In this Perek Shelishi (third chapter), we'll talk about kosher (fit under Jewish law) animals that have an injury or a blemish. The Pasuk (verse) tells us, “Meat in a field that's torn, you shouldn't eat.” What we're talking about here is an animal that was attacked and wounded by a wild animal. We're not talking about an animal that died from its injuries. That's a nevelah (dead animal). Here we're talking about a terefa (fatal injury): when an animal is injured, it's not allowed to be eaten, even if it was slaughtered properly with shechitah (ritual slaughter) and was alive at the time of shechitah.
Since it had a fatal injury, you're not allowed to eat it. The fatal injury we're talking about is one that would cause the animal to die. It doesn't matter if the animal was injured in an attack, or if it had a birth defect or a disease. If an animal has a fatal injury that it's going to die from, we call it a terefa. We say that if it didn't have the ability to survive for a full year, then it's a terefa. We'll record the list of the terefot here in the Mishnah, in the following Mishnah, and that is the definite list, the absolute list, of what is considered to be a terefa.
But they do point out that, according to the poskim (halachic authorities), whatever is on this list is followed even if it is no longer applicable. If there are other things that an animal would scientifically die from that are not on this list, we ignore them. We follow the halacha (Jewish law) as it's brought down here in the Mishnah. The Mishnah says, “These are the terefot in animals.” We're going to list 18 injuries that would make an animal a terefa. We'll bring up birds in a later Mishnah.
An animal with a hole in the wall of the food pipe. The food pipe is a soft tube called the esophagus, which goes from the mouth to the stomach. There are two layers of skin on it. If there's a hole in both layers, the animal is a terefa. But one hole would not make the animal a terefa. That was number one.
Number two: an animal with a cut across the wall of the windpipe, the trachea. The windpipe is a tube that carries air from the mouth all the way to the lungs. Here we're talking about a cut that's very deep, going all the way through the wall and more than halfway through the space inside the windpipe.
Number three: there was a hole in the inner membrane of the brain. The brain is surrounded by coverings, or membranes, one inside the other. If there's a hole in the inner membrane, then the animal's a terefa, even if there's nothing on the outside. If the outer membrane has a hole, then the animal is still kosher.
Number four: there was a hole in the heart that went all the way through the wall into one of the two chambers. The heart has two sections, one on the left and one on the right. If there's a hole in the wall of the heart that goes all the way through it and into one of the chambers, the animal is a terefa. If there's a hole in the pipe of the heart, which is the aorta or the pulmonary artery, the two large pipes that carry the blood away from the heart, the animal would be a terefa as well.
The spine was broken, and the material surrounding the spinal cord was cut. That's also considered to be a terefa. If the liver was removed and nothing was left of it, the liver cleans the blood and produces bile, which helps digest food. An animal without a liver cannot survive and is a terefa. If a small part of the liver remains, then the animal is kosher. So we said over here: if the liver was removed and nothing remained of it, it was fully gone. That was number six.
Number seven: the lung had a hole in it. A lung is covered by membranes, one on the inside and one on the outside. If there's a hole in both membranes and air is able to escape through that hole, so the lung doesn't have the ability to hold the air in, then the animal is a terefa. But if there's only one hole, it's considered to be kosher. That was number seven. Or, if a lung was missing one of the sections, that's also considered to be a terefa.
Rabbi Shimon, man, says that a hole in the lung is not considered to be a terefa unless the hole goes into the tubes that branch out from the bottom of the windpipe. What Rabbi Shimon is telling us is that the windpipe enters the lungs and then splits into smaller tubes. Those are the bronchi. They branch out into the various parts of the lungs. So according to what Rabbi Shimon is saying, an animal is a terefa only if the hole goes all the way into the large bronchi at the bottom of the windpipe. If the hole is only on the other part of the lung, then the animal is still kosher.
Now number nine. We'll continue to list the different injuries that an animal can have that make it a terefa. The fourth stomach had a hole in it. An animal that chews its cud, like a cow or sheep, has four stomachs, and each stomach has a different job in the process of digesting food. So here we're talking about the fourth stomach.
The gallbladder had a hole in it, but only on the side. If it's not covered by the liver, then it's a terefa. But if the gallbladder had a hole in it and was pressed up against the liver so it wouldn't leak whatsoever, then it's not considered to be a terefa. If the intestines had a hole in an area that isn't covered up by the other intestines when they fold over each other, that would also hold everything in place. So here it's a hole where it's going to cause leaking. It's a terefa.
The inner stomach, the animal's first stomach, had a hole in it, or most of the outer stomach was torn. All of these, numbers 12 and 13, are terefot. Another opinion is about a tear in the layer of muscle covering the stomach. Rabbi Yehuda says that a large animal becomes a terefa when a tear in the outer layer of muscle is the size of a tefach (handbreadth). A small animal becomes a terefa when most of the muscle covering the stomach is torn.
We'll continue the list. Number 14: the third stomach. Number 15: the second stomach. They had a hole in them, but only when the hole is visible on the outside of the stomach and not hidden by the other stomach. When it's hidden, it's the same thing as we mentioned before: it would seal up, nothing would leak out, and it wouldn't become a problem. So the animal would remain kosher. That was number 15.
Now, if it fell from the roof: if an animal fell from the roof or a high place, even if it looks unhurt, it could have internal injuries that would cause the animal to be a terefa. You'd have to go through a full examination in order to remove it from that status. If most of the ribs were broken—there are 22 ribs and small eight ribs—if any of these ribs are broken, the animal's a terefa. We say that it possibly is not breathing correctly.
If an animal was clawed by a wolf and maybe the wolf injected venom, the animal would be a terefa as well. That was number 18. Now we'll qualify the ruling about an animal that was clawed by a wolf. Rabbi Yehuda says that being clawed by a wolf, which is a small animal, only injects enough poison or venom to make a terefa. But being clawed by a lion, which is a large animal, would inject enough poison to make a terefa in a large animal. So there's a distinction between the two. Being clawed by a hawk only brings out enough venom to make a terefa in a small bird. But being clawed by a large hawk puts out enough poison or venom to make a terefa in a large bird.
A final ruling: this is the general rule. Any defect found in a slaughtered animal that would cause a live animal with a similar defect not to survive more than 12 months means that the animal is considered to be a terefa. The general rule we just quoted is coming to include seven other types of terefa that we didn't mention in the Mishnah. The Gemara goes through them. In addition to these seven, the Bartenura says that there are four types of terefa that are also included in the general rule that we didn't mention specifically.