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Chullin 64b

חולין ס״ד ע״ב

Learn Chullin 64b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Eggs and baby birds: what is forbidden by the Torah and what only by the רבנן, eggs with blood spots, and the source for the איסור of a non-kosher bird's egg.

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a question from before. A פסוק seemed to forbid chicks whose eyes have not opened, and the גמרא answers that this איסור is only מדרבנן, with the פסוק used as an אסמכתא. Next comes a ברייתא about eggs: boiled eggs, unfertilized eggs, and an egg with a drop of blood. רבי ירמיה and דוסתאי limit the blood-spot leniency: blood on the white is removed and the rest is eaten, but blood on the yolk forbids the whole egg because the decay has spread. רב גביהה reports that אביי fixed a version of this teaching that had it backwards. Then חזקיה derives from the words בת היענה that a non-kosher bird's egg is forbidden מן התורה. The גמרא asks whether בת היענה is simply the bird's name and tests this against פסוקים in איכה, מיכה and ישעיהו. It ends up admitting that both יענה and בת יענה are names of the bird. The amud closes as the גמרא begins a new defense of חזקיה, based on the scribe writing the name as two words, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

לְרַבּוֹת אֶפְרוֹחִים שֶׁלֹּא נִפְתְּחוּ עֵינֵיהֶם!

To include chicks whose eyes have not opened!

מִדְּרַבָּנַן,

It is by rabbinic law,

וּקְרָא אַסְמַכְתָּא בְּעָלְמָא.

and the verse is merely a support.

תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן:

The Sages taught:

The steps (18)

  1. ChallengeA verse seems to forbid chicks whose eyes are still closed
  2. ResolutionThe prohibition is only rabbinic and the verse is just a support
  3. StatementA teaching about boiled eggs, unfertilized eggs, and a blood spot
  4. Statementרבי ירמיה limits the rule to blood on the knot
  5. Proofדוסתאי's teaching: blood on the white is fine, blood on the yolk forbids the egg
  6. QuestionWhy does blood on the yolk forbid the whole egg?
  7. ResponseBecause the decay has spread through the whole egg
  8. StatementA version taught the opposite, and אביי fixed it
  9. Statementחזקיה's source: a non-kosher bird's egg is forbidden by the Torah
  10. ChallengeMaybe 'בת יענה' is simply the bird's name
  11. ResolutionA verse in איכה shows the bird is called יענה, not בת יענה
  12. ChallengeA verse in מיכה seems to call the bird itself 'בנות יענה'
  13. ResolutionIt means like the ostrich that mourns for its young
  14. ChallengeA verse in ישעיהו says 'בנות יענה' will dwell there
  15. ResolutionIt means like the ostrich that dwells with its young
  16. ChallengeAn egg cannot sing praise to ה׳
  17. ConclusionBoth names are used for the bird
  18. ResolutionThe scribe writes 'בת יענה' as two words