Terefah ( he, טְרֵפָה, lit. "torn by a beast of prey";

plural The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...

''treifot'') refers to either: * A member of a kosher species of

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

, disqualified from being considered

kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...

, due to pre-existing mortal injuries or physical defects. * A specific list of mortal injuries or physical defects that disqualify a member of a kosher species of mammal or bird from being kosher.

Biblical prohibition

The biblical prohibition of eating ''terefah'' stems from the verse: According to the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

,Hullin 37a there were originally only eight types of terefah, however, the author(s) of the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...

added eighteen items to the list. Eventually,

Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...

added even more to finish the list of terefah conditions at 70. Rabbi

Joseph Caro Joseph ben Ephraim Karo, also spelled Yosef Caro, or Qaro ( he, יוסף קארו; 1488 – March 24, 1575, 13 Nisan 5335 A.M.), was the author of the last great codification of Jewish law, the '' Beit Yosef'', and its popular analogue, the ''Shu ...

organized all of these symptoms in the

Shulchan Aruch The ''Shulchan Aruch'' ( he, שֻׁלְחָן עָרוּך , literally: "Set Table"), sometimes dubbed in English as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Judaism. It was authored in Safed (today in Is ...

(

Yoreh De'ah Yoreh De'ah ( he, יורה דעה) is a section of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher's compilation of halakha (Jewish law), Arba'ah Turim around 1300. This section treats all aspects of Jewish law not pertinent to the Hebrew calendar, finance, torts, marriage, ...

, 29-60) by categorizing them according to parts of the animal, their minute malady, and any disease, fracture, or abnormality they may possess.The Jewish Encyclopedia. Funk and Wagnalls Company. New ed., Vol II. pp. 109-110 This prohibition should not be confused with a separate category of prohibition, called ''nevelah'' (a carcass), of eating of any kosher species of mammal or bird which died by any means other than

shechita In Judaism, ''shechita'' (anglicized: ; he, ; ; also transliterated ''shehitah, shechitah, shehita'') is slaughtering of certain mammals and birds for food according to ''kashrut''. Sources states that sheep and cattle should be slaughtered ...

. Thus, an animal could only be considered a ''terefah'' while alive; once it dies of its ''terefah'' wound it would be considered a ''nevelah''. An important consequence is that a ''terefah'' which dies by ''shechita'', while not fit for kosher consumption, does not have the status and rules of ''nevelah'' (e.g. with regard to imparting

ritual impurity Ritual purification is the ritual prescribed by a religion by which a person is considered to be free of ''uncleanliness'', especially prior to the worship of a deity, and ritual purity is a state of ritual cleanliness. Ritual purification may ...

The first eight types

The Talmud enumerates eight types of ''terefah'' that would make an animal unfit for ritual sacrifice according to Mosaic law: *Clawing: the clawing of an animal by a wild beast or of a bird by a bird of prey. *Perforation: a perforation to the cavity of one of the following 11 organs: the pharynx, the membrane of the brain, the heart and its aorta, the gall bladder, the vena cava inferior, abomasum,

rumen The rumen, also known as a paunch, is the largest stomach compartment in ruminants and the larger part of the reticulorumen, which is the first chamber in the alimentary canal of ruminant animals. The rumen's microbial favoring environment al ...

omasum The omasum, also known as the bible, the fardel, the manyplies and the psalterium, is the third compartment of the stomach in ruminants. The omasum comes after the rumen and reticulum and before the abomasum. Different ruminants have different oma ...

, intestines, the lung and trachea. *Deficiency: the absence from birth of one of the lobes of the lung, or one of the feet. *Missing: the absence of converging sinews in the thigh, or the liver, or the upper jaw. *Severing: the severing of the membrane covering the spinal cord whether the spinal column be broken or not. *Falling: the crushing of one of the internal organs of an animal as the result of a fall. *Tearing: the tearing of most of the flesh covering the rumen. *Fracturing: such as the fracturing of most of its ribs.

Influence in other languages

The word ''terefah'', via

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

( טרייף, treyf) and its verb form ''tre'' 'i''/''j''/''y'''f'' 'e'''n'' (the latter formed by applying Germanic orthographic and generative-grammatical patterns to the Hebrew root), gave rise to the concept of '' trefny'' (deficient, illicit) in Polish. Certain

food taboo Some people do not eat various specific foods and beverages in conformity with various religious, cultural, legal or other societal prohibitions. Many of these prohibitions constitute taboos. Many food taboos and other prohibitions forbid the mea ...

s in

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

are known in

Surinamese Dutch Surinamese Dutch (, ) is the form of Dutch spoken in Suriname and is the official language in Suriname, a former Dutch colony. Dutch is spoken as a native language by about 60% of the population, most of them being bilingual with Sranan Tongo, H ...

as ''

treef (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, yi, כּשר), fro ...

'', derived from Sranan Tongo ''trefu'' and ultimately from ''terefah'' due to influence from Sephardi Jews who came to Suriname in the 17th century (similarly to Sranan ''kaseri'' 'ritually clean' from ''

'').

References

External links

Laws of Judaism concerning food, including laws concerning terefah
{{Kashrut Kashrut Negative Mitzvoth Hebrew words and phrases in the Hebrew Bible Hebrew words and phrases in Jewish law