Chullin 98a

חולין צ״ח ע״א

Learn Chullin 98a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

How much kosher food is needed to cancel forbidden food: eggs, fat in a pot, and the rule of sixty or one hundred.

Overview

The amud opens by finishing an answer: only an egg with an אפרוח (chick) inside gives flavor to food, not an egg from a טמאה bird. A ברייתא seems to say otherwise, and the גמרא reads it so that the 'טמאה' egg is really a kosher bird's egg with a chick inside. Next come two stories about forbidden fat falling into a pot of meat. They teach that you cannot count the pot's absorbed kosher meat, and that a half-olive still needs the full sixty, since חצי שיעור אסור מן התורה. The גמרא then asks how many kosher eggs cancel one forbidden egg. רב הונא makes clear that sixty-one are needed besides the forbidden egg. Stories about the sons of רבי show rulings below sixty, and רבי חייא's 'Is there even thirty?' is explained as only an exaggeration. Finally, בר קפרא's rule is quoted as 'all Torah prohibitions are cancelled in sixty' and also as 'in one hundred'. The גמרא says both numbers come from the נזיר's cooked foreleg, and the ברייתא explaining this continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (24)

1. ResolutionOnly an egg with a chick gives flavor
2. ChallengeA ברייתא shows non-kosher eggs do give flavor
3. ResolutionIn the ברייתא, 'non-kosher' means an egg with a chick
4. ChallengeThe סיפא shows the רישא is about an egg without a chick
5. ResolutionThe סיפא explains the רישא
6. ProofProof that the first part of the ברייתא is about an egg with a chick
7. RejectionThe proof fails: the second part could be explaining the first part
8. StatementForbidden fat in a pot of meat: רב אסי wants to count what the pot absorbed
9. ChallengeThe pot absorbs the forbidden fat too
10. StatementA half-olive of fat: מר בר רב אשי wants to use only thirty half-olives
11. Rejectionרב אשי: do not take rabbinic measures lightly
12. RejectionSecond reason: a half-measure is forbidden מן התורה
13. StatementOne forbidden egg is canceled at sixty-one
14. Challengeרבי זירא says the wording sets a new permitted limit
15. QuestionDoes sixty-one include the forbidden egg?
16. Responseרב הונא: sixty-one besides the forbidden egg
17. Statementרבן גמליאל permits with forty-five
18. Statementרבי שמעון permits with forty-three
19. Statementרבי חייא asks: Is there even thirty?
20. ChallengeDoes that mean thirty would be enough?
21. ResolutionIt was only an exaggeration
22. StatementAll Torah prohibitions are cancelled in sixty
23. ChallengeA student reports the same chain said one hundred
24. ProofBoth numbers come from the cooked foreleg