Chullin 20

The Talmud recognizes two valid ways of killing a bird, depending on the context. One is shechita, slaughter, which involves drawing a knife over the front of the bird’s neck to cut the esophagus and windpipe — just as is done on mammals. This is only effective for non-sacred birds. The other is called melika, sometimes translated as “pinching,” which is only valid for birds being offered as sacrifices. Melika involves killing the bird from the back of the neck using one’s fingernail to sever the esophagus and windpipe. Most of today’s daf is devoted to exploring and contrasting these two methods. Then, Zeiri shares a surprising halakhah that’s applicable to all animals:

Zeeiri says: If the neck bone of an animal or a bird was broken and most of the surrounding flesh was cut with it, the status of the animal or the bird is that of a neveila (unslaughtered carcass).

Zeiri states that if the neck bone and much of the flesh on the back of the neck is severed, it has the same status as the corpse of an animal that did not die by kosher slaughter. Rashi notes that it assumes this status even while it’s still alive, even though the term neveila is typically used to refer to carcasses.

The novelty of Zeiri’s teaching is that the animal is not considered a treifa, an animal with a wound or defect that will likely soon kill it. Though both a treifa and a neveilaare forbidden to eat, they have one critical distinction: If a treifa is slaughtered in a kosher manner, its carcass does not impart impurity. A neveila, however, does impart impurity. Therefore, per this opinion, even while an animal whose neck bone was severed along with surrounding flesh is still alive, it would impart impurity like a neveila.

Rav Hisda supports Zeiri’s unusual position:

Rav Hisda said that we learn this in a mishnah as well: “If one performed melika on a bird offering with a knife, the bird renders the garments of one who swallows it impure when it is in the throat.” And if you would say that if the neck bone of an animal or a bird was broken and most of the surrounding flesh was cut with it, the bird is not a neveila but a treifa, then since with regard to a bird offering its pinching is its slaughter, let pinching with a knife be effective to purify the bird from the impurity of an unslaughtered carcass.

In a mishnah in Zevachim, the rabbis state that when one “pinches” a bird offering — i.e. cuts it from the nape of the neck — with a knife instead of a fingernail, that bird is rendered a neveila, an unslaughtered carcass, and imparts impurity when swallowed. Rav Hisda explains the connection to our ruling: If a bird whose neck bone and surrounding skin were severed was considered a treifa, then when this bird is “pinched” from the nape with a knife, severing its neck bone, it should become a treifa. When the knife subsequently cuts the esophagus and trachea during kosher slaughter, this bird should have the status of a treifa, and its meat should not impart impurity! Therefore, it must be that Zeiri is correct: The reason this bird pinched with a knife imparts impurity is that as soon as the knife severs its neck bone and skin, the bird becomes a neveila. Therefore, any subsequent acts of “kosher slaughter” would be irrelevant.

However, this isn’t the only way to read that mishnah:

The sages say in response: There, it is because it is not slaughtered at all. What is the reason?

Rav Huna says: It is because he conceals the knife.

Rava says: It is because he presses the knife.

Perhaps that mishnah does not align with Zeiri, and the bird whose neckbone is severed does become a treifainstead of neveila. The reason that the bird becomes an impure carcass is because the continuation of this “pinching” act with a knife does not constitute kosher slaughter! We are worried that the knife will be concealed beneath a bone, or pressed too hard, both of which invalidate a slaughter. Therefore, this mishnah is not definitive proof that we rule like Zeiri; it could be that a bird with a severed neckbone is still considered a treifa so long as it’s alive, and the bird in that mishnah becomes an impure carcass because it was not subsequently slaughtered in a kosher manner.

Zeiri’s ruling highlights some of the ambiguity with how we use the term treifa. There are many internal conditions — such as lesions, punctures or scratches on different organs — that render an animal treifa, and though it nominally has this status because it’s expected to die within a year, many treif animals might appear completely fine from the exterior. By contrast, the animal whose neck bone and flesh were severed is clearly in its dying throes; therefore, even though neveila is primarily applicable to carcasses, Zeiri thinks this creature is closer to being a dead, unslaughtered animal than an animal with an eventually fatal blemish.

Read all of Chullin 20 on Sefaria.

This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on May 20, 2026. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.