Terefah


Terefah refers to either:
The biblical prohibition of eating terefah stems from the verse:
According to the Talmud, there were originally only eight types of terefah, however, the author of the Mishnah added eighteen items to the list. Eventually, Maimonides added even more to finish the list of terefah conditions at 70. Rabbi Joseph Caro organized all of these symptoms in the Shulchan Aruch by categorizing them according to parts of the animal, their minute malady, and any disease, fracture, or abnormality they may possess.
This prohibition should not be confused with a separate category of prohibition, called nevelah, of eating of any kosher species of mammal or bird which died by any means other that shechita. 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.

The first eight types

The Talmud enumerates eight types of terefah that would make an animal unfit for ritual sacrifice according to Mosaic law:
The word terefah, via Yiddish trejf or treif and its verb form tre'f'n, gave rise to the concept of :pl:wikt:trefny|trefny in Polish.