daf yomi arcade · chullin 79 · 2026-07-19
כּוּדַנְיָיתָא בְּרִיסְפַּק
Today's daf asks one question in a dozen costumes: חוֹשְׁשִׁין לְזֶרַע הָאָב? — do we reckon with the father's seed? A mule has a horse in it and a donkey in it; which one is it? Rabbi Abba told his attendant: אִי מְעַיְּילַתְּ לִי כּוּדַנְיָיתָא בְּרִיסְפַּק, עַיֵּין לְהָנָךְ דְּדָמְיָין לַהֲדָדֵי — "if you bring me mules for the wagon, look for ones that are similar to each other" (79a:13). This morning, you are that attendant. It is dark in the stables. You have two tests, three wagons, and eight mules — and yoking a donkey's daughter with a horse's daughter is kilayim.
the field guide — simanim of the sages · 79a:11
🔊 Abaye's test — the voice
עָבֵי קָלֵיהּ – בַּר חַמָּרָא, צְנִיף קָלֵיהּ – בַּר סוּסְיָא
Deep voice — a donkey's child. Shrill voice — a horse's child.
📏 Rav Pappa's test — ears & tail
רַבְרְבָן אוּדְנֵיהּ וְזוּטְרָא גְּנוּבְתֵיהּ – בַּר חַמָּרָא, זוּטְרָן אוּדְנֵיהּ וְרַבָּה גְּנוּבְתֵיהּ – בַּר סוּסְיָא
Big ears & short tail — a donkey's child. Small ears & long tail — a horse's child.
The signs go by the mother — and the daf rules the signs are Torah-law: וְסִימָנִין דְּאוֹרָיְיתָא (79b:1). Yoke together only mules whose signs agree.
Two mules to a pole. Harness a matched pair, then drive.
three wagons on the road
הַכֹּל מוֹדִין בִּפְרִי עִם הָאֵם שֶׁאָסוּר
The mute, cropped mules stay in the stable — אִלֶּמֶת וְגִידֶּמֶת, with no voice for Abaye and nothing left for Rav Pappa to measure, no one can ever vouch for their kind (79a:11). And the daf closes the question it opened: Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua rules that all agree a mule may not even be bred to its own mother's species — because Rabbi Yehuda himself was never certain the father's seed doesn't count (79a:12). Doubt, it turns out, is the daf's answer. And doubt is waiting for you at the city gate, wearing horns: the koy — Rav Ḥisda's goat-and-gazelle hybrid (79b:2).
Everything above is straight from Chullin 79. The amud opens by closing yesterday's dispute — Shmuel rules like Ḥananya, that oto v'et beno binds fathers too — and then rides that question into the world of mules: Rabbi Yehuda permits mating any two foals of mares with each other, because for him species follows the mother (79a:2–3). But is he certain the father doesn't count, or merely in doubt? The Gemara chases the answer through the baraita of the mule in heat — אֵין מַרְבִּיעִין עָלֶיהָ לֹא סוּס וְלֹא חֲמוֹר, אֶלָּא מִינָהּ — past Abaye's voice test and Rav Pappa's ears-and-tail test, to Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua's conclusion: all agree even the mother's own species is forbidden to her — doubt it is (79a:10–12). Rabbi Abba's wagon order (79a:13) shows the signs may be relied on by Torah law. The second amud turns to the koy of a goat and a doe: Rav Ḥisda's two concessions (79b:3–4), why the koy's blood is not covered on a Festival (79b:12), and the marvelous half-gifts of the priesthood — where the owner tells the priest, for the father's half: bring proof, then take it (79b:17).
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