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Machloket · Bekhorot 23 · בכורות כ״ג
When Does Rotten Meat Stop Imparting Ritual Impurity?
The Gemara debates whether decomposing carcass meat loses its defilement once humans reject it, or only after even a dog refuses it.
The Threshold of Putrefaction
The Torah dictates that a carcass of an animal transmits ritual defilement. However, once meat decomposes completely, it ceases to be halachically significant food and its defilement departs.
The Gemara investigates the exact point of decay at which this transition occurs. The Amoraim argue whether all categories of impurity follow the same standard of decay.
Bar Padda Versus Rabbi Yoḥanan
Bar Padda draws a clear boundary between different types of defilement. He rules that severe impurity (טומאה חמורה) ceases once meat is unfit for a resident alien (גר תושב, a non-Jew permitted to eat unslaughtered meat).
In contrast, light impurity (טומאה קלה) lingers longer, ending only when spoiled beyond canine consumption. Rabbi Yoḥanan rejects any distinction, ruling that both severe and light impurities persist until unfit for a dog.
בַּר פְּדָא אָמַר: טוּמְאָה חֲמוּרָה עַד לְגֵר, וְטוּמְאָה קַלָּה עַד לְכֶלֶב. וְרַבִּי יוֹחָנָן אָמַר: אַחַת זוֹ וְאַחַת זוֹ עַד לְכֶלֶב.Bar Padda says: Severe impurity imparts impurity until it is no longer fit for a resident alien, but light impurity until it is no longer fit for a dog. And Rabbi Yoḥanan says: Both this one and that one until unfit for a dog. (Bekhorot 23b:2)
Scriptural Roots of the Argument
Bar Padda grounds his position in Deuteronomy 14:21: 'You shall not eat of any carcass; you may give it to the stranger within your gates'. From this verse he derives that only substance fit to be eaten by a stranger carries the legal status of an animal carcass.
Rabbi Yoḥanan reinterprets the verse: it excludes meat that was decayed from the outset, such as flesh rotting while the beast was still alive. Once valid carcass status initially took hold, it endures until unfit for a dog.
הָרְאוּיָה לַגֵּר קְרוּיָה ״נְבֵילָה״, וְשֶׁאֵינָהּ רְאוּיָה לַגֵּר אֵינָהּ קְרוּיָה ״נְבֵילָה״.That which is fit for a resident alien is called a carcass, and that which is not fit for a resident alien is not called a carcass. (Bekhorot 23b:2)
Defining Severe and Light Impurity
The Rishonim disagree sharply over how to define the two categories in Bar Padda's teaching. Rashi explains that severe impurity refers to carrying (משא), while light impurity is defilement through touch (מגע).
Tosafot, Rashba, and Rabbeinu Gershom counter Rashi's reading. They argue that all carcass defilement—whether contracted by carrying or touching—is severe impurity.
For these authorities, light impurity refers strictly to food defilement (טומאת אוכלין), where edible foodstuffs contract and pass on standard degrees of impurity.
Applying the Principle to Miscarriages
This machloket resolves an objection raised against Rabbi Yirmeya from a discharge of congealed blood. Rabbi Ḥiyya teaches that such a discharged mass imparts neither touch nor carriage impurity.
According to Bar Padda, the ruling is clear: the discharge is putrid and unfit for a stranger, freeing it from severe impurity.
According to Rabbi Yoḥanan, because dogs would still eat the mass, the exemption cannot rest on decay alone. Instead, it is pure because the fetal blood was nullified in the majority of the mother's birth blood.
While Bar Padda releases severe carcass impurity once human beings reject it, Rabbi Yoḥanan maintains that defilement persists as long as the meat remains edible to dogs.