Mishnayot Seder Moed: Beitzah

(1) If an egg was hatched on a festival, Beit Shammai say: it may be eaten. And Beit Hillel say: it may not be eaten. Beit Shammai say: [On Pesach, the forbidden measure of] leaven is the equivalent of an olive [in volume], and for leavened food it is the equivalent of a date. Beit Hillel say: for both of them it is the equivalent of an olive.

(2) If one slaughters a non-domesticated animal or poultry on a festival, Beit Shammai say: one may dig with a spade and cover [the blood with that dirt]. And Beit Hillel say: one should not slaughter [on a festival], unless one has dust [for covering the blood] prepared from while it was still [the previous] day. And they agree that if one did slaughter, one may dig with a spade and cover. And the dust from a stove is [considered] prepared.

(3) Beit Shammai say: One may not walk a ladder from one dove-cote to another, but one may lean it from one window to another. Beit Hillel permit [even the former]. Beit Shammai say: one should not take [doves from the cote to slaughter them on the festival] unless he had handled them while it was still day. Beit Hillel say: [even without handling them,] one may stand and say, "I will take this one and this one," [and he is permitted to do so].

(4) If one designated black ones [to slaughter on the festival] and found white ones, or designated white ones and found black ones, or [if one designated] two and found three, [these are] prohibited. If one designated three and found two, [these are] permitted. If [one designated ones] inside the nest and found [ones] in front of the nest, [these are] prohibited. But if those [particular birds] are the only ones there, they are thereby permitted.

(5) Beit Shammai say: One may not remove shutters on a festival. And Beit Hillel permits even to return [them]. Beit Shammai say: One may not take the pestle to chop meat with it [on a festival]. And Beit Hillel permit. Beit Shammai say: A hide should not be placed before tramplers, and one may not lift it up, unless there the equivalent of an olive [in volume] of meat on it. And Beit Hillel permits. Beit Shammai say: Neither a small child, nor a lulav [a palm branch, one of the four species which it is a mitzvah to take on Sukkot], nor a Torah scroll may be taken out into a public domain. And Beit Hillel permit.

(6) Beit Shammai say: One may not bring challah [a portion of dough which one is required to separate out and give to the priests when one bakes bread] nor [priestly] gifts to a priest on a holiday, [regardless of] whether they were separated out the day before, or separated out on that day. And Beit Hillel permit. Beit Shammai said to them, "[One can infer this law from] a gezera shava [a technique of halakhic interpretation employing an established link between identical or nearly identical words]: challah and [priestly] gifts are gifts to the priests, and terumah [a portion of a crop given to a priest which becomes holy upon separation, and can only be consumed by priests or their household] is also a gift to the priest; just as one may not bring terumah [to a priest on a holiday], so too one may not bring the gifts." Beit Hillel said to them, "No; if you said that regarding terumah, which one does not have the right to separate out on a holiday, would you [also] say it regarding [priestly] gifts, which one does have the right to separate out on a festival?!"

(7) Beit Shammai say: Spices may be ground with a wooden pestle [on a festival], and salt [may be ground] in a small vessel or with a wooden spoon. Beit Hillel say: Spices may be ground in their regular way with a stone pestle, and salt with a wooden pestle.

(8) If one is sorting legumes on a festival, Beit Shammai say: one may sort out the food, and eat it. Beit Hillel say: one may sort in his regular way, into his lap, into a basket, or into a dish, but not with a board, nor a sifter, nor a sieve. Rabban Gamliel says: one may even soak [them in water, so that the husks float upwards,] and remove [the unwanted parts].

(9) Beit Shammai say: One may only send [prepared] food dishes on a holiday. And Beit Hillel say: one may send an animal or a bird, whether living or slaughtered. One may send wines, and oils, and fine flours, and legumes, but not produce. And Rabbi Shimon permits regarding produce.

(10) One may send garments (literally: vessels), whether stitched or non-stitched, and even if they contain kilayim [a forbidden mixture of wool and linen], as long as they are for use on the festival. But [one may] not [send] a sandal with cleats, nor a non-stitched shoe. Rabbi Yehuda says: also not a white shoe, because it requires a professional ['s work]. This is the general rule: Anything which one may make use of on a festival may be sent [on a festival].

(1) When a festival falls on the eve of Shabbat, one should not, at the outset, cook for Shabbat on the festival, but one may cook for the festival, and if he has [food] left over, it is left over for [and its use is permissible on] Shabbat. And one may prepare a cooked dish on the eve of a festival [which falls on the eve of Shabbat] and rely on it [to permit cooking on the holiday] for Shabbat. Beit Shammai say: two cooked dishes [are required in order to rely on this leniency]. Beit Hillel say: one cooked dish [is sufficient]. And they are in agreement regarding a fish with an egg on top of it, that those [together] are considered two cooked dishes. If it [the food set aside] was eaten or lost, one may not, at the outset, cook [on the holiday for Shabbat by relying] upon it. But if any amount of it remains, one may rely upon it [to cook on the holiday] for Shabbat.

