On today’s daf, we get an unexpected curriculum for Torah scholars:
Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: A Torah scholar is required to learn three matters: Writing, ritual slaughter and circumcision. And Rav Hananya bar Shelamya says in the name of Rav: He must also learn to tie the knot of the tefillin, and to recite the blessing of the grooms and to tie tzitzit.
Ritual slaughter, the subject of this tractate, is apparently one of the necessary areas of expertise for any talmid chakham, any Torah scholar. Rashi makes an important clarification: Rav is referring not just to abstract knowledge of the law (because a talmid chakham is expected to know all areas of law) but also to the skill of ritual slaughter. Real rabbis, Rav contends, should also be kosher butchers.
Indeed, each of these items in his list is a skill. Like kosher slaughter, circumcision is an essential service for a Jewish community. And in a pre-modern world, so is writing. Rashi explains that Torah scholars should learn writing so that they can sign their names when serving as witnesses or judges. Rav suggests that the title of Torah scholar should not be merely an indication of one’s erudition and theoretical legal knowledge but also indicative of the roles one can fill within the community, using their hands to perform essential ritual functions.
Rav Hananya’s list, too (also in the name of Rav), seems focused on practical, hands-on skills: tying ritual knots and reciting a key benediction. The Gemara draws the following distinction between Rav Yehuda and Rav Hananya’s versions of Rav’s list:
And the other amora (Rav Yehuda) holds that those skills are commonplace.
The additions Rav Hananya made of tying the tefillin knot, or reciting the blessing for grooms, or tying tzitzit are apparently skills that many possess; therefore, it’s less essential that a Torah scholar be uniquely qualified to perform them.
The Rashash, a later commentator, points out a difficulty: signing is also a fairly common skill! Though literacy rates were not incredibly high, the ability to sign one’s name on documents and the like was indeed very common. Why would this be counted as a rarefied skill that the Torah scholar must cultivate? Rather, the Rashash posits, Rav is referring here to training one’s hand to write nicely and clearly, in order that they might write up responsa and letters on other Torah matters. Though earlier generations of the rabbis had some wariness about the practice of committing Oral Torah to writing, there was an increasing acknowledgment that failure to do so could mean that Torah was lost entirely. Therefore, a true Torah scholar must not only know and teach Torah, but they must be able to record and preserve it for future generations.
Read all of Chullin 9 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on May 9, 2026. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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