[Avodah] diff between small nick in koneh vs veshet

[Hankman]

RAR wrote:

I do think that a similar size tear would be much more dangerous in
the oesophagus. Infection would be much less of an issue with a nick
in the trachea which is much 'cleaner' than the oesophagus.

CM responds:

I hear what you are saying. the risk of infection is higher in the oesophagus and the risk of enlarging the tear is also greater in the oesophagus due to the peristalsis of the oesophagus. But you avoided responding to how serious you think a "fine needle" hole (from an injection) in the oesophagus would be (I suspect medically not too serious) - yet halacha would call that a treifa.

RAR wrote:

Another thing to consider is that with the oesophagus being placed
behind the trachea any injury to the oesophagus is likely to be
accompanied by injury to other structures, in particular blood
vessels. The trachea is much more superficial and it is easier to
imagine an injury to the trachea which does little damage to other
structures.

CM responds:

Your response is of course very logical if the injury is caused by some external trauma. However in the context of hilchos treifa it is probably irrelevant as no other damage is required, just the nick in the oesophagus is sufficient to render the animala treifa. Furthermore the common case of the hole in the oesophagus more often than not, comes from internal injury such as swallowing a thorn, needle, nail or the like which makes the hole in the oesophagus without any damage to the nearby organs or tissues.

Kol Tuv

Chaim Manaster
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