פסחים 37 — Soncino English Talmud

¹but Beth Hillel permit it. And how much is a thick loaf? Said R. Huna, A handbreadth, because thus we find in the case of the shewbread [that it was] a handbreadth. To this R. Joseph demurred: If they [the Sages] said [this] of men of care, did they say [it] of those who are not careful? If they said [this] of well-kneaded bread, did they say [it] of bread that is not well-kneaded? If they said [this] of dry logs, did they say [it] of damp logs? If they said [this] of a hot oven, did they say [it] of a cool oven? If they said [this] of a metal oven, did they say [it] of an earthen oven? Said R. Jeremiah b. Abba, I asked my teacher in private, and who is it? Rab — others state, R. Jeremiah b. Abba said in Rab's name, I asked my teacher in private, and who is it? Our holy Teacher. What is [meant by] a thick bread? Bread in large quantity. And why is it called a thick bread? Because it is much in kneading. Alternatively, in the locality of this Tanna bread in large quantity is called thick bread. [Then] what is the reason: if because he takes unnecessary trouble, — why particularly on Passover: even on any [other] festival too [it is forbidden]? — That indeed is so, but this Tanna was engaged on the festival of Passover. It was taught likewise: Beth Shammai maintain: One may not bake thick bread on a festival, while Beth Hillel permit it. Our Rabbis taught: You discharge [your obligation] with fine bread, with coarse bread, and with Syrian cakes shaped in figures. although they [the Sages] said, Syrian cakes shaped in figures must not be made on Passover. Rab Judah said: This thing Boethus b. Zonin asked the Sages: Why was it said [that] Syrian cakes shaped in figures must not be made on Passover? Said they to him, Because a woman would tarry over it and cause it to turn leaven. [But], he objected, it is possible to make it in a mould, which would form it without delay. Then it shall be said, replied they, [that] all Syrian cakes [shaped in figures] are forbidden, but the Syrian cakes of Boethus are permitted! R. Eleazar b. Zadok said: I once followed my father into the house of R. Gamaliel, and they placed before him Syrian cakes shaped in figures on Passover. Said I, ‘Father, did not the Sages say thus, One may not make Syrian cakes shaped in figures on Passover?’ ‘My son’, he replied, ‘they did not speak of [the cakes of] all people, but only of those of bakers’. Others say, he said thus to him: ‘They did not speak of those of bakers, but [only] of those of private people’. R. Jose said: One may make Syrian cakes like wafers, but one may not make Syrian cakes like rolls. We learned elsewhere: Sponge cakes, honey cakes, paste-balls, cakes made in a mould, and mixed dough are exempt from hallah. What are cakes made in a mould? — Said R. Joshua b. Levi: That is halut of private people. Resh Lakish said: These are prepared in an ilpes. While R. Johanan maintained: Those which are prepared in an ilpes are liable [to hallah], but these [are exempt] because they were prepared in the sun. An objection is raised: Sponge cakes, honey cakes, and pasteballs: if prepared in an ilpes, they are liable [to hallah]; if in the sun, they are exempt. This is a refutation of R. Simeon b. Lakish? Said ‘Ulla, R. Simeon b. Lakish can answer you: The case we treat of here is where he [first] heated [the ilpes] and then placed [the dough in it]. But what [is the law] if he [first] placed [the dough] and then heated it? Are they indeed exempt! Then instead of teaching [in] the second clause, ‘if prepared in the sun, they are exempt’, let him draw a distinction in that itself and teach: When is that? E.g., if he heated [it] and then placed [the dough]; but if he [first] placed [the dough] and then heated it, they are exempt? There is a lacuna[in this teaching], and it was thus taught: When is that? If he heated [it] and then placed [the dough]; but if he first for the shape to be exactly right and so may take too long over it. But private people are not so particular. placed [the dough] and then heated it, it becomes as though he prepared it in the sun, and they are exempt. Come and hear: You discharge your duty with partially baked unleavened bread and unleavened bread which was prepared in an ilpes? — Here too it means that he [first] heats it and then places [the dough]. What is partially baked unleavened bread? — Said Rab Judah in Samuel's name: Whatever can be broken without threads dragging from it. Raba said: And the same [rule applies to] loaves of the thanksoffering. That is obvious: ‘bread’ is written here and ‘bread’ is written there? — You might say, since it is written, and he shall offer one^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ^ˡ^ᵐ^ⁿ^ᵒ^ᵖ^ᵠ^ʳ^ˢ^ᵗ^ᵘ^ᵛ^ʷ^ˣ^ʸ^ᶻ^ᵃᵃ^ᵃᵇ^ᵃᶜ^ᵃᵈ^ᵃᵉ^ᵃᶠ^ᵃᵍ^ᵃʰ^ᵃⁱ

^ᵃnote:Which Beth Hillel permit.
