Chullin 48b

חולין מ״ח ע״ב

Learn Chullin 48b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Growths on the lung, and needles found in the lung and liver

Overview

This amud first finishes two short stories: great sages saw lungs with large growths in the market, some soft and fluid-filled and some hard like rocks, and said nothing to the butchers. Such growths do not make the animal טרפה. Then the גמרא brings a מחלוקת about a needle found in a lung: one group of אמוראים says כשר and another says טרפה. The גמרא explains that the argument is not about whether inside damage counts as חסרון, since everyone agrees it does not. It is about whether the needle came down the airway (כשר) or pierced its way in from the digestive tract (טרפה). In a real case of a needle found in a cut-up lung, רבי אמי finally rules טרפה, because without the whole lung no one can check for a hole. The גמרא settles questions from רב נחמן's rulings, and רב אשי teaches that one טרפה cannot be compared to another. Next comes a needle in the liver: רב אשי says that for a thick needle, we check which way its eye faces to know how it got there, while a thin needle is always assumed to have pierced its way. The amud ends as the גמרא begins comparing this to another found needle, and the comparison continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (22)

1. ProofA sage sees lungs covered with jug-like cysts and says nothing
2. Proofרבי אמי and רבי אסי see lungs with hard growths and say nothing
3. StatementDispute over a needle found inside a lung
4. QuestionSuggestion: they argue whether inner damage counts as missing
5. RejectionRejection: everyone agrees inner damage does not count
6. ResolutionThe real argument: how did the needle get into the lung?
7. StatementA needle is found in a cut piece of lung
8. ChallengeChallenge from the משנה: inside damage counts
9. ChallengeSent to רבי יצחק נפחא, and the same challenge
10. StatementBack to רבי אמי, who rules טרפה
11. ChallengeBut the רבנן permit it
12. ResolutionThey saw the whole lung, and we cannot
13. ChallengeBut a pierced airway tube is טרפה
14. Resolutionרב נחמן meant one tube pierced into another
15. ChallengeWhy doesn't one airway tube protect the other?
16. ResolutionYou cannot compare one טרפה to another
17. StatementA needle in the main airway of the lung
18. StatementA needle in the liver: מר בריה דרב יוסף wants to forbid
19. ChallengeWould you forbid it if the needle were in plain flesh?
20. Statementרב אשי's test: which way does the needle's eye face?
21. StatementThe test only works for a thick needle
22. ChallengeHow is this different from another found needle?