Pesachim

AND THE BURNING OF ITS FAT. It was taught, R. Simeon said: Come and see how precious is a precept in its [proper] time.1 For lo! the [precept of] burning the fats and limbs and the fat-pieces is valid all night, yet we do not wait for [burning] them until nightfall.2 ITS CARRYING AND ITS BRINGING etc. But the following contradicts it: You may cut off a wart [of an animal] in the Temple, but not in the country,3 and if [it is done] with a utensil [a knife], it is forbidden in both cases?4 R. Eleazar and R. Jose b. Hanina one answered, Both refer to [removing the wart] with the hand: one refers to a moist [wart]; the other, to a dry one5 While the other maintains, Both refer to a moist [wart], yet there is no difficulty: one means by hand, and the other means with a utensil.6 Now according to him who explained. ‘One means by hand, and the other means with a utensil,’ why did he not say. Both mean by hand, yet there is no difficulty: one refers to a moist [wart]; the other, to a dry one? — He can answer you: a dry one [just] crumbles away.7 And according to him who maintained, ‘Both mean by hand, yet there is no difficulty: one refers to a moist [wart]; the other to a dry one’; why did he not say: Both refer to a moist [wart], yet there is no difficulty: one means by hand, and the other means with a utensil? — He can answer you: as for a utensil, Surely he [the Tanna] teaches there, ‘if [it is done] with a utensil, it is forbidden in both cases!’8 And the other?9 That which he teaches [about] a utensil here, [is because] he comes to inform us of the controversy of R. Eliezer and R. Joshua. SAID R. ELIEZER . . . IF SHECHITAH etc. R. Joshua is consistent with his view, for he maintains, Rejoicing on a Festival too is a religious duty.10 For it was taught, R. Eliezer said: A man has nought else [to do] on a Festival save either to eat and drink or to sit and study. R. Joshua said: Divide it: [devote] half of it to eating and drinking, and half of it to the Beth Hamidrash. Now R. Johanan said thereon: Both deduce it from the same verse. One verse says, a solemn assembly to the Lord thy God,11 whereas another verse says, there shall be a solemn assembly unto you:12 R. Eliezer holds: [That means] either entirely to God or entirely to you; while R. Joshua holds, Divide it: [Devote] half to God and half to yourselves. (Mnemonic: ‘abam.)13 R. Eleazar said: All agree in respect to the Feast of Weeks [‘azereth]14 that we require [it to be] ‘for you’ too. What is the reason? It is the day on which the Torah was given.15 Rabbah said: All agree in respect to the Sabbath that we require [it to be] ‘for you’ too. What is the reason? And thou shalt call the Sabbath a delight.16 R. Joseph said: All agree that on Purim we require ‘for you’ too. What is the reason? Days of feasting and gladness17 is written in connection therewith. Mar son of Rabina would fast18 the whole year,19 except on the Feast of Weeks, Purim, and the eve of the Day of Atonement. The Feast of Weeks, [because] it is the day on which the Torah was given: Purim, [because] ‘days of feasting and gladness’ is written in connection therewith. The eve of the Day of Atonement: for Hiyya b. Rab of Difti taught: And ye shall afflict your souls on the ninth day of the month:20 do we then fast on the ninth? Surely we fast on the tenth! But this is to tell you: whoever eats and drinks on the ninth thereof, the Writ ascribes [merit] to him as though he had fasted on the ninth and the tenth.21 R. Joseph would order on the day of Pentecost: ‘Prepare me a third-born calf,’22 saying. ‘But for the influence of this day.23 how many Josephs are there in the market place!’24 R. Shesheth used to revise his studies every thirty days, and he would stand and lean at the side of the doorway and exclaim, ‘Rejoice, O my soul, Rejoice. O my soul; for thee have I read [the Bible], for thee have I studied [the Mishnah].’ But that is not so, for R. Eleazar said, But for the Torah, heaven and earth would not endure, for it is said, If not for my covenant by day and by night,I had not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth?25 — In the first place when a man does it [sc. studies], he does so with himself in mind. R. Ashi said: Yet according to R. Eliezer too, who maintained that [rejoicing on] a Festival is [merely] voluntary, he can be refuted:26 if a Festival, when labour for a voluntary [requirement] is permitted,27 yet the shebuth which accompanies it is not permitted; then the Sabbath, whereon only labour [required for the carrying out of] a precept is permitted, is it not logical that the shebuth which accompanies it is not permitted! since it could have been removed the previous day. But in ‘Er. 103a the reference is to a dry one, the removal of which is not even regarded as a shebuth. subject, strung together as an aid to the memory. Here ‘a _ ‘azereth’ B _ Shabbath; M _ Purim. a third of its full growth. On all translations this was regarded as particularly choice.