Chullin 45a — the Talmud in English

Rabbi Zeira:

They are honored through me.

They are honored by my presence at their meal, and this is not a gift for me, but enjoyment for them.

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: If the windpipe was perforated

around its circumference with many thin perforations,

like a sieve—

they join

the perforations around the windpipe

to the majority.

They are assessed as though, if they were joined together, the majority of the windpipe would be severed, and then the animal is an animal with a tereifa condition.

Rav Yirmeya objected:

Why do you require the joining of thin perforations to the measure of severing the majority of the windpipe? Granted that the measure of a severed windpipe is the severing of the majority of the windpipe, but there is also the tereifa resulting from a deficiency in the windpipe, as we learned below [54a]: If the windpipe was perforated and a deficiency the measure of an issar was lacking in it, it is an animal with a tereifa condition. If so, why should we not join all the thin perforations to the measure of one issar, and the animal should be an animal with a tereifa condition even if the thin perforations do not join to the measure of a deficiency? It is like that which we learned concerning the impurity of a tent over a corpse: If a complete spinal column or skull of a corpse was present, it conveys impurity in a tent over a corpse; but if part of the spinal column or skull was lacking [according to the measure explained in Tractate Oholot, chapter 2, Mishnah 3], they do not convey impurity in a tent, but only through contact and carrying.

For we learned there: How much is the deficiency in a spinal column, such that the spinal column of the corpse no longer conveys impurity in a tent? The House of Shammai say: If two vertebrae were removed. And the House of Hillel say: Even if one vertebra was removed.

And with regard to a skull, the House of Shammai say: If the skull is deficient the width of the hole made by a drill that would be removed from a living person, causing him to die.

That is, the House of Hillel say that if the skull is deficient by a measure such that, if this deficiency had existed during life, the person would have died as a result of it, the deficient skull does not convey impurity in a tent over a corpse.

And we say in Tractate Bekhorot: What is the measure of “such that it would be removed from a living person, causing him to die”? The full measure of a physicians’ drill!

And it was taught about it there:

And with regard to a skull

in which there is one long hole,

even if it has many

small

holes,

they

join to

the measure of

“the full measure of a drill,”

and we do not say that since they are small holes, they must join to a larger measure; rather, it is sufficient for them to join to the ordinary measure of a full drill.

Apparently, since its measure

—the measure of the deficiency—

is the full measure of a drill, they join to the full measure of a drill,

they join to this measure, and there is no need for them to join to a larger measure because of their smallness. And if so,

here too, since its measure

—the measure of a perforation of the windpipe that renders the animal a tereifa—

is an issar,

if there are small, thin perforations,

they join to an issar,

and we do not require them to join to the severing of the majority of the windpipe!?

And we answer: There is a distinction between two types of perforations. There are perforations that are only in the form of a cut: that place where the perforation is located is cut, but nothing is lacking because of the perforation. And there are perforations in the form of a deficiency: since something is lacking from the place, it is perforated.

But the one who raised the objection

failed to recall that which Rabbi Helbo said in the name of Rav Hama bar Gurya in the name of Rav: Perforations in which there is a deficiency

indeed

join to an issar,

which is the measure of a deficiency in the windpipe that renders it a tereifa.

And

perforations

in which there is no deficiency,

but are only cuts,

join to the majority

of the severing of the windpipe, for the measure of cutting the windpipe in order to render it a tereifa is a cut, or cuts joined together, across the majority of its circumference.

Rabba bar bar Hana said in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: If a strip was removed from it,

from the windpipe,

a strip

that was long,

it joins

that strip

to an issar.

That is, if the strip were rounded, it would have the measure of an issar, it is a deficiency in the windpipe that renders it a tereifa.

Rabbi Yitzhak bar Naḥmani asked Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: If the windpipe was perforated

with many thin perforations

like a sieve, what is the law?

He said to him,

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi:

They have said: Perforations in which there is a deficiency join to an issar, and those in which there is no deficiency join to the majority,

as we explained it.

