Chullin 51a (נא.) — the Talmud in English

It is evident that before slaughter

it was perforated, and it is therefore a tereifa.

If no drop of blood was found on it —

it is evident that it occurred after slaughter

and it is therefore kosher.

If the opening of the wound has developed a scab—it is evident that it was perforated three days before slaughter

and if the purchaser bought it within those three days, this is a mistaken transaction.

If the opening of the wound has not developed a scab,

and it is unknown whether it was perforated before he bought it or afterward —

the burden of proof rests upon the claimant!

And we raised a difficulty:

And how is

this perforation in the reticulum, in which a needle was found, different

from all other perforations, for although there is no blood —

the Master deems it a tereifa

[the tanna in the beraita]!?

And we answered:

There,

with regard to other perforations,

there is nothing

to which one can attribute the perforation as having occurred after slaughter, because the blood has no possibility

of adhering

to something, since it is absorbed into the flesh. But

here, since there is a needle —

if it had indeed occurred before slaughter —

it would have adhered.

The blood would have adhered to the needle. Therefore, since a needle is found here, the drop of blood found on it is the test of whether it was perforated before slaughter or afterward.

Rav Safra said to Abaye: Does the Master see this Torah scholar who has come from the West and said, “Rav Avira” —

is my name”

[that is, my name is Rav Avira] —

“and he said: There was an incident

that

a needle found on one side of the thickness of the reticulum came before Rabbi

and he deemed it a tereifa!”

He sent word

Abaye sent to Rav Avira, calling him to come to him.

He did not come to him.

He,

Abaye,

went to him,

to Rav Avira.

Rav Avira was standing

on the roof,

up above.

Abaye said

to him:

“Let the Master come down, and we shall come,”

that is, let the Master come down and come here!

Rav Avira did not come down.

Rav Avira.

He went up,

that is,

he,

Abaye,

went up to him.

He said to him,

Abaye said to Rav Avira:

“Tell me the incident itself: How did it happen?”

He said to him: “I am the one who dismisses the assemblies,

I bring the students in and take them out, gather them, and arrange for them to leave the study hall

for the presence of Rabbi Rabba,”

of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi.

And there were

there

Rav Huna of Tzippori and Rabbi Yosei of Mada, sitting before him.

And a needle found on one side of the thickness of the reticulum came before Rabbi,

from the inside; the reticulum had been turned inside out for the purpose of examining it from within.

And Rabbi turned it over

to the outer side,

and found on it,

opposite the point of the needle, on the outer surface of the reticulum,

a drop of blood —

and he deemed it a tereifa.

And he said: “If there is no wound there,

if the needle did not perforate the reticulum all the way through to the outside,

a drop of blood

on the outside of the reticulum —

from where could it have come?!”

Abaye said to him,

speaking of himself:

“You have made that man labor for nothing!”

How much you made that man labor. [That is, Rav Avira made Abaye exert himself as though he possessed a tradition from Rabbi concerning the law of a needle found in the reticulum, and whether an examination for a drop of blood found on it is effective, whereas he had no novel teaching on this matter, since here the case is not one in which it perforated from one side, but one in which it perforated from both sides, as

the Mishna

explicitly

states.

As we learned:

If the omasum and the reticulum were perforated through to the outside,

they are tereifot.

We learned in the Mishna:

“If it fell from the roof”:

Rav Huna said: If one placed an animal above

on the roof

and came and found it below,

on the ground,

we are not concerned

about it

due to crushed limbs.

Since we did not see it fall, we attribute its descent to its having jumped on its own; and when it jumps on its own, we are not concerned that its limbs were crushed. Only an animal that fell must be left for twenty-four hours before slaughter, due to concern for crushed limbs.

There was a certain kid belonging to Ravina that saw husked barley

that it saw

in the skylight.

The kid was above and saw the barley in the house below through the opening.

It jumped,

leaping downward,

and fell from the roof —

to the ground. Ravina brought

the kid

before Rav Ashi

to ask him about it.

He said to him,

Ravina asked Rav Ashi as follows: Is

what Rav Huna said: “If one placed an animal above and came and found it below, we are not concerned due to crushed limbs,”

based

on the fact that it has something

in the walls

to cling to

and grasp during its fall?

And

if

this one

has nothing to cling to,

we should be concerned that its limbs were crushed.

Or perhaps it is because it assesses itself,

whether it is capable of jumping,

and this one

kid

also assesses itself

as capable of jumping; and if it were unable to jump, it would not jump. If it did jump, that is a sign that it was capable of doing so.

He said to him:

The reason Rav Huna deemed it fit is

“because it assesses itself. And this one also assesses itself.”

There was a certain ewe that was in the house of Rav Ḥaviva, whose

they were being dragged after it

hind legs were dragging behind it.

were being dragged behind it.

Rav Yeimar said: This one —

a condition called shigruna

[a certain illness]

has seized it.

Ravina objected to him: Perhaps its spinal cord was severed,

and it is therefore a tereifa.

They examined it and found that it was as Ravina had said.

And we conclude:

Nevertheless, the halakha is in accordance with Rav Yeimar,

and we do not need to examine animals that drag their hind legs. For

shigruna is common,

whereas severing

the spinal cord is uncommon.

Rav Huna said:

Rams,

males that butt one another —

we are not concerned

for them

due to crushed limbs,

even though

they tremble and remain standing,

as they are anxious and in pain. For

the trembling

is merely

heat that has seized them.

But

if they fell to the ground, we are certainly concerned.

Rav Manshi said: With regard to these rams

—

that thieves steal,

when the thieves steal them, they throw them over the courtyard wall, and they fall from the courtyard wall to the ground —

we are not concerned

for them

due to crushed limbs. What is the reason?

When they throw them,

when the thieves throw them,

they throw them on their loins,

not on their backs,

so that they will run

in order to run

before them.

Therefore, we are not concerned about crushed limbs. But if

they returned them,

the thieves returned them to their place and threw them over the wall,

we are certainly concerned,

lest they threw them upside down, on their backs.

And this applies

when we are concerned

that they returned them

the thieves returned them to their place

out of fear. But

if the thieves returned them

because

they repented,

[out of] repentance —

it is a genuine repentance that they performed,

and it is clear that they threw them on their loins!

Rav Yehuda said that Rav said:

One who

struck

—that is, intended to strike the animal

on its head, and the blow went

toward

its tail,

and he struck its tail; or he intended to strike

its tail,

and the blow went

toward its head—

if the blow that he struck was

opposite the entire length of the spine —

we are not concerned due to crushed limbs. But if the stick broke at the midpoint of the back,

meaning that the stick was not as long as the entire spinal cord, so that the blow struck opposite only part of the spine, at its midpoint —

we are concerned

lest the blow struck the middle of the spinal cord and severed it.

And if there are

in the stick with which he struck

knots,

remnants of branches —

we are concerned.

And if he struck it and severed it,

across the back and not along its length —

we are concerned. Rav Naḥman said: The womb

that is, a calf born that day, which emerged from the womb, a narrow passage, may be slaughtered immediately, and there is no need to leave it for a period to check whether it was compressed as it emerged from the womb and its limbs were crushed, because

there is no

concern

due to crushed limbs.

Rava said to Rav Naḥman: A beraita was taught that supports you,

as we learned in Tractate Niddah [43b]:

“A child one day old

precise page location

is impure with the discharge of zav.”