003 - הִלְכוֹת מַאֲכָלוֹת אֲסוּרוֹת פֵּרֶק ג

Laws of Ma'achalos Asuros, Chapter 3

1. Any food that comes from one of the forbidden species for eating which one receives lashes is forbidden to be eaten by Torah law, such as the milk of impure domestic and wild animals and the eggs of impure birds and fish, as it says, "וְאֵת בַּת הַיַּעֲנָה" ("and the daughter of the ya'anah," Vayikra 11:16; Devarim 14:15), which means its egg; and the same law applies to everything forbidden like the ya'anah, and to all things similar to an egg.

2. Human milk is permitted to be eaten, even though human flesh is forbidden to be eaten; we have already explained that it is under a positive command.

3. The honey of bees and the honey of wasps is permitted, because it is not an extract of their bodies; rather, they collect it from the plants into their mouths and bring it up in the hive, so that they will find it to eat from in the rainy season.

4. Even though human milk is permitted, the Sages forbade an adult to nurse it from the breast. Rather, a woman expresses it into a vessel, and he drinks. An adult who nursed from the breast is like one who sucks from a creeping creature, and he receives lashes for rebelliousness.

5. A child may keep on nursing, even four or five years. If they weaned him and he stopped for three days or more because he was healthy, not because of illness, he does not resume nursing, provided they weaned him after twenty-four months. But within that time, even if they weaned him for a month or two, he may resume nursing until the end of twenty-four months.

6. Even though the milk of an impure animal and the eggs of an impure bird are forbidden by Torah law, one does not receive lashes for them, as it says, "מִבְּשָׂרָם לֹא תֹאכֵלוּ" ("of their flesh you shall not eat," Vayikra 11:8; Devarim 14:8): one receives lashes for the flesh, but not for the egg and not for the milk. One who eats them is like one who eats half a measure, which is forbidden by Torah law, but he does not receive lashes. However, he receives lashes for rebelliousness.

7. It seems to me that one who eats the eggs of impure fish found in their innards is like one who eats the entrails of fish, and he receives lashes by Torah law; and likewise with the eggs of a bird hanging on the cluster, which have not yet separated and become complete, one who eats them receives lashes, as one who eats their innards.

8. An egg of an impure bird in which the chick has begun to form, and he ate it, he receives lashes on account of eating a flying creeping creature. But an egg of a pure bird in which the chick has begun to form, and he ate it, receives lashes for rebelliousness.

9. If a speck of blood was found on it: if on the white, he throws away the blood and eats the rest; if on the yolk, all of it is forbidden. A spoiled egg (muzeres): a person with a strong stomach may eat it.

10. A chick that has hatched, even though its eyes have not opened, may be eaten. A pure animal that became tereifah, its milk is forbidden like the milk of an impure animal; and likewise the egg of a bird that became tereifah is like the egg of an impure bird. If the bird became a neveilah and there was found in it a complete egg like one sold in the market, it is permitted.

11. A chick from the egg of a tereifah is permitted, for its species is not impure. If the bird was a doubtful tereifah, all the eggs it lays in the first clutch are set aside: if it was laden with a second clutch and began to lay, the first are permitted; if it did not lay, they are forbidden.

12. The milk of an impure animal does not curdle and set as does the milk of a pure animal. If the milk of a pure animal was mixed with the milk of an impure animal, then when you set it, the milk of the pure animal sets, and the milk of the impure animal goes out with the whey of the cheese.

13. For this reason, the law dictates that all milk found in the hands of a non-Jew is forbidden, lest he mixed in it the milk of an impure animal; but the cheese of non-Jews should be permitted, since the milk of an impure animal does not form cheese. However, in the days of the Sages of the Mishnah they decreed against the cheese of non-Jews and forbade it, because they set it with the skin of the stomach from their own slaughtering, which is neveilah. And if you ask: Is not the skin of the stomach a very small thing in the milk that it set, so why is it not nullified by its small amount? Because it is what sets the cheese; and since a forbidden thing set it, all of it is forbidden, as will be explained.

14. Cheese that non-Jews set with herbs or with fruit juices, such as fig sap, where this is recognizable in the cheese: some Geonim ruled that it is forbidden, since they already decreed against all cheese of non-Jews, whether set with a forbidden thing or set with a permitted thing, as a decree on account of what was set with a forbidden thing.

15. One who eats the cheese of non-Jews, or milk that they milked without a Jew seeing it, receives lashes for rebelliousness. As for the butter of non-Jews, some Geonim permitted it, since no decree was made on butter and the milk of an impure animal does not set; and some Geonim forbade it, because of drops of milk that remain in it, for the whey in butter is not mixed with the butter so as to be nullified by its small amount, and we are concerned about all their milk, lest he mixed in it the milk of an impure animal.

16. It seems to me that if a person took butter from non-Jews and cooked it until the drops of milk were gone, it is permitted; for even if you say they were mixed in it and all was cooked together, they are nullified by their small amount. But butter that non-Jews cooked is forbidden on account of ge'ulei goyim, the taint of the vessels of non-Jews, as will be explained.

17. A Jew who sat beside a non-Jew's herd, and the non-Jew went and brought him milk from the herd, even though there is an impure animal in the herd, it is permitted, even though he did not see him milking, provided that he could see him milking if he stood up, for the non-Jew is afraid to milk from the impure animal, lest he stand up and see him.

18. An egg with both ends round, or both ends pointed, or with the yolk outside and the white inside, is known to be the egg of an impure bird. If one end is round and one end pointed, with the white outside and the yolk inside, it may be the egg of an impure bird and it may be the egg of a pure bird. Therefore, he asks the Jewish hunter selling it: if he says to him, "It is from such-and-such a bird, and it is a pure bird," he may rely on him; if he says to him, "It is from a pure bird," without telling him its name, he may not rely on him.

19. Therefore, we do not buy eggs from non-Jews, unless he recognizes them and has visual familiarity that they are the eggs of such-and-such a pure bird. We are not concerned that they may be eggs of a tereifah. We do not buy a beaten egg from non-Jews at all.

20. The eggs of fish have signs like the signs of the eggs of birds: if both ends are round or pointed, they are impure. If one is round and one pointed, he asks the Jew selling them: if he says to him, "I salted them and took them out of a pure fish," he may eat on his word; if he says to him, "They are pure," he is not believed, unless he is a person established as reliable.

21. Likewise we do not buy cheese or a piece of fish without a sign, except from a Jew established as reliable. But in Eretz Yisrael, when its majority was Jewish, they would buy from any Jew there. Milk is bought from any Jew, in every place.

22. One who pickles impure fish, their brine is forbidden. But the brine of impure locusts is permitted, because they have no moisture. Therefore, we do not buy brine from non-Jews unless a pure fish is floating in it, even one fish.

23. A non-Jew who brought a crate full of open barrels of brine, with one pure fish in one of them: all of them are permitted. If they were sealed, and he opened one of them and found a pure fish in it, and a second and found a pure fish in it, all of them are permitted, provided that the fish's head and spine are intact, so that it can be recognized as a pure fish. Therefore, we do not buy crushed salted fish from non-Jews, which is what is called minced tris. But if the head of the fish and its spine are recognizable, even though it is crushed, it may be bought from non-Jews.

24. A non-Jew who brought a jar of fish pieces cut uniformly, recognizably all of one species, and scales were found on one of the pieces: all of them are permitted.