Chullin 8a

חולין ח׳ ע״א

Learn Chullin 8a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Chullin 8a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

A white-hot knife and skewer (שחיטה and the שחין/מכוה question for צרעת), and using a knife of עבודה זרה

Overview

שמואל rules that שחיטה with a white-hot knife is valid, because the sharp edge cuts before the heat can burn, and the cut opens so the hot sides of the blade don't touch. The גמרא then asks whether a wound from a white-hot skewer counts as a שחין (boil) or a מכוה (burn) for the laws of צרעת. This matters because a שחין and a מכוה do not join together to make the size of a נגע. ברייתות define each type and teach that when the two overlap, the later one cancels the earlier one. The real case is a person who already had half a גריס of שחין when the skewer added another half, so everything depends on whether the blow or the heat acts last. Two proofs are tried, from שמואל's knife and from a ברייתא about a skewer. Both are pushed off, because a sharp blade or a stab is different from a blunt blow. Finally, רבה בר אבוה rules that a knife of עבודה זרה may be used for שחיטה, which ruins the animal's value, but not for cutting meat, which improves it. רבא shows the test can flip in special cases. The גמרא then asks why the forbidden fat on the knife isn't reason enough, and the answer comes on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (18)

1. StatementSlaughtering with a white-hot knife is valid
2. ChallengeBut the hot sides of the blade touch the neck
3. ResolutionThe cut opens up right away
4. QuestionA white-hot skewer wound: boil or burn?
5. QuestionWhat difference does it make?
6. ResponseBoils and burns do not combine
7. StatementWhat counts as a boil
8. StatementWhat counts as a burn
9. StatementWhen a boil and a burn overlap, the later one cancels the earlier
10. ResponseThe exact case: half a boil already there, then the skewer adds another half
11. QuestionWhich acts first, the blow or the heat?
12. ProofTrying to prove from a white-hot knife that the blow comes first
13. RejectionA sharp blade is different from a blunt blow
14. ProofA proof from a skewer that makes a burn mark
15. RejectionThe skewer stabbed, like a sharp blade
16. StatementA knife of idol worship: slaughter yes, cutting meat no
17. StatementSometimes it works the other way
18. ChallengeWhy not forbid it because of forbidden fat?