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Week 157 - Friday - 29 November 2002

HULLIN: CHAPTER 7: MISHNAH 1

The gid hanasheh is obligatory both in the Land and outside the Land, during the existence of the Temple and when the Temple does not exist, for hullin and for the consecrated. And it applies to domesticated animals and to undomesticated animals, to the right thigh and to the left thigh. It does not apply to birds, since they have no hollow. It applies to a fetus. R. Yehudah says, It does not apply to a fetus. And its helev fat is permitted. Butchers are not trustworthy concerning the gid hanasheh. So R. Meir, But the Sages say, They are trustworthy concerning it and the helev fat.

Kehati

The gid hanasheh is the sinew (or nerve) located on the hollow of the thigh - which Jacob had dislocated when he wrestled with the Angel (Gen. 32). The Torah forbids us to eat this sinew of the animals thus (ibid. v. 33): "Therefore the Children of Israel shall (or will) not eat of the sinew which is upon the hollow of the thigh, to this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew of the vein." According to the Sefer Hahinuch, rather than signifying a mere account of what happened to the Patriarch, wherefore his descendants refrain from eating the sciatic nerve, the above denotes an explicit prohibition imposed by the Torah. The Gemara distinguishes between an inner and an outer sinew in an animal's thigh. The inner sinew, adjoining the bone (a long sinew whose upper end connects to the tail-bone and spreads downward along the hollow of the thigh, i.e., the convex fleshy prominence on the thighbone; thence it passes to the inner side of and down the thigh until the juncture of the sinews. The term "inner" refers to its location on the interior flanks of the thigh – (Rashi). The outer sinew adjoins the flesh (a shorter sinew, embedded in the flesh of the hollow which does not run along the hollow of the thigh; it is designated "outer," since it is located entirely on the thigh's outer flank (Rashi).

According to Tosafot, the term "inner" refers to the depth of its location, near the bone, whereas "outer," to its position near the flesh, i.e., closer to the surface than the former, The inner sinew, forbidden by Torah law, carries the penalty of the Forty lashes, whereas the outer sinew is forbidden by Rabbinic law alone. Thus the Torah's reference to "the sinew which is upon the hollow of the thigh" is restricted to the sinew that spreads throughout the thigh, i.e., the inner sinew, as explained above; moreover, the specification "upon the hollow" excludes the outer one, which is not upon but within the hollow (Rashi). This chapter deals with the ramifications of the law of the gid hanasheh.

The law forbidding us to eat the gid hanasheh, as explained above, is obligatory both in the Holy Land and outside the Holy Land, since it is a personal precept (not connected to the soil), both during the existence of the Temple and when the Temple does not exist, both for hullin and for the consecrated animals. The Gemara elaborates: The prohibition applies both to consecrated animals that may be eaten and to those that are not eaten; the consecration of the animal does not remove the prior prohibition of the gid hanasheh. - Regarding the prohibition of offering up the gid hanasheh of a burnt-offering while it is within the thigh, there is a dispute in the Gemara; the halakhah forbids us to offer it up. However, the priest places the whole thigh upon the top of the altar, where he removes the gid hanasheh and casts it onto the ash heap in the center of the altar.

And it - the gid hanasheh prohibition - applies to domesticated animals and to undomesticated animals, to the right thigh and to the left thigh - as explained in the Gemara, the Angel who wrestled with Jacob came from behind, smote and dislocated both hips; according to others, though the Angel only struck one side, both were forbidden (Bereshit Rabbah 78).

It - the prohibition - does not apply to birds since they have no hollow - domesticated and undomesticated animals have a spoon-like round fleshy protuberance around the thigh-bone; in birds, however, the flesh around the thigh-bone is spread out, whereas the Torah states regarding the gid hanasheh "which is upon the hollow (lit. 'spoon') of the thigh"; hence the law of gid hanasheh applies to domesticated and undomesticated animals but not to birds. However, if a bird is found to have a hollow, its gid hanasheh is forbidden (Rambam).

It applies to a live nine months' (Gemara) fetus - found in the slaughtered animal's womb, which according to R. Meir (i.e., the First Tanna of our mishnah) requires slaughtering (see 4:5 above) since it is considered a separate animal, hence its gid hanasheh is forbidden.

R. Yehudah says, It - the gid hanasheh prohibition - does not apply - not even to a live nine months' fetus found in an animal's womb after slaughtering, since, according to R. Yehudah, the entire fetus is rendered permitted by its mother's slaughtering, including the gid hanasheh.

And according to R. Yehudah, also its helev fat is permitted for the above reason. However, R. Meir forbids both the gid hanasheh and the helev fat, though he agrees that the gid hanasheh and the helev fat of a dead nine months' fetus or of a dead or live eight months' fetus are permitted, since the whole fetus was rendered permitted by its mother's slaughtering. According to another interpretation (in the Gemara): "And its helev fat is permitted" - all permit the shuman fat (normally permitted in kasher animals) of the gid hanasheh; thus also a baraita: "The shuman thereof is permitted, but Israel, the holy people, treat it as forbidden."

Butchers are not trustworthy concerning the gid hanasheh and are not believed if they claim to have removed the gid hanasheh, a laborious task, which they may not have performed effectively.

So R. Meir, But the Sages say, They are trustworthy concerning it and we believe their declaration to have removed the gid hanasheh and concerning the helev fat; the Torah states (Lev. 7:23-25): "You shall eat no manner of helev fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat... For whoever eats the helev fat of the beast... the soul that eats it shall be cut off from his people." Accordingly, the Sages trust the butchers to have removed the helev fat.

HULLIN: CHAPTER 7: MISHNAH 2

One may send to a non Jew a thigh which contains the gid hanasheh, since its place is known. When one removes the gid hanasheh, he must remove all of it. R. Yehudah says, To fulfill the precept of removing it.

Kehati

One may send as a present to a non-Jew a thigh which contains the gid hanasheh - although the non-Jew's gratitude for the gestures covers the whole thigh, which enhances the gift; even where one may buy slaughtered meat from a non-Jew, i.e., the butchers are Jewish and thus announce any instance of terefah, whereas on that day they did not do so (Gemara; Tosafot; Hameiri), we do not suspect that the non-Jew will sell the thigh to a Jew who will eat it together with the gid hanasheh - since its place is known - i.e., when the thigh is intact it is evident that the gid hanasheh has not been removed. Hence one may give a thigh to a non-Jew even in the presence of a Jew without fear that he will eat of it before the gid hanasheh is removed. But if the thigh was cut up, one may not give it to a non-Jew in the presence of a Jew before removing the gid hanasheh, for fear that the latter will assume that it had been removed before reaching the non-Jew, and eat of it, since any carved up thigh coming from a Jew is presumed to have had its gid hanasheh removed (Gemara, Rambam Hil. Ma'akhalot Assurot 8:14; Rosh). The Gemara cites a baraita (Pes. 22a) wherein the Tannaim differ on whether any benefit may be derived from the gid hanasheh; the Tanna of our mishnah holds that one may do so (see Tosefot Yom Tov).

When one removes the gid hanasheh from the thigh, he must remove all of it - i.e., he must extricate any trace of it.

R. Yehudah says, one need not go to such length, rather it suffices to cut from above what lies in the hollow of the thigh, in order to fulfill the precept of removing it. The halakhah follows the First Tanna.

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