As we know, the rabbis of the Talmud are deeply familiar with the Hebrew Bible. They cite its verses to resolve legal dilemmas, teach ethical values, add a literary flourish to a story and much more. On today’s daf, Rav and Shmuel cite verses to compliment each other:
Shmuel recited about Rav: “There shall no mischief befall the righteous” (Proverbs 12:21). Rav recited about Shmuel: “No secret causes you trouble” (Daniel 4:6).
Rav and Shmuel were heads of rival academies in Babylonia — the former in Sura, the latter in Nehardea. The legal debates between them are found throughout the Talmud. It’s a lovely thing to read that each held the other in high esteem and believed (or prayed) that the righteousness of their compatriot protected them from trouble.
This exchange follows a narrative about a particular incident.
Help us keep Jewish knowledge accessible to millions of people around the world. With your help, My Jewish Learning can provide endless opportunities for learning, connection and discovery.
A certain young deer whose hind legs had been cut was brought to the house of the Exilarch. Rav inspected it at the convergence of sinews, and he deemed it kosher. He thought to eat it rare. Shmuel said to him: Is the master not concerned for a snakebite?
Rav and Shmuel find themselves together at the house of the Exilarch when a slaughtered animal with an injury arrives. Rav deems the animal kosher, but Shmuel is worried that the injury resulted from a snakebite. A snakebite does not render an animal a treifa, but the mishnah prohibits eating it nonetheless, for fear that poison remains in the meat and will cause injury to the person who consumes it. Given the possibility that this particular animal was bitten by a snake, Rav wonders whether they should eat the meat or find a suitable replacement. Shmuel has a plan:
We shall set it in an oven, as it will inspect itself.
Shmuel sets the animal in a hot oven, and the meat falls off the bone, a sign that a snake had indeed bitten the deer. This saves Rav and Shmuel from being poisoned, but Shmuel attributes the life-saving sign not to his roasting test — but to Rav himself. That leads to the exchange cited at the outset. Shmuel insists they avoided the deadly meat because no evil can befall the righteous. Rav, rather than taking the compliment, turns it around.
In our day, thankfully, there are processes in place to keep the food chain safe, so we do not need to rely on folk practices or our own merits for protection. Still, it’s nice to pay a compliment to another person, even to a colleague from a rival institution. I’m not sure about you, but I’m going to start keeping a list of biblical verses that can help me do so.
Read all of Chullin 59 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on June 28, 2026. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
