Beitzah

then Samuel's purpose is to inform us the halachah for actual practice.1 Our Rabbis taught: One may not [sift] flour a second time2 on a Festival. In the name of R. Papeus and R. Judah b. Bathyra they said: One may [sift it] a second time;3 but they agree that if a pebble or a splinter fell in, one may sift it again. A tanna recited in the presence of Rabina: One may not [sift] flour a second time on a Festival, but if a pebble or a splinter fell in, he may pick it out with his hand. He said to him: All the more this is forbidden, because it is in the nature of selecting.4 Raba5 the son of R. Huna Zuti expounded at the gate of Nehardea: One may [sift] flour a second time on a Festival. R. Nahman said to them [his disciples]: Go and say to Abba,6 ‘Take your favours and throw them on thorns’;7 come and see how many sieves are being used in Nehardea. The wife of R. Joseph sifted flour on an inverted sieve.8 He said to her: Take notice that I want good bread.9 The wife of R. Ashi sifted flour on the top side of the table. Said R. Ashi: This my [wife] is the daughter of Rami b. Hama, and Rami b. Hama was a man of [pious] deeds, and unless she had seen this in the home of her parents, she would not have done it. MISHNAH. A MAN MAY GO TO A SHOPKEEPER WHOM HE GENERALLY PATRONIZES10 AND SAY TO HIM: ‘GIVE ME [SO MANY] EGGS AND NUTS, AND STATING THE NUMBER; FOR THIS IS THE WAY OF A HOUSEHOLDER TO RECKON IN HIS OWN HOME.11 GEMARA. Our Rabbis taught: A man may go to a cattledealer whom he generally patronizes and say to him: Give me one kid or one lamb; to a butcher whom he generally patronizes and say to him: Give me one shoulder or one leg; to a poultry breeder whom he generally patronizes and say to him: Give me one dove or one pigeon; to a baker whom he generally patronizes and say to him: Give me one loaf or one roll; and to a shopkeeper whom he generally patronizes and say to him: Give me twenty eggs, or fifty nuts, or ten peaches, or five pomegranates, or one Ethrog; provided that he does not mention any measure.12 R. Simeon b. Eleazar says: Provided that he does not mention any sum of money. MISHNAH. WHEN ONE TAKES JARS OF WINE FROM PLACE TO PLACE, HE MAY NOT CARRY THEM IN A BASKET OR IN A HAMPER,13 BUT HE MAY CARRY [THEM] ON HIS SHOULDER OR IN FRONT OF HIM. LIKEWISE, ONE WHO CARRIES STRAW MAY NOT LET THE BUNDLE [OF STRAW] HANG DOWN OVER HIS BACK, BUT MUST CARRY IT IN HIS HAND; AND ONE MAY START [USING] A HEAP OF STRAW,14 by a colleague. As R. Nahman could hardly have been his colleague, preference is to be given to MS. M. which reads R. Hama, the head of the Nehardea School at the time; v. Hyman, Toledoth p. 1074].