^ᵇnote:Though the shewbread was unleavened (Men. 27a).
^ᶜnote:Sc. the priests.
^ᵈnote:Unleavened bread for Passover is made by all, and many cannot exercise sufficient care to prevent the dough from fermenting when it is so thick.
^ᵉnote:In the preparation of the shewbread all these conditions would be observed; but they might be absent in a private home.
^ᶠnote:Viz., R. Judah ha-Nasi.
^ᵍnote:Though baked in thin wafers.
^ʰnote:I.e., when sufficient dough is kneaded for many wafers.
^ⁱnote:That Beth Shammai forbid it, seeing that we are actually dealing with thin wafers.
^ʲnote:In kneading so much at a time. Though food may be prepared on Festivals, unnecessary trouble is forbidden.
^ᵏnote:Lit., ‘standing at’.
^ˡnote:That it is forbidden because of the unnecessary labour.
^ᵐnote:Here Passover is not mentioned.
^ⁿnote:Bread made of fine meal.
^ᵒnote:‘Ar.: thick bread.
^ᵖnote:Lit., ‘immediately’.
^ᵠnote:Which is absurd. Most bakers lack these moulds!
^ʳnote:Lit., ‘entered after’.
^ˢnote:Lit., ‘brought’.
^ᵗnote:Who bake for sale. They are more particular
^ᵘnote:Because professionals are more expert; also they may have moulds, and so can make them more quickly.
^ᵛnote:This is the reading of Ran, and it is so emended here by Bah.
^ʷnote:Cakes made from a spongy dough.
^ˣnote:A kind of cake made of very loose dough.
^ʸnote:A dough of hullin into which there fell dough of terumah.
^ᶻnote:V. Glos.
^ᵃᵃnote:V. p. 170. n. 14.
^ᵃᵇnote:I.e., home-made pancakes. They are not made like bread, and only dough made for bread is subject to hallah.
^ᵃᶜnote:Jast.: a tightly covered stew pot. I.e., it is not bread at all, Resh Lakish holding that only that which is baked in an oven is bread to be subject to hallah.
^ᵃᵈnote:When the ilpes is first heated it is similar to an oven.- Hidbik (ehcsv) lit., ‘to cause to cleave’, the cake being pressed to the side of the pot, which was the ancient method of baking.
^ᵃᵉnote:Which proves that what is baked in an ilpes is bread, thus refuting R. Simeon b. Lakish.
^ᵃᶠnote:What is the minimum?
^ᵃᵍnote:It must be baked at least as much as that.
^ᵃʰnote:The thanksoffering was accompanied by forty loaves, which were sanctified by the killing of the sacrifice. As soon as the loaves have arrived at this stage of baking as defined by Rab Judah, they become sanctified by the slaughtering of the sacrifice, and the sacrifice itself valid.
^ᵃⁱnote:Obviously then the same definition applies to both. Hallah: when ye eat of the bread of the land (Num. XV, 19); the thanksoffering: Lev. VII, 13: with cakes of leavened bread etc.

