Bechoros 7b

בכורות ז׳ ע״ב

Bekhorot 7b

Learn Bechoros 7b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Things that come out of non-kosher animals (urine, honey, secretions), and a fish swallowed by another fish

Overview

The amud opens as רב ששת finishes explaining why the urine of a non-kosher animal is forbidden. In a second version, the question was only about a חמור's urine, and רב ששת answers from the משנה's rule 'היוצא מן הטמא טמא.' The גמרא challenges him from bee honey, which is permitted even though bees are טמא. It answers that רב ששת follows רבי יעקב, who learns from a פסוק that bee honey is a special Torah exception. That exception does not cover the honey of גזין and wasps. The גמרא then shows that honey which people do not normally eat counts as food only if someone intends to eat it. Next come rulings on other things that come out of animals: lumps discharged by a fallow deer, and the membrane over a newborn donkey's face. רב חסדא and רב הונא debate a ברייתא about the membrane over a human newborn's face. A new משנה then rules that a fish swallowed by another fish keeps its own status. The גמרא asks how we know the inner fish was swallowed and not born, and ends with a ברייתא about which creatures nurse their young.

Opening lines

The steps (32)

1. ResponseUrine of a non-kosher animal is a non-kosher type
2. QuestionSecond version: the question was only about donkey urine
3. Responseרב ששת answers from the משנה's rule
4. ChallengeChallenge from bee honey
5. Resolutionרב ששת follows רבי יעקב: the Torah specially permits honey
6. Proofרבי יעקב's source: 'Yet these you may eat'
7. ChallengeThat prohibition is already written explicitly
8. ResolutionThe verse permits what a non-kosher flying creature emits: bee honey
9. StatementHoney of גזין and wasps is not included
10. QuestionWhy include bees and exclude גזין and wasps?
11. ResponseBee honey has no qualifying name; the others do
12. QuestionWhose view permits the honey of גזין and wasps?
13. ResponseIt is not like רבי יעקב
14. Statement'Pure' shows this honey needs intent to count as food
15. ProofA ברייתא: bee honey is food even without intent
16. StatementThe Sages assumed the lumps from a fallow deer were forbidden eggs
17. Rejectionרב ספרא: the lumps are a hart's semen
18. Statementרב הונא: the membrane over a newborn donkey's face is permitted
19. Proofרב חסדא brings a ברייתא that seems to support רב הונא
20. RejectionThe ברייתא may mean that only one of them is alive
21. ProofA second ברייתא says explicitly that both are alive or both are dead
22. ConclusionIf that ברייתא exists, it is accepted
23. Statementמשנה: a fish swallowed by another fish keeps its own status
24. StatementThe משנה applies only when we saw the fish being swallowed
25. QuestionWhat is the source for this worry?
26. ResponseNon-kosher fish give birth, kosher fish lay eggs
27. ChallengeEven if we saw the swallowing, maybe this is a newborn
28. Resolutionרב ששת: It was found in the digestive tract
29. Resolutionרב פפא: It was found in the gullet
30. Resolutionרב נחמן: It was found whole and full-sized
31. Resolutionרב אשי: Most fish give birth to their own kind
32. StatementThe full ברייתא: who nurses and who gathers food