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גיד הנשה. ובמוקדשים – even a burnt offering which is burnt entirely, he removes the nervus ischiadicus (i.e., sinew of the hip, the sciatic nerve) and casts it upon the ashes of the communal altar that is called “pile” (the place on the altar where the ashes are piled up) and it is not offered up with the meat.

Introduction At the conclusion of the story of Jacob wrestling with the angel, Genesis 32:33 states, “That is why the children of Israel to this day do not eat the thigh muscle that is on the socket of the hip, since Jacob’s hip was wrenched at the thigh muscle.” The “thigh muscle” is identified by the rabbis as the sciatic nerve. Our chapter is about this prohibition.

שאין לו כף – it does not have a hollow [of the thigh or a spoon-shaped hip] similar to that of man which is round, but the rather, the meat that is upon the thigh-bone of the fowl is in its width. And if fowl is found that has a round sole, its sciatic nerve is prohibited.

[The prohibition of] the sciatic nerve is in force both within the land and outside it, both during the existence of the Temple and after it, in respect of both unconsecrated and consecrated [animals]. It applies to cattle and to wild animals, to the right and left hip. The prohibition of the sciatic nerve is applicable in all times and at all places (as was the prohibition of “it and its young” and the mitzvah of covering the blood). It applies to all types of mammals, both wild and domesticated and to both of their hips.

ונוהג בשליל – a living [embryo] nine [months old] that is found in the animal.

But it does not apply to a bird because it does not have a socket [on its hip]. The prohibition does not apply to birds, because their hips do not have “sockets” as do those of mammals.

And the Halacha is not like R. Yehuda.

It applies to a fetus. Rabbi Judah says: it does not apply to a fetus. And its [forbidden] fat is permitted. According to the first opinion, the prohibition of the sciatic nerve applies to a fetus found in its mother’s womb when she was slaughtered. Rabbi Judah says it does not because this fetus is edible based on its mother’s having been slaughtered. In other words, since this fetus is treated as if it were one of its mother’s limbs, the prohibition of the sciatic nerve doesn’t apply. Rabbi Judah adds that the same holds true with regard to the forbidden fat, the helev, of a fetus. It can be eaten. Rabbi Judah, as we can see, does not accord to the fetus the status of a born-animal.

וחלבו – of the embryo is permitted. Another interpretation: and the fat of the sinew, meaning to say, the permitted fat of animals (as opposed to forbidden fat) is permitted according to al, but the Jewish people which is holy practiced a prohibition regarding it.

Butchers are not trustworthy with regard to the [removal of the] sciatic nerve, the words of Rabbi Meir. The sages say: they are trustworthy with regard to it as well as with regard to the [forbidden] fat. It is quite difficult to remove the sciatic nerve (this is why sometimes this cut of meat is not available at the kosher butcher). Therefore, Rabbi Meir holds that the butcher is not believed to have removed it. The other rabbis disagree and hold that the butcher is believed to have removed both the sciatic nerve and the forbidden fat.

ואין הטבחים נאמנים – [the butchers are not believed] to state we take it because of the trouble it is for them to hollow it out. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Meir.

שולח אדם ירך לנכרי וכו' – and we don’t take into consideration lest a Jew should see it when he sends it to him and he returns and purchases it from the heathen and eat it with its sinew. For since it is whole, the place of the sciatic nerve is known if it was hollowed out from it and the purchaser understands that it was not removed, and he removes it.

One may send to a non-Jew a thigh in which the sciatic nerve has not been removed, because its place is known. We are not concerned lest a Jew buy this thigh with its sciatic nerve, because he will be able to see by looking at the thigh that the entire sciatic nerve is still there.

שיטול את כולו – he will hollow it out afterwards.

When a person removes the sciatic nerve he must remove all of it. Rabbi Judah says: only so much as is necessary to fulfill the mitzvah of removing it. When he removes the sciatic nerve, he must remove it all, scraping away at anything that is left. Rabbi Judah holds that he need not remove the entire thing, rather just enough to fulfill the mitzvah. He need not do any “scraping away.”

לקיים בו מצות נטילה – he peels the fat off even (see Talmud Hullin 92b) from the top and that is enough.

אכלו ואין בו כזית חייב – because it is a living creature, he is liable for whatever the amount, like one who eats an ant of whatever the amount is liable.

If a person ate an olive’s bulk of the sciatic nerve, he incurs forty stripes. As with many food prohibitions, one is not liable unless he eats an amount equivalent to an olive. While eating less is certainly prohibited, one who does so is not liable for the forty lashes, the punishment for transgression of a negative commandment.

מזה כזית – from the right thigh an olive’s bulk and similarly from the left thigh.

If he ate all of it and it was not as much as an olive's bulk, he is liable. If one eats the entire nerve, he is liable even if it is less than an olive.

אינו סופג אלא ארבעים – for Rabbi Yehuda holds that this is not practiced other than with the right [thigh] for he expounds (Genesis 32:33): “[the socket] of the hip,” that means the strongest of the hips (i.e., the right” (see Talmud Hullin 91a). But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.

