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Chullin 66
Sugya Map & Snapshot
Sugya Map
The sugya in Chullin 66a serves as the locus classicus for the intersection of biblical taxonomy, hermeneutical mechanics (middot she-ha-Torah nidreshet ba-hen), and the epistemological limits of kashrut identification.
- The Issue: The mechanics of biblical derivation regarding kosher grasshoppers (chagavim) and fish (dagim).
- For chagavim: The dispute between the Tanna d'Vei Rav (the Sifra) and the Tanna d'Vei Rabbi Yishmael regarding whether a long-headed grasshopper (rasho aroch) is kosher. This hinges on whether the verse structure is treated as Klal u'Prat (Generalization and Detail) or Klal u'Prat u'Klal (Generalization, Detail, and Generalization).
- For dagim: The redundancy of senappir (fin) in light of the biological axiom that "any fish with scales (kaskeset) also has fins (senappir)."
- The Nafka Mina(s):
- Halakhic Taxonomy of Grasshoppers: The permissibility of eating a long-headed grasshopper (rasho aroch), and by extension, the precise parameters of what constitutes a "similar species" (k'ein ha-prat).
- The Epistemological Status of Fins: Whether we require visual verification of a fin (senappir) on a fish carcass, or if the presence of a single scale (kaskeset) suffices to permit the fish.
- Temporal and Dynamic Kashrut: The status of fish that develop scales only after a period of time (e.g., sultanit and afyan) or those that shed their scales upon being extracted from the water (e.g., akunas).
- Primary Sources: Leviticus 11:9-12, Leviticus 11:21-22, Mishnah Nidda 6:9 (reprinted in Nidda 51b), Sifra Shmini 3:5, Chullin 65b-66b.
Text Snapshot
כל שיש לו קשקשת יש לו סנפיר, ויש שיש לו סנפיר ואין לו קשקשת. כל שיש לו קשקשת - דג טהור, ויש שיש לו סנפיר ואין לו קשקשת - דג טמא.
מכדי אנן אקשקשת סמכינן, לכתוב רחמנא קשקשת ולא לכתוב סנפיר! אי כתב רחמנא קשקשת ולא כתב סנפיר, הוה אמינא מאי קשקשת? סנפיר, ואפילו דג טמא שרי; כתב רחמנא סנפיר וקשקשת. והשתא דכתב רחמנא סנפיר וקשקשת, מכדי קשקשת לבושא הוא... לכתוב רחמנא קשקשת ולא לכתוב סנפיר! אמר רבי אבהו, וכן תנא דבי רבי ישמעאל: להגדיל תורה ויאדיר.
Linguistic & Grammatical Nuances
- קשקשת (Kaskeset): The Gemara identifies this as "clothing" (levusha), citing I Samuel 17:5: "וְשִׁרְיוֹן קַשְׂקַשִּׁים הוּא לָבוּשׁ" ("and he was clad with a coat of scale armor"). The root קשקש denotes overlapping plates.
- סנפיר (Senappir): Semitically linked to the wing-like appendage of aquatic life. The Gemara's initial hava amina (premise) was that kaskeset could linguistically denote senappir (perhaps from the Aramaic shaspa or overlapping structures of a fin). This necessitates the dual biblical term to prevent semantic slippage.
- להגדיל תורה ויאדיר (Lehagdil Torah Veyadir): Taken from Isaiah 42:21. In this context, it is not merely homiletical; it serves as a formal hermeneutical category where the Torah writes a redundant word solely to generate spiritual reward for its analysis or to clarify a concept that could have been deduced through logic.
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Readings
Rashi’s Methodological Divide: Midrash Halakha vs. The School of Rabbi Yishmael
Rashi on Chullin 66a:1:1 and Chullin 66a:1:2 is highly sensitive to the historical-literary identity of the Tannaim.
במאי קא מיפלגי תנא דבי ר' ישמעאל - דמייתי ליה סלעם לרבויי ראשו ארוך ואייתר ליה חגב למעוטי צרצור ותנא דברייתא קמייתא דמיבעי ליה כולהו לגופייהו:
תנא דבי רב - קרי לברייתא קמייתא ששנויה בתורת כהנים דמקרי ספרא דבי רב לפי שהיה שגור בבית המדרש בפי כולם אבל ברייתא דתנא דבי ר"י לא היתה שגורה אלא בפי תלמידיו:
Rashi identifies the "Tanna of the study hall" (Tanna d'Vei Rav) as the author of the Sifra (the Halakhic Midrash on Leviticus). The core of the dispute lies in how they construct their hermeneutical frameworks.
