For the source text click/tap here: Chullin 52
To download, click/tap here: PDF
Our Daf discusses the status of an animal whose ribs are either uprooted or broken. Rav issued a ruling that if a rib became uprooted together with the vertebra to which it is attached, the animal is a tereifah.
The other rib which had been attached to that vertebra on the other side of the animal remained in its place. Rav Kahana and Rav Assi asked Rav what the halacha would be in a case where both ribs connected to a vertebra from both sides of the animal became uprooted, and the vertebra itself remained intact. Rav responded that this animal, although still “alive” is a neveilah.
The animal is, in effect, split into two and is legally a neveilah which can even convey tum’ah. The Gemara notes that Rav had just taught that if a rib and its vertebra are uprooted the animal is a tereifah.
This should necessarily mean that the rib on the other side is no longer attached to its vertebra either, as the vertebra has been uprooted with the first rib. Yet, now Rav is saying that such an animal is a neveilah.