Chullin

we had an opportunity of asking R. Huna about this and he told us. If the femur of a bird was dislodged it was permitted. Moreover, I once found R. Jeremiah b. Aba sitting and examining [the femur of a bird) at the juncture of the tendons, and I put to him the question. "Does not the Master concur with the view reported by R. Huna in the name of Rab that if the femur of a bird was dislodged it was permitted"? and he replied. "I know only of the Mishnah: If the hind legs of an animal were cut off below the knee joint it is permitted, above the knee joint it is trefah; similarly, if the juncture of the tendons was gone it is trefah. And Rab has said. The same is the law in the case of a bird". I then said to him, "Then is there not here a contradiction between the two statements of Rab"? At this he remained silent, and I thereupon suggested: "Perhaps Rab makes a distinction in law between a limb dislodged and a limb cut off"? And he replied, "And you merely suggest this distinction in Rab! Rab has expressly said so: If the femur [of a bird] was dislodged it is permitted, but if cut off it is trefah". Now what further traditions have you about it’? — [He replied,] ‘Thus said R. Hiyya b. Ashi in the name of Rab. If the femur of a bird was dislodged it is trefah’. So, too, did R. Jacob b. Idi say in the name of R. Johanan. If the femur of a bird was dislodged it is trefah. And R. Jacob b. Idi further said: Had R. Johanan been present there when the leading scholars1 ruled that it was permitted, he would not have raised a voice against it.2 For R. Hanina reported in the name of Rabbi: If the femur of a bird was dislodged it is permitted. Indeed, R. Hanina once had a hen the femur of which had become dislodged and he brought it to Rabbi, and the latter declared it to be permitted. Thereupon R. Hanina preserved it in salt and used it to demonstrate the law to the pupils: ‘This did Rabbi permit to me, this did Rabbi permit to me’. The law, however, does not rest with any of the above views [that declare it to be permitted], but it is as stated in the following incident:3 R. Jose b. Nehorai asked R. Joshua b. Levi, ‘How large must a hole in the windpipe be [in order to render the animal trefah]?’ He replied. ‘We have learnt it as a clear statement in our Mishnah, viz., Up to an Italian issar’. The other retorted: ‘But there was a lamb in our neighbourhood in whose windpipe there was a [large] hole and they inserted in it a tube of reed and it recovered’! He rejoined. ‘And can you rely upon this? Is not the law widespread in Israel that if the femur of a bird is dislodged it is trefah? Nevertheless it is related that R. Simeon b. Halafta had a hen whose femur was dislodged, and they prepared for it a tube of reed [as a support] and it recovered! You can only suggest in explanation [that it recovered] within twelve months4 [of the injury], so in the former case too you must say [that it recovered] within twelve months [of the injury]. It was said of R. Simeon b. Halafta that he was an experimenter in all things. Indeed he once made an experiment to disprove R. Judah's view. For we have learnt: R. JUDAH SAYS, IF ITS DOWN WAS GONE IT IS INVALID. Now R. Simeon b. Halafta once had a hen whose down was gone entirely. He put it into the oven, having first wrapped it in the [warm] leather apron used by bronze workers, and it grew feathers even larger than the original ones. But perhaps R. Judah maintains that a trefah can improve?5 — Surely not in that very physical blemish which rendered it trefah! For here it grew feathers even larger than the original ones.6 Why was he called an experimenter? — R. Mesharsheya said: It is written: Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise: which having no chief, overseer, or ruler, provideth her bread in the summer.7 He [R. Simeon b. Halafta] said: I shall go and find out whether it is true that they have no king. He went at the summer solstice,8 and spread his coat over an ant-hill. When one [ant] came out he marked it, and it immediately entered and informed the others that shadows had fallen,9 whereupon they all came forth. He then removed his coat and the sun beat down upon them. Thereupon they set upon this ant and killed it.10 He then said: It is clear that they have no king, for otherwise they would surely have required to obtain royal sanction!11 R. Aha, son of Raba, said to R. Ashi: But perhaps the king was with them, or they had royal authority,12 or it was during an interregnum [when they were under no law], as it is written: In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes!13 Rather must you take the word of Solomon for it. R. Huna said: The test for a trefah is twelve months.14 An objection was raised. It was taught: The test for a trefah is that it cannot bring forth young.15 R. Simon b. Gamaliel says. If it improves in health it is certainly16 fit, if it wastes away it is certainly trefah. Rabbi says: The test for a trefah is thirty days. But they said to him: Is it not a fact that many continue to live for two or three years?17 — Tannaim differ in this, for it was taught: If in the skull there was one long hole or if there were many small holes in it — in either case the hole or holes are computed to make up the measure of a hole the size of a [surgical] drill.18 R. Jose b. ha-Meshullam said: It happened at ‘Ain Ibl19 that a person had a hole in his skull and they put over it a plaster of a gourd-shell and he recovered. But R. Simeon said to him: Do you mean to prove your case from that? It happened in the summer months but when winter set in he died.20 R. Aha b. Jacob said: The halachah is that a trefah animal can bring forth young and can also improve. Amemar said: As to the eggs of a bird that was [rendered] trefah. principle is well established that a trefah cannot continue to live for twelve months after the injury. condition. its plumage. according to Rabbi, infra, thirty days — it certainly was not trefah. causes; but it means that if it does bring forth young it is certainly not trefah (Tosaf.). set in he died. It is therefore indicated in this Baraitha that a trefah cannot live through a winter and a summer, i.e., twelve months, thus agreeing with R. Huna.