Chullin 116b

חולין קט״ז ע״ב

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Topic

Curdling cheese with an animal's stomach: when the milk inside is forbidden, and the final הלכה that it is mere secretion; then the start of a new משנה on חלב and דם.

Overview

The amud opens at the end of a משנה about cheese curdled with an animal's stomach. The milk in an animal's stomach takes the status of the mother it nursed from, because it is only stored inside. רב הונא explains the משנה's 'gentile's stomach' as a goat bought from a gentile. After a challenge from eggs, the worry becomes that it nursed from a common טמאה animal, a worry that applies only to gentiles, who do not separate their animals. שמואל instead reads the line as one case: a gentile's slaughter is נבלה. His opinion is reconciled with his cheese statement by a retraction. The משנה's two clauses, a נבלה's stomach forbidden and a טרפה's permitted, are explained the same way, after רבא rejects רב חסדא's answer. Two reports of רבי יוחנן on rennet are brought, and the הלכה permits the milk inside any of these stomachs, because it is mere secretion. Only the stomach wall of a נבלה is forbidden. A new משנה then begins comparing the strictness of חלב and דם.

Opening lines

The steps (23)

1. StatementCurdling with kosher stomach skin: forbidden if it gives flavor
2. StatementMilk in the stomach follows the animal it nursed from
3. ChallengeIsn't a gentile's animal's stomach already נבלה?
4. Resolutionרב הונא: a young goat bought from a gentile
5. ChallengeWe don't worry about טרפה with gentiles' eggs
6. ResolutionThe worry is a טמאה animal, not a טרפה
7. QuestionWhy worry about טמאה but not טרפה?
8. Responseטרפה is rare; טמאה is common
9. ChallengeIf it is common, why not worry about our own animals too?
10. ResolutionJews keep their animals apart from non-kosher ones; gentiles do not
11. Statementשמואל reads the משנה as one case: a gentile's slaughter is נבלה
12. Challengeשמואל's statement about gentile cheese seems to contradict him
13. ResolutionOne ruling is from before a change of opinion, the other from after
14. ChallengeThe משנה permits a טרפה's stomach but forbids a נבלה's
15. Resolutionרב חסדא: the נבלה rule is only about how it looks
16. Challengeרבא: a טרפה should be stricter, not more lenient
17. ResolutionBefore and after the retraction; a משנה stays in place
18. StatementFirst report: a carcass's stomach is fine, but not one from a non-Jew's slaughter
19. ChallengeThis ruling only fits רבי אליעזר's view
20. ResponseYes, of course it follows רבי אליעזר
21. StatementSecond report: both stomachs are permitted
22. ConclusionThe final ruling: stomach skin is forbidden, but the milk inside is permitted
23. StatementNew משנה: Fat and Blood Are Each Stricter in Some Ways