Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Ezekiel 44:31

בעליית חנניה בן חזקיה – that the Sages requested to hide the [biblical] Book of Ezekiel since his words seem to contradict the words of the Torah, such as {Ezekiel 44:31): “Priests shall not eat anything, whether bird or animal, that died or was torn by beasts,” priests are those who should not eat it, but Israelites [can] eat it (which obviously, are also forbidden to all Israelites), and similarly (Ezekiel 45:20): “You shall do the same on the seventh day of the month [to purge the Temple from uncleanness caused by unwitting or ignorant persons],” for where is this sacrifice hinted at in the Torah? Hananiah ben Chizkiah hid himself in the attic and sat there and explained the Book of Ezekiel.

נבלה וטרפה, “that which dies of itself, or has been torn;” the Torah refers to the carcass of a pure bird, (one that could be eaten if it had been ritually slaughtered) and of flesh from sacrificial meat of mammals which could have been eaten, had it not been removed, but which because it had been removed from the sacred domain within which it could have been eaten had now become treif; or similarly since such a bird had at one point been fit to eat, it is compared to something that had died of its own accord. The priests are not to eat of it as it would confer ritual impurity on them. (Compare Ezekiel 44,31)

Certain brainless people have misinterpreted the verse in Ezekiel that reads “The kohanim shall not eat of anything that dies of itself, or is torn, whether it be bird or beast” [Ezekiel 44:31]. They claim that the prohibition applies only to food killed by birds or by beasts. This is nonsense. The Torah explicitly says, he must not eat an animal that died by itself, or an animal that was torn — i.e., any such animal. This verse teaches us that if he does eat such food, he may not officiate.