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Chullin 61b

חולין ס״א ע״ב

Learn Chullin 61b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Which birds are kosher: why the listed non-kosher birds (עורב, פרס and עזניה, נשר) do not forbid every bird with fewer signs, and why the Torah mentions doves

Overview

The גמרא tests whether we can build a general rule from the birds the Torah lists as non-kosher. It first suggests learning from the עורב, which has two signs yet is forbidden, that every two-sign bird is forbidden. It rejects this: then the Torah would not need to list the פרס and עזניה, which have only one sign. Next it suggests learning from the פרס and עזניה that every one-sign bird is forbidden. It rejects this too: then the Torah would not need the נשר, which has no signs. So the נשר teaches that a bird with even one sign is kosher, unless the Torah names it. The גמרא asks whether the פרס and עזניה are 'two verses that come as one,' which cannot teach a rule. It answers with traditions about how the four signs are spread among the 24 non-kosher birds: one of the pair has a sign that no other listed bird has, so a rule really could have been learned. Finally the גמרא asks why the Torah mentions doves. רב עוקבא בר חמא says they are mentioned for קרבנות, and רב נחמן begins a second answer that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

וְלֵילַף מֵעוֹרֵב:

But let us learn from the crow:

מָה הָתָם תְּרֵי לָא,

Just as there, with two signs, it is not kosher,

אַף כֹּל תְּרֵי לָא?

so too any bird with two signs is not kosher?

אִם כֵּן, פֶּרֶס וְעׇזְנִיָּה

If so, the peres and the ozniyya

The steps (11)

  1. ChallengeWhy not learn a general rule from the crow?
  2. ResolutionThen why list the פרס and עזניה?
  3. ChallengeWhy not learn a rule from the פרס and עזניה?
  4. ResolutionThe נשר shows only a bird with no signs is automatically forbidden
  5. ChallengeWhy would we ever learn from two verses that come as one?
  6. ResolutionEach bird has a different sign, so they are not a matching pair
  7. ChallengeSurely the one sign of the פרס and עזניה shows up in other birds too
  8. ResolutionA tradition about the signs shows the נשר is still needed
  9. ChallengeThen why does the Torah mention the doves?
  10. ResolutionThe doves are mentioned for קרבנות
  11. Resolutionרב נחמן begins a different answer