It’s for the Birds
Rabbi Kaganoff
It’s for the Birds
By Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff
Question #1: Bird Determination
I know that birds are very determined to get to their destinations, but how do we determine whether they are kosher?
Question #2: Noach’s Kosher Aviary
How did Noach know which species of bird and animal are kosher? The Torah was not given until Moshe Rabbeinu, fifteen generations later!
Question #3: The Chicken or the Egg?
Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? In other words, may I eat a bird relying that the egg it lays has a kosher shell shape?
Question #4: Mom and Pop Shop
Can a non-kosher species of bird and a kosher species of bird produce viable offspring together?
Foreword:
Noach was commanded to bring more kosher than non-kosher animals into the teivah, as the Torah states: “From each of the kosher animals you shall take seven, male and female, and from the non-kosher animals two, male and female. Also, from the birds of the heavens you shall take seven, male and female” (Bereishis 7:2-3). But how did Noach know which species are kosher? Rashi (Bereishis 7:2) explains that this demonstrates that Noach studied the Torah. Presumably, he became an expert on the list of kosher birds in Parshas Shemini and Parshas Re’eih.
However, this presents us with a curious problem. Noach could have easily observed which mammals have split hooves, and he could also figure out which species chew their cud. (Although it is not perfectly accurate, I am going to substitute the word mammal, rather than animal, for the Torah’s beheimah and chayah in order to avoid confusion that occurs in English – since birds, fish, reptiles and insects are all types of animal, although none of them qualify as either beheimah or chayah, which are subcategories of what we call “mammals.”)
Although the Torah describes the exact indicating signs, simanim, that render fish and animals kosher (“indicia” in proper English), regarding birds the Torah simply inventories the non-kosher varieties (Vayikra 11:13-19; Devarim 14:11-19). Most of these appear to be non-kosher species, but in four instances, the Torah states lemino or lemineihu, meaning that these include categories of non-kosher birds. In addition, Chazal’s analysis of the case of nesher concludes that this is also a category of birds. So how did Noach know to identify the non-kosher species? The rishonim (Radak, Bereishis 7:2; Ramban, Bereishis 6:20) explain that when Noach was commanded concerning how many of each species to bring into the teivah, he was also told how to identify which are kosher.
Noach’s Kosher Aviary
We now have the answer to one of our opening questions: “How did Noach know which species of bird and animal are kosher? The Torah was not given until Moshe Rabbeinu, fifteen generations later!”
According to the Ramban and others, Hashem taught Noach the Torah, including a comprehensive listing of all kosher birds and animals, so that he could accomplish what he was commanded.
Simanim of kosher birds
At this point, we need to understand several aspects of the indicia of kosher birds. As opposed to kosher mammals, fish and grasshoppers, where the Torah provides rules indicating which are kosher, regarding birds the Torah lists the non-kosher ones, implying that all other birds are kosher. The Gemara analyzes the Torah’s two lists, concluding that 24 varieties and categories of bird are non-kosher (Chullin 61b). Someone who verifies all 24 non-kosher varieties may shecht and eat any other bird species he discovers. The Gemara states that a hunter who recognizes all the varieties of non-kosher bird may shecht and eat any other species of bird he discovers and may teach other people which species are kosher (Chullin 63b). By process of elimination, our hunter knows that all other birds are kosher. The same passage of Gemara notes that there are countless kosher species of birds (Chullin 63b).
Size of teivah
Of course, we now have a question: If there are thousands of varieties of kosher bird, each of which had fourteen representatives in the teivah, how could the teivah have been big enough for all of them!
I note that, even without this birdie calculation, the Ramban already points out that the teivah was not possibly big enough to accommodate all its passengers and their food requirements. He observes that even ten teivos of the size that Noach constructed would be vastly insufficient to hold the necessary cargo. It could only exist and survive by a miracle. The Ramban then explains why Noach was required to build the teivah to its insufficient dimensions.
Bird determination
At this point, let us address our opening question: “I know that birds are very determined to get to their destinations, but how do we determine whether they are kosher?”
Chazal observed that there are four simanim of kosher birds (Mishnah Chullin 59a). However, there is a qualitative difference between the identifying characteristics of birds and those that the Torah uses to identify kosher fish and mammals. Any mammal that has fully split hooves and chews its cud is kosher, and any that does not have both of these indicia is not. There are no exceptions; the simanim of the Torah are absolute. Similarly, any fish that has fins and the proper scales (see Ramban, Vayikra 11:9; Rema, Yoreh Deah 83:1) is kosher, and any that does not have these simanim is not kosher. Again, there are no exceptions.
