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Week 125 - Tuesday - 16 April 2002

EDUYOT: CHAPTER 3: MISHNAH 12

Three things R. Eleazar b. Azariah permits and the Sages forbid: His cow goes out with a strap between its horns, and one grooms an animal on Yom Tov, and one grinds peppers in their mill. R. Yehudah says: One does not groom an animal on Yom Tov because it makes a sore, but one combs it. The Sages say: One does not groom, nor even comb.

Kehati

This mishnah also appears in Betzah (2:8), and continues with the series of "threes" begun above.

Three things R. Eleazar b. Azariah permits and the Sages forbid. These are: -

1. His cow goes out with a strap between its horns - into a public domain on Shabbat. The Talmud (Betzah 23a and Shabbat 54b) quotes the following baraita: "It was not his (it was not R. Eleazar b. Azariah's cow), but since he did not protest against it, it was named after him." It is true that by Torah law we are commanded to allow our animals to rest on Shabbat and therefore the animal may not be allowed to go into the public domain carrying any load. R. Eleazar b. Azariah nevertheless permitted a cow to go out with a strap between its horns, which had been put there as an ornament. The Sages, though, forbade this ornamental strap because not all cows are used to this, and it is thus classified as a burden.

2. And one grooms an animal on Yom Tov - One is permitted to groom an animal with a metal comb with fine teeth, even though this might sometimes result in a sore, because he does not plan to cause sores.

3. And one grinds peppers - on Yom Tov in their mill - which is specifically used for grinding peppers, even if the mills are large and require much effort. The Sages do not permit grinding peppers on Yom Tov except using a small pestle of stone or wood, or similar item. R. Yehudah says: One does not groom an animal on Yom Tov because it makes a sore - the metal teeth cause sores, but one combs it - with a wooden comb, which has broad teeth, and there is no fear that they will cause sores.

The Sages say: One does not groom, nor even comb - For they forbid combing with a wooden comb as a decree against combing with a metal comb, lest if the former be permitted people might engage in the latter. Rambam explains that the first action is removing the small flies that attach themselves to the flanks of the animal, and these leave sores when removed. The second action is the removing of larger flies, the removal of which does not result in sores. The halakhah in regard to grooming follows R. Eleazar b. Azariah, for we rule in accordance with R. Shimon that an action whose incidental result is not desired is permitted. As to the strap between the horns of a cow and the grinding of peppers, the halakhah follows the Sages

EDUYOT: CHAPTER 4: MISHNAH 1

These are the matters where the School of Shammai is lenient and the School of Hillel is stringent. An egg, which was laid on Yom Tov, the School of Shammai says, It may be eaten; but the School of Hillel says, It may not be eaten. The School of Shammai says, Leavening agent in an olive's bulk and leaven in a date's bulk; but the School of Hillel says, Both in an olive's bulk.

Kehati

In most of the disputes between the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel, the School of Shammai is more stringent and the School of Hillel is more lenient. This chapter lists twenty-three laws in which the School of Shammai rules leniently and the School of Hillel takes the more stringent view. The present mishnah appears at the beginning of Betzah, and includes two separate halakhot. In order to explain the first, we offer certain introductory remarks: (see our introduction to Betzah): The Torah states (Ex. 16:5), "And it shall come to pass on the sixth day that they shall prepare that which they bring in." Hence it is a mitzvah to prepare all one's Shabbat needs on Friday. Similarly, it is a mitzvah to prepare one's Yom Tov needs on the preceding day. The Torah does not refer here to actual preparation, such as baking and cooking on Friday, for that is mentioned specifically (Ex. 16:23): "Tomorrow is ...a holy Sabbath unto the Lord. Bake that which you will bake, and cook that which you will cook." Verse 5 above refers to preparation by designation, where the person states: "From these things I will eat this Shabbat." Weekday meals, on the other hand, do not require specific preparation, as they are not sufficiently important but Shabbat and Yom Tov meals, which are religiously dictated meals, require preparation and designation in advance. On this, the Torah stated, And it shall come to pass on the sixth day that they shall prepare that which they bring in, viz., that the preparation must take place on a Friday, which is mostly a weekday. Thus we learn that the mitzvah of preparation for Shabbat or for Yom Tov must take place on a preceding weekday. As the Talmud puts it (Betzah 2b): "A weekday prepares for Shabbat and a weekday prepares for Yom Tov, but Yom Tov does not prepare for Shabbat, nor does Shabbat prepare for Yom Tov." From this we learn that whatever was not prepared in advance, or which by its nature cannot be prepared in advance, may not be used on Shabbat or Yom Tov, for "it is not of the prepared items. " Such an unprepared item is known as muktzeh, meaning that it is separated and set aside from any use on Shabbat or Yom Tov. This category includes fruit that fell from a tree on Shabbat or Yom Tov, which may not be eaten or even handled on these days. Now, Rambam rules that this type of muktzeh only applies to Yom Tov, the reason being that as Yom Tov is less onerous than Shabbat, the Sages forbade this type of muktzeh on Yom Tov so that people would not treat Yom Tov lightly. "How is this? A chicken which is used for egg production or a bullock which is used for plowing and doves of a cote and fruit which is meant to be sold, all these and items such as them - are muktzeh, and one may not eat of them on Yom Tov unless they have been prepared the previous day and the person thought of them as being used for food. But on Shabbat everything is considered prepared for Shabbat, and does not need preparation" (Rambam, Hil. Yom Tov 1:17-18).

