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Chullin 55b

חולין נ״ה ע״ב

Learn Chullin 55b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

טרפות of the kidney, spleen, lung and jaw, the shriveled lung (חרותה), and the stripped animal (גלודה), including which remaining hide saves it.

Overview

The גמרא first identifies the 'crevice' of the kidney and reports that the experts of ארץ ישראל rule like רכיש בר פפא on a diseased kidney, but not like רב עוירא on a perforated spleen, except for a hole through the spleen's thick end. A proposed rule that the kidney is always more lenient than the lung is knocked down, and רב אשי teaches that one טרפה cannot be compared to another. Next come limits on clear fluid and a set size for a shrunken kidney. The גמרא then works through the משנה's kosher cases: a missing lower jaw, a removed womb, and a lung that shriveled by the hand of heaven, with a soaking test to tell what caused the shriveling. On the גלודה, the animal whose hide was stripped, the גמרא shows that רבי מאיר took back his lenient view. A סלע of remaining hide saves the animal, with opinions on where it must be, and one question ends in תיקו. Finally, רב and רבי יוחנן argue whether hoof-hide counts, and a ברייתא about hides 'like flesh' begins to back רבי יוחנן. That ברייתא continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

לִמְקוֹם חָרִיץ.

...to the location of the crevice.

וְהֵיכָא מְקוֹם חָרִיץ?

And where is the location of the crevice?

לְחִיוָּרָא דְּתוּתֵי מׇתְנֵי.

To the white matter that is under the loins.

אָמַר רַב נְחוּנְיָא:

Rav Neḥunya said:

The steps (35)

  1. QuestionWhere is the crevice of the kidney?
  2. ResponseThe crevice is the white area under the loins
  3. ConclusionThe experts of the West rule like רכיש בר פפא, not like רב עוירא
  4. StatementThe ruling against רב עוירא covers only the narrow end of the spleen
  5. StatementThe West's rule: what is unfit in the lung is kosher in the kidney
  6. Challengeרבי תנחומא challenges the rule with pus and clear fluid
  7. Conclusionרב אשי: you cannot compare one טרפה to another
  8. StatementWhen clear fluid is really kosher
  9. StatementHow small a shrunken kidney can get
  10. StatementA missing lower jaw is kosher only if the animal can still be fed
  11. StatementThree names for the womb
  12. StatementWhat a shriveled lung is, and when it is kosher
  13. QuestionIs רבי שמעון בן אלעזר being lenient or strict?
  14. ResponseAnother version of the ברייתא shows he is strict
  15. Questionרבה בר בר חנה finds rams with shriveled lungs
  16. ResponseThe water test in summer and in winter
  17. StatementThe argument over an animal whose hide was removed
  18. ChallengeDid רבי מאיר ever argue at all?
  19. Resolution'Did not argue' means he did not hold on to his view
  20. QuestionWhere must the סלע-sized piece of hide be?
  21. Responseשמואל: along the whole spine
  22. QuestionA thin strip, or a full סלע's width?
  23. Responseרבי נהוראי: a סלע wide along the whole spine
  24. ResponseA second answer: the tips of the joints
  25. ResponseA third answer: the area of the navel
  26. QuestionWhat if only one key spot is missing hide?
  27. ConclusionThe question stays unresolved
  28. Statementרב: any hide saves except the hide of the hooves
  29. Statementרבי יוחנן: even hoof-hide saves
  30. Questionרבי אסי asks רבי יוחנן about hoof-hide
  31. Responseרבי יוחנן answers: it saves
  32. ChallengeChallenge: you taught that hoof-hide is like flesh
  33. Resolutionרבי יוחנן: that משנה is a single sage's view
  34. ProofA ברייתא: the hide beneath the tail is treated like flesh for an עולה
  35. StatementThe second opinion groups hoof-hide with other hides