• A person whose neck bone is broken with most of its flesh is מטמא through אהל

Shmuel said: נשברה מפרקת ורוב בשר עמה מטמא באהל – if a person’s neck bone is broken together with most of the flesh on it, it conveys tumah through אהל like a dead body, even if he is still moving. Although one might ask that עלי הכהן died with just his neck bone breaking (without the flesh alongside it), זקנה שאני – old age is different, as the passuk implies that Eli’s age was a factor in his death. Rebbe Yochanan said: קרעו כדג מטמא באהל – if one tore [a person] across his entire length like one tears open a fish, he is metamei through אהל like a dead body. Rebbe Shmuel bar Yitzchak qualifies this: ומגבו – but only where he was cut along his back.

• שרצים whose heads were cut off are tamei even while they are moving

Shmuel said: עשאה גיסטרא – if he split [an animal] in two, it is immediately a נבלה and metamei. Rebbe Elazar says that if an animal’s thigh is removed and the cavity is exposed (because the surrounding flesh is also missing), it is a נבלה. A Mishnah states: הותזו ראשיהן – if the heads [of שרצים] were cut off, אף על פי שמפרכסין טמאים – even though they are jerking, they are tamei (and considered dead), כזנב הלטאה שמפרכסת – because they are like a lizard’s tail, which jerks after being cut off from the lizard’s body. Amoraim define what the Mishnah means that their heads were “cut off”: Reish Lakish says it means הותזו ממש – they were literally cut off, i.e., the סימנים were completely cut (although it is still attached with skin). Rebbe Assi says in Rebbe Manni’s name: כהבדלת עולת העוף – it was cut like the separation between the head and the body of the bird olah. This refers to Rebbe Elazar ben Rebbe Shimon’s opinion, that only most of the סימנים are cut in the melikah of an עולת העוף, and Rebbe Assi is disagreeing with Reish Lakish.

• Machlokes if the two סימנים of an עולת העוף are mostly or completely cut during melikah

A Baraisa is presented in which the Rabbonon and Rebbe Elazar bar Rebbe Shimon argue if the two סימנים are mostly or completely cut during melikah of an עולת העוף. The passuk says regarding an עולת העוף: ואת השני יעשה עולה כמשפט – and the second [bird] he shall prepare according to the law. The Tanna Kamma explains the reference: כמשפט חטאת בהמה – like the law of an animal chatas (not the חטאת העוף mentioned immediately prior). This teaches that an עולת העוף is similarly only brought from חולין funds, only offered by day, and with one’s right hand. Still, we do not derive from חטאת בהמה that cutting through most of the two סימנים suffices, because "ומלק...והקטיר" compares melikah with הקטרה – burning, teaching that just as the head and body are burned separately, the melikah must also completely sever the two סימנים. Rebbe Yishmael says "כמשפט" means like the law of חטאת העוף, teaching that melikah of an עולת העוף must likewise be performed from the nape of the neck. Rebbe Elazar bar Rebbe Shimon also says "כמשפט" refers to חטאת העוף, but says it teaches not to completely sever the second סימן of the עולת העוף.

Siman – Car (Bostonians pronounce car as “ca”). The Kohanim in the emergency room who went running when a race car driver was brought in with his neck and flesh cut which would make them טמא באוהל, became טמא anyway when they bumped straight into a sheretz whose head was severed yet was still moving which was discarded by the surgeons who were practicing their skills by only severing most, but not all, of the simanim of an עולת העוף .