Daf 123 — Chullin 123 Summary

Chullin 123 – Good Morning Raboisai Soft Hides That Are Like Meat The Skin of a Young Calf’s Head The Mishnah listed certain very soft hides which are treated like flesh for Tumah. Reish Lakish asked Rebbe Yochanan: • What is the status of the soft skin on the head of a young calf? • Does it convey Tumah like meat? Rebbe Yochanan answered: • It does not. Reish Lakish was surprised: • The Mishnah itself seems to list this skin as being like flesh. “Don’t Challenge Me from That Mishnah” Rebbe Yochanan replied: • Al takniteni – don’t challenge me from what I taught in that Mishnah. Why? That ruling represents: • A daas yachid – an individual opinion And is not: • The accepted view. Proof from Piggul A Beraisa discusses someone performing the avodah of a korban with intent to consume certain parts: • Outside their proper place • Or outside their proper time. Intent outside the proper time creates: • Piggul • With liability of Kares if the korban is subsequently eaten. The Beraisa specifically treats: • The soft skin underneath the fatty tail As significant like meat. Rebbe Eliezer says: • This is the skin which has that special status. This indicates that: • The broader list in our Mishnah follows an individual opinion • Rather than the accepted view. The Skin Around the Feet What Is Beis HaPerasos? The Mishnah also listed: • The skin around the feet As one of the softer hides. Rav explains: • It means the actual soft area around the hoof. Another explanation extends it further: • Along the lower leg • To the part commonly sold together with the head. The Eight Sheratzim Which Sheretz Hides Are Tamei? The Gemara now discusses the hides of: • The eight sheratzim mentioned in the Torah. The Torah lists: • Three sheratzim • Then another five. A special word in the pasuk teaches that: • The hides of certain sheratzim • Are treated like their flesh. “Lemineihu” Divides the List The question is: If the Torah's word “eileh” refers to the entire list: • Why shouldn't all eight hides be treated alike? Rav explains: • The word “lemineihu” interrupts the list. This divides: • The first group • From the later group. Therefore: • The soft hides of the later sheratzim can be treated like flesh • While the tougher hides of the earlier group are not. What Happened to the Tinshemes? The Gemara asks why: • The tinshemes Is missing from the Mishnah’s list. Rav Shmuel bar Yitzchak answers: • Rav actually included the tinshemes in his version. Rav Could Disagree Rav had a special status: • He stood at the transition between the Tannaim and Amoraim. Therefore: • Rav can be regarded as a Tanna • And can disagree with the Tanna of our Mishnah. Rebbe Yehudah – It Depends on the Skin Rebbe Yehudah takes a different approach. The determining factor is: • Whether the particular hide is soft or hard. If it is: • Soft and flesh - like – it can have the status of meat • Hard and tough – it does not. When Does Hide Lose Its Tumah? Processing the Hide The Mishnah taught that once these hides are: • Properly processed They no longer retain: • Their flesh - like status for Tumah. There is also a way for use itself to demonstrate: • That the hide has become a functional material • Rather than flesh. A Donkey’s Ear Used to Patch a Basket Rav Chiya gives an unusual example: A person takes: • The ear of a donkey • And attaches it as a patch to his basket. Once he uses it this way: • It is treated as material • Rather than part of the animal. Therefore: • It becomes tahor. No Further Processing Required Its actual use as a patch demonstrates: • That it has been converted into a usable object. Walking on a Hide If the hide was not actually used as a patch: • Walking on it can accomplish the necessary change of status. How much walking? • Four mil. This leads the Gemara into an important discussion of: • Four other halachos involving the distance of four mil. Four Mil Four Cases of Travelling Rebbe Avahu in the name of Reish Lakish discusses four cases involving travelling for a mitzvah or requirement: • Gavol • Tefillah • Netilas yadayim • Processing a hide by walking on it. Four mil is approximately: • 72 minutes of normal walking. Gavol Gavol refers to someone hired: • To prepare dough in a state of Taharah. If the available utensils are tamei and he needs access to a mikvah: • He may be required to travel as far as four mil in the direction he is already travelling. This is because: • He accepted responsibility to produce the dough in Taharah. Travelling for a Minyan Tefillah The Gemara applies the same principle to: • Travelling to daven with a minyan. If the minyan is: • Ahead of him in the direction he is travelling He must continue as far as: • Four mil. But if he must: • Turn back • Or travel out of his way The requirement is only: • One mil. Practical Shiur One mil is approximately: • 18 minutes of walking. The key distinction is: • Ahead on your existing journey – up to four mil • Backwards or out of your way – up to one mil. Travelling for Netilas Yadayim Water for Washing Hands The same distinction applies when: • A traveller wants to eat bread • But has no water for netilas yadayim. If water is available: • Further ahead on his route – he may need to continue up to four mil. If he must: • Turn back or go out of his way The requirement is: • Up to one mil. Soldiers Entering a House A Legion Passing Through A Beraisa discusses: • A group of soldiers travelling from place to place • Who enter a house. The house is presumed: • Tamei. Why? Soldiers of that period might carry: • Human scalps or skins taken from the dead. These could introduce: • Tumah into the house. The Gemara notes that such practices were: • A genuine historical reality. Three Ways of Skinning an Animal Skinning for a Flat Hide The Mishnah now discusses how much of a partially removed hide remains: • A yad – a handle for the flesh And can therefore: • Transfer Tumah into or out of the meat. The first method is: • Skinning the animal to produce a flat hide • Such as for a rug or covering. The hide is opened: • From one end along the body. Once enough hide has been removed that it is no longer useful for handling the animal: • The detached section becomes tahor. Kedei Achizah – Enough to Grip At the beginning of the skinning: • A certain amount of hide is useful for gripping and manoeuvring the animal. This is called: • Kedei achizah. As long as the hide functions as: • A handle