Chullin 111a — the Talmud in English

He said to him

Abaye to Rav Safra: From there there is no proof. For

perhaps there

it is speaking

of a forbidden liver, such as the liver of a tereifa, and the prohibition is not because of the blood emitted from the liver, but

for example, the liver of an animal with a disqualifying defect—and the prohibition is not due to the blood emitted from the liver, but [precise page-location marker]

because of the fatty substance

of the forbidden liver, which forbids the piece cooking with it because the piece absorbed fatty substance from the liver forbidden as a tereifa. And so said the tanna of the Mishna in Trumot: The forbidden liver forbids its fellow piece that was cooked with it, because of the fatty substance of the prohibition that its fellow absorbed from it. But a permitted liver that was cooked with a piece of tereifa meat does not become forbidden, because the liver is occupied with emitting blood, and as long as it is occupied with emitting, it does not absorb.

But I

because of the blood

that comes out of a kosher liver was uncertain:

what? Is the blood of the liver, which is fit to eat when it is within the liver, because the liver is principally blood, and despite this the Torah permitted it—is it also permitted when it separates from the liver and imparts flavor to another piece of meat? Or perhaps, from the moment that it separates from the liver, it is forbidden with the prohibition of blood and forbids the piece into which it was absorbed.

Is the blood of the liver, which is fit for consumption while it is inside the liver, because the liver consists primarily of blood and nevertheless the Torah permitted it, also permitted when it leaves the liver and imparts flavor to another piece of meat? Or perhaps, once it leaves the liver, it is forbidden as blood and prohibits the piece into which it was absorbed?

When

Rav Safra

returned and went up, he found Rav Zerika,

and asked him what is the status of the blood of the liver after it separated and imparted flavor to another piece.

Rav Zerika said to him

:

This too you need not ask! For I and Yinai son of Rabbi Ami happened to come to the house of Judah son of Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi, and they brought before us a windpipe with all that was attached to it,

the windpipe of the animal together with everything attached to it, namely—the heart, the liver, and the lungs. And all of them were cooked together—

and we ate

them.

And it is proven that although the heart and the lungs were cooked together with the liver, they did not become forbidden because of the blood emitted from the liver. And it is proven from this that the blood emitted from the liver is not forbidden as blood.

Rav Ashi challenged this, and some say Rav Shmuel of Zerukinia: But perhaps the mouth of the windpipe—

was outside the pot,

and the blood did not come out into the pot; rather, the blood of the liver poured, through the liver’s windpipe, into the large windpipe of the lung, and from there it poured outward. Therefore it was permitted for them to eat the heart and the lungs even though they had been cooked together with the liver?!

Alternatively,

it is possible that

it had initially been completely scalded

the liver alone, and once it was scalded, the blood congealed within it and no longer came out [and the blood embedded within the liver is permitted to eat, since it was not emitted]!

As with that which Rav Huna did: they scalded it,

his household, the liver—

in vinegar.

In vinegar, and once it was scalded in vinegar it no longer emitted blood; then they cooked it with other meat.

And Rav Nahman—they scalded it,

his household, the liver—

in boiling water.

And Rav Pappa was considering before Rava, to say—

a liver that they congealed in vinegar: that

vinegar

in which the liver congealed

is forbidden,

because some of the blood was emitted and mingled with the vinegar.

Rava said to him

:

If the vinegar,

the vinegar in which they scalded the liver,

is forbidden—

it

the liver itself

is also forbidden!

For

just as it emits

the liver blood into the vinegar when they scald it,

it then absorbs

the emitted blood from the vinegar, since it has congealed and is no longer occupied with emitting, so it returns and absorbs. Thus the liver itself ought to become forbidden. Rather, from here there is proof that when they scald it, the blood congeals within it, and it does not emit blood outward at all.

Rav Shava happened to come

[he happened to come]

to the house of Rav Nahman; they brought him boiled liver

[boiled liver, that is, cooked. And see Tosafot, who say that the liver had not been scalded in boiling water],

and he did not eat

Rav Shava from the cooked liver.

They said to

Rav Nahman:

A son of the study hall,

a student,

who is your guest,

who was hosted by you in your house,

does not eat

from the liver dish that was served to him. Rav Nahman asked them

and who is he

that student? And they answered him:

Rav bar Shava!

Rav Nahman said to them: Make Shava drink,

make him drink

“Shava”

[he called him by his father’s name] against his will!

And we say:

As the dispute of the tannaim!

For tannaim disagreed concerning the law of liver that was boiled.

For it was taught:

Rabbi Eliezer says: The liver forbids

what is cooked with it in the pot,

but it does not become forbidden

through its cooking,

because it emits

its blood during the cooking

and does not absorb

from it, because it is occupied with emitting.

Rabbi Yishmael, son of Rabbi Yohanan ben Beroka, says:

if it was

seasoned,

the seasoning softens it, and therefore it

forbids

what is cooked with it

and

also

becomes forbidden

itself, because on account of its being softened by the seasoning it absorbs blood even while it is occupied with emitting.

And if it was

boiled

very greatly, it

forbids and

also

becomes forbidden

itself, because after it finishes emitting the blood, it returns and absorbs, since it was boiled very greatly, beyond the time during which it emits.

Rabba bar Rav Huna happened to come to the house of Rabba bar Rav Nahman. They brought before him

on Shabbat

three seahs of fine bread

[three seahs of fine bread, and they spread oil and honey over the surface of the bread].

He said to them: Did you know that I was coming,

how did you know that I intended to come to you, that you took the trouble before Shabbat to prepare such bread in my honor?

They said to him:

We prepared the bread in honor of Shabbat, for it is no less important in our eyes than an honored guest like you, because

who is preferable to us over it

than Shabbat,

as it is written

concerning it, “

And you shall call Shabbat a delight.”

Meanwhile, he found

Rabba bar Rav Huna

that liver in which there was an absorbed bronchial tube

in it

of blood.

He said to them: Why did you do this

when only the blood of the liver absorbed within the liver itself is permitted to eat [when it did not separate outward], but the blood of the bronchial tubes contained within it [and see Tosafot, “and its cuts”] was not permitted?!

They said to him: But how should we act?

He said to them: Cut

the liver

crosswise and lengthwise, and the cut

of the liver, when you come to roast it in the oven, shall be

downward,

so that its cut shall face downward, so that the blood contained within it will flow out and come out below.