We examine this:

With regard to a bird—what

is the measure? In a bird, the measure of a perforation is less than the measure of an issar, and if so, what is the measure for joining the thin perforations in the windpipe of a bird?

Rabbi Yitzhak bar Naḥmani said: For me, it was explained to me by Rabbi Elazar: He folds it

—the skin containing perforations like a sieve—by cutting it from below and from the sides of the perforations,

and places it

—the skin perforated like a sieve—

over the opening of the windpipe. If it covers

the skin containing the perforations

the majority

of the cavity of

the windpipe, it is a tereifa. And if not, it is kosher.

That is, the measurement is made over the entire area of the skin containing the perforations. One does not measure only the perforations themselves; rather, one joins to the perforations all the area of the skin between the perforations, and sees whether all the perforated skin can cover the opening of the windpipe.

And the reason that the perforations are assessed together with the skin between the perforations is that the perforations are numerous and close to one another like a sieve, and all the skin is considered as though it were a perforation.

Rav Pappa said: And your sign is: a sieve.

That is, this will be a sign for you: here one does not assess by an issar, nor by joining the perforations to the majority; rather, one covers the cavity of the windpipe with the perforated skin, and assesses whether the perforated skin covers the majority of the cavity of the windpipe.

And the sign is a sieve, made from the skin of horse tails, which covers the roundness of the sieve.

The windpipe was opened

the windpipe

like a door.

That is, the part that was opened was not removed, but was torn and remained hanging from the windpipe, just as a door stands hanging on its hinge—

Rav Naḥman said:

Since there is no deficiency here, but only a tear in the wall of the windpipe, and the “door” seals the opening that was formed, therefore a larger measure is required to render it a tereifa: the opening of the tear must be large

so that an issar can enter through it widthwise.

That is, the issar must be able to enter and leave through this opening.

It was split

the windpipe along its length—

Rav said: Even if only one vertebral ring remained in it

one

that was not split in the windpipe

above, and one vertebral ring

that was not split in the windpipe

below,

while all the other rings along the entire length of the windpipe were split—it is

kosher.

And the reason for the matter is that although if the windpipe is perforated across the majority of its width it is an animal with a tereifa condition, here it is different, because the neck pulls the windpipe upward and the lung pulls it downward, and consequently, if there is a cut across its width, the windpipe is completely torn and does not heal. But if the split was along the length of the windpipe, the more the neck is pulled, the more the split closes

and heals.

And it follows that this perforation, in which the entire length of the windpipe is split [except for one ring above and one ring below], is the greatest leniency in the laws of perforations!

They stated this law, concerning a windpipe split along its length, that if one ring remains above and one below it is kosher,

before Rabbi Yoḥanan.

He said

Rabbi Yoḥanan:

What are “one ring” and “one ring” that Rav said?!

That is, why do you require complete rings to remain above and below!?

Rather, say: Even if nothing remained in it

along the length of the windpipe

except for something above and something below—it is kosher!

They stated it before Rabbi Yoḥanan in the name of Rabbi Yonatan,

who also said

so,

that if something remains above and something below, it is kosher.

He said to them

Rabbi Yoḥanan, when he heard the words of Rabbi Yonatan, who had said as he did:

The Babylonian scholars know how to explain matters like this!

That is, he praised Rabbi Yonatan, who had ascended from Babylonia to the Land of Israel, for knowing how to explain the reason for this halakha: that it is not necessary for a complete ring to remain above and below, but it is sufficient for something to remain.

Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Yosef taught before Rabbi Yoḥanan: The entire neck is kosher for slaughter,

beginning

from the large ring

above

until

the wings of the [lobes of the

lower lung.

That is, although the windpipe continues downward until the lung itself, nevertheless the place that is kosher for slaughter is only until the place where the windpipe reaches between the lobes of the lung.

