Chullin 86 - 92
- Covering the blood of shechitah by a non-competent
- How many coverings for multiple shechitah
- Covering by someone other than the slaughterer
- Covering or uncovering of blood by the wind
- If blood mixes with water
- The material to be used for covering blood
- The reward for the humility of the Patriarch Avraham
- The dirt of an idol worshipping city that was destroyed
- The prohibition of eating gid hanasheh (displaced sinew)
- Whether it applies to sacrificial animals
- To which side of the animal does it apply
- The Patriarch Yaakov and the angel he fought
- The fat of the gid hanasheh
Keeping Kosher in Egypt
"Have meat slaughtered and prepare it, for with me will these men dine at noon." (Bereishet 43:16)
This was the order which Yosef gave to the man in charge of his house in order to provide hospitality for his brothers. Rabbi Yossie the son of Rabbi Chanina explains this order as providing assurance to the sons of the Patriarch Yaakov that they were eating kosher meat.
"'Have meat slaughtered'", he says, "means that he invited them to inspect the slaughtered throat to ensure that there had been a proper shechitah. 'And prepare it' means that the forbidden gid hanasheh (displaced sinew on the hip pocket) was removed from the animal in front of them."
These precautions were taken because Yosef 's brothers, like the Patriarchs, observed the mitzvot even before the Torah was given.
Maharsha calls attention to the fact that only in regard to the removal of the gid hanasheh is it mentioned that this was done in front of them. His conclusion is that if one of Yosef's Egyptian attendants had slaughtered the animal in front of them, it would not have sufficed because shechitah performed by a non-Jew is not valid. Yosef therefore invited his brothers to do the slaughtering themselves. But in regard to removing the gid hanasheh it was certainly sufficient for even a non-Jew to carry this out in front of them.
What is difficult to understand is how Yosef's brothers viewed these concerns for their religious observance shown by someone whom they believed to be an Egyptian official. We can only surmise that the proximity of Egyptto Eretz Yisrael and the fame of Yaakov's family allowed for others to be aware of the lifestyle of the Patriarchal families so that they assumed that an Egyptian potentate would certainly know this as well.
- Chullin 91a
What the Sages Say
"Every day an echo goes forth (from Heaven) and declares 'The entire world is sustained in the merit of My son Chanina (Rabbi Chanina ben Dossa) and My son Chanina is content with a kav of carobs from Erev Shabbat to Erev Shabbat."
- Rabbi Yehuda in the name of the Sage Rav - Chullin 86a
