Chullin 54 – The Non-Fatal Injuries

If an animal is pierced by a thorn, this is not as strict as clawed by a predators, since the thorn does not usually lead to infection. The animal is not terefah unless the thorn went all the way to the body cavity.

People in the family of Yosef the Hunter used to strike an animal on the sciatic nerve and cause it die in this manner. Nevertheless, this defect does not cause it to be a terefah, because with proper medicine it would heal.

Now the discussion turns to non-fatal injuries, those that do not cause the animal to become terefah, such as the case when the trachea was split lengthwise, and not cut across, or when a piece of it less than the size of an Italian issar coin was missing. Rabbi Yochanan said that the list of fatal injuries is specific, and things that are not on that list are kosher. Resh Lakish disagreed and said that the list of non-fatal injuries is specific and the rest are terefah. Which case do they argue about? – The one described by Rav Matna, where the ball of the thighbone popped out of its place in the socket.

Art: Henry Herbert La Thangue - The Thorn