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Chullin 72b

חולין ע״ב ע״ב

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Topic

Whether שחיטה keeps a fetus's protruding limb, a טרפה, and a בן שמונה pure, and how the fetus becomes impure from its cut limb despite the rule about hidden-place contact.

Overview

The משנה discusses a calf still inside its mother that pushed a limb out of the womb before the mother was slaughtered. Does that limb carry the impurity of a נבלה? The חכמים compare it to a טרפה: a טרפה is forbidden to eat, yet its שחיטה keeps it pure. רבי מאיר rejects the comparison, because the limb is not part of the mother's body. The משנה then asks how we know a טרפה is purified by שחיטה at all. It tests two distinctions between a טרפה and a non-kosher animal, and settles on this one: a טרפה belongs to a kind that can be slaughtered. From that rule it follows that a live בן שמונה is not purified by שחיטה. The גמרא then asks how, for רבי מאיר, the rest of the fetus becomes impure from its cut limb, since contact in a hidden place does not pass on impurity. It first suggests this follows רבי מאיר's own view about a split cloth, which רבי יוסי disputes. Then, through עולא and רבינא, it shows the משנה can fit רבי יוסי as well. רבינא's explanation continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

מָה מָצִינוּ בִּטְרֵפָה

Just as we have found with a tereifa

שֶׁשְּׁחִיטָתָהּ מְטַהַרְתָּהּ,

that its slaughter renders it pure,

אַף שְׁחִיטַת בְּהֵמָה

so too, the slaughter of the [mother] animal

תְּטַהֵר אֶת הָאֵבֶר.

should render the limb pure.

The steps (15)

  1. ProofThe Sages prove their view from a טרפה
  2. Rejectionרבי מאיר rejects the comparison
  3. ChallengeHow do we know a טרפה is made pure by שחיטה?
  4. RejectionA טרפה once had a time of fitness
  5. ChallengeWhat about an animal born a טרפה?
  6. RejectionA better distinction: whether the animal's kind can be slaughtered
  7. StatementA בן שמונה is not made pure by שחיטה
  8. ChallengeWhy is the fetus impure if the contact was in a hidden spot?
  9. ResolutionSuggestion: רבי מאיר follows his own view
  10. ProofSource: רבי מאיר on the split cloth
  11. Statementרבי יוסי argues on רבי מאיר
  12. Rejectionעולא limits the argument to a split cloth
  13. StatementEveryone agrees about pieces cut from a large garment
  14. ResolutionThe fetus becomes impure at the moment it separates from the limb
  15. ResolutionA fetus's limb stands to be cut, but a garment does not