Beitzah

. Our Mishnah is not in agreement with the following Tanna. For it was taught: R. Simeon b. Eleazar said: Beth Shammai and Beth Hillel agree that one may carry the ladder from one dovecote to [another] dovecote;1 they dispute only about bringing it back, Beth Shammai saying: One may not bring it back, and Beth Hillel maintaining: One may even bring it back. R. Judah said: These words apply only to a dovecote ladder;2 but with respect to a loft-ladder all agree that it is forbidden.3 R. Dosa says: One may incline it [the ladder] from one pigeon-hole to another. Others say in the name of R. Dosa: One may even move it with [short] hop-like steps.4 The sons of R. Hiyya5 went out to the Villages [to inspect the fields]. When they came back their father asked them: Has any legal question come before you? They replied to him: A case of [carrying] a loft-ladder came before us and we permitted it. He said to them: Go and forbid what you have permitted. They were of the opinion: Since R. Judah said that they [Beth Shammai and Beth Hillel] do not dispute with respect to a loft-ladder, it follows that the first Tanna holds that they do differ [even there].6 But this is not so; R. Judah is only explaining the view of the first Tanna.7 Whence [is this known]? — Since [the list Tanna] states: ‘One may carry a ladder from one dovecote to another [dovecote].’ If therefore you maintain that they differ with respect to a loft-ladder [instead of] this [phrase], ‘One may carry a ladder from one dovecote to another dovecote,’8 he should say, ‘One may carry a ladder to a dovecote.’9 [Evidently] this is what he means: only [the ladder] of a dovecote but not that of a loft. And the other?10 — Does it then state a ladder of a dovecote’? It [only] states ‘from one dovecote to another dovecote’, [indicating] even to any number of dovecotes.11 Others say: A case of inclining a loft-ladder came before us and we permitted it. He said to them: Go and forbid what you have permitted. They were of the opinion that what the first Tanna12 forbids, R. Dosa permits.13 But it is not so. [Rather is it] what the first Tanna permits,14 R. Dosa forbids. BUT HE MAY INCLINE IT FROM ONE PIGEON HOLE TO ANOTHER etc. Accordingly [we see] that Beth Shammai is stringent in regard to the joy of the Festival15 and Beth Hillel is lenient, but the following contradicts this: If one slaughters game or poultry on a Festival, Beth Shammai say: He may dig up [earth] with a shovel and cover [the blood], but Beth Hillel maintain: One may not slaughter unless he has [loose] earth prepared from the day before [the Festival]!16 — R. Johanan replied: The authorities should be reversed.17 ‘Whence [does this follow]?18 Perhaps Beth Shammai say thus there19 only when there is [already] a shovel sticking in the earth,20 but not where there is no shovel sticking in the earth.21 Or perhaps Beth Hillel permit here22 only because the dovecote makes it evident,23 but there24 it is not permitted!25 Rather, if there is a difficulty,26 the following is the difficulty. Beth Shammai say,27 One may not take [pigeons]28 unless he stirred [them] up29 the day before. But Beth Hillel say: He stands and declares, ‘This one or that one shall I take’.30 Accordingly [we see] that Beth Shammai is stringent in regard to the joy of the Festival and Beth Hillel is lenient; but the following contradicts this: If one slaughters game or poultry on a Festival [etc.]! — R. Johanan replied: The authorities should be reversed. Whence [does this follow]?31 Perhaps Beth Shammai [permit] only when there is [already] a shovel sticking in the earth that the ladder may be moved to several dovecotes. ladder which had been brought to the dovecote before the Festival. But a loft-ladder would be forbidden even to incline. be reversed. with their attitude in the first Mishnah. in the second Mishnah an onlooker might think that he was intending to repair his roof. which is in the nature of grinding and the possibility of an infringement of the law by digging takes precedence over the consideration of the joy of the Festival.