Daf Yomi: Chullin 116 | Rabbi Shmuel Silber

Rabbi Silber's Daf Yomi shiur on Chullin 116 traces the Gemara's search for the biblical source of basar b'chalav's threefold prohibition, then moves into the halachos of eating wild game and fowl with milk and of making cheese with non-Jewish rennet. Along the way, Rabbi Silber shares the Kotzker Rebbe's beloved read on "anshei kodesh tihyu li": Hashem doesn't need more angels — He has plenty, and could create endless more with a thought. What He's actually looking for is real human beings, with all their frailties, who keep pushing to become a little more, a little holier. It's a gentle release from the self-imposed, unrealistic pressure to be flawless — growth, not perfection, is all Hashem ever asked of us.

• Hashem doesn't need more angels — He's looking for real, imperfect human beings who keep pushing to become a little more, a little holier.
• Chasing angelic perfection is a self-imposed, unrealistic expectation; growth, not flawlessness, is what Hashem actually asks of us.
• Revising a firmly-held position once you understand something better, as Shmuel does mid-sugya on the cheese of non-Jews, is a sign of strength, not weakness.
• Halacha follows Rabbi Akiva: cooking kosher domesticated meat in milk is forbidden min haTorah, but wild game and fowl with milk are forbidden only mid'rabbanan.