Beitzah

Seeing that that which is mukan for human consumption is not mukan for dogs — for we have learnt: One may cut up1 gourds for cattle and a carcass for dogs;2 R. Judah says: If [the animal] was not yet nebelah3 on the eve of the Sabbath it is forbidden,4 for it was not mukan5 — can that which is mukan for dogs be considered mukan for human beings? — He said to him: It is even so; that which is mukan for human consumption is not mukan for dogs, for that which is useable for man one does not throw to dogs. [But] that which is mukan for dogs is [also] mukan for human consumption, for the mind of man is directed to everything which may be fitting for him. [A Baraitha] was taught in accordance with Rab [and a Baraitha] was taught in accordance with Samuel, or as some say, R. Johanan. [A Baraitha] was taught in accordance with Rab: A calf which is born on a Festival is permitted;6 [but] a chicken which is hatched on a Festival is forbidden. And what difference is there between the one and the other? [The calf] is mukan by virtue of its mother through shechitah,7 but [the chicken] is not mukan by virtue of its another.8 [A Baraitha] was taught in accordance with Samuel, or as some say, R Johanan: A calf which is born on a Festival is permitted; a chicken which is hatched on a Festival is permitted. Why? [The calf] is mukan by virtue of its mother and [the chicken] makes itself permitted through slaughter. Our Rabbis taught: A chicken which is hatched on a Festival is forbidden. R. Eliezer b. Jacob says: It is forbidden even on a weekday since its eyes are not yet open. With whose opinion does the following passage agree: Even all creeping things that creep upon the earth,9 this includes chickens whose eyes are not yet opened?10 With whose opinion? The opinion of R. Eliezer b. Jacob. R. Huna said in the name of Rab: An egg is completed on its issue [from the fowl]. What is meant by ‘completed on its issue’? If we say, [it means] it is completed on its issue, so that [the egg] may be eaten with milk;11 [which implies] when it is still within the hen [the egg] may not be eaten with milk? But surely we have learnt: If one kills a hen and finds therein completely formed eggs, these may be consumed with milk! And if [it means] it is completed on its issue so that [the egg] may be eaten on a Festival;12 [which implies] when [the egg] is still within the hen,13 it may not be eaten on the Festival?14 But surely we have learnt: If one kills a hen and finds therein eggs completely formed they are permitted to be eaten on the Festival.15 And if you say that he informed us in the Baraitha what we do not learn in the Mishnah?16 This too17 we have learnt [in a Mishnah]: If an egg is laid on a Festival, Beth Shammai say: It may be eaten [on the same day], but Beth Hillel maintain: It may not be eaten [until the day is over].18 Now Beth Shammai and Beth Hillel dispute thus only about [the egg] that is laid; but if [the egg] is in the hen, all agree that it is permitted! And if you maintain that Beth Hillel prohibit [the egg] even when it is within the hen, and the reason he [the author of the Mishnah] quotes [their dispute with respect to an egg] ‘laid’ is in order to manifest to you the extent of the opinion of Beth Shammai that even if it is laid it is permitted; then as to that which we have learnt: If one slaughtered a hen and found therein eggs completely formed they are permitted to be eaten on the Festival — who will its author be? Neither Beth Shammai nor Beth Hillel!19 Therefore ‘it is completed on its issue’ [means] that [the egg] can hatch chickens, [but the egg found] in the body of the hen cannot hatch chickens. What is its practical bearing? — with respect to buying and selling.20 As once happened when someone called out [to the salesmen]: Who has eggs within it would be mukan. The same however cannot be said of a chicken, because the owner could never conceive of an egg within the fowl ready to be hatched, so that in the case of the chicken there is no case of mukan. Ex. XXIII, 19) is extended by the Rabbis to include fowls. Eggs, however, may be eaten with milk. could rule that when the egg is still in the hen it may not be eaten on the Festival. is in the body of the hen.