is totally gone the animal is kasher; however, if its wall is pierced and less than the thickness of a golden dinar remained, it is terefah, because this causes increasing pain and the spread of the disease (Rashi) or one or both of the kidneys are gone, the animal is kasher; if the lower jaw which moves during mastication, is gone - but the windpipe and gullet remained attached to the flesh - if the womb is gone, if - the lung dried up by the hand of Heaven - e.g., the panic induced by thunder or lightning caused the lung to contract; but if frightened by an act of man, it is terefah. The Gemara explains how to determine the cause of the defect.

If stripped of its hide - whether as a result of sores or in the course of work – R. Meir declares it - the animal - kasher but the Sages declare it terefah. The halakhah follows the Sages. However, if a sela's width of skin remained along the entire spine and this much on the navel and on the tips of the limbs, it is kasher (Rambam Hil. Shehitah 9:7).

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