Chullin 107 - 113
- Rules of washing hands before eating
- Keeping meat and dairy separate
- When a drop of milk falls upon meat being cooked
- The milk of kachal (the udder) and the blood of the heart
- What permitted food tastes like forbidden meat and milk
- The strange behavior of the visiting Sage from Pumpadita
- How liver may be prepared for consumption
- Separate dishes for meat and dairy
- Whether salted or pickled matter is considered like cooked
- Salting meat together with fish
- Fowl meat and milk
- Forbidden meat cooked with kosher milk and vice versa
Prohibition Paradox
"Everything which the Torah prohibited something similar to it was permitted."
This observation made by the wife of Rabbi Nachman was supported by a number of examples. The first was the prohibition against consuming blood and the permission to eat liver whose taste is similar to that of blood.
Maharsha explains that the message conveyed by this apparent paradox is that the prohibitions contained in the Torah are Heavenly decrees whose purpose is not always understood by our limited intelligence. One might assume that the ban on blood is based on the disgusting nature of such consumption. If that were true, then liver would also be in the same category. By permitting the consumption of liver with its bloody taste the Torah taught us that this is not so, and the reason we must abstain from blood is simply because we are thus commanded by G-d.
- Chullin 109b
What the Sages Say
"One who feeds another is not required to wash his hands, while the eater is required to do so even if he does not touch the food."
- Ruling of the Gemara - Chullin 107b
