Komentarz do Kapłańska 11:39

בנבלתה [HE THAT TOUCHETH] THE CARRION THEREOF [SHALL BE UNCLEAN] — but not if he touches the bones and sinews, nor the horns and claws, and not the hide after these have been removed from the body (Sifra, Shemini, Section 10 5; Chullin 117b).

'וכי ימות מן הבהמה אשר היא לכם לאכלה וגו, however if it did not die until after it had been slaughtered ritually, even if subsequently found as having been unfit to eat due to a terminal disease, contact with it does not confer any ritual impurity at all on the person having been in contact with it.

וכי ימות מן הבהמה, “if any of the animals (which are pure) has died by natural causes, etc.” The Torah should have used the expression תמות, (feminine form of “it will die”) seeing that the noun בהמה is feminine. Had the Torah written the word תמות we would have concluded that such a carcass can confer ritual impurity only when it is whole, but that sections of it could not confer impurity. By using the masculine ימות we infer that any part of it חלק (masc.) is capable of conferring ritual impurity through contact with it. The expression מן הבהמה must be understood as “part of the beast,”‘ not as “any of certain categories called בהמה.” The expression matches the words וכי יפול מנבלתם “if part of their carcass falls, etc.,” in verse 37. Seeing that the word נבלה which is the subject in that verse is feminine, the Torah could also have been expected to write וכי תפול instead of וכי יפול. Seeing it did not, we can surmise that the same considerations which prompted the use of the masculine form in verse 39 also prompted the use of the masculine form in verse 37.
As to the words: “he who touches their carcass” (verse 36), or the words: “who eats of them” in verse 40, our sages explained that such parts of the carcass as the hooves, antlers, horns, skin and hair are exempt from the rule that they confer impurity provided these parts are no longer attached to the flesh when one touches them or eats them. (Compare Maimonides Hilchot Ma-achalot Assurot 4,18). Proof of this is that we find that the Israelites took as part of their booty in war numerous vessels made of leather after the campaign against Midian (Numbers 31,20) and the Torah okayed their use by the Israelites after they had been duly immersed in a ritual bath. If these items had possessed the same degree of impurity as the carcasses they had been removed from, no amount of immersion in a ritual bath or other process of purification would have sufficed to permit their use by the Israelites. We also find that Solomon made for himself a throne of ivory (tusk of the elephant, same category as horns) as reported in Kings I 10,18.

Not bones. Meaning: This is when they are separated from where they are attached. But when they are attached to the flesh, one who touches them is like he is touching the flesh — either because they serve as a ‘handle’ or as a ‘protective agent.’

וכי ימות מן הבהמה, “if any beast (of the ones you may eat) dies;” if it dies by a cause other than ritual slaughter; once it has been slaughtered ritually, even if found diseased afterwards and therefore unfit to be eaten, it will not become ritually contaminated. (Sifra)

Our sages (Chulin 74) derive from the expression מן הבהמה that on occasion an animal confers ritual impurity whereas on another occasion the same animal does not. This refers to the fact that ritual slaughter of a species of animal fit to be eaten by Jews is protected against its carcass conferring ritual impurity as long as the immediate cause of death was ritual slaughter.

אשר היא, this word is spelled with the letter י in the Torah.

That is that He commanded us that when any person touches a carcass, he becomes impure. And this commandment includes the impurity of a carcass and all of its laws. And I will now present a preface that is appropriate that we remember anytime we mention the various types of impurity. And it is that that which we count each type as a positive commandment - its content is not that we are obligated to become impure with a certain impurity, and also not that we are prohibited from becoming impure from it and that it be a negative commandment. Rather the Torah said that anyone who touches this type [of object] becomes impure; or that this thing renders one who touches it impure according to this description. And that is the positive commandment - meaning that this law with which we have been commanded is a positive commandment. And that is His saying, whoever touches this according to this description has become impure; and whoever according to that description does not become impure. But the matter itself is optional - if he wants, he becomes impure; if not, he doesn't become impure. And the language of the Sifra (Sifra, Shemini, Chapter 4:10) is, "'And their carcass do not touch' (Leviticus 11:8) - I might think that if one touched a carcass, he receives lashes. [Hence] we learn to say, 'and to these you shall become impure' (Leviticus 11:24). I might [then] think that if one saw a carcass, he should go and become impure from it. [Hence] we learn to say, 'and their carcass do not touch.' How is this? You shall say, it is an option." And this commandment that has been told to us about this law - that one who touches this become impure; and that he will be impure, such that he will be obligated about everything that impure people are obligated, [such as] to exit from the camp of the Divine Presence, not to eat consecrated food, not to touch it and other things besides this - this is the command. That means to say, one becoming impure from this type when he touches it or was proximate to [it] in such a manner. And remember this matter with every one of the types of impurity. (See Parashat Shemini; Mishneh Torah, Other Sources of Defilement 1.)