Chullin Daf 50 צולין דַף 50

Rav Shimi bar Chiya said: מקיפים בבני מעיים – we may compare a puncture in the intestines to a newly-made puncture to determine if the original puncture occurred before or after the shechitah. Rava once punctured intestines for comparison, and they were not similar. His son, Rav Mesharshiya, came and rubbed the new punctures, and they appeared similar to the original ones. He explained: כמה ידי ממשמשו בהני מקמי דליתי לקמיה דמר – How many hands rubbed these original holes before they were brought before Master? Thus, a proper comparison requires rubbing the new holes. Rava remarked: חכים ברי בטרפות כרבי יוחנן – My son is as wise regarding tereifos as Rebbe Yochanan! Rebbe Yochanan and Rebbe Elazar say we may compare punctures in the ריאה to determine if the original puncture occurred before shechitah. One may even compare holes from one row of lobes to another (not like Rava’s ruling), but one cannot compare from a large lobe to a small one, or vice versa. Abaye and Rava says we may compare a break or hole in the קנה to determine when it was made, and the Gemara discusses the details of this comparison.

The Mishnah on Daf 42a taught that if the כרס הפנימי – inner paunch (first stomach) was punctured, or the outer כרס was torn, it is a tereifah. Amoraim give numerous definitions of the כרס הפנימי: (1) סניא דיבי – the cecum (the pouch at the beginning of the large intestines). (2) איסתומכא דכרסא – the “stomach” of the paunch (Rashi says he does not know what this is). (3) Rebbe Yochanan was quoted as identifying it as מקום צר – a narrow section in the כרס, and this is explained: מן המיצר ולמטה – from where it narrows and downwards. (4) מקום שאין בו מילת – the place which does not have wooly projections. (5) the last tefach of the וושט next to the כרס. (6) Rebbe Yose bar Chanina is quoted as saying that the entire כרס is considered the "כרס הפנימי", and the "כרס החיצון" is the flesh which covers most of the כרס. (7) Rabbah bar Rav Huna says it is the "מפרעתה", which means היכא דפרעי טבחי – [the area] the butchers expose when they slit the belly of the hanging animal open. This opinion was followed in נהרדעא, and Ameimar explained that all the other opinions are accommodated by this opinion (i.e., they are within the area of his definition [except the fifth and sixth opinions]).

In the Mishnah, Rebbe Yehudah said, regarding a torn כרס החיצון, that הגדולה טפח – for a large [animal], the measure is a tefach, והקטנה ברובה – and for a small [animal], the measure is with most of [theכרס החיצון]. Rebbe Elazar says that a “large” animal does not mean the very largest animal, nor does a “small” animal mean the very smallest animal. Rather, כל שנקרע בה טפח ולא הוי רובא – any case where a tefach [of the כרס] is torn and it is not yet most of [the כרס], this is the “large” animal of the Mishnah, and wherever a tear of most of the כרס would be more than a tefach, this is the “small” animal of the Mishnah. Geniva said in Rebbe Assi’s name: נקדרה כסלע – if a hole the size of a sela was cut out from the כרס החיצון, it is a tereifah, שאם תמתח תעמוד על הטפח – because if it is stretched out into a straight line, it would come to a tefach. This is clarified to mean larger than a sela, which Rav Yosef further defined as enough room for three date pits coated with fruit residue to squeeze through, or without residue to easily pass through.