If he ate an olive’s bulk of it from one thigh and another olive’s bulk of it from the other thigh, he incurs eighty stripes. Rabbi Judah says: he incurs only forty stripes. According to the first opinion, the nerve of each thigh is a separate prohibition. Therefore, if one eats an olive’s bulk from each thigh, he is liable for eighty lashes (ouch!). Rabbi Judah holds that only the sciatic nerve of only one of the thighs is prohibited, because, after all, Jacob was injured on only one of his legs. Most hold, according to Rabbi Judah, that it is the right thigh that is prohibited. In any case, one who eats both thighs is obligated for only forty lashes.

כבשר בלפת – we view it as if the thigh is broken and the nerve is meat, and whereas if it provided a flavor in the meat like the size of the nerve–sinew, like turnips, [like the measurement of] the thigh, it is prohibited, for the measurement is a traditional law dating from Moses as delivered from Sinai, and we derive that in this we estimate, even though it if it were a cabbage or a leek with a head–porret, one would need less, or more, and that of our Mishnah would be superseded and is not the Halakha and we hold that there isn’t in the sinews–nerve for imparting a flavor, for whether it is cooked or whether it is salted or whether it is roasted, we cast it aside and it is permitted. But especially it, but its fat, it imparts a flavor and if he didn’t carry off the fat, it prohibits, and the imparting of a flavor that is mentioned with it must be of the same species, for a person cannot distinguish, we estimate it as one-sixtieth.

If a thigh was cooked together with the sciatic nerve and there was enough [of the nerve] as to impart a flavor [to the thigh], it is forbidden.
How does one measure this? As if it were meat [cooked] with turnips.
This mishnah deals with whether a thigh that is cooked before the sciatic nerve has been removed is prohibited.
If one cooks a thigh without removing the sciatic nerve, this turns out to be a case of cooking something prohibited (the nerve) with something permitted (the rest of the thigh). Usually in such cases the determining factor is whether the forbidden substance imparts a taste to the permitted substance. We shall learn more about this principle in tomorrow’s mishnah.
However, in this case, there is absolutely no way that someone could taste the difference between a thigh cooked with the nerve and one cooked without the nerve. Therefore, we imagine that the thigh was a dish of turnips and the sciatic nerve was meat. How much meat would impart its taste to the turnips? If this ratio exists between the sciatic nerve and the thigh, then the entire thigh is prohibited. If not, he can still remove the nerve and eat the rest of the thigh.

גיד הנשה שנתבשל עם הגידים – [of those thighs] that are permitted.

Introduction This mishnah deals with a sciatic nerve that is cooked with other permitted nerves. Afterwards, the mishnah continues to deal with the subject of prohibited foods that are cooked with permitted foods.

בזמן שמכירו – he casts it outside, and there is nothing here other than its remnants.

A sciatic nerve which was cooked with other [permitted] nerves: If it can still be recognized, [then all the nerves are prohibited] if [the sciatic nerve] imparts a flavor. But if it can no longer [be recognized] then they are all forbidden. And the broth [is prohibited] if it [the sciatic nerve] imparts a flavor. If the person can still tell which one of the nerves is the sciatic nerve, then the other nerves are prohibited only if we can assume that the sciatic nerve imparted its taste to the other nerves. The test for this would seem to be the turnip and meat test we learned about in yesterday’s mishnah. If he can’t recognize which one is the sciatic nerve, then all of the nerves are prohibited. Note that no amount of other nerves is sufficient, in this case, to nullify the presence of one forbidden nerve. This is unlike the usual rule that holds that forbidden substances can be nullified by a high enough percentage of permitted substances. The Talmud explains that this is because the sciatic nerve is treated like a complete entity, which can never be nullified. As far as the broth goes, here the test is simply whether or not the sciatic nerve was of a sufficient amount to impart its taste. If it is not, then the broth is permitted, even if he can’t tell which one was the nerve.

בנותן טעם – if the prohibited nerve–sinew imparts a taste of flavor in all of these, they are all prohibited.

And so it is with a piece of nevelah, or a piece of an unclean fish that was cooked together with other pieces of flesh [or fish]: If it can still be recognized, [then all are prohibited] if it imparts a flavor. But if it can no longer [be recognized] then they are all forbidden. And the broth [is prohibited] if it [the sciatic nerve] imparts a flavor. The same rules hold true for other prohibited substances. Again we must explain why these pieces of meat or fish are not nullified by a high percentage of permitted meat or fish (in cases where he can’t recognize which was which). One would think that if there were, for instance, 200 pieces of permitted meat and only one piece of nevelah, that the permitted meat would nullify the tiny percentage of prohibited meat. The Talmud explains that pieces of meat or fish which are large enough to present to guests are significant enough that they can never be nullified.

ואם לאו – that he doesn’t recognize that all of them are forbidden, and in each one, one can say that this is it, but it is not neutralized through a majority for it is considered like a living creature and a living creature cannot be neutralized.