Rava said:

That which Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Yosef said, that it is possible to slaughter until the wings of the lower lung, means:

lower,

when the animal is suspended, with its legs directed upward and its head downward, the small lobes projecting from the lung are located facing downward,

which is upper,

when one takes and holds the windpipe and the lung hanging from it, the small lobes are located above, over the lung.

And Rava adds:

For I say

that the place for slaughtering the windpipe is

all the way that it stretches its neck and grazes.

That is, it stretches its neck of its own will, and no farther. This place is, as stated, until the place where the windpipe reaches between the lobes, whereas the continuation of the windpipe until the lung is not a place for slaughter. Therefore I explained that when Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Yosef said “lower,” he meant the lower one that is upper, namely, the small lobes of the lung, and not the lower one in itself, namely, the lung, which is always lower, both when it is inside the animal and when one holds the windpipe from which the lung hangs, after slaughter, for it is lower.

Provided that it is not forced.

That is, if a person stretches the animal’s neck and pulls its signs away from the chest, that place formed as a result of stretching the neck is not kosher for slaughter.

Rav Ḥanina asked, and some say Rav Ḥananya:

An animal that at the time of slaughter

forced itself

to stretch its neck beyond the manner in which it ordinarily stretches its neck while grazing—

what is the law?

May one slaughter in that place that was stretched by itself? And we conclude:

It stands.

Rabbi Yoḥanan and Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish were sitting. A matter emerged from between them:

A person forced

the animal

by its signs, and slaughtered it—

it is unfit.

If the windpipe was perforated below the chest,

in a place that is not fit for slaughter,

it is judged like the lung,

for any perforation renders it forbidden, and it is not judged like the esophagus, which is not rendered forbidden until the majority of it is perforated.

And since we are dealing with the windpipe being perforated below the chest, the Gemara brings a matter concerning the chest with regard to the law of a peace-offering.

The Sages taught: What is the “chest”?

That is, what is included in the chest of a peace-offering, which is a mitzva to give to the priests?

This

lower part of the animal or livestock

that sees the ground.

That is, the lower front part of the animal, up to and including the cartilage of the heads of the ribs. But the ribs themselves are not broken [see the illustration in the book Siḥat Ḥullin].

And this part is defined, when the animal is hung for flaying, with its head facing downward:

Below, until the neck.

But from the place where the slope of the neck begins upward, this is not included in the chest.

Above, until

the place of

the abdomen.

And in order to reach the place of the abdomen, he

cuts

also

the two ribs

that are upper and small

from the two sides, from here to there.

That is, he cuts one rib here and one rib there [and they are the two ribs on either side of the windpipe, at the place where it enters the lung].

And this is the chest given to the priests.

We learned in the Mishna:

If the membrane of the brain was perforated:

Rav and Shmuel both say:

If

the upper membrane

was perforated—the upper membrane that encloses the brain and is found beneath the skin—

even though the lower one was not perforated,

the soft membrane in which the brain rests.

And some say: Only once the lower one was perforated.

Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said: And your sign,

that we require the lower soft membrane to be perforated, is:

a sack

[a bag]

in which the brain rests.

Rabba bar bar Ḥana said in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: Opposite it, in the testicles—

it is recognizable!

That is, it is possible to distinguish between the two membranes, the membrane enclosing the brain and the thin membrane in which the brain rests, by comparing the two membranes of the brain with the two membranes of the male’s testicles. For in the two membranes of the testicles, the difference between the membrane enclosing the testicles and the membrane in which the testicles rest is recognizable.

Rabbi Shimon ben Pazzi said in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi in the name of bar Kappara:

What is the

brain

in which any perforation renders the animal a tereifa?

Everything that is in the skull,

in the cranium, before it emerges toward the spinal cord,

is judged as the brain.

But if it

began to extend

from the cranium to emerge toward the spinal cord—

it is judged as the spinal cord,

and it becomes a tereifa only through the severing of the majority.

And from where does it begin to extend?

Rabbi Yitzhak bar Naḥmani said: For me, it was explained to me by Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: