Guard your stomach: today the Talmud turns its attention to the permissibility of consuming crushed testicles that remain attached to an animal. Rav Ami and Rav Asi disagree about their status: One permits them after the animal is slaughtered and the other forbids them (although we do not know which rabbi holds which position). The one that prohibits, explains the Gemara, says that crushed testicles are like a limb that was severed from a live animal and are therefore forbidden. The other holds that, although crushed, they are still attached and therefore permitted.
With two contradictory rulings, it is not clear what the law is. The Gemara cites a statement of Rabbi Yohanan to clarify:
Rabbi Yohanan said to Rav Shemen bar Abba: These crushed testicles are permitted for consumption, but you should not eat them due to the dictum: “… do not forsake the Torah of your mother” (Proverbs 1:8).
The full verse reads, “Hear, my child, the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the teachings of your mother.” This is the verse that 13th-century commentator Rabbi Moses ben Nahman (Ramban) used to open his famous letter to his own son, imparting fatherly ethical advice. In its plain sense, the verse admonishes children to heed the teachings of their parents. Over the generations, however, it has been read in many ways. For example, in his commentary on Proverbs, Rashi teaches that the first half of the verse (“hear the instruction of your father”) refers to the Torah itself and the second (“do not forsake the Torah of your mother”) to the words of the sages. This reading uses the verse to assert that biblical and rabbinic law go hand-in-hand, and subtly elevates rabbinic law to be on par with written Torah.
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On today’s daf, Rabbi Yohanan reads the verse in yet another way. We have two rulings. According to Rabbi Yohanan, the law follows the permissive one, which allows the consumption of crushed testicles. Yet, he advises Rav Shemen bar Abba not to eat them, using Proverbs 1:8 as a prooftext. Rabbi Yohanan may be implying that Rav Shemen’s mother adheres to the more restrictive opinion and Rav Shemen should follow his mother’s tradition, rather than the more permissive law. More likely, however, this is not about a particular family tradition, but a more global difference. As Rashi suggests, Rabbi Yohanan likely follows the custom of the land of Israel, the community in which he lived. But he is aware that a more restrictive position is followed in Babylonia, where crushed testicles are forbidden. That is why he advises his Babylonian colleague to adopt the custom of the community from which he comes, his “mother community,” so to speak.
This interpretation is in line with the rabbinic teaching that when one moves from one community to another, and the two communities have different customs, one follows the more restrictive of the two. This prevents a person from appearing to flout the law by acting more permissively than the local custom. Simultaneously, it ensures they respect the traditions of their home community, even when their current neighbors are more lenient.
Read all of Chullin 93 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on August 1, 2026. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