for the meat It remains: • Connected for Tumah. Once it no longer serves that function: • It becomes tahor. Skinning to Make a Flask A Different Method If the person wants to make: • A flask or container from the hide He skins the animal differently. He wants: • The hide to remain largely intact • So it can hold liquid. In this case: • Much more of the hide remains functionally connected to the animal during the skinning. The Mishnah gives: • The chest as an important stage in this process. Margil – Skinning from the Legs Removing the Hide Like a Bag A third method is: • Margil Where the hide is removed: • From the legs downward • Almost like pulling off a complete covering. In this method: • The entire hide can remain a chibur for Tumah • Until the skinning reaches very far down. Even when: • Most of the hide has already been removed It can still act: • As a handle for the remaining flesh. Rav vs Rav Asi Rav says: • Once the hide is genuinely removed and no longer functions as a handle, it is tahor. Rav Asi says: • The first tefach immediately next to the flesh remains tamei. Why? That tefach is still considered: • Functionally connected to the meat. Challenges to Rav Asi The Gemara brings several Beraisos which seem to say: • Only hide actually attached to the meat remains tamei. This appears to contradict: • Rav Asi Who includes: • The first detached tefach. Answer Rav Asi explains: When the Beraisa says: • “The hide attached to the flesh” It can include: • The first tefach immediately next to it. Halachically: • That nearby tefach is still treated as connected. The First Tefach Is Different Another Beraisa seems to state explicitly that: • The first detached tefach is tahor. The Gemara distinguishes: • The very first tefach removed • From later stages of the skinning. At the very beginning: • That tefach is not yet useful as a handle. Once more hide has been removed: • A tefach next to the flesh can function as a grip • And remains tamei according to Rav Asi. How Much Is Kedei Achizah? The Gemara asks: How much hide is considered: • Enough to grip? The answer is: • A tefach kaful – a doubled tefach. Meaning: • Enough hide to fold over • Providing a proper grip. Tearing a Tamei Garment Destroying the Garment The Gemara moves to another case involving: • A garment that is tamei. Besides immersing it in a mikvah: • Its Tumah can be removed by destroying its status as a usable garment. If a person tears: • The majority of the garment It is no longer considered: • The original kli. Therefore: • It becomes tahor. Tumah Removed Retroactively The wording indicates: • Once he begins tearing • And eventually tears the majority The garment is considered to have lost its status: • From the beginning of the tearing process. Nafkamina If Tumah touched the garment: • After he began tearing • But before he completed the majority Once he ultimately completes the required tear: • The earlier stage can be viewed as part of the destruction process. Immersion Before Tearing Tefillah and Tearing The Gemara discusses a garment which: • Was first immersed in a mikvah • And then torn. Normally, immersion does not complete purification immediately: • The item still requires sunset. However, tearing the garment: • Destroys its status as the original tamei kli. The Gemara discusses whether we are concerned: • That the person may stop before tearing the required majority. Will People Misunderstand? One concern is that observers might think: • Immersion alone allowed the garment to be used immediately • Without waiting until sunset. Rav Yosef answers: • The tear is obvious. People can see: • That the garment was destroyed as a usable kli. Therefore: • They will not mistakenly attribute its Taharah merely to immersion. Why Not Make a Gezeirah Everywhere? Back to the Partially Removed Hide The Gemara asks: If we are concerned that a person may fail to complete an action: Why don't we make the same gezeirah regarding: • A partially removed hide? Perhaps: • He will not remove quite enough • Yet will mistakenly treat it as tahor. Tumah DeRabbanan The Gemara answers that the case under discussion can involve: • Tumah only miDeRabbanan. Therefore: • Chazal did not impose an additional gezeirah. The Gemara then challenges this: What about a case involving: • A tahor person • Handling an animal that itself has genuine Tumah? That sounds like: • A Torah - level concern. A Shechted Treifah The Gemara answers: The case can involve: • A kosher species that was shechted • And subsequently discovered to be a treifah. The Tumah being discussed there is: • Rabbinic. This follows the teaching of: • Avuha d'Shmuel Regarding the Rabbinic Tumah of: • A shechted treifah in the context of kodshim. The discussion continues onto the next Daf. Key Chazarah • Rebbe Yochanan says the soft skin of a young calf’s head is not treated like meat; the broader ruling in the Mishnah represents an individual opinion. • The skin underneath the fatty tail is treated as flesh even regarding Piggul. • The hides of the eight sheratzim are divided according to the pesukim and whether their skins are soft or tough. • Rav could disagree with the Mishnah because of his unique status at the end of the Tannaitic period. • Using a hide as a patch can remove its flesh - like status without further processing; otherwise walking on it for four mil can accomplish this. • For Tefillah and netilas yadayim, the Gemara distinguishes between travelling ahead on one's route, up to four mil, and going backwards or out of the way, up to one mil. • A house entered by travelling soldiers was presumed tamei because they could carry human skins or scalps. • The Mishnah discusses three methods of skinning an animal and when the detached hide stops functioning as a yad for the meat. • Kedei achizah is the amount of hide needed to grip and manoeuvre the animal; the Gemara describes this as a doubled tefach. • Rav Asi says a tefach of hide immediately next to the flesh can remain connected for Tumah even after being detached. • A tamei garment loses its Tumah when the majority is torn and it loses its status as a usable kli. • The Gemara discusses whether this destruction can be viewed as beginning retroactively from when the tearing started. • The final discussion distinguishes Torah Tumah from Rabbinic Tumah and introduces the Rabbinic Tumah of a shechted treifah in kodshim. 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