The mishnah on Chullin 59a lays out four signs that a bird is kosher. Behaviorally, the bird must not claw its prey. Anatomically, it should have a crop, an extra digit (sometimes called a dew claw), and a peelable gizzard. Yesterday, the rabbis clarified that, in fact, a bird needs only one of these three anatomical signs to be considered kosher — as long as it isn’t explicitly named in Leviticus 11 as one of the 24 unkosher species of fowl.
That’s a pretty big “as long as.” Many of the 24 species of unkosher birds actually have some of the signs of kosher birds. In fact, yesterday the Talmud stated that most of the 24 species of unkosher birds have three of the four signs of a kosher bird. One of the 24 species, the crow, has two signs; the vulture and the black vulture have one sign. Figuring out if a bird is kosher, therefore, requires not only visual observation, but also a deep knowledge of the various species of bird and how they relate to the biblical names for birds. And it becomes more challenging because even in the rabbis’ time, the biblical names for some of these birds were archaic.
So what is a hungry person to do? Today’s daf suggests a process for determining if a bird is permitted:
If one is familiar with the unkosher birds and their names, any (unknown) bird that comes with only one sign is kosher.
If he is not familiar with them and their names, with one sign it is unkosher, with two signs, it is kosher, provided that he can recognize a crow.
A person who is familiar with the biblical list of unkosher birds is free to deem any bird not on that list kosher — even if it displays only one of the three anatomical signs of being kosher. But a person who is not familiar with the biblical list must work from physical signs. This person is not permitted to deem an unknown bird kosher based on only one sign. Instead, for the non-expert, an unknown bird is required to have a minimum of two signs to be eaten. Moreover, because there is a bird on the list that has two of the signs of kashrut — a crow — the non-expert birder must be able to affirm that what they are looking at is not a crow.
The crow and nothing more? But isn’t it taught in a beraita: The verse states: “Every orev after its kinds” (Leviticus 11:15). The orev — this is the crow. “After its kinds” — Rabbi Eliezer says: to include the zarzir. The sages said to Rabbi Eliezer: But wouldn’t the people of Kefar Temarta in Judea eat the zarzir, because it has a crop? Rabbi Eliezer said to them: They too will be judged in the future. Alternatively, “after its kinds” is to include the white senunit — this is the statement of Rabbi Eliezer. The rabbis said to him: But don’t the people of the upper Galilee eat it, because its gizzard can be peeled? Rabbi Eliezer said to them: They too will be judged in the future.
Rabbi Eliezer reads the verse in Leviticus as including not only the standard crow but also a related species. The rabbis then challenge Rabbi Eliezer’s opinion by noting that both the zarzir and the senunit, both of which are candidates to be the second kind of crow, are thought to be kosher by different Jewish communities. Rabbi Eliezer’s response is both judgmental and non-interventionist: “They too will be judged in the future.” In other words, he believes these Jewish communities are eating a forbidden bird and will face divine consequences for it. However, he does not see it as his place to change their behavior.
It’s not clear to me why Rabbi Eliezer doesn’t at least try to convince these communities to keep kosher as he understands it. Is this because he does not believe they will listen to him? Or perhaps he doesn’t think it’s really so terrible that they are eating these particular species?
And there’s another aspect of today’s overall discussion that is unsatisfying: The rabbis have stated that most unkosher species named in Leviticus have three out of four signs of being kosher. And yet, an observer unfamiliar with the list can deem a bird kosher with merely two signs — provided they are sure it is not a crow. This means, almost assuredly, that the person who doesn’t know the list in Leviticus will misidentify some species as kosher.
For these reasons, and others, most later halakhic authorities gave up on using visual signs as a means of identifying a bird as kosher. Rather, birds are considered kosher if there is a tradition of eating them. So, if you are interested in doing some kosher bird hunting (or, for the vegetarians and those who purchase their meat from the supermarket, some kosher bird watching), your best bet is simply to find a list of kosher birds you can rely on.
Read all of Chullin 62 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on July 1, 2026. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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