Gemara Clarity

Chullin 133a

חולין קל״ג ע״א

Learn Chullin 133a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Who receives the priestly gifts and how a כהן should take them, teaching an unworthy student, and marking a shared animal

Overview

The amud opens at the end of a ברייתא listing the services every כהן must accept. From its wording, the גמרא infers that a כהן loses his gifts only by rejecting these services, not by lacking expertise, and uses this to challenge רב חסדא. רב rules that a כהן who cannot remove the forbidden veins from the jaw should not get it, but the גמרא rejects this, since the blood drains out however the jaw is prepared. רבא then reports רב יוסף's question about a כהן who grabs his gifts, and he answers from ״וְנָתַן״ that the gifts must be given, not taken. אביי describes how he grew step by step from grabbing, to asking, to only accepting, to refusing, except on ערב יום כיפור. רב יוסף allows a כהן to give his expected gifts to a poor תלמיד חכם. A story about רבא, רב ספרא and a dream shows the limits of that rule. The גמרא then explains the plain meaning of the dream פסוק as teaching an unworthy student, which רב condemns harshly. Finally, the גמרא returns to the משנה's rule about marking an animal shared with a כהן or a גוי, and raises a contradiction from a ברייתא; the answer continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

וְקַבָּלוֹת, הַזָּאוֹת,

and receivings of the blood, sprinklings,

וְהַשְׁקָאַת סוֹטָה,

and giving the sotah to drink,

וַעֲרִיפַת עֶגְלָה עֲרוּפָה,

and breaking the neck of the heifer,

וְטׇהֳרַת מְצוֹרָע,

and the purification of a leper,

The steps (26)

  1. ProofThe list of Temple services every כהן must accept
  2. ChallengeRejecting the services loses the gifts, but lacking expertise does not
  3. StatementDo not give the jaw to a כהן who cannot remove its veins
  4. RejectionThe blood drains out anyway, so there is no worry
  5. Questionרב יוסף's test: is grabbing the gifts good or bad?
  6. ResponseThe gifts must be given, not taken
  7. Statementאביי stops grabbing and starts asking
  8. Statementאביי stops asking and only accepts
  9. Statementאביי stops taking at all, except on ערב יום כיפור
  10. ChallengeWhy not show he is a כהן through ברכת כהנים?
  11. Resolutionאביי's schedule did not allow it
  12. StatementA כהן may give his future gifts to a poor Torah scholar
  13. Statementרבא asks the attendant to give him the gifts
  14. Statementרבא eats, רב ספרא holds back, and רב ספרא has a dream
  15. Questionרב ספרא asks רב יוסף if he did wrong
  16. Responseרב יוסף explains two limits on his rule
  17. QuestionThen why was I shown that verse?
  18. ResponseThe verse was aimed at רבא
  19. ChallengeWhy not show it to רבא himself?
  20. Resolutionרבא was under a rebuke
  21. QuestionWhat does the verse simply mean?
  22. ResponseIt is about teaching an unworthy student
  23. ProofTeaching an unworthy student leads to גיהנם
  24. StatementLike throwing a stone to מרקוליס
  25. StatementQuoting the משנה: a partner must mark, even with a גוי?
  26. ChallengeA ברייתא says there is no need to mark with a גוי