- Tanna d'Vei Rav views the verse structure of Leviticus 11:21-22 as a Klal u'Prat (Generalization and Detail). The generalization is "which have jointed legs" (asher lo khra'ayim), and the detail consists of the four specific species listed (arbeh, solam, chargol, chagav). Under this rule, the law applies only to things that are structurally identical to the detail. Because all four detailed species possess short heads, any grasshopper with a long head (rasho aroch) is excluded.
- Tanna d'Vei Rabbi Yishmael employs his signature thirteen hermeneutical rules, specifically Klal u'Prat u'Klal. The first generalization is "jointed legs," the detail is the four species, and the phrase "after its kinds" (le-minehu) acts as a concluding generalization. Under Klal u'Prat u'Klal, we include anything that is similar to the detail in even one primary characteristic (ke-ein ha-prat). Thus, even if the grasshopper has a long head, its possession of the four core physiological signs (four legs, four wings, jointed leaping legs, and wings covering the majority of its body) suffices to make it kosher.
Rashi's chiddush (novel insight) here is that the dispute is not about a physical tradition regarding grasshopper species, but a fundamental disagreement on the mechanics of middot she-ha-Torah nidreshet ba-hen. The Tanna d'Vei Rav requires a double-aspect similarity (shnei tzedadim) to include a species, whereas Rabbi Yishmael requires only a single-aspect similarity (tzad echad), thereby permitting the rasho aroch.
Tosafot's Structural Critique: Why Only "Rasho Aroch"?
Tosafot on Chullin 66a:1:1 raises a powerful question: why does the Gemara limit the practical difference (nafka mina) between the two Tannaim to a "long-headed grasshopper"?
וא"ת אמאי לא מפרש דאיכא בינייהו שאר חגבים שאינן ממין אותם הכתובים שיש להם ארבעה סימנים הכתובים במתני' ואין ראשו ארוך דלתנא דבי רב אסירי אע"פ שיש להם ד' סימנים דמתני' דאין בכלל אלא מה שבפרט...
If the Tanna d'Vei Rav operates under Klal u'Prat, then any grasshopper that is not of the exact species listed in the Torah should be prohibited, even if its head is short! Why focus specifically on rasho aroch?
Tosafot offers two answers:
- The Biological Reality: There may be no grasshoppers in existence that possess the five signs of the Mishnah but are not of the species mentioned in the Torah, other than the long-headed variety. In other words, the entire category of non-specified kosher-looking grasshoppers is represented biologically by the rasho aroch.
- The Concept of "Rabbuta" (The Greater Novelty): The Gemara chose to highlight the rasho aroch because it represents the most extreme case of permissibility. Even though its head shape is radically different from the classic arbeh or chagav, the school of Rabbi Yishmael still permits it.
The Ontological Status of Grasshoppers: The Tosafistic Defense of Shechitah Exemption
In the same passage, Tosafot explores a massive meta-halakhic question: do grasshoppers require ritual slaughter (shechitah)?
בסוף שמעתא פי' בקונטרס דחגבים הללו אין טעונין שחיטה שהרי אחר דגים הזכירן הכתוב... וכן הבאין מן הסלולה ולפני חנוני אסורין מפני שמזלף עליהם יין... מ"מ נקט אוכל למימר דליכא איסור אבר מן החי דלא בעי שחיטה.
Tosafot notes that Rashi (referred to here as "ha-Kuntres") quotes the Halakhot Gedolot to prove that grasshoppers do not require shechitah. The proof is textual and ontological:
- The Torah groups grasshoppers with fish in various contexts. In Genesis 1:26 and Genesis 1:28, the dominion of man is over "the fish of the sea" and "the creeping things of the earth."
- In the Talmudic discussions of animal slaughter, grasshoppers and fish are consistently grouped together as exempt from shechitah. For instance, Keritot 21a states that the blood of fish and grasshoppers is permitted because they do not require slaughtering.
