Hey there, and welcome back to Take One, the podcast that brings you just one guiding page of Talmud each day.

And on today's page,

Hulin 19, we have birds on the mind. How so? Because the Mishnah explains on today's

duff, there are two methods of slaughtering birds. The first involves ordinary ritual slaughter

for when you want to eat a bird, say, and that one is called Shchita.

The second was part of the sacred service in the temple and was called Malika, or literally

pinching.

Now, here's the complicated part.

If someone performed Shchita by cutting the back of the bird's neck, it was invalid, but if a

priest performed Malika in precisely the same manner, it was valid.

And on the other hand, if Malika was performed by cutting the front of the neck, it is invalid.

While if Shechita was performed in that manner, it is valid.

Why the difference?

Malika, we know, was one of the most difficult forms of

service in the temple, involving the priest, holding the bird in one hand, and piercing its neck with his

fingernail. Stop for a second and try to imagine it to understand just how tricky it must have been.

And herein lies the deep meaning, one still oh so relevant for us

today. Those of us lucky enough to be parents know the following scenario all too well. We do something

not exactly bad, but not noble either, like, say, sneaking up to the kitchen late at night

and grabbing that second,

okay, that fourth cookie from the cookie jar. And much to our horror, despite our best efforts

to be as nimble as a ninja, were busted just as we put the soft and chewy treat in our mouths.

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