Chullin 178

שיעורא בעינן ועבודת כוכבים כתותי מכתת שיעורא הכא כל מה דמכתת מעלי לכסוי:

a minimum size is prescribed, and since it has been used for idolatry it is regarded as though the size were diminished,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'broken up' and reduced below the minimum; this in accordance with the Rabbinic dictum: Whatsoever is to be destroyed is deemed destroyed forthwith.');">¹</span>

<br><br><big><strong>הדרן עלך כסוי הדם</strong></big><br><br>

whereas here the more broken up it is the better it is for covering up.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And the use of the forbidden ashes for the fulfilment of a precept cannot be considered a use in accordance with Raba's dictum.');">²</span>

מתני׳ <big><strong>גיד</strong></big> הנשה נוהג בארץ ובחוצה לארץ בפני הבית ושלא בפני הבית בחולין ובמוקדשין

<big><b>MISHNAH: </b></big>[THE PROHIBITION OF] THE SCIATIC NERVE<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Gen XXXII, 33. In the whole of this chapter the sciatic nerve is often referred to as 'the nerve'.');">³</span>

ונוהג בבהמה ובחיה בירך של ימין ובירך של שמאל ואינו נוהג בעוף מפני שאין לו כף ונוהג בשליל

IS IN FORCE BOTH WITHIN THE HOLY LAND AND OUTSIDE IT, BOTH DURING THE EXISTENCE OF THE TEMPLE AND AFTER IT, IN RESPECT OF BOTH UNCONSECRATED AND CONSECRATED [ANIMALS].

ר' יהודה אומר

IT APPLIES TO CATTLE AND TO WILD ANIMALS, TO THE RIGHT AND LEFT HIP, BUT IT DOES NOT APPLY TO BIRDS BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO SPOON-SHAPED HIP.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The muscles upon the hip bone (or femur) of a bird lie flat and are not raised and convex like those of cattle. In cattle the entire hip is very lrhv ;f much like the back of a spoon or like a club. This feature is expressly specified in the prohibition, , the spoon of the thigh, i.e., 'the convex prominence of the thigh'. Gen. ibid.');">⁴</span>

אינו נוהג בשליל וחלבו מותר

IT ALSO APPLIES TO A FOETUS.

ואין הטבחין נאמנין על גיד הנשה דברי רבי מאיר

R'JUDAH SAYS, IT DOES NOT APPLY TO A FOETUS.

וחכמים אומרים

AND ITS<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The fat of the foetus; or, according to others, the fat surrounding the sciatic nerve.');">⁵</span>

נאמנין עליו ועל החלב:

FAT IS PERMITTED.

<big><strong>גמ׳</strong></big> מוקדשין פשיטא

BUTCHERS ARE NOT TRUSTWORTHY WITH REGARD TO THE [REMOVAL OF THE] SCIATIC NERVE:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For it entails hard and careful work, and it is doubtful whether the butcher would follow it up in all its ramifications; consequently one may not rely upon him.');">⁶</span>

משום דאקדשיה פקע ליה איסור גיד מיניה

SO R'MEIR'THE SAGES SAY, THEY ARE TRUSTWORTHY WITH REGARD TO IT AS WELL AS WITH REGARD TO THE [FORBIDDEN] FAT.

וכי תימא

<big><b>GEMARA: </b></big>IN RESPECT OF.

יש בגידין בנותן טעם ואתי איסור מוקדשין וחייל אאיסור גיד האי מוקדשין נוהג בגיד מיבעי ליה

CONSECRATED [ANIMALS].

אלא קסבר

But is not this obvious?

