Zevachim 69: Slaughter vs. Pinching

A brief note about today's daf:

• the rabbis continue to discuss the sacrifice of birds
• they consider the consequences when a bird is slaughtered in different places, in different ways
• sometimes the rabbis consider birds to be carcasses, which are forbidden to eat
• A new Mishna is introduced:
• the rabbis disagree about a bird pinched properly but found to be a treifa (forbidden for another reason, for example, it is injured and will die within a year)
• Rabbi Meir says an olive bulk of the meat does not create ritual impurity
• Rabbi Yehuda says its status is like any other carcass of an unslaughtered kosher bird, and it imparts ritual impurity when eaten
• Rabbi Meir says that his own opinion is inferred a fortiori - the slaughter of an animal purifies it from its impurity/ its status as a carcass
• If we agree that slaughter renders a treifa bird pure, we can also assume that pinching also renders a bird offering fit regarding consumption - and thus it should be purified as well
• Rabbi Yosei says that we cannot extend this derivation to pinching
• This is because of a principle: a halacha derived by an a fortiori inference is no more stringent than the source from which it is derived