These Are They Which Ye Shall Have in Abomination: Examining Fowl

These Are They Which Ye Shall Have in Abomination Among the Fowls

Leviticus 11:13–19 lists twenty-four birds by name as forbidden. Significantly, the Torah does not give positive identifying signs for permitted birds the way it does for animals (cloven hoof + cud-chewing) and fish (fins + scales). Instead, it provides only the forbidden list. Maimonides therefore derives the positive commandment — to examine fowl and determine which are permitted — from the existence of the list itself: Israel must study and learn which birds fall inside or outside the prohibited twenty-four.

The oral tradition developed four positive signs of a permitted bird: it has a projecting talon, a crop (craw), a peelable gizzard lining, and is not a 'doreis' (a bird that pins prey with its feet before eating). Eagles and hawks are excluded precisely because they are birds of prey that grip and pin — the 'doreis' category. The list in Leviticus 11 is the boundary; the positive signs derived by tradition are the tools for navigating within it.

These Shall Ye Eat of All That Are in the Waters

Leviticus 11:2 opens the entire dietary law section. 'These are the beasts which ye shall eat' — the chapter begins positively, with permission, before moving to restriction. The bird section (verses 13–19) follows the fish section (verses 9–12) and the animal section (verses 1–8). Each category has a different identification logic: animals need positive signs, fish need positive signs, but birds are identified by a negative list.

Deuteronomy 14:11 restates the law with the positive framing: 'Of all clean birds ye shall eat' (Deuteronomy 14:11). The examination commandment flows from this: before eating a bird, determine whether it is one of the clean birds. The commandment to examine is therefore implicit in every permitted meal that involves fowl.

Key Figures

Study Questions