Beitzah

said: We regard the upper [layers] as if they are dispersed [among each barrel] and the lower1 neutralize the upper [litra of figs]; [while] R. Joshua says: If there were there a hundred tops [of barrels] they neutralize, but if not, then [all] the top layers are forbidden and [all] the remainders are permitted. [But] R. Judah maintains2 [that] R. Eliezer said: If there are a hundred upper layers they neutralize, but if not then [all] the top layers are forbidden and [all] the remainders are permitted; [while] R. Joshua Says: Even if there are three hundred tops of barrels they do not neutralize.3 If it4 was pressed in a jar and he does not know in which jar he pressed it, all agree that they neutralize. [You say], All agree? [Why] this is the point they are disputing! Said R. Papa: This is what he says: If it was pressed in a jar and he does not know it, which part of the jar it was pressed, whether northward or southward, all agree that it is neutralized. 5 R. Ashi said: In reality the doubt is whether [the egg was laid] on a Festival-day or on a weekday,6 [but] it [the egg] is a forbidden] object which will become permitted,7 and anything [forbidden] which will become permitted, even though [forbidden] by a Rabbinical enactment8 is not neutralized.9 It was taught: Others say in the name of R. Eliezer: The egg [laid on a Festival] and the hen may be eaten. About what are we discussing? If about a hen kept for food, it is self-evident that the egg and the hen are permitted;10 and if about a hen kept for laying eggs, then the egg and the hen are forbidden!11 — Answered R. Zera: [It means,] it [the egg] may be eaten in virtue of the hen.12 What are the circumstances?13 — Said Abaye: For example when he bought it [the hen] without specifying [for what purpose]; if it is killed then it is [retrospectively] clear that it was intended to be kept for food;14 if it is not killed, then it is evident that it was intended to be kept for laying eggs.15 R. Mari says: He states an exaggeration.16 For it was taught: Others say in the name of R. Eliezer: The egg may be eaten, it and its hen, and its chicken and its shell. What is meant by ‘its shell’? Shall I say [it means] literally ‘shell’, is then the shell [fit for] food?17 Again, if it should [mean] a chicken in its shell, surely the Rabbis dispute with R. Eliezer b. Jacob18 only when the chicken is actually hatched, but when it has not yet been hatched they do not dispute!19 Therefore ‘the chicken and its shell’ is an exaggeration,20 so also here ‘it and its hen may be eaten’ is an exaggeration. It was stated: A Sabbath and a Festival [following one another]. Rab says: [An egg] laid on the one is forbidden on the other, but R. Johanan maintains: [The egg] laid on the one is permitted on the other. Shall we say that Rab holds that they [a Sabbath and a Festival immediately following] are regarded as one [continuous day of] holiness? But Rab said: The halachah is according to the four elders who decided according to the opinion of R. Eliezer who says [the Sabbath and the Festival] are two [distinct days of] holiness! — Rather they differ here in Rabbah's [law of] Hakanah;21 Rab accepts Rabbah's law of Hakanah and R. Johanan rejects Rabbah's law of Hakanah. The same is disputed by Tannaim: If it [an egg] is laid on a Sabbath, it may be eaten on a Festival;22 [if it is laid] on a Festival it may be eaten on a Sabbath.23 R. Judah says in the name of R. Eliezer: The dispute still continues; for Beth Shammai say: It may be eaten; whereas Beth Hillel maintain: It may not be eaten.24 The host of R. Adda b. Ahabah had some eggs from a festival [which he wished to prepare] for the Sabbath.25 He came before him, and asked: Is it permitted to roast them to-day26 that we may eat their to-morrow? He answered him: What is in your mind: [in a dispute between] Rab and R. Johanan the halachah Is as R. Johanan? But even R. Johanan only allows [the egg] to be quaffed on the morrow, but not on the same day [it was laid];27 even as it was taught: Whether an egg was laid on a Sabbath or on a Festival, one may not move it to cover therewith a vessel nor to support therewith the leg of a bed. 28 The host of R. Papa — some say it was another man who came before R. Papa — had some eggs from a Sabbath [which he wished to prepare] on the [immediately following] Festival. He came, asking him: Is it permitted to eat them to-morrow?29 He answered him: Go away now and come to-morrow: for Rab would not appoint an interpreter for himself from [the first day of] the Festival until [the termination of] its companion30 on account of inebriety.31 When he came on the morrow, he said to him: quantity of vessels is immaterial. Cf. J. Ter. IV, 7. Tanna who held that anything which is often sold by number is not annulled, and he will be the author of the teaching regarding the mixed egg. required, v. supra 3b. hen-mother at all? Rashi. mentioning more than is necessary. communicate to him. Rab was so scrupulous that he refrained from communicating teachings and decisions to his interpreter on a feast day lest he should risk giving less than his best through the influence of drinking wine on the Festival. R. Papa would not give on a Sabbath a decision for the same reason.