Beitzah

of a cackling hen? When they gave him eggs [found] in a slaughtered hen, he came to R. Ammi [complaining], who said to them: It is an erroneous sale and he can withdraw [from it]. [But] this is self-evident!1 — You might say that this [buyer] really wanted [the eggs] for eating, and the reason he asked [for eggs] of a cackling hen is that [such eggs] are hard-shelled; and that the practical outcome [of] his claim2 is that he must refund him the difference,3 so he informs us [that this is not so].4 There was once one who said to [the salesmen], ‘Who has mated eggs5 [for sale]? Who has mated eggs?’ [When] they gave him unmated eggs,6 he came to R. Ammi who said to them: It is an erroneous sale and he can withdraw [from the transaction]. [But] this is self evident! — You might say that he needed [the eggs] only for eating,7 and the reason he asked for mated eggs is that they are richer; and that the practical bearing of this is that they must refund him the difference,8 so he informs us that the whole transaction is fraudulent]. Alternatively: What is meant, ‘it is completed on its issue’? [It means] it is completed with the coming forth of its greater part, and it is accordance with R. Johanan. For R. Johanan said: If the greater part of an egg issued on the day before the Festival and went back, it may be eaten on the Festival-day.9 There are some [scholars] who say: What is meant, ‘it is completed on its issue’? [It means] it is completed with the [coming forth] of the whole of it. Only with the coming forth of the whole of it, but not with its greater part,10 and this is to reject the opinion of R. Johanan. [To revert to] the main text: If one slaughtered a hen and found therein completely formed eggs, these may be taken with milk.11 R. Jacob says: If [the eggs] were attached [to the hen] by sinews they are forbidden.12 Who is the author of that which our Rabbis taught: He who eats of a carcass13 of a clean bird, of its cluster of eggs, or of its bones, or of its veins, or of its flesh torn off while alive14 is clean;15 [but he who eats] of its ovary or of its crop or of its entrails, or if he melted its fat and swallowed it,16 he is unclean.17 — Who is the author [of the teaching], ‘[He who eats] of its cluster of eggs is clean’? — Said R. Joseph: It is not in accordance with R Jacob. For if it were in accordance with R. Jacob, lo, he says: If [the eggs] were attached by sinews they are forbidden [to be taken with milk]!18 Said Abaye to him: Whence [do you say this]? Perhaps R. Jacob regards [these eggs as flesh] only with respect to a prohibition19 but not with respect to defilement? And if you say that we should enact a preventative measure also in respect to defilement?20 [I would reply], This would be an extension of [the scope of] defilement, and we do not extend [the scope of] defilement by Rabbinical enactment.21 There are some [scholars] who say [thus]: Who is the author [of the teaching that if one eats] ‘of its ovary he is unclean’?22 Said R. Joseph: It is R. Jacob: For he says, ‘If [the eggs] were attached [to the hen] by sinews they are forbidden [to be taken with milk]’. Said Abaye to him: Whence [do you understand] that by the term ovary is meant [the eggs] that are attached to the ovary? Perhaps it means the ovary itself!23 And if you object: What need is there to say this with respect to the ovary? [I would reply]: It is analogous to the crop and the inwards; for although these are [really] flesh,24 [yet] since there are people who do not eat them, it is therefore necessary to state these; so also here [with respect to the ovary] since there are people who do not eat it, it is necessary to teach it. Our Rabbis taught: All creatures which copulate during the day are born during the day; all creatures which copulate during the night are born during the night; all creatures which copulate both by day and by night, give birth both by day and by night. ‘Those which copulate by day are born by day’, this refers to a fowl; ‘those which copulate during the night are born during the night’, this refers to the bat; ‘those which copulate by day and by night give birth by day and by night’, this refers to man and whatever is like him. The Master said [above]: ‘Those who copulate by day are born by day refers to a fowl’. What is the practical difference? — With respect to the teaching of R. Mari son of R. Kahana. For R. Mari son of R. Kahana said: If one examined a hen-coop on the eve of the Festival and could not find in it an egg, and on the morrow he rose early25 and found in it an egg, it is permitted.26 But did he not examine [the nest]? — I say27 that he did not examine it very carefully, and even if he did examine it very carefully, I would say that [perhaps] the greater part [of the egg] came out [before the Festival] and went back; and [this ruling is] in accordance with [the opinion of] R. Johanan.28 But that is not so; for R. Jose b. Saul said in the name of Rab: If one examined a hen-coop on the eve of the Festival and did not find in it an egg and on the morrow he rose early and found an egg in it, it is prohibited?29 — This [latter passage] refers to eggs laid through friction with the earth,30 If so,31 with respect to the teaching of R. Mari, might I not also say [the egg] was laid through friction with the earth? — When there is a cock near her.32 Even when there is a cock [near her] might I not [still] say that the egg was laid through friction with the earth? — Said Rabina: There is a tradition33 that wherever there is a cock near her she will not fructify [eggs] through friction. And how near [should the cock be]?34 — R. Gamda replied in the name of Rab: Sufficiently near null. eating of its flesh which defiles. Cf. supra to Lev. XXII, 8 and Nid. 42b. milk together. the monetary loss that would follow (by his clothes and whatever he touches becoming unclean; v. Lev. XVII, 15). But with respect to the prohibition of eating the eggs with milk, there the eggs themselves are not prohibited; it is only to safeguard the law of eating flesh and milk that the Rabbis instituted a preventive measure, and though the eggs themselves may be eaten, they may not be eaten with milk. In this respect they consider the eggs flesh. during the night. regarded as having been laid during the night.