Day Yoimie Snippets ... Chullin 26, 27, 28,29, 30, 31, & 32

Hey ladies ... here is an opportunity to test your husbands and see if he really goes to the daf....

Also it is a good opportunity for the entire family to share thoughts on the daf ... so that the family feels united by discussing what the head of the house is studying.   

You can copy and print this without my consent, since Torah belongs to all of us..... 

See  previous Daf Yoimie Snippets 

"דף כ''ו "הבדלה במוצאי שבת וחג      

Page26  Mesectas Chullin  

"Havdala of Motzei Shabbos & Yom Tov" 

The Halacha is that on every single Motzei Shabbos, even if Motzei Shabbos falls on the night of a Yom Tov, we make the Havdala ceremony. 

The Mishna on this Daf rules that when Yom Tov falls on Motzei Shabbos, the Havdala includes the phrase

" המבדיל בין קודש לקודש'' .  

"Blessed are You Hashem, Who separates between the holy and the holy." 

Normally, when it comes to mark the close of Shabbos and a weekday, the Havdala blessing mentions the separation "between holy and the mundane," המבדיל בין קודש לחול''

but since in this case we have a festival come in just as the Shabbos ends, we do make a Havdala, a separation, but it is between the holiness of the Shabbos that just ended and the holiness of the upcoming festival.

The purpose of making this Havdala is because by making Havdala we are sanctifying the Shabbos that just ended.

Just like we made kiddush on Friday night to distinguish the holiness of the Shabbos and the mundane aspects of the past week, so too when Shabbos ends there is a Mitzvah to distinguish between the holiness of the past Shabbos and upcoming mundane aspects of the new week.

Before the era of the  אנשי כנסת הגדולה, the "Men of the Great Assembly" there was no specific text of how to recite the Havdala; everyone who made Havdala made up the verses  as he went along.

The "Men of the Great Assembly" which was made up of Ezra Ha'Sofer and his Bais Din composed the "nusach" of all organized prayer and included the Havdala text that we have today!

Press "read more" immediately below to continue to the rest of the dafim!

"דף כ''ז "מהיכן נבראו העופות      

Page27  Mesectas Chullin  

"How Were Birds Created" 

When we read the verses describing the creation of the world in Parshas Bereishis, we see the verses apparently contradicting themselves.

In the very first chapter the Torah writes:

ויאמר אלקים ישרצו המים, שרץ נפש חיה,ועוף יעופף 

"G-d said:

 "Let the waters teem with swarming beings of living soul, and fowl that fly about over the earth "

It seems from the above verse that the birds like the fish were created from water.

But if you look in the second chapter, the Torah writes :

''ויצר ה' אלקים מן האדמה, כל חית השדה ואת כל עוף השמים''

"And Hashem G-d formed out of the ground every beast of the field and every bird from the sky."

In this verse, the Torah states that birds were created from earth?"

So which is it?

The Daf has two answers to this dilemma.

According to the "itinerant Galilean," birds were created from mud, which is a combination of both elements - earth and water, which are mentioned in the above verses ... ; the "Galilean" added that all you have to do is see the legs of birds and you will notice that the legs have scales just like fish.

According to the view of Rabban Gamlieil, birds were created from water. The verse in the second chapter where the Torah seems to state that birds were created from earth, that verse is discussing something else entirely.

The verse is just stating that Hashem brought the birds to Adam who was standing on the ground so that Adam could name them ..

"דף כ''ח "הלכה למשה מסיני      

Page28  Mesectas Chullin  

"Halachos that Moshe Learned At Mount Sinai " 

Hashem told Moshe Rabbeinu that any Jew can slaughter "ritually" any kosher animal himself.

See the verse in Davarim:

''וזבחת מבקרך ומצאנך אשר נתן ה' לך,כאשר צויתיך''

"Just as I commanded you, you will "ritually" slaughter your cattle and sheep that G-d grants you."

But where do we see that Hashem "commanded" Moshe on "ritual" slaughter?

The answer is that Hashem taught Moshe many Halachos that are not written in the Torah ..... and that is what we call 

''תורה שבעל פה''

The Oral Torah"

Amongst those Halachos he learned, was the Halachos of "ritual" slaughter ...

such as ...

