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Chulin 61

1) [line 1] NESHER (THE TWENTY BIRDS LISTED IN VAYIKRA THAT ARE FORBIDDEN TO EAT (based on Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's "The Living Torah" - Vayikra 11:13))
1. NESHER - eagle; TOSAFOS to Chulin 63a DH Netz objects to this definition, claiming that the eagle has a sign of Taharah whereas a Nesher has none (see Insights to Chulin 59:3). Therefore, some identify the Nesher as the griffon vulture, the largest carnivorous bird in the Holy Land, with a wing span that often reaches as much as ten feet
2. PERES - ossifrage; alternatively, the bearded vulture that lives in the Holy Land
3. OZNIYAH - osprey (sea eagle or fish hawk; a large hawk that feeds on fish); alternatively, the albatross or the black vulture of which two species live in the Holy Land
4. DA'AH - kite (a hawklike bird that eats mice, hares, and carrion); alternatively, the vulture
5. AYAH - a bird like the vulture or buzzard; also translated as a kind of goose, magpie, woodpecker, or a kind of owl
6. OREV - (Fr. corbeau) raven or crow
7. BAS HA'YA'ANAH - ostrich; some identify it with an owl, particularly the dark desert eagle owl, which call back and forth as if answering ("Anah") one another
8. TACHMAS - owl; alternatively, the falcon that lives in the Holy Land
9. SHACHAF - gull (see below #12, SHALACH)
10. NETZ - (O.F. osproir) hawk; some sources question this (see TOSAFOS to Chulin 63a DH ha'Netz) and identify the Netz with the gosshawk (ARUCH, RADAK)
11. KOS - falcon; alternatively, the owl or little owl (TOSFOS to Chulin 63a DH Bavas)
12. SHALACH - seagull or pelican; TARGUM ONKELUS translates this as "Shaleinuna," which uses its beak to catch ("Sholeh") fish ("Nunei") from the ocean (Chulin 63a)
13. YANSHUF - ibis; alternatively, the falcon or a species of owl (TOSFOS to Chulin 63a DH Bavas)
14. TINSHEMES - (Fr. chouette) a kind of an owl; see RASHI to Chulin 63a DH Bavas sheb'Ofos), probably the barn screech owl; alternatively a bat (Fr. Chauvesouris); see Rashi ibid. DH Kifof
15. KA'AS - pelican; alternatively, the little desert owl
16. RACHAM - magpie; alternatively, the Egyptian Vulture, the smallest vulture in the Holy Land
17. CHASIDAH - stork (RASHI to Vayikra 11:19, CHIZKUNI, cf. TESHUVOS HA'ROSH 20:20); according to Rabeinu Yerocham, the Chasidah is not the stork because the stork is a kosher bird
18. ANAFAH - heron
19. DUCHIFAS - hoopoe; alternatively, the mountain cock or capercaillie, the largest member of the grouse family (cf. RASHI to Chulin 63a DH she'Hodo who translates it as puaon chalbia)
20. ATALEF - bat

2) [line 3] TORIN - turtledoves

3) [line 7] MI'DIVREI SOFRIM - from the words of the Sofrim, Torah sages of the early Tanaic period. It refers to laws that are not explicitly stated in the Torah that have been transmitted orally by the Sofrim

61b---------------------------------------61b

4) [line 11] SHNEI KESUVIM HA'BA'IN K'ECHAD EIN MELAMDIN - we do not learn from two subjects that express the same Halachah (lit. that come together)
(a) In the Introduction to the Sifra (the Halachic Midrash to Vayikra), Rebbi Yishmael lists thirteen methods that Chazal use for extracting the Halachah from the verses of the Torah. One of them is called Binyan Av. A Binyan Av (lit. "building through a father" -- father in this sense means a Biblical source), is a rule of Biblical interpretation in which one subject is deemed a prototype in order to apply a Halachah stated in that subject to other comparable subjects.
(b) If two verses express the same Halachah regarding two different subjects, we cannot apply the Halachah elsewhere through a Binyan Av. Through the fact that the Torah found it necessary to repeat the law the second time, we may deduce that the Halachah is *not* meant to be applied automatically in all situations.

5) [line 18] ESRIM MEHEM SHELOSHAH SHELOSHAH - twenty of them have three [of the signs of kosher birds, but are missing the fourth]

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