- In Shabbat 90b, the Gemara discusses keeping a live kosher grasshopper for a child to play with, showing no concern that it might die and be eaten without shechitah.
Tosafot's analysis establishes a crucial ontological binary in the laws of dietary holiness:
- Warm-blooded land animals and birds: Require shechitah to transition from a state of eiver min ha-chai (limb from a living animal) or neveilah (carcass) to a permitted state. Their life is in their blood, and that life must be poured out via a ritual act.
- Aquatic life and cold-blooded swarming land life (grasshoppers): Do not require shechitah. Their permissibility is inherent in their collection/harvesting (asifah). The moment they are gathered, they are permitted, and there is no prohibition of eiver min ha-chai for fish and grasshoppers, except for the Rabbinic prohibition of bal teshaktsu (eating them while still alive and squirming).
Rambam’s Codification: Biological Potentiality vs. Actuality in Fish Scales
The Rambam in Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Ma'achalot Assurot 1:17 and 1:24, codifies the sugya of fish scales with precision:
"דג שאין לו עתה קשקשת, ועתיד לגדל לאחר זמן... או שהיה לו קשקשת בעודו במים, וכשעלה מן המים השיר קשקשיו—הרי זה מותר." (A fish that does not currently have scales, but is destined to grow them later... or that had scales while in the water, but shed them upon being pulled from the water—this is permitted.)
The Rambam addresses the ontological definition of "having scales." Does a fish need to possess scales at the moment of capture to be deemed kosher, or is the biological potentiality or aquatic history of the fish sufficient?
The Rambam rules that:
- Temporal Potentiality (Sultanit/Afyan): The sultanit and afyan are kosher even when young and scaleless. The Halakha looks at the species' genetic trajectory. If the species is genetically programmed to develop scales, the individual specimen is ontologically classified as "having scales" even before they physically manifest.
- Dynamic Loss (Akunas): The akunas (tuna) and its variants shed their scales due to friction when caught. Here, the Halakha does not require the physical presence of scales on the plate. It suffices that the fish had scales in its natural habitat. The kosher status is determined by the fish's natural state in the water, not its state at the time of human consumption.
This reveals a profound conceptual point: kashrut signs are not merely superficial markers used for identification (epistemology); they are intrinsic biological definitions of the animal's species (ontology). If the species is structurally a "scaled species," it remains kosher even if the individual specimen is temporarily or permanently bald of scales.
The Brisker Investigation: Is Senappir an Ontological Element or an Epistemological Indicator?
In the analytical tradition of Brisk, particularly as developed by Rav Chaim Soloveitchik and expanded in the Kehillot Yaakov (Chullin, Siman 26), a major question is asked regarding the redundancy of senappir (fin):
If, as the Mishnah in Nidda 51b states, "Any fish that has scales certainly has fins," then the biological category of "scaled fish" is a subset of "finned fish."
$$\text{Scaled Fish} \subset \text{Finned Fish}$$
This means there can never be a fish with kaskeset that lacks senappir. Why, then, did the Torah write senappir?
The Gemara's ultimate answer is "to make Torah great and glorious" (Yagdil Torah Veyadir). But how do we understand this? Is it a mere rhetorical flourish, or does it point to a structural halakhic reality?
The Brisker Rav proposes a classic dual-pathway (trei gvanei) analysis of kashrut signs:
- Path A: Epistemological Indicators (Simanim). Under this view, senappir and kaskeset are merely diagnostic tools given to man to identify which fish are permitted. If this were the case, writing senappir is completely redundant, because once we find kaskeset, the identification is complete.
- Path B: Ontological Constituents (Metirim/Hefresis). Under this view, the actual kashrut of the fish is metaphysically generated by the presence of both fins and scales. Even though they always co-exist biologically, the halakhic status of kashrut requires the presence of both as formal components of the permit.
By saying Yagdil Torah Veyadir, the Gemara is teaching us that the Torah wanted to establish both signs as ontological components of the fish's kosher status, even though one would have been sufficient for identification. The Torah "multiplied" the commandments so that we are rewarded for recognizing both elements of the divine design, transforming a biological reality into a double-layered spiritual reality.
