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Chullin 40a

חולין מ׳ ע״א

Learn Chullin 40a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Slaughtering for nature or angels (פסולה versus זבחי מתים), and whether cutting one סימן before an idol forbids another person's animal

Overview

The amud opens with the end of the משנה: if two people slaughter together and one of them has an improper intent, the שחיטה is invalid. The גמרא then reads the משנה closely. Because it calls slaughter for mountains and similar things only 'invalid', the animal seems not to be זבחי מתים (an idolatrous offering, forbidden even for benefit). A ברייתא seems to say the opposite. אביי answers that slaughtering for the mountain itself is only invalid, while slaughtering for the angel of the mountain makes it זבחי מתים. The ברייתא's own wording supports him, since it lists mountains together with מיכאל the angel. Next, רב הונא rules that cutting even one סימן of another person's animal before an idol forbids it. He follows רבי יוחנן's rule that bowing to someone else's animal does not forbid it, but doing an act on it does. רב נחמן then challenges רב הונא from a ברייתא that makes a person bring three חטאות for slaughtering a קרבן on שבת, outside the Temple, for an idol. The challenge continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

שְׁנַיִם אוֹחֲזִין בְּסַכִּין וְשׁוֹחֲטִין,

Two people holding a knife and slaughtering,

אֶחָד לְשֵׁם אֶחָד מִכׇּל אֵלּוּ

one for the sake of one of all these,

וְאֶחָד לְשֵׁם דָּבָר כָּשֵׁר –

and one for the sake of a proper thing:

שְׁחִיטָתוֹ פְּסוּלָה.

his slaughter is invalid.

The steps (8)

  1. StatementTwo people slaughtering together with different intentions
  2. StatementReading the משנה closely: invalid, but not an idolatrous offering
  3. ChallengeA ברייתא says these are offerings to the dead
  4. Resolutionאביי: the mountain itself versus the angel of the mountain
  5. ProofThe ברייתא's own wording supports אביי
  6. Statementרב הונא: cutting one סימן of another person's animal before an idol
  7. ProofThe source for רב הונא: bowing does not forbid, but an action does
  8. Challengeרב נחמן challenges רב הונא from the case of three sin offerings