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Chullin 41a

חולין מ״א ע״א

Learn Chullin 41a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Can a person forbid what is not his through עבודה זרה (גוי versus Jew versus משומד), and a new משנה on where one may not slaughter

Overview

Earlier on the daf, רב הונא ruled that someone who slaughters another person's animal for עבודה זרה makes it forbidden. רב נחמן, רב עמרם and רב יצחק disagreed, because אין אדם אוסר דבר שאינו שלו: a person cannot forbid something that is not his. The amud first explains that a person's own חטאת counts as his, because he gets atonement through it. It then answers two challenges from משניות by saying the person causing the harm was a partner. Next the גמרא shows that the same argument appears among the תנאים, in a ברייתא about a גוי pouring a Jew's wine as a libation. רב נחמן and his colleagues then give a new approach that fits even the stricter תנא: only a גוי forbids another's property, because a Jew who does this just wants to upset the owner. The two משניות are now explained as speaking about a ישראל משומד. רב אשי adds that a Jew who accepts a warning and goes ahead counts as the greatest משומד. Finally, a new משנה begins, listing places where one may not let the blood of a שחיטה flow, such as seas, rivers, vessels and a hole in the ground. Its reason for the marketplace rule continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

אֲבָל זֶבַח לָא.

But an animal offering, no.

וְאִי אֵין אָדָם אוֹסֵר

And if a person does not render forbidden

דָּבָר שֶׁאֵינוֹ שֶׁלּוֹ,

an item that is not his,

מַאי אִרְיָא חַטַּאת הָעוֹף?

why specifically a bird sin offering?

The steps (17)

  1. StatementBut not an animal offering
  2. ChallengeWhy only a bird sin offering?
  3. ResolutionAcquired for atonement counts as his
  4. ChallengeTwo people holding one knife
  5. ResolutionHe was a partner
  6. ChallengeCausing damage by making things forbidden
  7. ResolutionHere too, a partner
  8. StatementThe same argument among the תנאים
  9. RejectionA Jew only means to upset the owner
  10. ChallengeChallenge from two people holding one knife
  11. ResolutionThe משנה is about a Jewish transgressor
  12. ChallengeChallenge from paying for ruined food or wine
  13. ResolutionThis too is about a Jewish transgressor
  14. QuestionWhat if he was warned and accepted the warning?
  15. ResponseNo greater transgressor than that
  16. StatementSlaughtering into seas, rivers, and vessels
  17. StatementSlaughtering into a small hole in the ground