007 - הִלְכוֹת מַאֲכָלוֹת אֲסוּרוֹת פֵּרֶק ז

Laws of Ma'achalos Asuros, Chapter 7

1. One who eats a kezayis of chelev (forbidden fat): if deliberately, he is liable to kares; if inadvertently, he brings a fixed sin-offering. The Torah states explicitly that one is liable only for three species of pure domestic animal, as it says, "כָּל-חֵלֶב שׁוֹר וְכֶשֶׂב, וָעֵז--לֹא תֹאכֵלוּ" ("you shall eat no fat of ox, sheep or goat," Vayikra 7:23), whether he ate the fat of a slaughtered animal or the fat of their neveilah or tereifah. But with other domestic and wild animals, whether impure or pure, their fat is like their flesh. Likewise a stillborn (nefel) of the three species of pure domestic animal: its fat is like its flesh, and one who eats a kezayis of its fat receives lashes as one who eats neveilah.

2. One who eats the fat of neveilah or tereifah is liable both for eating chelev and for eating neveilah or tereifah. Since the prohibition was added to its flesh, which had been permitted, it was added to the fat as well; therefore he receives lashes twice.

3. One who slaughters an animal and finds a fetus in it: all its fat is permitted, even if he found it alive, because it is like a limb of the mother. If its months were completed and he found it alive, even though it did not stand on the ground and does not need slaughter, its fat is forbidden and one is liable to kares for it; and all the forbidden threads and membranes are removed from it, as with other animals.

4. If he put his hand into the innards of the animal, cut from the fat of a fetus whose months were completed, and took it out, he is liable for it as though he had cut it from the fat of the mother herself, for it is the months that cause the fat to be forbidden.

5. There are three fats for which one is liable to kares: the fat on the innards, the fat on the two kidneys, and the fat on the flanks. But the tail is permitted to be eaten; it is called chelev only with regard to an offering, just as the kidneys and the lobe of the liver are called chelev with regard to an offering. As one says "חֵלֶב הָאָרֶץ" ("the fat of the land," Bereishis 45:18) and "חֵלֶב, כִּלְיוֹת חִטָּה" ("the fat of the kidneys of wheat," Devarim 32:14), meaning the best of them. Since these parts are lifted from the offering to be burned for Hashem, they are called chelev, for there is nothing better than what is lifted for Hashem. This is why it says of terumas ma'aser, "בַּהֲרִימְכֶם אֶת-חֶלְבּוֹ, מִמֶּנּוּ" ("when you lift its best part from it," Bamidbar 18:30, 32).

6. The fat on the third stomach (hamsess) and on the second stomach (beis hakosos) is the fat on the innards. The fat inside at the tops of the thighs, for which one is liable to kares, is the fat on the flanks. There is fat on the fourth stomach (keivah): what is curved like a bow is forbidden, and what is drawn out like a cord is permitted. The threads in the fat are forbidden, but one is not liable to kares for them.

7. Fat that the flesh covers is permitted, for the verse forbade the fat on the flanks, not what is inside the flanks; likewise the fat on the kidneys was forbidden, not what is inside the kidneys. Even so, a person removes the white inside the kidney and afterwards eats it, but he need not dig after it.

8. There are what look like two wicks of fat at the base of the loins, near the head of the thigh. When the animal is alive, this fat is visible in the innards; when it dies, the flesh sticks to the flesh and this fat is covered and is not seen until the flesh is separated from the flesh. Even so, it is forbidden, for this is not fat that the flesh covers. But anywhere you find fat under the flesh, with the flesh surrounding it on all sides so that it is not seen until the flesh is torn, it is permitted.

9. The fat of the heart and the fat of the intestines, which are the thin ones that wind around, are all permitted, and are like suet (shuman), which is permitted, except for the beginning of the intestine near the keivah, which is the start of the intestines; its fat must be scraped off, and this is the fat on the thin intestines that is forbidden. Some of the Geonim say that the head of the intestine that must be scraped is the intestine through which the excrement goes out, which is the end of the intestines.

10. In the body of the animal there are threads and membranes that are forbidden, some because of chelev and some because of blood. Any thread or membrane that is forbidden because of "כָּל-דָּם, לֹא תֹאכֵלוּ" ("you shall eat no blood," Vayikra 3:17; 7:26) must be removed, and afterwards he salts and cooks the meat as we said. If he cut it and salted it, he need not remove it; and if it is for roasting, he need not remove it. Any thread or membrane that is forbidden because of "כָּל-חֵלֶב" ("all fat," Vayikra 3:17; 7:23), whether for roasting or for cooking, must be removed from the animal.

11. There are five threads in the flanks, three on the right and two on the left. The three on the right each split into two, and the two on the left each split into three. All of them are forbidden because of chelev; the threads of the spleen and the threads of the kidneys are forbidden because of chelev. Likewise the membrane on the spleen, the membrane on the flanks and the membrane on the kidneys are forbidden because of chelev. For the membrane on the udder of the spleen one is liable to kares; the rest of the membrane is forbidden, but one is not liable for it.

12. The kidney has two membranes. For the upper one, one is liable to kares like the fat on the kidney; the lower one is like the other membranes and threads, which are forbidden but carry no kares.

13. The threads of the heart, the threads of the foreleg, the threads of the hip, the threads of the lower jaw on each side of the tongue, and likewise the fine threads inside the fat of the thin intestines, tangled together like a spider's web, the membrane on the brain at the crown of the head, and the membrane on the testicles, are all forbidden because of blood.

14. The testicles of a kid or lamb that is not yet thirty days old may be cooked without peeling. After thirty days, if fine red threads are seen in them, it is known that blood has gone into them, and he should not cook them until he peels them, or until he cuts them and salts them, as we explained. If the red threads are not yet seen in them, they are permitted.

15. All intestines whose cavity food passes through are not presumed to hold blood.

16. It seems to me that all these threads and membranes are forbidden by the words of the Sages. And if you say that they are forbidden by Torah law, as included in "כָּל-חֵלֶב" ("all fat," Vayikra 3:17; 7:23) and "וְכָל-דָּם" ("and all blood," Vayikra 3:17; 7:26), one receives only lashes for rebelliousness for them; they would be like half a measure (chatzi shiur), which is forbidden by Torah law, but one does not receive lashes for it.

17. Fats are not salted together with meat, and fats are not rinsed together with meat. A knife with which he cut fats should not be used to cut meat, and a vessel in which he rinsed fats should not be used to rinse meat. Therefore the butcher must prepare three knives: one with which he slaughters, one with which he cuts meat, and one with which he cuts fats.

18. If the custom of that place is for the butcher to rinse the meat in the shop, he must prepare two whole vessels, one in which he rinses meat and one in which he rinses fats.

19. It is forbidden for the butcher to spread the fat of the flanks over the meat to make it look attractive, for the membrane on the fat is thin; it gets crushed in the butcher's hand, the fat melts and is absorbed into the meat. All these things are forbidden to do; but if they were done, the meat does not become forbidden, and the one who did it is not given lashes, but is taught not to do it.

20. Likewise meat is not salted before the forbidden membranes and threads are removed from it. If he salted it, he removes them after they were salted; even if the gid hanasheh (sciatic nerve) was among them, he removes it after it was salted, and cooks.

21. A butcher whose job is to clean the meat, and a thread or membrane is found after him, is taught and warned not to treat prohibitions lightly. But if fat is found after him: if it was the size of a barleycorn, he is removed from his position; and if a kezayis of fat is found after him, even in many places, he is given lashes for rebelliousness and removed from his position, because the butcher is trusted concerning the fat.