Chullin 15b

חולין ט״ו ע״ב

Learn Chullin 15b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Chullin 15b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Meat slaughtered or food cooked for a sick person on שבת; which tools are valid for שחיטה, including blades attached to the ground

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a discussion about eating, on שבת, meat from an animal slaughtered that day. The meat can be permitted if a dangerously sick person was in the house before שבת, because then the live animal was never מוקצה. רבי יהודה forbids it when the sick person recovered. רב rules that meat slaughtered for a sick person is forbidden to a healthy person, but cooked food is permitted, because raw food was fit to chew and a live animal was not. רב פפא shows that the real question is whether the food was usable when שבת began. רב דימי gives the final הלכה, which is the opposite: the meat is permitted raw to a healthy person, and cooked food is forbidden in case the cook adds extra. Then a new משנה teaches which tools may be used for שחיטה. Any tool that cuts cleanly is fine, but tools that strangle are not. The גמרא works through a debate between רבי and רבי חייא about blades attached to the ground. It concludes that a blade attached from the start is invalid, while a loose blade later fixed in place is valid, and it proves this from a ברייתא.

Opening lines

The steps (23)

1. ResolutionThere was a sick person in the house before שבת
2. ChallengeThen why does רבי יהודה forbid it?
3. ResolutionThe sick person recovered
4. Statementרב's rule: slaughtered for the sick is forbidden to the healthy, cooked is permitted
5. QuestionWhy the difference?
6. ResponseRaw food could be chewed; a live animal could not
7. StatementSometimes the slaughtered meat is permitted and the cooked food is forbidden
8. ConclusionFinal הלכה: meat slaughtered for a sick person is permitted raw to a healthy person
9. ConclusionFinal הלכה: food cooked for a sick person is forbidden to a healthy person
10. StatementNew משנה: slaughtering with a hand sickle, flint or reed is valid
11. StatementAnyone, any time, any cutting tool, except tools that strangle
12. StatementThe משנה's wording means 'only after the fact'
13. ChallengeFlint and reed are allowed from the start in a ברייתא
14. ResolutionDetached versus attached to the ground
15. ProofSupport from רב כהנא's report of a debate
16. ChallengeA ברייתא that fits neither רבי nor רבי חייא
17. Resolutionרבי חייא allows it even from the start
18. ChallengeNow the משנה fits no one
19. ResolutionThe משנה follows רבי
20. Challengeרבי contradicts himself
21. ResolutionAttached from the start vs. reattached
22. QuestionWhere do we see this difference?
23. ProofA ברייתא shows the difference