With what tool does one do the slaughter?

Who cannot do the slaughter? Why not?

What types of slaughter will disqualify the  slaughter etc. etc. 

"דף כ''ט "לשחוט עם גוי       

Page29  Mesectas Chullin  

"Can A Gentile Do A Ritual Slaughter " 

The Halacha on this Daf is very straightforward. If a goy slaughters ritually an animal even if the animal is a kosher animal, the slaughter is invalid, and the slaughtered animal cannot be eaten by a Jew.

This rule applies even if the goy only started the process to slaughter ...and just for example nicked the throat of the animal and a Jew took over and completed the slaughter, the animal cannot be consumed by a Jew.

"דף ל' ''זהב שחוט

Page 30  Mesectas Chullin  

"Slaughtered Gold? " 

Have you ever heard of "Slaughtered Gold?"

Sefer Melachim (Kings) relates that King Solomon made panels from "Slaughtered gold." זהב שחוט

What is the meaning of all this?

The Tana De'bei Rebbe Yishmoel explain that the word 

''שחיטה'' "slaughter" 

can also mean "pulling" ''משיכה''

So "Slaughtered gold" can also be translated as "pulled or stretched gold."

 King Solomon pulled and stretched the gold until it became very thin so that he could cover the panels with gold.

We find similarly, in Sefer Yermeyahu (Jeremiah) the expression: 

'' חץ שחוט לשונם'' "The arrow that "stretched" their tongues"

In this verse the Hebrew word שחוט does not mean "slaughter" but means "stretch"

An arrow for it to hit its mark, "stretches" the bow until it is let go ....

The prophet Jerimiah is chastising the sinners for using their tongues, like arrows,  to bad mouth others ...

On this Daf we see that when the slaughterer uses his knife to slaughter he "pulls" the knife. 

Perhaps thats where the word "shachat" comes from!

"דף ל'א ''שחיטת חולין אינה צריכה כונה

Page 31  Mesectas Chullin  

"Slaughtering a Ordinary  Animal, Doesn't Require "Intent" " 

On this Daf we learn a novel idea in reference to ritual slaughter.

Rebi Nasan states that if one desires to slaughter an ordinary kosher animal, the slaughterer does not need any special intent, all he has to do is to make sure it is slaughtered according to the Halachic rules.

So even if he threw the knife, and either a bird in flight or an animal walking by, got slaughtered and after examining the bird or the animal it turns out that they were slaughtered ritually Ke'Halacha, the animal or bird can be eaten.

But if the knife fell by itself from a table and slaughtered the bird or animal, .... even if the slaughter was done correctly, the animal cannot be eaten...

Why? 
Didn't we just discuss that slaughter doesn't require intent?

It is true that we do not require intent for slaughtering either an animal or a bird ... but we still need the slaughtering be done by the action of a human ....

So if he threw the knife and it slaughtered then it is a kosher slaughter because it is still a result of his very action.....

but in the case where the knife fell from the table, there was no human direct action that caused the knife to fall; it fell by itself, therefore the animal cannot be eaten.

"דף ל'ב ''כונת הכהן

Page 32  Mesectas Chullin  

"The Intent of the Kohein" 

The Talmud on this Daf teaches us that  while slaughtering a Para Aduma (Red Heifer)  one cannot do anything else at the same time.

How about a case where the kohein doing the slaughter of the Para Aduma had a huge long knife and was able to slaughter the animal and cut a melon that is at the head of the animal at the same time?

Here we have an example where the kohein did two things at the same time.....  and yet though he did the two things at the same time ... it can still be  kosher Halachically....?

The Talmud explains that we can have the exact same scenario where the kohein slaughters the Para Aduma and the melon at the same time and yet the slaughter is ruled not valid ..... and therefore not a kosher slaughter!

What gives??

So it really depends what the intent of the kohein was ....

If he intended to slaughter the Para Aduma and cut the melon ... then the slaughter isn't valid !

However if he had no intention to cut the melon but that the melon was so close to the place of slaughter and unintentionally when he slaughtered the animal he cut the melon ....

then it is a valid Shechitah..and it isn't considered as if he did two things at the same time...