My Jewish Learning

Today’s daf continues the series of mishnahs with the formulation “that which is the rule for x is exactly the opposite for y (a similar thing), and that which is the rule for y is exactly the opposite for x.” These mishnahs explore topics far afield from this tractate’s primary concern, animal slaughter. Today, for example, we’ll examine a...

On today’s daf, we encounter the following mishnah: 

There is an element with which priests remain fit and Levites are unfit, and there is also an element with which Levites remain fit and priests are unfit.

This has nothing to do with slaughtering animals. Rather, this is one in a series of mishnahs on today’s daf that follow the formula: ...

Leviticus 1:14 states: “If your offering to God is a burnt offering of birds, you shall choose your offering from doves or young pigeons.” On today’s daf, the Talmud asserts this verse teaches is written in this way:

To exclude a bird t...

Tractate Chullin has wandered into a discussion of bird sacrifices which continues on today’s daf with the following mishnah:

What is fit for sacrifice in doves is unfit for sacrifice in pigeons.

That which is fit for sacrifice in pigeons is unfit for sacrifice in doves.

At the beginning of the yellowing of its p...

“It just so happens that your friend here is only mostly dead. There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive.” 

That’s not the Talmud, of course. It’s a line from the iconic movie The Princess Bride in which Miracle Max, played by the incomparable Billy Crystal, reassures Mandy Patinkin’s Inigo Montoya t...