Friction: The Strongest Kushya and the Best Terutz
The Kushya: The Redundancy of "Yagdil Torah Veyadir" vs. The Hermeneutical Axiom of "No Redundant Words"
The most glaring conceptual friction in this sugya is the Gemara's recourse to the phrase Yagdil Torah Veyadir to resolve the redundancy of senappir.
Throughout the entire Talmud, the baseline assumption of Rabbinic hermeneutics is that there are no redundant words in the Torah. Every seemingly extra letter, word, or verse is utilized by the Sages to derive a new halakha, an exclusion (mi'ut), or an inclusion (ribbuy). For example, in our very sugya, the extra instances of "in the waters" are meticulously analyzed to derive the rules of generalization and detail for pits, ditches, and caves.
How, then, can the Gemara suddenly abandon this fundamental methodology and declare that the word senappir is completely redundant, written only "to make the Torah great and glorious"? This feels like an interpretive surrender. If the Torah can write redundant words for "glory," then the entire enterprise of derashot (exegesis) collapses, as any difficult word could simply be brushed aside as Yagdil Torah Veyadir!
The Terutz: The Conceptual Distinction of the Rashba and the Ritba
The Rishonim, most notably the Rashba (in his Chiddushim to Chullin 66b) and the Ritba, address this devastating question head-on.
The Rashba explains that Yagdil Torah Veyadir is not a wildcard used to escape a difficult text. Rather, it is a highly specific category of exegesis that applies only when a biological or logical axiom makes a term completely impossible to interpret otherwise.
שלא נאמר להגדיל תורה ויאדיר אלא היכא שאין לנו שום דרך אחרת לדרשו, ובמקום שהדבר ברור מצד המציאות שאי אפשר להיות קשקשת בלא סנפיר.
The Rashba's resolution can be broken down into three conceptual levels:
Level 1: The Biological Imperative
We do not apply standard hermeneutical derivations (like mi'ut or ribbuy) to a word if doing so would contradict an absolute biological reality. Since it is a physical law of creation that any fish with scales has fins, we cannot use the word senappir to exclude any fish, nor can we use it to include anything new. The biology is closed. Therefore, the word has no "work" to do in terms of shifting the boundaries of what is kosher.
Level 2: The Definition of "Yagdil Torah"
Because the word senappir cannot perform any logical or legal work to change the scope of kosher fish, its only remaining function is conceptual. The Torah explicitly names senappir to teach us that the fin is a necessary component of the kosher archetype.
Had the Torah not written senappir, we would have attained the correct practical result (eating only kosher fish with scales and fins), but we would have lacked the correct conceptual understanding of why they are kosher. We would have thought that scales alone are what matters to the Divine Will, and that fins are irrelevant.
By writing senappir, the Torah reveals that the fin is also a desired physical trait in the spiritual ecology of the Jewish diet. The "greatness and glory" of the Torah is the alignment of human intellect with the complete divine design, rather than just the practical bottom line.
Level 3: The Epistemological Defense
The Ritba adds that Yagdil Torah Veyadir is actually a form of divine reassurance. The Torah knew that in future generations, people might discover a marine creature that appears to have scales but whose biological status as a fish is doubtful. By explicitly requiring senappir, the Torah ensures that we will always double-check the organism's morphology, protecting us from error. The redundancy is a practical safeguard dressed in the garments of theological beauty.
Another Dimension of Friction: The Juxtaposed Generalizations (Ravina's West-Bank Rule)
At the end of the sugya, the Gemara encounters a structural problem in analyzing the verses regarding water sources:
אלא אימא: "במים" כלל, "בימים ובנחלים" פרט, "במים" חזר וכלל... הני שני כללי דסמיכי נינהו! אמר רבינא: כדאמרי במערבא: כל מקום שאתה מוצא שני כללים הסמוכים זה לזה, הטל פרט ביניהם ודונם בכלל ופרט וכלל.
