Commento su Deuteronomio 14:7

השסועה — (lit., a cleft one) is a certain animal which has two backs and two spinal columns (Chullin 60b). — Our Rabbis asked, “Why are these (the clean and unclean beasts and fowls) here repeated” since the names have already been mentioned in Leviticus XI? They replied: the repetition was necessary so far as quadrupeds are concerned because of the שסועה, and so far as fowls are concerned because of the ראה, both of which are not mentioned in Torath Cohanim (i.e. Leviticus) (Chullin 63b).

השסועה, “which is split.” Our sages in Chulin 60 understand this word to refer to a species of animal having two spines and two backs. [I suppose the clue to this is the tone sign tipcha under the word הפרסה which precedes it and which separates it from the word השסועה. Ed.] This species chews the cud. Seeing that the list of animals permitted to eat, etc., has already been provided by the Torah in Leviticus chapter 11, why is it repeated here once more? The sages in Chulin 60 suggest it is because of the addition of the השסועה amongst the mammals and the ראה amongst the birds (Bechorot 6). On the other hand, the list of birds mentioned in Leviticus has a bird called דאה which is absent here. (Leviticus 11,14) The reason this bird is called ראה is supposedly because it has exceptionally good eyesight. According to Chulin 63 this bird can locate a carcass in the land of Israel while flying in the skies of Babylon. The Talmud also considers the names איה and דיה as two names for he same species of bird. Seeing this species is known by two names, the Torah repeated the entire list of birds here once more. Had it not done so, some people might consider the species not listed in Leviticus as permitted to eat, whereas others would reason that the species not mentioned in Deuteronomy is permitted to eat. The reason that the list of birds are the ones forbidden to eat, whereas the Torah listed the mammals which are permitted to eat is that there are far more species of “pure” birds, i.e. the ones we may eat than forbidden ones, whereas with mammals the situation is the reverse. Our sages base themselves on the model of the Torah when they say that when teaching people one should always endeavor to be concise, brief (Chulin 63). The species of bird known as שלך is called thus as it catches fish in the water with its beak while they are swimming (שלה, “to extricate, to draw out”). The דוכיפת is a form of wild turkey, apparently it has sort of a double “chin” (from the Hebrew כפות, “twin, double,” like כפות תמרים, the palm leaves which fold over).