Chullin 112b — the Talmud in English

Rav Aḥa, son of Rav Ika, said to Rav Ashi: And did Shmuel say this?

But Shmuel said: A loaf upon which one cut meat is forbidden to eat!?

Rav Ashi said to him:

That there is different:

in the case of a loaf upon which one cut meat with a knife,

because through the pressure of the knife it emits

the meat the blood that remained absorbed in it.

Rav Naḥman said: Fish and birds that were salted together—

are forbidden

the fish, because the blood that emerges from the birds is absorbed in the fish; and all the more so if he salted the birds with another species of meat.

And we raised a difficulty about it:

What are the circumstances? If

he salted them together

in a vessel that is not perforated,

and all the other things become forbidden because they absorb the blood that emerges from the birds, if so,

even birds and birds should also be forbidden.

Because blood that emerged from this bird is absorbed in the other bird.

If it is in a perforated vessel, even fish and birds should also be permitted,

for the blood flows downward.

And we answer:

It is always in a perforated vessel.

And

are distinguished as follows:

fish—

because their membranes are loose,

for the membrane [the skin that surrounds their bodies] is soft, and therefore

they hasten and emit.

And

if

birds are constricted,

they do not hasten to emit their blood, and therefore the fish become forbidden, because

after the fish have ceased

emitting, there are still

emissions of birds, and afterward,

since the fish are no longer occupied with emitting their blood,

they absorb from it,

from the blood of the birds. But the meat of an animal that is salted with birds does not become forbidden, because it is occupied with emitting throughout the entire time that the birds emit; and whenever it emits, it does not absorb.

Rav Mari bar Raḥel had meat from a validly slaughtered animal salted together with the meat of a tereifa.

And although he salted it in the manner of salting, in a perforated vessel, he was uncertain whether here too we say that as long as it emits, it does not absorb, and we are unconcerned that the blood of the tereifa flows onto the validly slaughtered meat, or perhaps this is different.

He came before Rava.

He said to him:

From the verse that is written, “

the impure”—

they expound

to forbid their brine, their gravy, and their sediment. And this means that indeed the blood of the tereifa is not absorbed into the validly slaughtered meat, since the validly slaughtered meat is occupied, like the tereifa, with emitting the blood and does not absorb while it is occupied with emitting; but in addition to the blood, brine also emerges from the tereifa, and it is more readily absorbed than the blood, and it is absorbed into the permitted meat even while it is occupied with emitting the blood.

That is, although the blood of the unfit meat is not absorbed by the properly slaughtered meat, since the properly slaughtered meat is occupied, like the unfit meat, with expelling blood and does not absorb while it is occupied with expelling it, in addition to blood, fluid also emerges from the unfit meat. This fluid is more readily absorbed than blood, and it is absorbed by the fit meat even while it is occupied with expelling its blood.