This mishnah deals with a chicken, which was being raised to be slaughtered for its meat, and which laid an egg on Yom Tov. In such a case, the egg itself is not muktzeh, for the bird was intended to be slaughtered. Such a bird may be slaughtered, cooked and eaten on Yom Tov, for on Yom Tov one is permitted to perform those types of work that relate to preparing food. This also applies to an egg laid on Yom Tov provided it is known that it was completely formed by the previous day. It follows that such an egg may be eaten on Yom Tov. This is only true, though, if the day before Yom Tov was a weekday, but if Yom Tov was on Sunday, then the egg was formed on the previous day, namely on Shabbat. This would mean that Shabbat prepares for Yom Tov, and, as we mentioned earlier, one is only permitted to prepare for either Shabbat or Yom Tov on a preceding weekday. This is the background for the dispute in this mishnah, where the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel differ as to whether or not the Sages made their decree for every Yom Tov on account of a Yom Tov, which occurs on a Sunday.

These are the matters - As detailed in this chapter, where the School of Shammai is lenient and the School of Hillel is stringent - where the School of Shammai adopts a lenient ruling and the School of Hillel adopts a stringent ruling.

An egg which was laid on Yom Tov - An egg laid by a chicken which was being raised for its meat, as explained above, the School of Shammai says, It may be eaten - One may eat the egg on Yom Tov, for it is not muktzeh, as the chicken itself was designated for eating and the egg formed inside the chicken the day before Yom Tov; but the School of Hillel says, It may not be eaten - The egg may not be eaten on Yom Tov even if the previous day was a weekday, as one would not be permitted to eat such an egg on Yom Tov which falls on Sunday, for the egg would have been prepared on Shabbat and Shabbat may not prepare for Yom Tov, as explained in the introduction. Our Sages therefore forbade eating an egg laid on Yom Tov, regardless of the day of the week, as a decree against eggs laid on Yom Tov, which occurs on Sunday. The School of Shammai, though, holds one does not issue such a decree.

The School of Shammai says, Leavening-agent in an olive's bulk and leaven in a date's bulk - This date is one, which has begun to dry out. It is larger than an olive and somewhat smaller than an egg. The mishnah teaches that regarding the prohibition against leaven in one's possession on Pesach, the School of Shammai holds that the amount for which one is culpable in the case of a leavening agent such as yeast is the size of an olive, whereas for leavened products the amount is the size of a date.

But the School of Hillel says, Both in an olive's bulk - The amount of leavened produce for which one would be liable is also the size of an olive. The Talmud explains (Betzah 7b) that in regard to the eating of leavened food the School of Shammai also agrees that the amount for which one is culpable is the size of an olive, for the Torah states (Ex. 12:19), " Seven days shall there be no leaven (se'or) found in your houses: for whosoever eats that which is leavened (mahmetzet) that soul shall he cut off from the congregation of Israel." The verse begins with se'or - leavening agents - and finishes with hametz - leavened products - to tell us that the amount for which one is culpable is identical in both instances. The dispute between the School of Shammai and the School of Hillel is in regard to disposing of these substances, when the Torah states (Ex. 13:7), "and there shall no leavened bread (hametz) be seen with you, neither shall there be leaven (se'or) seen with you, in all your borders." The School of Shammai holds that the Torah mentioned se'or and hametz separately to teach us that the amounts are not identical for both; and even though the Torah considers the amounts identical in regard to the prohibition against eating, this is not so in regard to disposal. Thus yeast, which causes dough to become leavened, is forbidden if it is the size of an olive, but in regard to leavened products, the School of Shammai is more lenient and holds that a person only transgresses the prohibition of owning it if it is at least a date's bulk in size. The School of Hillel, on the other hand, holds that one deduces the quantities which must be disposed of from the quantities which may not be eaten, so that in disposal, too, the size of both yeast and leavened products for which one is culpable is an olive's bulk.

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