(2) If it [a festival] falls [on the day] after Shabbat, Beit Shammai say: everything [requiring ritual immersion] should be immersed before Shabbat. And Beit Hillel say: vessels [must be immersed] before Shabbat, but people [may immerse even] on Shabbat.

(3) And they [Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel] are in agreement that [on festivals] one may touch [impure] waters [to the mikvah waters] using a stone vessel [containing the impure waters, which cannot itself be rendered impure] in order to purify them [the impure waters], but one may not immerse [an impure vessel containing impure waters, as that would purify the vessel as well, which may not be done on a holiday]. And [they are also in agreement] that one may immerse [vessels on a festival] from one level to another [i.e. to raise the purity level of something that is already pure, such as immersing something that was already pure for terumah so that is will be pure for sanctified foods as well], and [that, on a festival, one may immerse vessels] from one group to another group [i.e. for the Pascal offering, which must be brought and eaten with a designated group, if one immersed vessels to be used for the offering of one group, and then he switched to another group, he may immerse them again, on the festival, for use for the offering of the the second group, such as if the second group requires a higher level of purity].

(4) Beit Shammai say: Shelamim [offerings whose various parts are consumed by their owners, by the priests, and by the fire on the altar] may be brought [on a festival], and one does not lean upon them [as one normally does when bringing a sacrifice], but not olot [offerings that are entirely burnt on the alter]. And Beit Hillel say: shelamin and olot may be brought [on a holiday], and one does lean upon them.

(5) Beit Shammai say: One may not heat hot water for [washing] his feet, unless they are [waters] fit for drinking. And Beit Hillel permit [even if they are not fit for drinking]. One may make a fire and warm oneself before it.

(6) Rabban Gamliel was stringent in accordance with Beit Shammai regarding three things: hot foods may not be covered [for insulation] on a festival [in order to be used] for Shabbat; one may not set right a [broken] lamp on a festival; and one may not bake coarse bread, but only [bread that is] thin. Rabban Gamliel said, "In all the days of my father's household they did not bake coarse bread, only thin." They said to him, "What can be done for your father's house, that they were stringent upon themselves, but lenient for all of Israel, [to allow them] to bake coarse bread and thick cakes [baked upon coals]."

(7) But he also ruled leniently regarding three things [relating to holidays]: one may sweep [around] the beds; and one may set down burning incense; and one may prepare a fully roasted goat on Pesach night. And the Sages prohibit [all three].

(8) There are three things which Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria permits, which the Sages prohibit: his cow would go out [into the public domain] with a ribbon [tied] between its horns [on Shabbat]; and one may comb an animal [with a metal comb] on a festival; and one may grind peppers in their own [special] mill. Rabbi Yehudah says: one may not comb an animal on a festival, because one [potentially] creates a wound, but one may scratch them [with a blunt wooden implement]. And the Sages say: one may not comb, nor may one scratch.

(9) A pepper mill is [such that it may be rendered] impure due to [its status as] three [different types of] vessels: due to its being a containing vessel, and due to its being a metal vessel, and due to its being a sifting vessel.

(10) A child's wagon is [susceptible to being rendered] impure with midras impurity [a type of impurity due to being sat on by certain types of impure individuals, rendering it an Origin of impurity], and it may be handled on Shabbat, but it may only be dragged along on top of garments [and not directly on the earth, lest it make a furrow]. Rabbi Yehudah says: no objects may be dragged along [on Shabbat], except for a wagon, since it presses [down the earth below it, and does not make a furrow].

(1) One may not hunt fish from fish ponds on a festival, nor may one place food before them. But one may hunt wild animals and poultry from pens, and one may place food before them. Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel says: not all pens are alike. This is the general rule: any [animal] that still requires hunting is forbidden [to capture on a festival], and one that does not require hunting is permitted.

(2) If traps for wild animals, or poultry, or fish were laid on the eve of a festival, one may not remove [any captured animals] from them on the festival, unless it is known that they were trapped on the eve of the festival. It happened that a gentile once brought fish to Rabban Gamliel, and he said, "They are permitted, but I do not wish to receive them from him."

(3) A animal in grave danger [of dying] may not be slaughtered on a festival, unless there would be sufficient time during that day to eat the equivalent of an olive [in volume] of its roasted meat. Rabbi Akiva says: even [enough time for] the equivalent of an olive of raw meat taken from the place of slaughtering [i.e. the neck, would be sufficient]. If one slaughtered it in the field, he may not bring it [back] on a pole or in a barrow; rather he may bring it back in his hands, piece by piece.

(4) If a firstborn [animal] fell into a pit [on a festival], Rabbi Yehuda says: an expert should go down and inspect it; if it has a blemish, one may bring it up and slaughter it; and if it does not, one may not slaughter it. Rabbi Shimon says: any [animal] whose blemish was not recognized while it was still the previous day is not [considered] prepared [before the festival, and therefore it may not be used on that day].

