Commentary for Tahorot 1:1
שְׁלשָׁה עָשָׂר דָּבָר בְּנִבְלַת הָעוֹף הַטָּהוֹר. צְרִיכָה מַחֲשָׁבָה, וְאֵינָהּ צְרִיכָה הֶכְשֵׁר, וּמְטַמָּא טֻמְאַת אֳכָלִין בְּכַבֵּיצָה, וְכַזַּיִת בְּבֵית הַבְּלִיעָה, וְהָאוֹכְלָהּ טָעוּן הֶעֱרֵב שֶׁמֶשׁ. וְחַיָּבִים עָלֶיהָ עַל בִּיאַת הַמִּקְדָּשׁ, וְשׂוֹרְפִין עָלֶיהָ אֶת הַתְּרוּמָה. וְהָאוֹכֵל אֵבָר מִן הַחַי מִמֶּנָּה סוֹפֵג אֶת הָאַרְבָּעִים. שְׁחִיטָתָהּ וּמְלִיקָתָהּ מְטַהֲרוֹת אֶת טְרֵפָתָהּ, דִּבְרֵי רַבִּי מֵאִיר. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר, אֵינָן מְטַהֲרוֹת. רַבִּי יוֹסֵי אוֹמֵר, שְׁחִיטָתָהּ מְטַהֶרֶת, אֲבָל לֹא מְלִיקָתָהּ:
Thirteen matters regarding the carcass of a pure fowl: it requires thought [i.e. one must initially think to use it for food, in order for it have the impurity of foods]; and it does not necessitate becoming primed [for impurity, unlike other foods, which are primed for impurity when they become wet]; and it renders foods impure [upon contact] when it has [at least the volume] equivalent to an egg; and [it renders one impure] while it is being swallowed when it has [at least the volume] equivalent to an olive; and one who eats it requires [waiting until] sunset [on the day of his immersion before he becomes pure again]; and [if rendered impure] by it, one would be liable for entering the temple; and [one rendered impure by it renders <i>terumah</i> impure, such that the] <i>terumah</i> needs to be burned on its account; and one who eats a limb taken from it while alive endures the forty [lashes]. According to Rabbi Meir, its slaughter or its <i>melikah</i> [ritual killing of fowl brought as sacrifices in the temple] purify [the pure fowl, if it was discovered to have been] a <i>treifah</i> [an animal which will not survive, and is generally rendered impure and cannot be eaten]. Rabbi Yehuda says: they do not purify. Rabbi Yose says: its slaughter purifies, but its <i>melikah</i> does not. [The first nine of the thirteen matters are listed in this Mishna; the final four appear in the following Mishna.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
שלשה עשר דבר. צריכה מחשבה – that he would intend upon it for human consumption. For all foods that are permitted do not require intention/thought. But this because it is prohibited for eating requires intention and afterwards it defiles. And especially in villages where there aren’t a multitude of people, but in the markets, it does not require intention/thought, for since there are a multiple of people that come to the market, there are a lot [of people] who eat the carrion of a clean bird. And this is explained sin in the last chapter of [Tractate] Utkzin [Mishnayot 1 and 3].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Introduction
Today's mishnah deals with purity rules that govern the carrion of a clean bird. Leviticus 17:15 states, "Any person, whether citizen or stranger, who eats what has died or has been torn by beasts shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening, then he shall be clean." The rabbis interpret this verse as referring to clean birds, meaning birds that can be eaten if slaughtered in a valid manner. This distinguishes the impurity of the carrion of a bird from the carrion of a beast which is referred to in Leviticus 11:39-40.
There are thirteen rules with regard to the carrion of a clean bird. They are outlined in today's mishnah and in tomorrow's.
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ואינה צריכה הכשר (but does not require fitness/preparation) – but defiles the ritual impurity of foods like all other foods that came in contact with/touched a creeping animal which are made first-degree of ritual impurity, but they don’t require that water or other liquids come upon them and that they don’t come in contact with a creeping animal, for their rendering produce susceptible to ritual impurity is with seeds, as it is written (Leviticus 11:38): “But if water is put on the seed, etc. [i.e., and any part of the carcass falls upon it, it shall be impure for you],” and we (i.e., through the Rabbis) expound that just as seeds whose end is not to become defiled with a grave defilement requires preparation/fitness, even all whose end is not to become defiled with a grave defilement, that it defiles humans and garments in the esophagus, that does not require preparation.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Thirteen rulings govern the carrion of a clean bird:
There must be intention; For the carrion of the clean bird to be impure he must have thought about using it for food. For instance, he might have thought about giving it to a non-Jew. In contrast, regular food that is permitted to a Jew need not have been intended to be eaten for it to be susceptible to impurity.
