Chullin 124b

חולין קכ״ד ע״ב

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Topic

Half-כזית pieces of נבלה on a hide or a wood chip: when touching or carrying them makes a person טמא

Overview

The amud opens by finishing an earlier discussion: רבי יוחנן's statement is about a thin layer of flesh (מרודד) stuck to a נבלה hide. Next the גמרא turns to the משנה's case of two half-כזית pieces on a hide, where רבי ישמעאל says the hide makes a person טמא by carrying but not by touching. בר פדא says this applies only to touching the outside, because touching the two pieces one after the other from the inside adds up. רבי יוחנן says separate touches never add up, and he links רבי ישמעאל to רבי דוסא בן הרכינס, who says separate coverings of an אהל do not add up. רב עוקבא בר חמא challenges בר פדא from a ברייתא, and רבא answers that רבי עקיבא requires touching to be possible from every side. Then רב אויא סבא asks whether, for רבי ישמעאל, a sealed thigh bone makes impure by carrying, and רבה בר רב הונא dodges the question because he is tired. עולא rules that two half-pieces stuck on a wood chip do not make impure by carrying, because the כזית must be carried all at once by itself. The גמרא defends him with the thin-layer answer and shows that רבי אליעזר in a ברייתא holds his view. Finally, a new משנה begins about the thigh bone of a human corpse.

Opening lines

The steps (30)

1. ResolutionThe flesh in question is a thin layer
2. StatementQuoting the משנה: two half-olive pieces on the hide
3. Statementבר פדא: the rule applies only to touching from outside
4. Statementרבי יוחנן: separate touches never add up
5. Proofרבי יוחנן is consistent with his other teaching
6. ProofNaming the sources for רבי ישמעאל and רבי דוסא
7. ProofCovering twice is like touching twice
8. ChallengeThe strict חכמים cannot match the lenient רבי עקיבא
9. Resolutionרבי עקיבא is lenient only because of the hide
10. ProofProof from the end of the משנה: the hide cancels the pieces
11. ChallengeA ברייתא about a hide with two half-pieces of carcass
12. ChallengeBut the pieces can be touched from the inside
13. Resolutionרבא: contact must be possible from every side
14. QuestionA new question: the sealed thigh bone according to רבי ישמעאל
15. QuestionThe two possible ways to understand רבי ישמעאל
16. ResponseThe question is dodged with 'a raven is flying'
17. Questionרבא asks why his father brushed off a great scholar
18. ResponseThe father explains he was too tired for a hard question
19. StatementTwo half-olive pieces on a wood chip do not make impure by carrying
20. ProofThe source: the כזית must be carried all at once by itself
21. ChallengeChallenge from רבי ישמעאל: half-pieces on a hide do make impure by carrying
22. ResolutionThe pieces were joined by a thin strip of meat
23. ChallengeA challenge from רבי עקיבא's concession about a wood chip
24. ResolutionHere too, a thin strip joins the pieces
25. Proofעולא's idea appears in a dispute between תנאים
26. ChallengeIsn't carrying already a kind of moving?
27. Resolutionרבי אליעזר requires that the meat be carryable by itself
28. ChallengeBut why does it say 'even'?
29. ResolutionRead it as 'only if it can be carried'
30. StatementA new משנה opens with the thigh bone of a corpse