Jewish Ritual. Also trephah, tripha(h, (tryfer). [repr. Heb. Rabbin. ṭ’rēphāh, lit. ‘that which is torn,’ flesh of an animal torn (or pounced upon fatally) by a wild beast (Lev. xvii. 15); f. ṭāraf to tear, rend. In later use the word passed into the extended sense now used.] Flesh meat forbidden to be eaten by Jews because the animal has not been slaughtered in the manner prescribed by the Law. Also trefa meat. Opposed to KOSHER.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, II. 120. Not being particular about eating ‘tryfer,’—that is, meat which has been killed by a Christian.
1853. A. K. Gardner, in N. Y. Jrnl. Med., X. 51. The butcher places a leaden tag upon the animal inscribed with the Chaldaic word tripha, signifying improper or unfit.
1868. Standard, 15 Dec., 6. The defendant … pleaded … that meat killed and sold by a person not so licensed, was not ‘kosher’ meat, but ‘trefa,’ and … unlawful to be eaten by Jews.
1892. Zangwill, Childr. Ghetto, I. 173. We decided that the fowl was tripha and could not be eaten.
1906. Jewish Encycl., XII. 109. s.v. Ṭerefah, ‘Ṭerefah’ in a broader sense includes also a regularly but unskilfully killed animal, in contradistinction to Nebelah.
1911. Daily News, 11 Feb., 4. The Shechita Board notifies the Jewish public that the meat killed and sold under the supervision of the second rabbi is trifa—prohibited to be eaten by Jews.
