While the Mishna states clearly that each of the sciatic nerves is forbidden – both on the right and on the left – the Gemara teaches that Rabbi Yehuda disagrees, ruling that only a single one of the sciatic nerves is forbidden, and arguing that logic suggests that it is the sciatic nerve on the right side that is forbidden. Vayishlach 5783: Sermon by Sofia Freudenstein, Propelling Forward and Spiritual Struggle: Gid haNasheh Toldot 5783: And She Went to Inquire of the Lord. The Gemara on today’s daf takes up this last question. Are both sciatic nerves forbidden, or is only one side prohibited, as would seem logical based on the source of the story?.Is the prohibition in force in both Israel and the Diaspora?.Does it apply to sanctified animals as well as ordinary ones?.Does the prohibition to eat the sciatic nerve apply to all animals or only to some?.This unique presentation leads to a number of questions about this mitzva, among them – Following his wrestling with the angel, Ya’akov limps back towards his camp and the Torah concludes “Therefore the children of Israel eat not the sinew of the thigh-vein which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh, even in the sinew of the thigh-vein.” Gid Hanasheh (sciatic nerve): Consumption of the sciatic nerve is biblically forbidden, to commemorate Jacob’s victory over an angel after they wrestled all night.
This prohibition is unique among the commandments, inasmuch as it is not presented by the Torah as a teaching that Moses passed on to the Jewish People, rather it appears as part of the Biblical narrative in a story (see Bereishit 32:33) that takes place prior to the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Rebbe Yitzchok Nafcha challenged Rebbe Abahus rule from the case of the gid hanesheh, which is forbidden to eat yet it was. The gid hanasheh is the sciatic nerve of the animal – nervus ischiadicus – which is forbidden to eat. Yet, they do not function well together as they should. His leg is whole, his muscles are intact, the tendon is there. When Yaakov walks or rather limps away from his encounter with Esav’s angel, he is deficient, but only temporarily. The seventh perek of Massekhet Ḥullin, which began on yesterday’s daf is called Perek Gid HaNasheh. The ban on eating gid hanasheh must allude to some momentous truth as well.
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