Chullin 3a

חולין ג׳ ע״א

Learn Chullin 3a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Who may slaughter: the impure slaughterer's knife, and the readings of the משנה by אביי (כותי under supervision), רבא (a Jew going in and out), and רב אשי (ישראל משומד)

Overview

This amud starts in the middle of a challenge. A person who is impure from a מת is an אב הטומאה, so he should make his metal knife impure ('חרב הרי הוא כחלל'), and the knife would then make the meat impure. The גמרא gives two answers. In the first, his impurity came from a שרץ, which cannot pass to the knife. In the second, he slaughtered with a reed stalk, which cannot become impure. Then אביי reads the משנה as being about a כותי: he may slaughter from the start only when a Jew stands over him. If he slaughtered without that, he is given a כזית of the meat to see whether he eats it. רבא challenges this and proves from a משנה about guarding wine that a Jew going in and out is enough from the start. So he gives his own reading of the משנה. Both readings run into the same question: what case do the words 'וכולן ששחטו' refer to? Both end with קשיא. Finally, רב אשי reads 'הכל שוחטין' as including a ישראל משומד who eats נבילות לתיאבון, in line with a ruling of רבא that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (19)

1. ChallengeThe knife itself becomes impure and passes it to the meat
2. ResolutionHe became impure from a creeping animal
3. ResolutionOr he slaughtered with a reed stalk
4. Statementאביי: the משנה means even a כותי may slaughter, under supervision
5. StatementThe olive-bulk test when a כותי slaughtered unsupervised
6. StatementDeaf-mute, imbecile and minor may never slaughter
7. ChallengeWhat does 'and all of them who slaughtered' refer to?
8. ChallengeIt cannot refer to the כותי either, so the question stands
9. Challengeרבא: a Jew going in and out should be enough
10. RejectionThe store משנה is only about after the fact
11. ChallengeA stronger proof that going in and out is enough from the start
12. Resolutionרבא's own reading: a כותי may slaughter when a Jew goes in and out
13. StatementIn רבא's reading too, a חרש, שוטה, and קטן are invalid even after the fact
14. ChallengeWhat does 'וכולן ששחטו' refer to? Not the חרש, שוטה, and קטן
15. ChallengeIt cannot refer to the כותי either, so רבא's reading is left difficult
16. Resolutionרב אשי reads the משנה as including a ישראל משומד
17. QuestionWhat kind of משומד?
18. ResponseOne who eats נבילות for convenience
19. ProofThis matches a ruling of רבא