2,322. A Detached Organ Inside an Animal

Maachalos Assuros 5:9

If a person sticks his hand inside an animal and severs the spleen, a kidney, etc., but leaves it inside the animal, after which he slaughters it, the pieces he severed are prohibited as the limbs of a live animal even though they remained inside. If he cut a piece from a fetus in the womb and didn’t remove it, after which he slaughtered the mother, the pieces of the fetus are permitted because they didn’t emerge. If a fetus sticks its front or hind leg out, that limb is prohibited forever, regardless of whether one cuts it off before or after slaughtering the mother. Even if the fetus withdraws the limb into the womb, after which the mother is slaughtered or the fetus is born and lives for years, that limb remains prohibited as a treifa. This is because any meat that emerges from its designated place is prohibited as flesh from a living animal as per Exodus 22:30, “Meat torn in the field…,” from which we understand that when meat comes out to a place that’s like a field for it, it becomes a treifa, as was explained in chapter 4.

Maachalos Assuros 5:10

If a fetus sticks out part of a limb while part remains inside, even if only the lesser part of it, the part that emerged is prohibited, while that which stayed inside remains permitted. If he cuts off the part of the limb that emerged after it was drawn back inside the animal, after which the animal was slaughtered, then only that part of the limb is prohibited and the rest of it is permitted. If the limb didn’t return to the womb, rather it stayed outside and he severed it there, the place where he severed it, which is the spot on the limb exposed to the air when it was severed, is prohibited. He must later cut off this piece, too, regardless of whether he severed the partial limb before or after the mother was slaughtered.