008 - הִלְכוֹת מַאֲכָלוֹת אֲסוּרוֹת פֵּרֶק ח

Laws of Ma'achalos Asuros, Chapter 8

1. The gid hanasheh (sciatic nerve) applies to pure domestic and wild animals, even to their neveilah and tereifah. It applies to a fetus and to consecrated animals, whether consecrated animals that are eaten or ones that are not eaten. It applies to the right thigh and to the left thigh. By Torah law only the part on the hollow of the thigh is forbidden, as it says, "אֲשֶׁר עַל-כַּף הַיָּרֵךְ" ("which is on the hollow of the thigh," Bereishis 32:33); but the rest of the nerve above the hollow, and below it to its end, as well as the fat on the nerve, are forbidden only by the words of the Sages. There are two nerves: the inner one, near the bone, is forbidden by Torah law; and the whole outer one is forbidden by the words of the Sages.

2. One who eats of the inner gid hanasheh, from the place on the hollow, receives lashes. If he ate of its fat, or of the rest of the inner nerve, or of any of the outer one, he is given lashes for rebelliousness. The measure for eating is a kezayis; but if he ate the whole nerve on the hollow, even though it is not a kezayis, he receives lashes, because it is like a complete creature in its own right (beriyah).

3. If he ate a kezayis of the gid hanasheh of the right thigh and a kezayis of the gid hanasheh of the left thigh, or ate both whole nerves even though they do not contain a kezayis, he receives eighty lashes; and so he receives lashes for each and every nerve.

4. A bird has no gid hanasheh, because it has no hollow of the thigh; its thigh is round. If a bird is found whose thigh is like the thigh of a domestic animal, with a hollow, its gid hanasheh is forbidden, but one does not receive lashes for it. Likewise an animal whose hollow of the thigh is long like a bird's: its gid hanasheh is forbidden, but one does not receive lashes for it.

5. One who eats the gid hanasheh of an impure domestic or wild animal is exempt, because it applies not to an impure animal but only to an animal that is entirely permitted. Nor is it like eating from the rest of its body, for the nerves are not included in the flesh, as we explained. If he ate of the fat on the nerve, it is like eating of its flesh.

6. One who eats the gid hanasheh of a neveilah, or of a tereifah, or of an olah (burnt-offering) is liable twice: since the prohibition included the rest of its body, which had been permitted, it included the nerve too, and another prohibition was added to it.

7. One who removes the gid hanasheh must dig after it until nothing at all remains of it. The butcher is trusted concerning the gid hanasheh just as he is trusted concerning the chelev. Meat is not bought from any butcher; only if he is a proper person with an established reputation for propriety, who slaughters for himself and sells, is he trusted.

8. When does this apply? Outside Eretz Yisrael. But in Eretz Yisrael, at a time when all of it belongs to Israel, one may buy from anyone.

9. A butcher trusted to sell meat, and neveilah or tereifah meat is found with him: he returns the money to the owners, and he is placed under the ban and removed from his position. There is never a remedy for buying meat from him until he goes to a place where he is not known and returns a lost object of significant value, or slaughters for himself and declares tereifah for himself at a significant financial loss, for then he has certainly repented without deceit.

10. One who bought meat and sent it with one of the unlearned (amei ha'aretz) may trust him with it; even though he does not have an established reputation for propriety, we are not concerned that he might exchange it. Even the Canaanite servants and maidservants of Jews are trusted in this matter; but not non-Jews, for one might exchange it.

11. If there were ten shops, nine selling slaughtered meat and one selling neveilah meat, and he bought meat from one of them and does not know from which he bought, it is forbidden. But with meat found in the marketplace, we follow the majority: if most of the sellers were non-Jews, it is forbidden; if most of the sellers were Jews, it is permitted.

12. Likewise meat found in the hand of a non-Jew: if the meat sellers were Jews, it is permitted. This is the law of the Torah; but the Sages have already forbidden all meat that is found, whether in the marketplace or in the hand of a non-Jew, even if all the slaughterers and all the sellers are Jews. Moreover, one who bought meat and left it in his house, and it was out of sight, it is forbidden, unless he had a mark on it, or he recognized it by sight and knows for certain that it is this one, or it was tied and sealed.

13. If he hung up a vessel full of pieces of meat, the vessel broke and the pieces fell to the ground, and he came and found pieces, but he has no mark on them and does not recognize them by sight, they are forbidden. For we say that wild animal or rodent dragged that meat away, and this is other meat.

14. The gid hanasheh is permitted for benefit. Therefore a person may send a non-Jew a thigh with the gid hanasheh inside it, and give him the whole thigh in the presence of a Jew; we are not concerned that this Jew might eat from it before the nerve is removed, for its place is recognizable. Therefore, if the thigh was cut up, he should not give it to a non-Jew in the presence of a Jew until he removes the nerve, lest a Jew eat from it.

15. Wherever the Torah says "you shall not eat" in any form, both a prohibition of eating and a prohibition of benefit are meant, until the verse specifies otherwise, as it specified with neveilah, "לַגֵּר אֲשֶׁר-בִּשְׁעָרֶיךָ תִּתְּנֶנָּה וַאֲכָלָהּ" ("you may give it to the stranger in your gates, that he may eat it," Devarim 14:21), and with chelev, of which it says, "יֵעָשֶׂה לְכָל-מְלָאכָה" ("it may be used for any work," Vayikra 7:24); or until it is explained in the Oral Torah that it is permitted for benefit, as with creeping creatures, crawling creatures, blood, a limb from a living animal and the gid hanasheh. All these are permitted for benefit by the tradition, even though they are forbidden to eat.

16. Any food that is forbidden for benefit: if he benefited from it without eating it, for example he sold it or gave it to a non-Jew or to dogs, he does not receive lashes, but he is given lashes for rebelliousness, and the money is permitted. Anything forbidden to eat but permitted for benefit, even though it is permitted for benefit, may not be traded, and one may not make it his business to deal in forbidden things, except for chelev, of which it says, "יֵעָשֶׂה לְכָל-מְלָאכָה" ("it may be used for any work," Vayikra 7:24).

16. Therefore one does not trade in neveilos, in tereifos, in creeping creatures or in crawling creatures.

17. A hunter who happened upon an impure wild animal, bird or fish and caught it, or who caught impure ones together with pure ones, may sell them; but he should not make it his business to catch impure ones.

17. It is permitted to trade in milk that a non-Jew milked without a Jew watching, in the cheese of non-Jews, and the like.

18. This is the rule: anything forbidden by Torah law may not be traded; anything forbidden by the words of the Sages may be traded, whether it is doubtful or certain.