Gemara Clarity

Chullin 42b

חולין מ״ב ע״ב

Learn Chullin 42b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Testing and defending the claim of the תנא דבי רבי ישמעאל that there are exactly eighteen טרפות

Overview

Our משנה lists many טרפות and then gives a general rule (זה הכלל) that covers anything it left out. The תנא דבי רבי ישמעאל, however, says there are exactly eighteen טרפות and no more. The גמרא tests this closed count against cases that seem to be missing from it. Some cases drop out because this תנא follows a sage who calls the animal kosher: a leg cut off above the joint (like רבי שמעון בן אלעזר) and an animal whose hide was stripped off (like רבי מאיר). Other cases fit by reshuffling the list: the המסס and בית הכוסות count as one to make room for a missing vertebra, and the gallbladder comes out so the shriveled lung can go in. Then the גמרא raises seven later rulings of אמוראים and answers that all eight perforated organs count as one, which frees seven places. The amud ends by attacking that answer. The two severed cases should then also count as one, and the perforated spleen is itself a perforation, so the list falls two short of eighteen.

Opening lines

בִּשְׁלָמָא לְתַנָּא דִּידַן,

Granted, according to the tanna of our mishna,

דִּתְנָא, תְּנָא וּדְשַׁיַּיר

what he taught, he taught, and what he left out

אָתְיָא בְּזֶה הַכְּלָל,

comes under 'This is the principle,'

אֶלָּא לְתַנָּא דְּבֵי רַבִּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל

but according to the tanna of the school of Rabbi Yishmael

The steps (15)

  1. ChallengeHow can there be only eighteen טרפות if a cut-off leg is also a טרפה?
  2. ResolutionHe holds like רבי שמעון בן אלעזר that the animal can survive
  3. ChallengeSurvival does not matter for this תנא, since he holds a טרפה can live
  4. ResolutionHe holds like רבי שמעון בן אלעזר only that the animal is kosher
  5. ChallengeWhat about a missing vertebra in the spine?
  6. ResolutionCount the המסס and בית הכוסות as one, making room for the spine
  7. ChallengeWhat about an animal whose hide was removed?
  8. ResolutionThis list follows רבי מאיר, who says it is kosher
  9. ChallengeWhat about a shriveled lung?
  10. ResolutionRemove the gallbladder and put the shriveled lung in its place
  11. ChallengeSeven more טרפות from the אמוראים: the first three
  12. ChallengeSeven more טרפות: the four from שמואל
  13. ResolutionAll eight perforation cases count as one
  14. ChallengeThen the two severed cases should also count as one
  15. ChallengeThe perforated spleen is itself a perforation