בזמן שמכירין – for the forbidden pieces, we estimate with the imparting of a flavor and if there isn’t enough in order to impart a flavor, it is something permitted, and the rest is permitted.

ואם אין מכירין – all the pieces are forbidden for each one of them, one can suspect and state that perhaps this is it, and it is not nullified in a majority, since it is appropriate to be adorned before the guests.

והרוטב מותר – if there isn’t among the forbidden pieces in order to impart a flavor to the broth–juice and the sediment of boiled meat and the pieces and the Halakha in practice is that something forbidden that was mixed with something permitted, a species that is combined with something that is not its species, that one can establish it by taste, if it is priest’s due–heave offering that we combined with profane–unconsecrated produce, a Kohen should taste it. And if it is a forbidden thing, then a heathen professional baker should taste it. If he states that this mixture does not contain the taste of heave offering or the taste of something prohibited, everything is permitted, and the Rabbis believed the heathen professional baker, because it is his craft, he doesn’t lie so that he doesn’t lose his profession. And if there was a mixture of one species with something from the same species where it is not possible to establish the taste–flavor, or if it was one species with something from another species, and there was no Kohen present, or a heathen upon whom one can rely, if the prohibited [substance] is from fat and blood of animals that died of themselves (i.e., carrion) and torn animals, forbidden animals and reptiles, we estimate it with being [one-part] in sixty. If there are sixty [parts] of permitted [food] corresponding to the prohibited [part], it is all permitted, and if not, everything is prohibited. And similarly, the permitted fat of the sciatic nerve, we estimate it corresponding to the sixty [parts] of permissible [fat] but the udder that was cooked with the meat, we estimate it with sixty parts, and the udder is part of the number, because it’s prohibition is from the words of the Scribes; and an egg which has a chick [within] that was cooked with the rest of the permitted eggs, it requires sixty-one parts corresponding to it, but if the prohibited [part] is priest’s due–heave offering, Hallah and First-Fruits, if it is one species with material from the same species, or one species with material from another species, and there isn’t a Kohen or a heathen who can taste it, we estimate it with one-hundred [parts] of unconsecrated produce. But if it is fruit of trees of the first three years or mixed seats in the vineyard, we estimate it with two-hundred parts and all of these measures, we estimate with what is in the pot with the broth and the pieces and the spices and the sediments of boiled meat, and this is the smallest of the bowels at the rim–bottom of the pot, and what comes before us, we estimate, but we don’t estimate what the pot absorbed from that which is permitted, for even that which is prohibited is absorbed and reduced from the amount that was, for that which was permitted was absorbed, but that which was forbidden was not absorbed.

ואינו נוהג בטמאה – for if he ate the sciatic nerve of prohibited [meat], the one who states that there is the imparting of a flavor by the nerve–sinew is flogged because it is a ritually impure, and not because of the sinew–nerve, and the one who states that the sinew–nerves have no flavor, is exempt from everything, for a pure piece of wood is what the Torah obligates him, but one that is impure, is not practiced.

Introduction In this interesting mishnah, the sages argue whether the prohibition of the sciatic nerve applies to non-kosher (unclean) animals.

מבני יעקב נאסר – and yet that which is impure is permitted to them, until the Giving of the Torah.

It applies to clean animals but not to unclean. Rabbi Judah says, even to unclean animals. According to the first opinion, if one eats the sciatic nerve of an unclean animal, a donkey, for instance, he is liable for eating an unclean animal, but he is not liable for having eaten the sciatic nerve. Rabbi Judah disagrees and holds that he has transgressed two prohibitions: 1) eating an unclean animal; 2) eating the sciatic nerve.

אמרו לו – this Biblical verse that they warned him at Sinai it was stated at Sinai, but until Sinai, they were not warned about it.

Rabbi Judah said: was not the sciatic nerve prohibited from the time of the sons of Jacob, and at that time unclean animals were still permitted to them? They replied, this law was ordained at Sinai but was written in its proper place. Rabbi Judah’s argument is based on the unique placement of the sciatic nerve prohibition in the Torah. In the Torah, the prohibition is given in Genesis, before the rest of the laws are given at Sinai. Before the laws were given, all animals were permitted to all of humanity, including the children of Israel. Thus the sciatic nerve was prohibited at a time when unclean animals were permitted. The special nature of this prohibition stays in place, according to Rabbi Judah, even after the Torah was given on Sinai. The other rabbis argue that this law was actually given on Sinai as well. From the time of Jacob until the giving of the Torah there was no prohibition of the sciatic nerve. When the law was placed in the Torah it was put into the context of the story of Jacob, for the reason for this prohibition lies there. Thus it only applies to animal that were permitted after Sinai clean animals.

אלא שנכתב במקומו – after it was stated at Sinai, when Moses came to arrange the Torah, he wrote this Biblical passage about the event, therefore, the children of Israel were warned afterwards that they should not eat the sciatic nerve [to known for which reason it was prohibited to them], but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Yehuda.