Study Avodah Zarah folio 40B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
והתניא: כסימני ביצים כך סימני עוברי דגים! לאו תרוצי מתרצת לה? כך סימני קירבי דגים.
The Talmud elaborates: But isn’t it taught in the baraita, as it was interpreted above: Like the signs of bird eggs, so are the signs of fish roe? Apparently, the baraita assumes that non-kosher fish roe exists. The Talmud answers: Didn’t you yourself find it necessary to explain and reinterpret the baraita, as it cannot be understood according to its straightforward meaning? R' Dostai can also explain the baraita so that it effectively reads: Like the signs of bird eggs, so are the signs of fish intestines. Accordingly, the baraita never actually mentions fish roe at all.
The Talmud raises a difficulty: But where do you find that one of the signs of fish intestines is that they must be round and pointed? The Talmud answers: You find this with regard to the swim bladder of a fish, which is considered to be kosher if it is shaped like a kosher egg.
אם אין שם מומחה, מאי? אמר רב יהודה: כיון דאמר ״אני מלחתים״ — מותרין. רב נחמן אמר: עד שיאמר ״אלו דגים ואלו קירביהן״. אורי ליה רב יהודה לאדא דיילא: כיון דאמר ״אני מלחתים״ — מותרין.
The Talmud asks: If there is no expert there, and one cannot determine whether or not the fish roe is kosher, what is the halakha? Rav Yehuda says that once the seller says: I salted the fish from which this roe came and they were kosher, the roe is permitted. Rav Naḥman says: The roe is prohibited until the seller shows kosher fish to the buyer and says: These are the fish, and these are their intestines. That is, the roe is permitted only if the seller can present the fish that produced it. The Talmud relates: Rav Yehuda instructed Adda, his attendant: Once the seller says: I salted them, they are permitted.