Chullin 114
ואשכחתיה נמי לרבי ירמיה בר אבא דיתיב וקא בדיק בצומת הגידין ואקשי ליה
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"?
לא סבר לה מר הא דאמר רב הונא אמר רב
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.
ואת מה בידך
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:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Cf. infra: 'The law is widespread in Israel that if the femur of a bird is dislodged it is trefah'.');"><sup>3</sup></span>
אילמלי הוה רבי יוחנן באתרא דאורו בה חברוותא להתירא לא פרכיס
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 months<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., it was only a temporary recovery and could not continue to live for full twelve months after the injury, for the principle is well established that a trefah cannot continue to live for twelve months after the injury.');"><sup>4</sup></span>
אמר לו משנה שלמה שנינו
But perhaps R'Judah maintains that a trefah can improve?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' R. Judah would hold that it is not unlikely for an animal though trefah to improve temporarily in its physical condition.');"><sup>5</sup></span>
עד כאיסר האיטלקי
- Surely not in that very physical blemish which rendered it trefah! For here it grew feathers even larger than the original ones.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Inasmuch as the loss of its feathers was the cause of the bird being regarded trefah it surely would not now increase its plumage.');"><sup>6</sup></span>
אמר לו
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.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Prov. VI, 6-8.');"><sup>7</sup></span>
והלא רחל אחת היתה בשכונתנו שנקדר קנה שלה ועשו לה קרומין של קנה וחיתה
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,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'at the cycle of Tammuz', i.e., the quarter of the year following June 21 st, the summer solstice.');"><sup>8</sup></span>
ועל דא את סמיך
When one [ant] came out he marked it, and it immediately entered and informed the others that shadows had fallen,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For ants shun the fierce heat of the sun and only venture forth in the shade.');"><sup>9</sup></span>
אלא מאי אית לך למימר תוך י"ב חדש הוה
He then said: It is clear that they have no king, for otherwise they would surely have required to obtain royal sanction!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For the execution of the delinquent ant.');"><sup>11</sup></span>
הכא נמי תוך י"ב חדש הוה
R'Aha, son of Raba, said to R'Ashi: But perhaps the king was with them, or they had royal authority,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., they acted within the law which provides that one that deceives others shall be put to death.');"><sup>12</sup></span>
אמרו עליו על רבי שמעון בן חלפתא שעסקן בדברים היה והיה עושה דבר להוציא מלבו של רבי יהודה שהיה רבי יהודה אומר
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!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Jud. XVII, 6.');"><sup>13</sup></span>
ותרנגולת היתה לו לרבי שמעון בן חלפתא שניטלה נוצה שלה והניחה בתנור וטלה עליה במטלית של טרסיים וגידלה כנפיים האחרונים יותר מן הראשונים
R'Huna said: The test for a trefah is twelve months.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If an animal about which there arose a doubt whether it was trefah or not continued to live twelve months - or according to Rabbi, infra, thirty days - it certainly was not trefah.');"><sup>14</sup></span>
אם כן במידי דמיטרפא בה הגדילה כנפיים האחרונים יותר מן הראשונים
It was taught: The test for a trefah is that it cannot bring forth young.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This does not mean to say that if it cannot bring forth young it is certainly trefah, for this may be due to various causes; but it means that if it does bring forth young it is certainly not trefah (Tosaf.) .');"><sup>15</sup></span>
נפק אתא חד מינייהו אתנח ביה סימנא
But they said t Is it not a fact that many continue to live for two or three years?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The objection against R. Huna is that none of the teachers in this Baraitha mention the test period of twelve months.');"><sup>17</sup></span>
על אמר להו
- 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.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. supra 45a.');"><sup>18</sup></span>
אמר
It happened in the summer months but when winter set in he died.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The man did not, as R. Jose imagined, live on for years. He did not live full twelve months, for as soon as the winter 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.');"><sup>20</sup></span>