Chullin 114 - 120
- How literal is the ban on cooking a kid goat in its mother's milk
- What benefit may be derived from the carcass of an animal that died not through shechitah
- Different proofs that the prohibition of mixing meat and milk applies to all animals
- The minority opinions of Rabbi Yossi Hagelili and Rabbi Eliezer
- Rennet and stomach linings of forbidden animals
- Buying eggs or cheese from a non-Jew
- Comparison of the prohibitions against consumption of cheilev(animal fat) and blood
- The ritual impurity caused by contact with dead animal
- The status of all parts of the carcass regarding such impurity
- Liquefying a solid or congealing a liquid in regard to forbidden foods
When Drinking is Eating
"For anyone who eats the fat of animal species from which one may bring a fire offering to G-d – the nefesh that eats it will be cut off from its people." (Vayikra 7:25)
The use of the term nefesh(literally soul) in describing the transgressor who consumes forbidden fat is understood by our gemara as an indication that the above-mentioned penalty of karet (extirpation) applies as well to one who dissolves the fat and drinks it, since this too is soul-satisfying.
Tosefot raises the question as to why it is necessary to derive this from the term nefesh in this passage when we already have the following source for drinking being considered as equivalent to eating. In Mesechta Shavuot (23a) the gemara deduces this from the passage (Devarim 14:22) which speaks of eating the second tithe before G-d (in Yerushalayim) and mentions wine as one of the items consumed.
The resolution of Tosefot is that the source in Shavuot is applicable only to such liquids like wine which it is normal to drink, while our gemara deals with fat which it is normal to eat and not to consume in melted form.
Another approach is suggested by Rabbi Zvi Hirsh Chayos in his commentary. The amount of eating required for the karet penalty is kezayit, while for drinking the amount is the greater quantity of revi’it. According to the source in Shavuot that drinking is equivalent to eating, the amount to be liable for the penalty would be a revi’it like all drinking. But the term nefesh used in our gemara indicates that we view the melted fat as actually being eaten, and therefore even a kezayit of it would qualify for the penalty.
- Chullin 120a
What the Sages Say
"When the Torah mentions that 'Yehudah sent the kid of the goats (Bereshet 38:15)', this is a message that only here does goat refer specifically to this species, but that everywhere else where the term goat is used it refers to animals in general."
- Rabbi Elazar - Chullin 113a
