• Examining the brain of a bird bitten by a weasel

The next Mishnah lists the tereifos in birds, including: הכתה חולדה על ראשה – if a weasel [bit] it on its head in a place which makes it a tereifah, i.e., where the brain membrane may have been punctured. Rav, Shmuel, and Levi say that one can examine the bird by inserting his hand inside the bird’s mouth and pressing upwards; אם מבצבץ ועולה – if [brain matter] spurts up out of the head, the membrane is punctured and it is a tereifah. Reish Lakish and Rebbe Yochanan argued if one may also examine במסמר – with a nail by scraping it across the possible hole, because the nail may itself puncture the membrane, leading to incorrectly prohibit it as a tereifah. Rebbe Yehudah and Rebbe Nechemiah also argued if one may examine by hand, or with a needle. The Tanna who examined by hand said to the other: עד מתי אתה מכלה ממונן של ישראל – Until when will you destroy Jewish property by examining with a nail, and incorrectly prohibiting kosher meat? The other Tanna countered, “Until when will you feed Jews tereifos?” He considered the examination by hand unreliable, since a weasel’s teeth are thin and curved, so brain matter may not leak out even with a punctured membrane.

• Organs changing color due to fire, testing through boiling

The Mishnah taught that נפלה לאור – if [a bird] fell into a fire and its internal organs were burned, then if they turned green, it is a tereifah. Rebbe Elazar HaKappar Beribi once ruled that a hen which fell into a fire, and whose intestines were green, is kosher. He explained that organs turning green are only a tereifah regarding the gizzard, heart, and liver, which are normally red, but not the intestines, which are normally green. Rebbe Abahu ruled that a hen whose intestines turned red from a fire is a tereifah, since they are normally green. Rebbe Mani said that if red organs turned green from fire, ושלקן וחזרו והאדימו – and he boiled them and they turned red again, it is kosher, because קוטרא עייל בהו – they only turned green initially because smoke entered them. Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak said that if red organs did not turn green from a fire, and they were later boiled and turned green, it is a tereifah, because איגלאי בהתייהו – their shame was revealed. Therefore, Rav Ashi ruled that one should not eat a bird which fell into a fire without boiling its organs first, but the Gemara disagrees, because אחזוקי ריעותא לא מחזקינן – we do not assume a disqualification without evidence.

• בני מעיים which fell out (הוא עשך ויכוננך)

The next Mishnah lists injuries in a bird which is ruled kosher, including: יצאו בני מעיה ולא ניקבו – its intestines came out but were not punctured. Rav Shmuel bar Rav Yitzchak says this only applies שלא היפך בהן – that he did not invert them when putting them back, but if he put them back into the bird upside down, it is a tereifah, as the passuk says: הוא עשך ויכוננך – He made you and established you, מלמד שברא הקדוש ברוך הוא כונניות באדם – this teaches that Hashem created “bases” in man (i.e., a particular order to organ structure), שאם נהפך אחת מהן אינו יכול לחיות – so that if one of them is inverted, he cannot live (the same applies to birds). [Alternatively, this passuk is darshened: כרכא דכולה ביה – Hashem make Klal Yisroel like a city which has in it everything it needs: ממנו כהניו ממנו נביאיו ממנו שריו ממנו מלכיו – from it are its Kohanim, from it are its prophets, from it are its nobles, from it are its kings.] An Aramean once saw someone fall from a roof and his intestines fell out. He made it appear to the victim as if he was slaughtering the victim’s son, and the father groaned, drawing his intestines back in, and he was stitched up and saved.