Vayikra 5:2 · unit 1 · Tosefta Shevuos 1:4

Complete Passuk

אוֹ נֶפֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר תִּגַּע בְּכָל־דָּבָר טָמֵא אוֹ בְנִבְלַת חַיָּה טְמֵאָה אוֹ בְּנִבְלַת בְּהֵמָה טְמֵאָה אוֹ בְּנִבְלַת שֶׁרֶץ טָמֵא וְנֶעְלַם מִמֶּנּוּ וְהוּא טָמֵא וְאָשֵׁם׃

Chabad / Judaica Press

Source Citation

Torah Temimah cites Tosefta Shevuos 1:4.

Sefaria — Tosefta Shevuos 1:4

Core Text — Tosefta Shevuos 1:4

אֵין לִי אֶלָּא טְמֵאָה, טְהוֹרָה מִנַּיִן? תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר ״אוֹ בְּנִבְלַת שֶׁרֶץ טָמֵא״ — כְּשֵׁם שֶׁלֹּא חָלַקְתָּ בַּשֶּׁרֶץ בֵּין טָמֵא לְטָהוֹר, כָּךְ בְּהֵמָה וְחַיָּה לֹא תַּחֲלֹק.

I have only the unclean — from where the clean? Scripture says “or the carcass of an unclean creeping thing” — just as you did not distinguish among creeping things between unclean and clean, so too for animal and wild beast do not distinguish.

The Tosefta extends the verse’s tumah structure to the neveilah of a pure animal by analogy to the sheretz, where no distinction is drawn between pure and impure species.

What Is Learned: Contact with the neveilah of a pure animal (when it dies) is brought under the same oleh ve-yored framework as the impure species named in the verse. The verse’s language about the sheretz supplies the model for non-distinction.