Talking Talmud

Another baraita on the impact of blood on - in this case, a gourd of terumah - in terms of making it susceptible to impurity. Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi and Rabbi Hiyya have a debate about that. Of course, if there is blood and shechitah on the gourd throughout the process, that would render the gourd susceptible to impurity. But perhaps not if the process itself were interrupted. Also, Resh Lakish poses a question regarding a dry portion of a grain-offering - if/when would that become susceptible to impurity? Noting that it still would need to come in contact with water (or the other liquids) to achieve that. Note also the distinction between the impurity that comes from a dead body as compared to that from a creepy-crawly.

A case of a person who is eating non-sacred food at the level of purity of sacrificial food - which doesn't really give off that impurity to the next level. Plus, the hierarchy of impurity means that something that is pure in and of itself can be regarded as impure in comparison to something that is pure with a higher standard of purity. Also, on the susceptibility of impurity - will shechitah itself render the meat susceptible to impurity? Plus, the impact of how an animal dies, including whether at the hands of the Angel of Death. That is, the blood of the animal should establish susceptibility to impurity -- regardless of how the animal died.

More on how to understand the mishnah -- and whether the level of sanctity raised there is potentially really that of terumah, or perhaps that of sacrificial offerings (and how that would be determined). Note that terumah is only ever a gift from one's produce - that which grows from the ground, and it would not be confused with meat (in contrast to the sacrificial meat as compared to regular non-sacred meat, which makes more sense in the context of the mishnah). [Who's Who: Ullah] Also, what happens if a person eats impure food? Well, first, how impure is the food?

A new mishnah! What happens if the animal doesn't bleed at the time of shechitah? Apparently, that's a kosher shechitah. And one's impure hands won't render the meat impure (unless the slaughtering itself made it susceptible to impurity, and not just the liquid of the blood). The Gemara reexplains the mishnah to explain that the mishnah could not be talking about sacrificial foods, with several follow-up points to make the case that much stronger. Also, the Gemara delves into the impure hands, and what degree of impurity they may carry. Plus, the case of someone who purifies his hands and then exposes them to impure hands again - depending on how much exposure his whole body received, it may make a difference for what degree of impurity do his hand carry.

2 mishnayot! 1 - A person is slaughtering an animal and the knife falls and he picks it up to complete the slaughtering... as long as the shechitah is completed in the time that it would take to slaughter the animal to begin with, that's kosher. If it takes more time, then it's not a valid shechitah. But different animals - and fowl - take different amounts of time to do the shechitah. Does the statement of "shechting the animal" apply to every animal/bird, or does the time fluctuate depending on the animal/bird at hand? 2 - What if only one of the simanim/pipes were severed correctly, of the esophagus and trachea? If the animal is unfit, it is presented as a treyfa - but then the Gemara addresses such cases as a neveilah.