²out of each oblation, ‘one’ [intimating] that he should not take a broken-off piece, whereas here it is as broken off: therefore he informs us [that it is not so]. An objection is raised: The me'isah, Beth Shammai exempt it [from hallah], while Beth Hillel hold it liable [thereto]. The halitah, Beth Shammai hold it liable [to hallah], while Beth Hillel exempt [it]. Which is ‘me'isah’ and which is ‘halitah’? ‘Me'isah’ is flour [poured] over boiling water; ‘halitah’ is boiling water [poured] over flour. R. Ishmael b. R. Jose ruled in his father's name [that] both are exempt — others state, that both are liable. But the Sages maintained: Both the one and the other, if prepared in an ilpes, each is exempt; in an oven, each is liable. Now according to the first Tanna, wherein does me'isah differ from halitah? — Said Rab Judah in Samuel's name, and thus did R. Johanan — others state, R. Joshua b. Levi-say: Just as there is a controversy in respect of the one so is there a controversy in respect of the other, and they [the two clauses] are contradictory, he who learnt the one not having learnt the other. Now it is at all events taught, ‘But the Sages maintain: Both the one and the other, if prepared in an ilpes, each is exempt; in an oven, each is liable’, which is a refutation of R. Johanan? — R. Johanan can answer you, It is dependent on Tannaim. For it was taught: You might think that me'isah and halitah are liable to hallah, therefore ‘bread’ is stated. R. Judah said: Nought is bread save that which is baked in an oven. Now R. Judah is identical with the first Tanna? Hence Surely they differ over that which is prepared in an ilpes: the first Tanna holds, That which is prepared in an ilpes is liable; while R. Judah holds, That which is prepared in an oven is exempt! — No: All (agree) that what is prepared in an ilpes is exempt, but they differ here, e.g., where he rebaked it in an oven, the first Tanna holding [that] since he rebaked it in an oven, it is called ‘bread’; while R. Judah holds, Nought is bread save that which is baked in an oven from the very beginning, and since this was not baked in an oven from the very beginning, we do not call it ‘bread’. Raba said, What is R. Judah's reason? — Because it is written, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven: bread which is baked in one oven is called bread, but that which is not baked in one oven is not called bread. Rabbah and R. Joseph were sitting behind R. Zera, and R. Zera was sitting in front of ‘Ulla. Said Rabbah to R Zera, Ask ‘Ulla: What if he placed [the dough] within, and boiled it up from without? What shall I ask him, he replied, for if I ask him he will say to me, That then is the [very] preparation of an ilpes! — R. Joseph [then] said to R. Zera, Ask ‘Ulla: What if he placed [the dough] inside and the flame is opposite it? What shall I ask him, he replied. for if I ask him he will reply. Most poor people do this. R Assi said: Dough of second tithe, according to R. Meir, is exempt from hallah; according to the Rabbis, it is liable to hallah.^ᵃʲ^ᵃᵏ^ᵃˡ^ᵃᵐ^ᵃⁿ^ᵃᵒ^ᵃᵖ^ᵃᵠ^ᵃʳ^ᵃˢ^ᵃᵗ^ᵃᵘ^ᵃᵛ^ᵃʷ^ᵃˣ^ᵃʸ^ᵃᶻ

^ᵃʲnote:Ibid. 14.
^ᵃᵏnote:Since it is not completely baked.
^ᵃˡnote:A paste made of flour poured over boiling water, contrad. to halitah, where the boiling water is poured over flour, as explained in the text.
^ᵃᵐnote:V. preceding note.
^ᵃⁿnote:The Mishnah is first dismissed and explained, and then the point of the objection is stated.
^ᵃᵒnote:Me'isah and halitah are alike in law. One Tanna holds that in both Beth Hillel are more lenient, while another holds that Beth Shammai are more lenient in both.
^ᵃᵖnote:Sc. that which was prepared in an ilpes in the first place.
^ᵃᵠnote:Lev. XXVI, 26.
^ᵃʳnote:Hence this excludes the case where it is first treated In an ilpes.
^ᵃˢnote:Rashi: in an ilpes. Tosaf: in an oven.
^ᵃᵗnote:I.e., heated it.
^ᵃᵘnote:Rashi: He placed a bread dough in an ilpes, baking it with an outside fire: is it bread or not? Tosaf: He placed in an oven such dough as is generally prepared in an ilpes: does this render it bread or not?
^ᵃᵛnote:Which is a point of issue between R. Johanan and Resh Lakish.
^ᵃʷnote:The flame itself bearing directly on the ilpes, which causes it to bake more quickly.
^ᵃˣnote:They cannot afford much fuel, and so they have the flame directly opposite it. Hence this cannot change its status.
^ᵃʸnote:Who holds in Kid. 54b that second tithe is sacred, not secular property, but that the Almighty favored the Israelite by permitting him to eat it himself.
^ᵃᶻnote:Who hold that it is secular property.