Chullin 63b

חולין ס״ג ע״ב

Learn Chullin 63b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Chullin 63b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The count of non-kosher birds, bird traditions (מסורת), and buying eggs from גויים

Overview

The amud opens by supporting רב's count of 24 non-kosher birds. Since דברים comes to add to ויקרא, a bird name that shows up in only one list must be another name for a bird in the other list. That proves ראה = דאה, and אביי shows that איה = דיה. A ברייתא of רבי explains why the Torah still wrote both איה and דיה. רבי אבהו disagrees: he says the ראה is the איה, which joins all four names into one bird and leaves only 23. The גמרא then teaches that kosher birds are countless, so the Torah lists the non-kosher birds but the kosher animals, and it learns from this to teach students concisely. Next comes the rule that a kosher bird may be eaten based on a מסורת from a hunter who knows the birds and their names. The amud ends with buying eggs from גויים, and it asks why we don't just check the eggs' signs; that answer continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (34)

1. ProofProof that ראה and דאה are the same bird
2. ChallengeThe count still comes to twenty-five
3. Resolutionאביי: איה and דיה are also one bird
4. ProofProof from where 'after its kind' is written
5. QuestionWhy write both names?
6. Responseרבי: so no one can claim a loophole
7. ChallengeA ברייתא implies the bird list adds a bird
8. ResolutionAnimals: to add; birds: to explain
9. Statementרבי אבהו says the ראה is the איה
10. ProofProof that the איה has sharp eyes
11. ChallengeThen is the דאה a different bird?
12. Conclusionדאה, ראה and איה are one bird
13. ChallengeThen is the דיה a different bird?
14. ConclusionAll four names are one bird
15. StatementA hundred non-kosher birds of the איה family
16. StatementCounting fish, grasshoppers and birds
17. ChallengeBut the Torah lists only twenty-four birds
18. ResolutionThe countless birds are the kosher ones
19. StatementThe Torah lists the smaller group: kosher animals, non-kosher birds
20. QuestionWhat is this teaching us?
21. ResponseTeach your student the short way
22. StatementA kosher bird may be eaten based on a tradition
23. StatementThe teacher must know the birds and their names
24. QuestionWhich teacher: the Torah scholar or the hunter?
25. ProofProof from רבי יוחנן's words: it means the hunter
26. ConclusionConclusion: the teacher is the hunter
27. StatementWe may buy eggs from non-Jews anywhere
28. ChallengeMaybe the eggs come from a non-kosher bird
29. ResolutionThe non-Jew names a specific kosher bird
30. ChallengeWhy must he name the species?
31. ResolutionA vague claim lets him wriggle out
32. ChallengeWhy not just check the eggs' signs?
33. ChallengeFish signs are already in the תורה
34. ResolutionFixing the wording of the ברייתא