However, when discussing indicia that a bird is kosher, the Mishnah teaches that there are four simanim. Any bird that has all four kosher simanim is kosher. Any bird that has none of the four kosher simanim is not kosher. However, many birds have some of the simanim, but not others, and are still kosher. Yet there are other birds that have some simanim and are not kosher. In other words, a bird that has some of the simanim, but not all, might be kosher and might not be. This means that the simanim can be used sometimes to ascertain whether a bird is kosher, but are not a litmus test. Although the halachically expert hunter mentioned in the Gemara could figure out by process of elimination whether a species is kosher, the only practical way for us to know whether a bird with some simanim and not others is kosher is through mesorah.
For example, the peres and the ozniah, two of the 24 non-kosher varieties, each possesses only one of the kosher simanim and lacks the other three. The oreiv, usually identified as the raven (see Tosafos, Chullin 62a s.v. Mipnei who discusses whether this is accurate) and the zarzur each has two kosher simanim and lack the remaining two, and the remaining 19 types of non-kosher birds each has three of the simanim and lacks only one. (This follows the approach of most interpretations of this passage of Gemara.) But there are other birds that have one, two or three of the simanim and are kosher.
What are the indicia that a bird is kosher? In other words, what are the simanim that if we can identify that a bird has all of them it is definitely kosher? For practical reasons, I am not listing and explaining them in the order of the Mishnah, but according to function. The Mishnah (Chullin 59a) lists four simanim, which include three anatomical features, one external and two internal, and one behavioral.
The external feature, called etzba yeseirah, means that it possesses an “extra claw,” or, according to other opinions, “a larger claw.” The rishonim disagree what exactly this means, some understanding that this claw points in the opposite direction from the other claws of the bird; others explain that this claw protrudes at a higher point on the leg than do the other claws. A third approach understands that the claw protrudes outward farther than the others.
Crop and gizzard
The two internal features of a kosher bird are that it has a crop, and a gizzard that can be peeled manually. To the uninitiated, this sounds fairly strange, particularly, since most of us have never dissected the digestive system of a bird and certainly have never had the opportunity to compare the digestive systems of various types of bird. Let me explain, very briefly:
The crop is an expandable storage pouch for undigested food. It is commonly found among birds that eat seeds and grains for sustenance.
The gizzard is more commonly known to us by its Yiddish name, pupek, whose hard muscle grinds the seeds that a bird eats so that they can then be properly digested.
Don’t chew your food before you swallow it!
Hashem gave these features to small birds who stick to a vegan diet. These allow them to enter fields and meadows and quickly gobble up a large quantity of seed without chewing or digesting them. Then they can disappear to their hiding places before they become somebody’s lunch. Those of us who do not have crops and gizzards would get severe indigestion if we gobbled up our food this way, which is why your mother told you to chew your food slowly and carefully before you swallow it.
Doreis
The behavioral feature is that kosher birds are never doreis. The rishonim debate exactly what this is, but it is a feature that exhibits cruelty in the way the bird seizes and devours prey. The Gemara (Chullin 62b) implies that a bird is non-kosher even if it is doreis very rarely, making it difficult to identify a bird as a non-doreis. It is also important to note that although all birds that are doreis are non-kosher, the inverse is not true -- there are varieties of fowl that are not doreis, yet are not kosher.
This leads us to a conundrum raised by Tosafos (Chullin 61a, s.v. Kol Of). Whereas the simanim for kosher mammals and fish are taught by the Torah, the simanim for kosher birds are observations of the Mishnah. But that assumes that Chazal checked carefully every kosher species of bird in the world and determined that not one of them is doreis. How did that happen?
Tosafos rules out the explanation that this was an oral tradition communicated to Moshe Rabbeinu at Har Sinai (halacha leMoshe miSinai) because, if that were true, the Torah need not have mentioned all 24 varieties of non-kosher bird in order to identify all non-kosher varieties. Instead, it could have succinctly taught that all birds that are doreis are non-kosher and then provide the very small list of birds that, despite the fact that they are not doreis, are still not kosher.
Tosafos focuses on who was the only person in world history to have seen and interacted with every species, and that is Noach, who spent months in very close quarters providing the needs of all the terrestrial species of the world. Noach, who knew which birds are kosher and which are not (as explained above), observed that none of the kosher varieties were doreis. Thus, the siman that a doreis is not kosher is an oral tradition dating back to Noach (Chullin 61a, s.v. Kol Of).
The Mishnah records an alternative method of verifying whether a bird is doreis: Rabbi Elazar ben Rabbi Tzadok rules that any bird that splits its talons, two before and two behind, when it grips a rope, is doreis and therefore not kosher (Chullin 59a, as explained there by the Gemara 65a). The halachic authorities quote this statement as definitive.
This article will be continued next week…
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