Torah · · 4 min read

Yisrael Kedoshim

The Torah permits the fat around the sciatic nerve. The Jewish people avoided it anyway, and the Sages turned their practice into binding law.

After two dapim of aggadah, Chullin 92b returns to the laws of גיד הנשה. The Mishnah teaches that the prohibition applies to a שליל, and Shmuel adds a puzzling ruling: its fat is permitted according to all. Which fat does he mean?

92a 92b 92a §3 continues §2 92a §5 parallels §4 92a §6 parallels §5 92a §7 continues §6 92a §8 parallels §6 92b §1 continues §2 92b §3 resolves §4 92b §5 continues §6 92b §5 parallels §6 92a 1. Interpretation of 'Baruch' and permission — click for its voices 1 Interpretation of 'Baruch' and permission 92a 2. Interpretation of Jacob's struggle with the angel — click for its voices 2 Interpretation of Jacob's struggle with the angel 3 connections elsewhere — click to show⤳ 3 92a 3. Rabbah's hint about two leaders — click for its voices 3 Rabbah's hint about two leaders 1 connection elsewhere — click to show⤳ 1 92a 4. Interpretation of the three branches in Joseph's dream — click for its voices 4 Interpretation of the three branches in Joseph's dream 1 connection elsewhere — click to show⤳ 1 92a 5. Dispute among Tannaim on the allegory of the vine — click for its voices 5 Dispute among Tannaim on the allegory of the vine 2 connections elsewhere — click to show⤳ 2 92a 6. Further allegorical interpretations of the vine — click for its voices 6 Further allegorical interpretations of the vine 3 connections elsewhere — click to show⤳ 3 92a 7. Rava's three cups and confirmation of the interpretation — click for its voices 7 Rava's three cups and confirmation of the interpretation 92a 8. Resh Lakish's allegory of Israel as a vine — click for its voices 8 Resh Lakish's allegory of Israel as a vine 92a 9. Interpretation of the fifteen silver and the thirty righteous — click for its voices 9 Interpretation of the fifteen silver and the thir… 6 connections elsewhere — click to show⤳ 6 92b 1. Opening Mishnah and Gemara's question on birds — click for its voices 1 Opening Mishnah and Gemara's question on birds 1 connection elsewhere — click to show⤳ 1 92b 2. Rabbi Yirmeya's query on classification — click for its voices 2 Rabbi Yirmeya's query on classification 3 connections elsewhere — click to show⤳ 3 92b 3. The prohibition applies to a fetus and Shmuel's ruling on its fat — click for its voices 3 The prohibition applies to a fetus and Shmuel's ruling o… 3 connections elsewhere — click to show⤳ 3 92b 4. Shmuel's ruling on the fat of the sciatic nerve — click for its voices 4 Shmuel's ruling on the fat of the sciatic nerve 2 connections elsewhere — click to show⤳ 2 92b 5. Debate on the tendrils of the sciatic nerve — click for its voices 5 Debate on the tendrils of the sciatic nerve 7 connections elsewhere — click to show⤳ 7 92b 6. Laws of threads in fat and kidney fat — click for its voices 6 Laws of threads in fat and kidney fat 5 connections elsewhere — click to show⤳ 5
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The structure of Chullin 92. Shmuel's ruling and the fat of the sciatic nerve are sections 3 and 4 of 92b. Click a section for its voices; ⤳ opens its connections elsewhere. From talmud.dev: 92a · 92b.

Not the fetus's fat: that is an open machloket, with Rabbi Meir forbidding and Rabbi Yehuda permitting. So the fat of the גיד itself. But that seems disputed too. Rabbi Meir demands מחטט אחריו, digging the nerve out wherever it runs and cutting its fat from the root, while Rabbi Yehuda only trims it level with the surface, גוממו עם השופי. Where is the "according to all"?

The Gemara's answer: Shmuel means Torah law. Even Rabbi Meir agrees the fat is permitted; his prohibition is only מדרבנן. And the Gemara cites a ברייתא on his behalf:

ושמנו מותר, וישראל קדושים נהגו בו איסור Its fat is permitted, but Israel are holy and treated it as forbidden.

Is that not Rabbi Meir, who says מותר מן התורה ואסור מדרבנן? The Gemara pushes back: maybe that baraita is Rabbi Yehuda, and Rabbi Meir forbids the fat by Torah law. No: a second baraita teaches the scraping itself together with ושמנו מותר. Who holds of scraping? Rabbi Meir. The scraper himself calls the fat permitted. Rabbi Meir, who demands that the sciatic nerve be scraped out entirely, holds that its fat is only rabbinically forbidden, not a Torah prohibition. The stringency did not originate with the Sages; the people themselves had already adopted the practice.

Rashi points at the wording. The baraita says נהגו, a word about practice, and for Rabbi Yehuda, Rashi notes, אפילו מנהגא ליכא, not even a custom. The line can only be Rabbi Meir: his ban is the people's practice, made law.

Usually it goes the other way. A decree comes out of the study hall and the people follow. Here the custom came first: the people stopped eating this fat on their own, and the Sages gave the practice the force of law. The baraita's word is קדושים. This was not a fence around the law; the people held back from something permitted because they wanted to be holy.

Custom often comes before law. Here the practice was so widespread that even Rabbi Meir, the one who scrapes out everything, is read as enforcing a rabbinic ban and not a biblical one. The Torah permitted this fat, and left room for a holy people to forbid it to themselves.

Sources: חולין צב: · רש"י חולין צב: ד"ה מאי לאו

Study the full daf at talmud.dev.

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