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1) DOES MEAT ON THE SKIN COMBINE?

(a) (Mishnah - R. Yehudah): Alal...(if a k'Zayis is gathered in one place, it has Tum'as Neveilah; Rashi - also, one who eats it is liable.)
(b) (Rav Huna): This is only if [the one who flayed the animal] gathered them.
(c) (Rav Huna): If two pieces of meat are on the skin, each is half a k'Zayis, the skin nullifies them (they are not like Neveilah).
(d) Question: According to which Tana (in the Mishnah 124a) is this teaching?

1. It is unlike R. Yishmael - he holds that the skin does not nullify the meat!
2. It cannot be like R. Akiva - he explicitly says that the skin nullifies the meat (surely, Rav Huna did not merely teach the Mishnah)!

(e) Answer #1: Really, he holds like R. Yishmael;

1. R. Yishmael admits that the skin nullifies meat that comes off the knife of one flaying the animal (since he leaves the meat there); that Mishnah is when a Chayah bit the animal, and some meat stuck to the skin, no person nullified it.

(f) Objection (Mishnah - R. Yehudah): If a k'Zayis of Alal is gathered in one place, one is liable for it.

1. (Rav Huna): This is only if [the flayer] gathered it.
2. If we would say that R. Yishmael holds that skin does not nullify meat, even if the meat came off a knife, then Rav Huna explains R. Yehudah like R. Yishmael.
3. Summation of objection: But if R. Yishmael admits (to R. Akiva) that skin nullifies meat that comes off a knife, R. Yehudah is not like either of these two Tana'im! (They hold, it is Batel, even if he will gather it, it is not Neveilah.)

(g) Answer #2: Really, Rav Huna holds like R. Akiva.
(h) Question: If so, what is his Chidush?
(i) Answer: One might have thought, R. Akiva only said that skin nullifies meat if it came off a knife;

1. Rav Huna teaches, R. Akiva says this even if it came from a Chayah's bite.

i. We learn this from R. Akiva's choice of words - he attributes the Bitul to the skin.

(a) (Mishnah): The following skins are [Tamei] like the flesh:

1. Skin of man, domestic pigs, the hump of tender (young) camels, the head of tender calves;
2. Regarding all animals, skin of the feet, womb, a fetus, and under the tail;
3. Skin of an Anakah (this could be a porcupine, hedgehog or beaver), praying mantis, lizard, and a slug.
4. R. Yehudah also includes [the skin of] a wild pig, but excludes a lizard, for it is like a rat (its skin is not Tamei).

(b) Regarding all non-human skins, if it was tanned or trampled enough for tanning, it is Tahor.
(c) R. Yochanan ben Nuri says, the skin of all eight Tamei Sheratzim is Tahor.
(d) Version #1 (Gemara - Ula): Mid'oraisa, human skin is Tahor; Chachamim decreed that is Tamei lest people make mats from their parents' skin.
(e) Version #2 (Mishnah): Regarding all non-human skins, if it was tanned or trampled enough for tanning, it is Tahor
(f) (Ula): Mid'oraisa, tanned human skin Tahor; Chachamim decreed that it is Tamei lest people make mats from their parents' skin.

1. According to Version #1, Ula surely agrees that tanned human skin is only Tamei mid'Rabanan.
2. According to Version #2, Ula holds that untanned human skin is Tamei mid'Oraisa.

(a) (Mishnah): The skin of domestic pigs...
(b) Question: What do they argue about?
(c) Answer: R. Yehudah includes skin of a wild pig, because he considers it to be soft; the first Tana holds that it is hard.
(d) (Mishnah): The hump of a tender camel...
(e) Question: How long is it considered tender?
(f) Answer (Ula citing R. Yehoshua ben Levi): It is tender as long as it has not borne a burden.
(g) Question #1 (R. Yirmeyah): What if it is old enough to bear a burden, but it has not done so?
(h) Question #2 (Abaye): What if it is not old enough to bear a burden, but it did so?

