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Chullin 16b

חולין ט״ז ע״ב

Learn Chullin 16b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Attached blades, a fixed knife and pressing, reed-stalk rules, and the משנה's 'הכל שוחטין' and 'לעולם שוחטין'

Overview

The גמרא asks whether a blade that was detached and later attached counts as attached for שחיטה. Several proofs from a ברייתא are tried and all are pushed aside: the flint is in a cave wall that was always attached, and a knife stuck in a wall never becomes part of the wall. שמואל then limits the knife-in-the-wall ruling to a knife above the neck, because of the worry of pressing (דרסה). רב זביד and רב פפא each defend שמואל against a ברייתא that seems to allow both positions. Next comes a list of five things you may not do with a reed stalk, and the גמרא narrows or explains several of them. Finally the גמרא explains the משנה's words 'הכל שוחטין' (every animal, even a bird, needs שחיטה) and 'לעולם שוחטין'. רבה ties the second phrase to רבי ישמעאל's view about בשר תאוה staying permitted even after the exile. רב יוסף begins objecting to this, and his objection continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

תָּלוּשׁ וּלְבַסּוֹף חִבְּרוֹ

Detached and in the end he attached it

לְעִנְיַן שְׁחִיטָה מַאי?

with regard to slaughter, what is the law?

תָּא שְׁמַע:

Come and hear:

הָיָה צוֹר יוֹצֵא מִן הַכּוֹתֶל,

If there was a flint sticking out of the wall,

The steps (25)

  1. QuestionIs a detached-then-attached blade treated as attached for slaughter?
  2. ProofFirst proof: a flint sticking out of a wall
  3. RejectionRejection: the wall is a cave wall
  4. ProofThe wording supports the cave-wall reading
  5. ProofSecond proof: a knife stuck into a wall
  6. RejectionRejection: a knife is never made part of the wall
  7. ProofAnother proof from the opening line of the ברייתא
  8. RejectionThe next line explains what 'attached' means: a knife
  9. Statementשמואל: a knife in the wall works only when it is above the neck
  10. ChallengeThe ברייתא allows both positions
  11. Resolutionרב זביד: the ברייתא splits its cases
  12. Resolutionרב פפא: the ברייתא is about a light bird
  13. StatementFive things you may not do with a reed stalk
  14. ChallengeA ברייתא allows slaughtering with a reed stalk
  15. ResolutionThe ברייתא means a special marsh reed
  16. StatementSages who did cut certain foods with a reed
  17. ChallengeWhy list wiping, if another rule already forbids it?
  18. ResolutionThe list means wiping a wound
  19. StatementEvery animal, even a bird, needs slaughter
  20. QuestionWho holds 'one may always slaughter'?
  21. Responseרבה: it is רבי ישמעאל, who says the verse permits ordinary meat
  22. StatementOrdinary meat: forbidden at first, permitted in the Land
  23. ResponseEven after exile, slaughtering ordinary meat stays permitted
  24. Challengeרב יוסף: The משנה Should Have Said 'Slaughter and Eat'
  25. Challengeרב יוסף's Second Objection: The Reason Was Closeness to the משכן