There must be intention; For the carrion of the clean bird to be impure he must have thought about using it for food. For instance, he might have thought about giving it to a non-Jew. In contrast, regular food that is permitted to a Jew need not have been intended to be eaten for it to be susceptible to impurity.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
ומטמאה טומאת אוכלין בכביצה (and renders unclean with food uncleanness when it is the size of an egg) – that is like the size of an egg from it that came in contact with ritually pure foods they were defiled.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
It need not be rendered susceptible; The carrion need not be rendered susceptible to impurity through contact with a liquid for it to defile. This is because it itself is impure, unlike other foods that are merely susceptible to impurity. The bird carrion is treated like impure food even though it did not come into contact with anything impure.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
וכזית בבית הבליעה – a person who ate from it an olive’s bulk is defiled, and his garments were defiled when it reached the esophagus, as it is written (Leviticus 17:15): Any person, whether citizen or stranger who eats what has died or has been torn, etc. [i.e., shall wash his clothes, bathe in water, and remain impure until evening; then he shall be pure].” And the verse is speaking of someone who consumes that carrion of a clean bird,’ and it is written, "תאכל"/”who eats”. But there is no consumption less that of an olive’s bulk.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
It conveys food uncleanness if its minimum bulk is that of an egg; If clean food comes into contact with a piece of bird carrion the size of an egg, the clean food becomes defiled with second degree impurity.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
And it conveys uncleanness when in one's gullet if its minimum bulk is that of an olive; If a person eats of this carrion (it is forbidden to do so, but he does so anyway) as long as the carrion is in his gullet he is a "father of impurity." During this period he will defile clothes and vessels which he is contact with. This is how the rabbis interpreted the verse quoted in the introduction above.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
וחייבים עליה על ביאת המקדש – like the rest of all of the defilements, as it is written regarding the defilement of the Sanctuary and its Holy Things (Leviticus 5:4): “[Or when he touches human impurity] – any such impurity whereby one becomes impure” and we expound to include swallowing the carrion of a clean bird.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
He that eats of it must wait until sunset [to be clean]; The person who eats the carrion remains impure until the evening. He is not purified just by immersing in the mikveh. This is stated explicitly in the verse above.
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ושורפין עליה את התרומה (and they burn heave-offering on its account) – if the carrion of a clean bird touched heave -offering, it is burned, that when it is not in the esophagus, it has the law of first degree of ritual impurity and it defiles the heave-offering through its contact to become second-degree of ritual impurity.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Guilt is incurred on account of it for entering the sanctuary; If one eats the carrion and then unwittingly enters the Temple while still impure, he is liable for entering the Temple while impure. He will need to bring a sacrifice to atone for his sin.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
והאוכל אבר מן החי ממנה סופג את הארבעים - and even if the limb was less than an olive’s bulk. But the anonymous Mishnah is not according to Rabbi Meir, for if it were according to Rabbi Meir, we would learn of it from the end of the [chapter] of “The Sciatic Nerve”/גיד הנשה (Chapter 7 of Tractate Hullin, folio 102a and see Mishnah 6) as he said that the [the law of a] limb from a living animal does not apply other than with pure cattle alone.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
שחיטתה ומליקתה מטהרת את טריפתה (slaughtering it and wringing its neck render it no longer unclean even if it is Terefah) – and removes it from [the status] of a carrion that it would not defile. For the wringing/pinching of the neck permits the inside to the Kohanim, as the ritual slaughter permits the outside. And just as its ritual slaughter purifies it, so its pinching/wringing of the neck purifies it. And the ritual slaughter that purifies the torn animal/Terefah from the status of a carrion we derive from Scripture, as it is written (Leviticus 11:39): “If an animal [that you may eat] has died, anyone who touches its carcass shall be impure [until evening],” there is what from the animal that defiles and there is that which does not defile, excluding the torn animal/Terefah that was slaughtered, and the same law applies to the torn bird.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Terumah is burned on account of it; If the carrion touches terumah it defiles it and the terumah must be burned. Similarly, if a person eats the carrion and then touches terumah, it must be burned.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
He who eats a limb of it while it is alive suffers forty lashes; If one eats a limb torn from a living clean bird he is liable for eating a limb torn from a living animal. Elsewhere we learn that other sages say that this law is applicable only to limbs torn from beasts. The punishment for this is forty lashes, the same punishment that is, at least theoretically, applicable to one who transgresses any negative commandment.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
ר' יהודה אומר אינן מטהרות – that we don’t derive the torn bird from the torn cattle/animal.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Tahorot
Slaughtering it or nipping [off its neck] cleanses it even if it is terefah, the words of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Judah says: they do not cleanse it. Rabbi Yose says: the slaughtering does cleanse it but nipping does not. A terefah is a bird/animal that has been found to have a defect that would have caused it to die (for a list of such defects see chapter three of Hullin). A bird that is a terefah defiles, as does carrion. According to Rabbi Meir, if one slaughters a bird correctly, or if it is a sacrificial bird one nips off the head at the neck (this is how birds were sacrificed), and then it turns out that the bird is a terefah, the bird is not impure. In other words, since the bird was properly slaughtered, it doesn't defile, even if in the end, it was not edible. Rabbi Judah says that since the bird is after all inedible, it still defiles. Rabbi Yose argues that melikah (nipping off the head of a bird sacrifice) does not cause it to be pure, if it is found to be a terefah. Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yose argue out their logic in Zevahim 7:6, see there for more information.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Tahorot
רבי יוסי אומר שחיטתה מטהרת ולא מליקתה – and the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yossi.
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