The Friction
How can you have a Klal u'Prat u'Klal when the two generalizations are written back-to-back before the detail? The natural reading of the verse is:
$$\text{Generalization}_1 \rightarrow \text{Generalization}_2 \rightarrow \text{Detail}$$
This is a Klal u'Klal u'Prat (Generalization, Generalization, and Detail), which has completely different hermeneutical rules! How can Ravina simply "throw the detail between them" (hatal prat beinehem) to force the verse into a Klal u'Prat u'Klal structure? This seems like an arbitrary rearrangement of the biblical text!
The Terutz
The Acharonim (see the Pnei Yehoshua and the Maharsha ad loc.) explain that Ravina's rule is not a physical rearrangement of the words, but a conceptual analysis of how language works in the divine text.
When the Torah writes two generalizations adjacent to one another, the second generalization is not merely repeating the first; it is expanding the scope of the first to a universal level. However, because a specific detail immediately follows, we must understand that the detail is meant to limit both generalizations.
The only way for a detail to limit two adjacent generalizations is to treat the system as if the detail stands in the middle, radiating its limiting power in both directions.
[Generalization 1] <--- (Detail) ---> [Generalization 2]
Therefore, the "West-Bank" (Ma'arava) tradition represents a deep structural insight: the physical sequence of words in the Torah is subject to a conceptual geometry. When the Torah stacks generalizations, it is inviting us to apply the middle-detail framework (Klal u'Prat u'Klal) to prevent the detail from being swallowed up and made irrelevant by the double generalization.
Intertext
The Controversy of the Sturgeon and the Swordfish: Dynamic Scales in Halakhic History
The practical application of the sugya in Chullin 66a regarding fish that shed their scales (akunas, afunas, etc.) became the center of one of the most fierce halakhic battles of the modern era: the kashrut of the Sturgeon and the Swordfish.
┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Halakhic Status of Dynamic Scales │
└──────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
Is the Scale Removable?
(Shulchan Aruch YD 83:1)
│
┌────────────────┴────────────────┐
▼ ▼
[ Yes: Kosher ] [ No: Non-Kosher ]
- Must be removable - CT-scans/microscopes
without tearing skin. show scales fused to
- E.g., Tuna (Akunas), the skin/skeleton.
Sturgeon controversy. - E.g., Swordfish
(Xiphias gladius)
controversy.
The Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 83:1, codifies the Gemara's ruling:
דג שיש לו קשקשת עכשיו, אע"פ שאין לו סנפיר, מותר, שכל שיש לו קשקשת יש לו סנפיר... ומי שאין לו עכשיו ועתיד לגדל לאחר זמן, או שיש לו במים וכשעולה מן המים משירן, מותר.
The definition of a "scale" (kaskeset) was established by the Ramban in his commentary on the Torah Leviticus 11:9: scales must be easily removable from the skin of the fish by hand or with a knife, without tearing the underlying skin. If the scale is fused to the body of the fish such that removing it tears the flesh, it is not classified as a kaskeset but as part of the skin, rendering the fish non-kosher.
The Sturgeon (Acipenseridae)
The Sturgeon possesses five rows of heavy, bony plates called scutes.
- The Permissive View: Led by the Nodah B'Yehudah (Rav Yechezkel Landau, Tenyana, Yoreh Deah, Siman 28). He argued that these scutes, although extremely hard, can be removed with a sharp instrument without destroying the skin. He classified them as kaskeset under the category of "scales that are shed" or can be forced off, permitting the fish.
- The Prohibitive View: Led by the Chasam Sofer (Yoreh Deah, Siman 74) and later reinforced by almost all major European authorities. They argued that these bony plates are structurally fused to the fish's skeleton and skin. Removing them inevitably tears the skin. Therefore, they do not meet the definition of kaskeset derived from Goliath's "scale armor" I Samuel 17:5, which consists of overlapping, independent plates.
The Swordfish (Xiphias gladius)
A parallel controversy arose in the 20th century regarding the Swordfish.
- Juvenile swordfish possess clear, easily removable scales. However, as the fish matures, these scales are completely lost, and the adult swordfish has smooth, scaleless skin.
- The Permissive View: Relying directly on our sugya in Chullin 66a regarding the sultanit and afyan (which have scales only at certain times), some authorities argued that since the swordfish has scales during its youth, the species is classified as a "scaled species" and is permitted even in its adult, scaleless state.
