(Mishnah): Any of the following makes a bird Tereifah:

The Veshet was punctured; the majority of the Kaneh was cut; a weasel bit it on (a certain portion of) the head; the stomach or small intestines were punctured;

It fell into a fire and the innards were scorched;

If the innards turned green, it is Tereifah. If they are red, it is Kosher.

If it was trampled or hit against a wall, and was still quivering, if it was slaughtered after 24 hours (and the internal organs were checked), it is Kosher.

(Gemara - Rav, Shmuel and Levi): To check (when a weasel bit it on the head), one puts his hand in the mouth and presses:

If brain matter exudes from the head, it is Tereifah. If not, it is Kosher.

This is like the opinion that it is Tereifah only if the inner and outer membranes of the brain was punctured.

Question: According to the opinion that it is Tereifah even if only the outer membrane was punctured, how can we rely on this test? (Perhaps nothing exudes because the inner membrane is intact!)

Answer: The inner membrane is soft. It would break under the pressure.

(Ze'iri): One cannot check for a weasel's bite, because its teeth are fine.

Question: Why is this a problem? If there is a puncture, brain matter will exude!

Answer (R. Oshaya): One cannot check because its teeth are fine and crooked.

Retraction (R. Oshaya): We can check, like Reish Lakish and R. Yochanan taught.

(Reish Lakish): We may check by hand (like above).

(R. Yochanan): We may also check using an (iron) nail (to see if it gets caught in a crevice in the membrane).

Reish Lakish and R. Yochanan argue like the following Tana'im;

R. Yehudah would check by hand. R. Nechemyah would check with a needle.

R. Yehudah: Through using a needle, you sometimes inadvertently create a hole (and rule that it is Tereifah), and cause a loss to the owners!

R. Nechemyah: Checking by hand is not reliable. You sometimes permit a Nevelah!

Really, it is only a Tereifah, for it was slaughtered.

(Beraisa - R. Yehudah): If a bird was bitten by a weasel, we may check it by hand, not with a nail;

If the skull was broken, even if the membrane is intact, it is Tereifah.

Question: If so, we cannot rely on the above test (which is only for the membrane)!

Answer: A broken skull is Tereifah only in birds that live in water, since they have no membrane.

Really, they have a membrane, just it is very soft.

Question (Rav Nachman): Do Rav and Shmuel really rely on testing by hand? Levi's Beraisa refutes them!

(Beraisa - Levi): If a defect makes an animal Tereifah, it makes a bird Tereifah;

A broken skull, even though the membrane is intact, is Tereifah only regarding birds.

Answer: A broken skull is Tereifah only in birds that live in water, since their membrane is soft.

R. Chana's chicken had a broken skull, but the membrane was intact. Rav Masna was Machshir.

R. Chana: Levi taught that this is Tereifah!

Rav Masna: He referred only to birds that live in water.

Rav Shizbi would check by sunlight. Rav Yemar would check with water (he would see if water can leave through the wound. Alternatively, he would see if water put on the wound externally would whiten, which shows that it mixed with brain matter). Rav Acha bar Yakov would check with straw (the way one checks with a nail.)

(Rav Shizbi): Our geese are considered birds that live in water.

(Mishnah): If it fell in a fire...

(R. Yochanan): Just like a puncture of any size (in the innards) is Tereifah, also greenness of any size.

Question (Rav Yosef, son of R. Yehoshua ben Levi): If the part of the liver by the innards turned green, what is the law?

Answer (R. Yehoshua ben Levi): It is Tereifah.

Question: This should be no worse than if it was missing, but that is Kosher!

Answer (Rava): If this part turned green, it indicates that the small intestines themselves were singed, so it is Tereifah.

R. Yehoshua ben Levi sent a chicken to R. Elazar Hakapar b'Ribi.

R. Elazar: It is green, it is Kosher.

Question (Mishnah): If they are green, it is Tereifah!

Answer: That only refers to the stomach, heart and liver, which are normally red.

Support (Beraisa): Greenness is a Tereifah only in the stomach, heart and liver, which are normally red.

R. Avahu checked a chicken for R. Yitzchak bar Yosef. He ruled that it is Tereifah due to redness (in the small intestines.)

Question (Mishnah): If they are red, it is Kosher!

Answer: If what is normally red turns green, or vice-versa, it is Tereifah;

Redness is Kosher only in the stomach, heart and liver.

(Rav Shmuel bar Chiya): If what was red turned green, and reverted to red when it was cooked, it is Kosher.

The greenness was due to smoke. It went away during the cooking.

(Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak): If red organs turned green during cooking, it is Tereifah.

This reveals that they were burned while the animal was alive.

Inference (Rav Ashi): If so, a bird that fell in a fire should not be eaten until it is cooked!

Rejection: If we do not see Simanim that the innards were singed, we are not concerned for this.

(Mishnah): If it was trampled or hit against a wall...

(R. Elazar ben Antigonus): In either case, it must be checked.

(Mishnah): The following defects do not make a bird Tereifah:

The Kaneh was punctured or cracked; a weasel bit it on the head (in a place that will not kill it); the crop was punctured;

Rebbi says, even if the crop was removed.

The intestines came out (and were returned), but they were not punctured;

The wings or legs were broken;

The large feathers fell off;

R. Yehudah says, if the small feathers fell off, it is Tereifah.

(Gemara - Beraisa): R. Simai and R. Tzadok ruled about a removed womb, like Rebbi rules about the crop.

Question: Did they rule that a removed womb is Tereifah, and about a crop like Rebbi;

Or, did they rule that a removed womb is Kosher, like Rebbi rules about the crop, but they hold that a removed crop is Tereifah?

This question is unresolved.

(Rabah): The top of the crop is like the Veshet. (If it is punctured, it is Tereifah.)

(Rav Bivi bar Abaye): This applies from where it starts to get thin.

(Mishnah): The intestines were removed...

(R. Shmuel bar R. Yitzchak): This is only if they were returned the same way. If they were reversed, it is Tereifah.

"Hu Ascha va'YKoNenecha" - Hash-m made bases (Kenim) in man. If they are reversed, man cannot live.

(Beraisa - R. Meir): "Hu Ascha va'Ykonenecha" - Hash-m made Yisrael like a great city that has everything, i.e. Kohanim, prophets, ministers, and kings. "Mimenu Finah Mimenu Yased" (teaches that the cornerstone and bolt, i.e. the essential leaders, are from Yisrael).

A man fell from the roof. (The skin over) his stomach split, and his intestines came out. A Nochri looking on made an illusion, as if he slaughtered the man's son;

The man's anguish caused his intestines to recoil into his body without reversing. The Nochri sewed him up (and he lived.)