The Rabbi stopped his Shiur(Torah lesson) as a young girl was standing at the entrance holding a slaughtered chicken. Her mother had instructed her to ask the Rabbi of Jerusalem, Rav Shmuel Salant, whether the chicken was kosher, but she had come in the middle of the Shiur.
The Rabbi, however, whose astuteness was matched by his kindhearted nature, stopped the Shiur and asked her gently: What do you want, my child?
The little girl stammered that her mother had sent her to check whether the chicken was kosher. The Rav beckoned to her and after a few minutes of checking the chicken thoroughly he gave it back to her and told her: Go and tell your mother that she made a mistake and brought the wrong chicken. Ask her to send the second chicken which she slaughtered…
Half an hour later the girl appeared with another chicken, which Rav Shmuel checked and ruled accordingly. After the girl left his disciples queried what Divine inspiration revealed to their master that this family has slaughtered two chickens that day?
“It wasn’t Divine inspiration or prophecy” , smiled Rav Shmuel humbly, “but the first chicken had no question at all regarding its status. I therefore assumed that the family had slaughtered two chickens that day, and only one of them was of questionable status, but due to the pressure and confusion they sent the first chicken to me, and therefore I asked them to send me the correct one…
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In the courtyard of Rabbi Yehoshua Wilner, a devout Jew in Jerusalem, his family grew many chickens, from which they derived their livelihood. Often Rabbi Yehoshua would secretly distribute eggs and even chickens for free to the poor scholars of the city.
One Friday, while the community were preparing to receive the Shabbat, Rabbi Yehoshua was standing with a number of his friends in the courtyard of Rav Shmuel Salant, and told them that he had a very dirty chicken in his courtyard covered in lice and dirt. He was wondering whether the chicken might be tereifa (non-kosher) and he asked one of the prominent Rabbis of Jerusalem whether it was kosher. The Rabbi checked the halachic books and didn’t see any reason to disqualify the chicken.
While Rabbi Yehoshua was telling this to his friends, Rav Shmuel Salant passed by and muttered while walking past: “If you would ask my opinion, the chicken is not kosher”.
Those present were astonished. Rav Shmuel was known to always try to be lenient in his rulings and especially after hearing that one of the prominent Rabbis of Jerusalem had ruled leniently, why would he see fit to rule stringently?
Rav Shmuel understood their bemusement and explained: There isn’t any specific ruling in the writings of the authorities regarding such a chicken. However a normal chicken can turn its head and clean itself of all dirt. If this chicken is so dirty, it stands to reason that its neck is broken and it cannot therefore turn its head around to clean itself. A broken neck is of course tereifa.
The bystanders listened to their Rabbi’s words with wonder and immediately after Shabbat they went to Rabbi Yehoshua’s house to check the chicken. They were amazed to find that indeed the chicken’s neck was broken.
When the story reached the ears of the Rabbi who had permitted the chicken, and he heard how Rav Shmuel had ruled against him on the basis of logic alone, he responded with wonder, saying: “Rav Shmuel Salant is unique in our generation”.