- The Prohibitive View: Led by Rabbi Dr. Moses Tendler and codified by the Orthodox Union (OU), this view points out that the adult swordfish does not merely "shed" its scales temporarily; it undergoes a biological metamorphosis where the scales are absorbed back into the body and replaced by a completely different skin structure. Furthermore, the scales of the juvenile swordfish are microscopic and do not fit the biblical definition of visible "armor" (kaskasim). Today, mainstream Orthodox practice prohibits the Swordfish while maintaining the strict requirements for scale visibility and removability.
The Parallel: Pits, Ditches, and Caves in Hilkhot Sheratzim
The Gemara's derivation regarding water in "pits, ditches, and caves" (borot, sichin, u-m'arot) is a crucial parallel to Mishnah Makhshirin 2:3 and Hilkhot She'ar Yirakot.
The Torah prohibits swarming water creatures (sheratzim) in Leviticus 11:43. However, Chullin 66b derives from the double generalization of "in the waters" that this prohibition is restricted to natural, open bodies of water ("in the seas and in the rivers").
Organisms that grow in stagnant water within vessels, or in closed underground systems like pits and caves, are not classified as biblical sheratzim.
This leads to the practical ruling in Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 84:1:
- If water is kept in a cup or cistern, and small worms or organisms spontaneously generate within that water, one may bend down and drink directly from the vessel or cistern without straining the water.
- The Limit: The moment the water is strained, or if the organism leaves the vessel and crawls onto the rim, it becomes prohibited as a "creeping thing of the earth" (sheretz ha-aretz). This highlights the highly contextual and spatial nature of halakhic definitions: an organism's status is determined not just by its genetics, but by its physical location and movement.
Psak/Practice
Systematic Codification: Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah 83
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ Practical Fish Kashrut Flow │
└──────────────────────────────┘
│
Is a Scale Visible?
│
┌─────────────────┴─────────────────┐
▼ ▼
[ Yes ] [ No ]
│ │
Can it be removed without Does it belong to a
tearing the skin? known kosher species that
│ sheds scales (e.g. Tuna)?
┌────────┴────────┐ │
▼ ▼ ┌────────┴────────┐
[ Yes ] [ No ] ▼ ▼
│ │ [ Yes ] [ No ]
[ KOSHER ] [ NOT KOSHER ] │ │
[ KOSHER ] [ NOT KOSHER ]
The contemporary consensus of halakhic practice on fish kashrut follows the strict interpretations of the Shulchan Aruch and the Ramah:
- The Scale Requirement: A fish is kosher if and only if it has scales (kaskeset) that are visible to the naked eye and can be removed without tearing the skin.[^1]
- The Fin Assumption: In practice, we do not need to find a fin. If we find a single, valid scale on a piece of fish skin, the fish is immediately permitted, because the Talmudic axiom remains unbroken: any fish that has scales has fins.[^2]
- Tinned and Processed Fish: For processed fish (like canned tuna), halakhic agencies require a supervisor (mashgiach) to inspect a representative sample of the fish to verify the presence of skin with scales before processing, due to the concern that non-kosher fish could be mixed in.[^3]
[^1]: Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 83:1. [^2]: Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 83:3; see also Levush ad loc. [^3]: Igrot Moshe, Yoreh Deah 4:32.
Meta-Psak Heuristic: The Boundary of "Yagdil Torah Veyadir"
The sugya teaches a profound meta-psak heuristic regarding how we treat apparent redundancies in halakhic texts:
- The Principle of Minimalist Hermeneutics: We do not force a text to generate new prohibitions (issurim) or obligations (chiyuvim) if doing so violates physical reality or established logic.
- The Pedagogical Function of Law: Sometimes, the Torah speaks in redundant terms not to change the law, but to shape the conceptual world of the observer. The law is not merely a manual for action; it is a system of divine study. Yagdil Torah Veyadir teaches us that the intellectual engagement with the details of the law has independent value, even when those details have no practical bearing on the final ruling.
Takeaway
Kashrut is not merely a set of dietary rules, but a divine taxonomy where biological structures—such as scales and fins—serve as physical manifestations of spiritual categories. Through the redemptive redundancy of Yagdil Torah Veyadir, the Sages bridge the gap between biological reality and textual interpretation, turning the physical world into a canvas of divine study.
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