Chullin 72a

חולין ע״ב ע״א

Learn Chullin 72a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Why a midwife touching a dead fetus in the womb is טמא, the source of the מחלוקת between רבי ישמעאל and רבי עקיבא, and a new משנה on a fetus's foreleg that came out

Overview

The גמרא asks why a midwife who touches a dead fetus inside the womb becomes טמא, when hidden things like two swallowed rings do not spread טומאה. רבה says a fetus is different because it will come out, but רבא rejects this, since a ring also comes out. רבא then brings רב יוסף's teaching in the name of שמואל: this טומאה is only a rabbinic decree, even according to רבי ישמעאל, who holds a fetus in the womb is טהור by Torah law. רב הושעיא explains the decree: maybe the baby put its head out and went back in without the midwife noticing. The mother is not included because she feels her own body, and she does not warn the midwife because she is too distracted by the pain of labor. The גמרא then shows where רבי ישמעאל and רבי עקיבא get their views, and how each one uses the פסוקים ״על פני השדה״ and ״במת בנפש״ for different lessons, including the rules about a רביעית of blood. Finally, a new משנה begins about a fetus whose foreleg came out before its mother was slaughtered. רבי מאיר and the חכמים argue about the status of the flesh.

Opening lines

The steps (23)

1. ChallengeThe fetus and midwife look like the two-rings case
2. Resolutionרבה: a fetus is different because it will come out
3. Rejectionרבא: a ring also comes out in the end
4. Resolutionרבא points to the scholars of פומבדיתא, meaning רב יוסף
5. Resolutionשמואל: this impurity is only rabbinic
6. QuestionWhy did שמואל say it both ways?
7. ResponseEven רבי ישמעאל agrees there is a rabbinic decree
8. QuestionWhy did the Sages make this decree?
9. Responseרב הושעיא: maybe the baby put its head out
10. ChallengeWhy not make the mother impure too?
11. ResolutionThe mother feels her own body
12. ChallengeThen the mother should tell the midwife
13. ResolutionThe mother is too distracted
14. QuestionWhat exactly do the two תנאים hold?
15. ResponseThe ברייתא on ״על פני השדה״
16. Responseרבי ישמעאל knows גולל ודופק from tradition
17. QuestionWhere does רבי עקיבא learn that the fetus is impure?
18. Responseרבי אושעיא: ״במת בנפש״ means a dead fetus inside a living person
19. Responseרבי ישמעאל uses that פסוק for a רביעית of blood
20. Responseרבי עקיבא has a broader rule about blood from two corpses
21. ProofThe verse: two people, one measure
22. Statementמשנה: the fetus's foreleg cut off before or after slaughter
23. StatementThe חכמים: contact with a slaughtered טרפה