We know from a mishnah back on Chullin 42a: An animal that falls from a roof is considered a treifa. Even if there are few external injuries, there is a strong possibility that internal organs have been damaged and we rule it to be unkosher.
But this rule isn’t as clean-cut as you might imagine. For example, what happens if you leave an animal on the building’s roof and return to find that it’s on the ground? Rav Huna says there’s no concern that the animal has been harmed. This elicits an anecdote and discussion in the Gemara:
There was a certain kid belonging to Ravina that saw barley groats through an open skylight. It jumped down through the skylight and fell from the roof to the ground.
The case came before Rav Ashi, and Ravina said to him: What is the rationale for this statement of Rav Huna that if one left an animal above and he came back and found it below, one need not be concerned about the possible shattering of limbs? Is it because the animal usually has something to grab hold of? If so, since this kid jumped through a skylight, it did not have something to grab hold of, and one must be concerned. Or perhaps it is because the animal evaluates itself and determines that it can jump without injury. If so, this kid also evaluated itself.
Rav Ashi said to him: It is because the animal evaluates itself before jumping, and this kid also evaluated itself before jumping.
The rabbis know that goats are smart and agile enough to safely climb down from a roof, even without obvious footholds. In this manner, they distinguish between a jump and a fall. Only the latter renders the animal a treifa.
Of course, there are myriad other ways for an animal to become injured. The rabbis also discuss rams that butt one another before considering the case of ram thieves who toss their plundered animals over a fence:
Rav Menashei says: With regard to rams that thieves steal and throw over the fence, one need not be concerned with regard to the shattering of limbs. What is the reason for this? When the thieves throw them over the fence, they throw them so that they land on their hips, where they will not be injured, so that they will be able to run before them.
Apparently, ram rustlers are skilled in swiping rams without causing grievous injury — and they know that tossing them over the fence onto their hips will cushion the landing. For this reason, we can trust that stolen rams are still kosher.
But what about stolen rams that have been returned?
If the thieves returned them to the owner, we certainly must be concerned that their limbs may have been shattered, since thieves do not throw them carefully when returning them. And this statement applies only when they return them due to fear of being caught, or are otherwise forced to return them. But if they return them due to repentance, they have performed full-fledged repentance.
If a thief returns a ram to its owner, the Gemara posits two potential explanations. Perhaps the thief has had a change of heart and brought the ram back as an act of repentance. In that case, we accept that they would want to return the ram without significant damage and its limbs are intact. However, if the thief is merely afraid of being apprehended and tosses the ram back over the fence, there is a legitimate concern that the animal incurred a serious internal injury.
Today’s daf provides an excellent example of the ways that rabbinic rulings depend not necessarily on what can be seen or proven, but on what is most likely. If an animal intentionally jumps from a roof, most likely it did so after judging the descent to be safe. If a thief steals a ram, most likely they did so in a manner that did not damage its value. And if a thief returns that same ram, their care with the animal is assumed to match their frame of mind — whether they truly care about doing right by the wronged owner or whether they are simply looking to unload a liability. In all of these cases, injury does not have to be proved or disproved empirically. Instead, the metric is what we can infer from the person’s (or animal’s) state of mind.
Read all of Chullin 51 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on June 19, 2026. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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