This week we will learn about the rules of tumat ochlin (food impurity), which requires a minimum egg-sized amount but can be supplemented by the animal’s skin, solidified meat juice, bones, sinews, horns, or hooves, contrasted with tumat neveilah, which requires a kezayit (olive volume) of actual meat and cannot be supplemented. The Gemara also teaches about the concepts of yad (handle) and shomer (protection), establishing that a handle attached to food transmits tumah but does not supplement the food’s volume, while a shomer that protects the food both transmits tumah and supplements its volume.
