1. Is כחל – an udder which was roasted without removing its milk permitted?

The next Mishnah states: הכחל – regarding the udder, קורעו ומוציא את חלבו – one tears it open and removes its milk before preparing it. If it was prepared without being torn, one does not violate the Torah prohibition of cooking or eating בשר בחלב, because a shechted animal’s milk is not Biblically considered milk. The Gemara records two versions of Rav’s opinion regarding an udder roasted without being torn. One version permits it even in consumption, since roasting does not cause the milk to leave the כחל, and is not even prohibited Rabbinically. [Still, לכתחלה one must tear the כחל and remove the milk before roasting it.] The other version Rabbinically prohibits a roasted כחל in consumption, although the milk never left the כחל. A Baraisa supports the first version: כחל שבשלו בחלבו מותר – an udder which was cooked (i.e., roasted) with its milk is permitted, but a קבה – abomasum (i.e., fourth stomach) of a calf or lamb which was roasted with the milk it nursed from its mother is forbidden. The Baraisa explains the difference: זה כנוס במעיו – regarding this [קבה, the milk] is collected in its stomach (i.e., and emerged from the mother’s udder), whereas the כחל’s milk never emerged.

1. How does one tear open the כחל?

The Gemara asks: כיצד קורעו – how does one tear open [the כחל] prior to preparing it? Rav Yehudah says: קורעו שתי וערב – he tears it lengthwise and widthwise, וטחו בכותל – and then presses it against a wall to squeeze out any milk inside it. Rebbe Elazar once told his attendant: קרע לי ואנא איכול – “Tear [a כחל] for me and roast it, and I will eat it.” This does not appear to be a novelty, since the Mishnah taught that tearing a כחל permits it, and the Gemara explains: הא קמ"ל – he is teaching us this: דלא בעינן שתי וערב וטחו בכותל – that we do not require tearing it lengthwise and widthwise and pressing it against a wall for roasting it; merely tearing it is sufficient. Regarding cooking, however, it must be torn both ways and squeezed against the wall to remove all milk, since the milk emerges from the udder during the cooking process and becomes Rabbinically forbidden.

1. Every forbidden food has a permitted counterpart

Yalta said to her husband, Rav Nachman: מכדי כל דאסר לן רחמנא שרא לן כוותיה – now, whatever Hashem forbade us, He permitted us something like it. For example: He forbade consuming blood, but permitted liver (which is made of blood and tastes like blood). He forbade relations with a נדה, but permitted דם טוהר – “blood of purity,” (i.e., a בתולה’s blood, and blood discharged a certain number of days after birth). He forbade cheilev of a בהמה, but permitted cheilev of a חיה. He forbade pork, but permitted the brains of a שיבוטא (a type of fish) which taste like pork). He forbade גירותא (a nonkosher bird), but permitted fish tongue. Relations with a married woman are forbidden, but a divorcee is permitted while her husband is alive. One’s brother’s wife is forbidden, but permitted as a יבמה. A non-Jewish woman is forbidden, but is permitted as יפת תאר – the beautiful [captive]. Yalta concluded: בעינן למיכל בשרא בחלבא – I want to eatsomething which tastes like meat cooked with milk. Rav Nachman told his chefs to roast כחל on a spit without tearing it open. Although our Mishnah requires tearing them לכחתלה, Rav Nachman holds the Mishnah refers to cooking כחל, but roasting is permitted without tearing.