אין בגידין בנותן טעם ובמוקדשין איסור גיד איכא איסור מוקדשין ליכא

Surely because one consecrated the animal the prohibition of the nerve has not thereby vanished!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The prohibition of the sciatic nerve attached to the animal the moment it was born.');">⁷</span>

וסבר תנא דידן אין בגידין בנותן טעם

And if you were to say that [our Tanna] is of the opinion that nerves impart a taste [to the meat], and [he teaches us] that the prohibition of a consecrated animal can be superimposed upon the prohibition of the nerve,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' So that one who eats the sciatic nerve of a consecrated animal would incur stripes on two counts, first for eating the sciatic nerve which is expressly prohibited whether it is edible or not, and secondly for eating 'flesh' (for nerves are edible as flesh) of a consecrated animal.');">⁸</span>

והתנן

then the Tanna should have said: 'The prohibition of [eating] consecrated meat applies to the nerve too'! - Rather we must say that he is of the opinion that nerves do not impart a taste, [and he thus teaches us<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In stating that the law of the sciatic nerve applies to consecrated animals.');">⁹</span>

ירך שנתבשל בה גיד הנשה אם יש בה בנותן טעם הרי זו אסורה

that] in regard to [the sciati nerve of] a consecrated [animal] there is only the prohibition of the nerve but not the prohibition of consecrated things.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For the nerve is inedible and is not accounted as flesh.');">¹⁰</span>

אלא הכא בולדות קדשים עסקינן וקסבר

But does our Tanna hold that nerves do not impart a taste?

נוהג בשליל וקסבר

Surely we have learnt: If a thigh was cooked together with the sciatic nerve it is forbidden if it imparts a taste<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., if the thigh that was cooked was not sixty times greater than the forbidden nerve; for the Rabbis have estimated that if there were more than sixty parts of permitted matter as against one part prohibited, the latter cannot impart a flavour unto the former. From this Mishnah, however, it is apparent that nerves do impart a taste; and as it is (infra 96b) in the same chapter as our Mishnah it was taught presumably by the same Tanna.');">¹¹</span>

ולדות קדשים במעי אמן הן קדושים דאיסור גיד ואיסור מוקדשין בהדי הדדי קאתי

[into the thigh]! - Rather we must suppose that he is dealing with the young of consecrated animals.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' E.g. the young of a peace-offering which is consecrated the moment it was formed, even while in its dam's womb. At this same moment the prohibition of the sciatic nerve attaches to it.');">¹²</span>

ומי מצית מוקמת לה בשליל והא מדקתני סיפא נוהג בשליל מכלל דרישא לאו בשליל עסקינן

And he is of the opinion that it [sc. the prohibition of the sciatic nerve] applies to a foetus, and also that the young of a consecrated animal is holy even when in its dam's womb; accordingly the prohibition of the nerve and the prohibition of consecrated things come into force simultaneously.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., the moment the foetus was formed within the dam's womb.');">¹³</span>

הכי קאמר

But how can you suggest that the Mishnah is dealing with a foetus?

דבר זה מחלוקת דרבי יהודה ורבנן

Surely since in a subsequent clause it says.

ומי מצית אמרת דתרוייהו בהדי הדדי קאתו

IT ALSO APPLIES TO A FOETUS, it is obvious that the first clause is not dealing with a foetus! - This is what he means: This<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Whether the prohibition of the sciatic nerve applies to a foetus or not.');">¹⁴</span>

והתנן על אלו טומאות הנזיר מגלח

is indeed a matter of dispute between R'Judah and the Rabbis.

על המת ועל כזית מן המת

But how can you say that both [prohibitions] come into force simultaneously?

וקשיא לן

Surely we have learnt:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Naz. 49b.');">¹⁵</span>

על כזית מן המת מגלח על כולו לא כל שכן

By reason of uncleanness contracted from the following sources the Nazirite must shave [his head]:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If he was rendered unclean during the continuance of the Nazirite vow. Cf. Num. VI, 9ff.');">¹⁶</span>

ואמר רבי יוחנן

a corpse, an olive's bulk of [the flesh of] a corpse e Now the question was asked: If he must shave [his head] on account of an olive's bulk of [the flesh of] a corpse, then surely he must shave [his head] for the whole corpse! And R'Johanan answered that it was necessary [to mention the corpse itself] only for the case of an abortion whose limbs were not yet knit together by nerves.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In which case the abortion, even though in the whole of it there is not an olive's bulk of flesh, would render the Nazirite unclean.');">¹⁷</span>

לא נצרכה אלא לנפל שלא נקשרו אבריו בגידין