Halakhah sur Ézéchiel 4:14

The Gemara, Hullin 37b, cites Ezekiel 4:14; "… I have not eaten of neveilah or treifah from my youth until now," and offers a remarkable interpretation. Neveilah and treifah are forbidden to all Jews. It would have been unthinkable for Ezekiel to have violated those prohibitions. Hence, his almost boastful comment would have been entirely superfluous. Accordingly, the Gemara understands Ezekiel to have exclaimed, "I have not eaten of an animal with regard to which a scholar ruled," i.e., Ezekiel, as an act of piety, refused to eat meat whose kashrut was the subject of any doubt even if it was ruled to be kosher by a competent scholar.