1. These questions are unresolved.

(i) Reish Lakish did not know how long is it considered tender. R. Yishmael bar Aba cited R. Yehoshua ben Levi's answer; Reish Lakish showed his gratitude.
(j) R. Zeira did not know how long is it considered tender. Ravin bar Chinena cited the above answer; he did not think that R. Zeira heard him, so he repeated it. R. Zeira scolded him for trying to show off his knowledge.

1. This shows the difference between great people of Eretz Yisrael (Reish Lakish) and the most pious of Bavel (R. Zeira).

(k) (Mishnah): The head of a tender calf...
(l) Question: How long is it considered tender?
(m) Answer #1 (Ula): It is tender for one year.
(n) Answer #2 (R. Yochanan): It is tender as long as it is nursing.
(o) Question: Did Ula mean, one year provided that it is nursing, and R. Yochanan responded, as long as it is nursing (even past a year);

1. Or, did Ula mean one year even if it ceased nursing, and R. Yochanan responded, one year, but only if it is still nursing?

(p) Answer: R. Yochanan said "*as long as* it is nursing" (he increases the time), not "provided that it is nursing" (to diminish the time).

(a) Question (Reish Lakish): Does the skin of the head of a tender calf impart Tum'ah?
(b) Answer (R. Yochanan): It does not.
(c) Question (Reish Lakish): But you taught us the Mishnah, the skin of the head of a tender calf is like the flesh!
(d) Answer (R. Yochanan): The Mishnah is like an individual, the Halachah follows Chachamim.

1. (Beraisa): If an Olah was slaughtered with intention to burn the skin under the tail in the wrong place (i.e. not on the outer Mizbe'ach), the Korban is Pasul, but one who eats it is not Chayav Kares;

i. If he intended to burn it after the allotted time (that day), the Korban is Pigul, one who eats it is Chayav Kares.

2. Eliezer ben Yehudah says, Pasul and Pigul also apply to (improper intent to eat or burn) skin of the feet, skin of a tender calf's head, and skins that are Tamei like the flesh;

i. This comes to include skin of the womb in a female Korban.

3. (The first Tana does not include the head of a tender calf, because he holds it is not like the flesh.)

(e) (Mishnah): Skin of the feet.
(f) Question: What is considered skin of the feet?
(g) Answer #1 (Rav): It includes only the skin of the feet (up to the ankle).
(h) Answer #2 (R. Chanina): It includes all the skin up to the [lower] knee.
(i) (Mishnah): The skin of an Anakah...
(j) (Beraisa): "Ha'Teme'im" - this includes the skins (of Sheratzim, they are Tamei like the flesh).

1. Suggestion: Perhaps this applies to all eight Sheratzim listed!
2. Rejection: "Eleh".

i. Question: "Eleh" refers to all of them!
ii. Answer (Rav): "L'Minehu (and others in this species)" separates ("Eleh" only refers to what is written after "l'Mineihu").
iii. Question: If so, the Mishnah should also list a mole, for this is also after "l'Mineihu"!
iv. Answer (R. Shimon bar Yitzchak): Rav is considered a Tana, he argues with the Mishnah and includes mole.
v. Question: Why do Chachamim (the first Tana) argue?
vi. Answer: They hold like R. Yehudah, who judges by the feel of the skin (Rashi - to decide which skins are like the flesh; Tosfos - to decide to which skins "ha'Teme'im" refers).
vii. They argue with R. Yehudah about a lizard (Chachamim say its skin is like flesh).

(a) (Mishnah): Any skins that were tanned...
(b) Inference: They are Tahor only if they were trampled on.
(c) Question (Beraisa - R. Chiya): If a donkey's ear was used to patch a box, it is Tahor. (Rashi - similarly, *placing* skins where they will be trampled should suffice to be Metaher them! Tosfos - if our Tana agreed to this, he should have taught this case, it is a bigger Chidush!)
(d) Answer: An ear need not be trampled to patch a box; for other uses, trampling is required (Tosfos - both Chidushim are equal).
(e) Question: What is considered "trampled enough for tanning"?
(f) Answer (Rav Huna): It is the time to walk four Mil (one Mil is 2000 Amos).