Kommentar zu Chullin 4:6

בהמה שנתחכו – the hind–back [legs].

Introduction Our mishnah talks about two different subjects: 1) the status as a terefah an animal whose leg has been broken off; 2) a limb hanging from an animal and whether it is considered to still be part of the animal.

מן הארכובה ולמטה – there are three bones in the thigh. The lowest is the bone that is cut with the split hoofs when they flay the animal and this joint is called the knee that is sold with the head, and in the foreign tongue, we call that limb–joint YEENOKLAV, and in Arabic DUKBA. And above it there is the middle bone and the bunch of converging sinews in the thigh (see Talmud Hullin 76a) underneath it adjacent to the limb–joint of the knee that is sold with the head. And the uppermost is the thigh-bone which is inserted in the tail. And the joint which is between the end of the thigh-bone to the top of the middle bone is known and seen in a camel when it lies down more than the rest of the living creatures. And from the knee and below as it is taught in our Mishnah that it is kosher, which is from the beginning of the knee that is sold with the head and below. But from the knee and upward, which is from the end of the middle bone, which is the place of bunch of converging sinews in the thigh, in every place where the foot is cut, from there and above is “torn” (not kosher).

If the hind legs of an animal were cut off below the joint, it is permitted; If above the joint, it is terefah. According to the rabbis there are three parts to an animal’s leg. The lowest part is the foot, the middle part is the calf and the upper part is the thigh. The place where the foot is attached to the calf and the place where the calf is attached to the thigh are both called “berech” which in modern Hebrew means knee. In the Talmud they debate which joint is “the joint” mentioned here. If it is the upper one, then it would mean that an animal whose leg has been severed below the knee (what we call the knee) is not a terefah. If it is the lower one, then only if it is severed below the place where the foot joins the calf is it not a terefah.

וכן שניטל צומת הגידין (if the juncture of the thigh sinews was removed – even if the foot was not cut off that the bone was not broken but the bunch of converging sinews in the thigh were removed, it is invalid–”torn.” So explained some of the Amoraim of the Mishnah in the Gemara (Talmud Hullin 76a-b). But this approach my teachers–Rabbis took hold of as essential and taught that in every place where the leg was cut off above from lower knee which they call Y’NUKLAV in the foreign tongue, whether in the place where the bunch of converging sinews or whether above from the bunch of converging sinews, it is [considered] “torn” (unfit, not kosher). But Maimonides and Rabbi Alfasi his teacher took hold as essential a different commentary–explanation – that from the knee and below is kosher and from the knee and above is unfit, for this is what he said: below from the upper knee which is the thigh-bone that is inserted in the tail, but not below immediately adjacent to it, but rather, below from the middle bone entirely, which is the lower bone, is definitely kosher. Above from the knee, which is the thigh-bone, is definitely “torn” (i.e., unfit, not kosher) in every place that he cut off. And similarly, if he removed the bunch of converging sinews, meaning to say, that in the middle bone, there is a place that is “torn” such as the bunch of converging sinews, and there is a place which is kosher, such as above from the bunch of converging sinew. But don’t be astonished how if he severed it above from the bunch on the middle bone, it is kosher, but when he lowers to cut the bunch, it is “torn,” that we can’t say that this torn part is similar to that one, for if one cuts from here and the animal dies, one cuts from there and the animal lives. And this animal is not forbidden because its leg was severed from this place, but rather because the bunch of sinews were cut, for their severing is within the general [definition] of those things that are torn. And the place of the bunch of the converging sinews begins from the place where they appear hard and white until the place that they begin to soften and redden.

So too if the juncture of the tendons was gone, [it is terefah]. The “juncture of the tendons” refers to the tendons that connect the thigh to the knee. If these are missing, the animal is a terefah even if the bone is still whole.

וצומת הגידין – they are three white sinews in the animal that meet and are connected together. One of them is thick and the [other] two are thin. If the thick one alone is removed, this is not the removal of the bunch of converging sinews, for two of them remain. But if the two think wones are removed from their place, it is permitted, for the one that is thick and larger than the other two, for the entire bunch of converging sinews were not removed, only a minority of them. But if most of each of them were severed, it is “torn” (i.e., not kosher). And one does not need to state if all of them were severed or if all of them were removed. And with fowl, they are sixteen white sinews, even if only the majority of one of them was severed, it is “torn” (i.e., not kosher).

If the bone was broken but the greater part of the flesh [around the fracture] remained, it is rendered clean by the slaughtering; Otherwise it is not rendered clean by the slaughtering. A limb that was separated from the animal when the animal was still alive cannot be rendered clean by slaughtering the animal. A broken bone does not mean that the limb must be considered separate. As long as most of the flesh remains, the limb is part of the animal and when the animal is slaughtered, the limb is permitted and clean. But if most of the flesh does not remain, then the limb is not considered as part of the animal and the limb is unclean even after the animal is slaughtered.

נשבר העצם – below from the knee in the place where it doesn’t make it “torn” (i.e., not kosher).

‘אם רוב הבשר קיים – which is the hide and flesh cover most of its thickness and most of its circumference of the break. For sometimes it is found this without that, such as when it widens from one side and is narrow from the other side, for the bone is not round. Therefore, it requires both.

שחיטתו מטהרתו – to the limb hanging down from the body, and it is permitted, even for consumption.

ואם לאו – that the hide and the flesh do not cover the majority, the slaughtering does not render it clean. But even though the animal is permitted, the limb is forbidden because of (Exodus 22:30): “you must not eat flesh torn by beasts in the field; [you shall cast it to the dogs],” as we state (Tractate Hullin 73a), to include the limb and flesh hanging down from the body. But if the bone is broken form the knee and above to the place where it makes it “torn,” if most of the flesh exists, the limb and the animal are permitted. But if not, the limb and the animal are prohibited. And the law of the fowl is like the law of the animals of the field for this matter.