Chullin 57a (נז.) — the Talmud in English

They brought

the son of

the one who had fallen,

his son,

and slaughtered it before him

while diverting his sight,

they seized his eyes as though he had slaughtered the son, but in fact he had not slaughtered it;

he collapsed and sighed,

the father grieved over the slaughter of his son.

His intestines entered their place,

his intestines returned to their place as a result of the fright.

And they stitched them,

and connected them

to his rumen.

We learned in the Mishna:

Its legs were broken.

There was a certain basket

of birds

of inkuri

whose legs had been broken at the knee or below it, or above the knee, and the bone did not protrude outward,

which came before Rava.

Rava examined it at the junction of the sinews,

to ensure that all sixteen sinews were intact—and

he deemed it kosher.

Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: A dislocated foreleg,

whose shoulder had become dislocated,

in an animal—

is kosher.

A dislocated thigh,

that is, the buka de-atma—the head of the thigh bone—that slipped from its place and whose sinews atrophied

in a bird is a tereifa.

A dislocated wing,

in a bird—

is a tereifa [see the illustration in the book Sihat Hulin], because

see a drawing in the book Sihat Hulin], for

we are concerned lest

when the wing became dislocated

the lung was punctured.

And Shmuel said: It must be examined,

the lung by inflation.

And Rabbi Yohanan likewise said—

it must be examined,

the lung.

Hezekiah said: A bird has no lung.

And the Gemara proceeds to explain.

And Rabbi Yohanan said: It has one,

the bird has a lung,

and it is

in it

like a rose petal,

which is thin and red, and it is found

between the wings.

The Gemara raises a difficulty:

What is meant by

“A bird has no lung,”

which Hezekiah said?

If you say that it does not have

the bird has no lung

at all—and yet we see that it does have

a lung!?

Rather,

Hezekiah means

that it does not become a tereifa through it

when the lung is punctured.

The Gemara objects:

But Levi taught: The tereifot that the Sages enumerated with regard to an animal—

corresponding to them

there are

in a bird.

A bird has additional ones,

for it becomes a tereifa if

the bone

of its skull is broken,

even though the membrane of the brain was not punctured.

This proves that a bird becomes a tereifa when its lung is punctured!?

The Gemara answers:

Rather,

this is what Hezekiah said:

It has no need

for the bird

to be examined after falling,

as, if it fell, there is no need to examine its lung.

Nor after being burned,

as, if it fell into a fire, its lung is not examined.

What is the reason?

Rav Hana said: Since most of its ribs protect it.

The Gemara objects:

But from Rabbi Yohanan's statement that it has

the bird has a lung,

and it is like a rose petal between the wings, it follows that Hezekiah holds that it does not have

a lung at all.

Rather, those in the West said in the name of Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina: From the statement of the great one,

Hezekiah, who was the greatest of his generation,

it is apparent that he is not expert in matters concerning chickens.

Rav Huna said that Rav said: A dislocated thigh, in a bird—

is kosher. Rabba bar Rav Huna said to Rav Huna: But the Sages who came from Pumbedita said—

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: A dislocated thigh, in a bird—

is a tereifa?!

He said to him

Rav Huna:

My son, each river follows its own course.

This is a proverb, like the spreading of the waters of a river: one river is not like another, but in some places the water flows forcefully, while in others it flows slowly. So too, each place follows a different practice. Rav held that it is kosher, but he did not permit it to the people of Pumbedita because he saw that they practiced stringency in this matter. And Rav Yehuda was from Pumbedita, and he understood that Rav deemed it a tereifa.

Rabbi Abba went and found Rabbi Yirmeya bar Abba examining the junction of the sinews.

He said to him

Rabbi Abba:

Why does the Master need all this? But Rav Huna said that Rav: A dislocated thigh in a bird is kosher! And

if a completely dislocated thigh is kosher, all the more so when only the junction of the sinews was severed, it is kosher!?

He said to him

Rabbi Yirmeya bar Abba:

I know the Mishna.

As we learned at the beginning of the chapter:

An animal whose legs were severed—

from the knee and below, it is kosher; from the knee and above, it is unfit. And likewise, if the junction of the sinews was removed,

it is a tereifa, even though the knee itself remains intact.

And Rav said concerning it—

and the same applies to a bird.

Rabbi Abba challenged him:

If so,

according to your statement,

Rav's statement contradicts Rav's statement!?

He was silent,

Rabbi Yirmeya.

Rabbi Abba said to him:

Rabbi Abba:

Perhaps he distinguishes between a dislocated one,

where the entire thigh was dislocated and it is kosher,

and

between

a severed one,

where only the junction of the sinews was severed and it is a tereifa!?

He said to him

Rabbi Yirmeya: Is it you who

are

are the one who

interpreting

the

Rav's teaching?!

It is not you who interpret his words; rather,

Rav explicitly said

this: A thigh that is

dislocated is kosher; one that is severed—

is unfit!

And do not be surprised, for

we find that if one

cuts it here,

at the junction of the sinews,

it dies.

But if he

cuts it here,

in the flesh of the leg above the junction of the sinews,

it lives!

When

he ascended,

Rabbi Abba

from Babylonia to Eretz Yisrael,

he found

and met

Rabbi Zeira,

who had also ascended [before him] to Eretz Yisrael,

sitting and saying: Rav Huna said that Rav: A dislocated thigh in a bird is a tereifa.

He said to him

Rabbi Abba:

By your life! From the day the Master ascended here,