(5) If an animal died [on a festival], one may not move it from its place. And it happened once that they asked Rabbi Tarfon regarding this, and regarding challah [a portion of dough which one is required to separate out and give to a priest when one bakes bread] that was rendered impure [on a holiday]. So he went into the house of study, and he asked, and they said to him, "one may not move them from their places."

(6) Individuals may not appoint themselves upon an animal [i.e. to be part of a group of people each paying for a share of its meat] on a festival at the outset, but they may appoint themselves upon it on the eve of the festival, and they may slaughter it and distribute it among themselves. Rabbi Yehudah says: One may weigh meat [on a holiday] against a vessel or against a hatchet. And the Sages say: a pair of scales may not be handled at all.

(7) One may not sharpen a knife on a festival, but one may draw it across another one [to sharpen it]. One may not say to a butcher, "Weigh for me one dinar's worth of meat." But he may slaughter [the animal] and they can divide it among themselves [to reach the desired amount, which the customer can then pay for after the holiday].

(8) One may say to his fellow [on a holiday], “Fill this vessel for me,” but it may not be of a specific measure. Rabbi Yehudah says: if it is a measuring vessel, one may not fill it. It happened that Abba Shaul ben Batnit would fill his measuring vessels on the eves of holidays and give them to customers on the festival. Abba Shaul says: he would do this even during the intermediate days on account of the clarification measures [i.e. in order to save time determining specific measures]. And the Sages say: he would do this even on weekdays on account of that [remaining liquid] which is found in the measures [i.e. to makes sure that every drop stuck to the measures went to the customers, in order to ensure that he was not stealing from them]. One may go to a shopkeeper to whom one regularly goes and say to him, “Give me a certain measure of eggs and nuts,” since this is the way a homeowner counts in his own house.

(1) One who brings jars of wine from one place to another, he may not bring them in a basket nor in a large vessel, but he may bring [them] on his shoulders or in front of him. Similarly, one who transports straw may not drape the large vessel [in which he is carrying it] over his back, but rather he must bring it in his hands. And one may start on a [new] heap of straw [on a holiday], but not [on a new pile of] wood which was set aside [in the yard].

(2) One may not take wood from a hut, but rather [one can take wood] from what is next to it. Wood may be brought in from the field from that which has been gathered together, and from an enclosure even from that which is scattered. What is [considered] an enclosure [for these purposes]? Any [enclosure] that is close to a city, according to Rabbi Yehudah. Rabbi Yose says: any which one enters into with a key, even if it is [not necessarily close to the city, but rather only] within the techum of Shabbat [the area around a person or community within which it is permissible to travel on Shabbat].

(3) One may not chop up wood, neither from beams nor from a beam which broke on the festival. And one may not chop with an axe nor with a saw nor with a sickle, but rather only with a hatchet. Regarding a structure [literally: a house] full of produce which was sealed and then breached [on the festival], one may take [produce] out through the breach. Rabbi Meir says: one may even breach it at the outset, and take out [the produce].

(4) One may not make a hole in [a piece of clay in order to make it a holder for] a candle, because one would [thereby] be making a vessel. And charcoal may not be made on a holiday, nor may one cut a wick into two. Rabbi Yehudah says: one may use a flame to cut it into two candles.

(5) One may not break up [pieces of] pottery [to use for cooking], nor may one cut paper to roast a salty [fish] dish in it. And one may not rake out an oven or a stove, but one may press [the ashes] down. And one may not bring two casks near to one another in order to rest a saucepan on them [i.e. like a make-shift stove, with a flame lit between them]. And one may not prop up a pot with a [wooden] shard, and the same applies to a door. And one may not drive livestock with a stick on a festival; and Rabbi Elazar bar Rabbi Shimon permits.

(6) Rabbi Eliezer says: One may take a [wooden] chip that is before him to pick his teeth with it, and one may rake up [twigs] from the courtyard and light [a fire with them], since everything in a courtyard is [considered] prepared [from the day before for use on the festival]. And the Sages say: one may rake up [only] that which is before him and light [with it].

(7) One may not produce fire from wood, nor from stones, nor from dust, nor from water [reflecting sunlight]. And one may not heat flints to be white-hot in order to roast on them. Additionally, Rabbi Eliezer said: One may stand beside a set aside pile on the eve of the Sabbat in the sabbatical year and say, “I will eat from here tomorrow,” [and his words are sufficient to permit accessing the set aside items on Shabbat]. And the Sages say: [it is not sufficient] until he marks it and says, “[I will eat] from here to here.”

(1) One may lower produce down through a chimney on a holiday, but not on Shabbat. And one may cover produce with vessels on account of dripping waters, and likewise jars of wine and jars of oil. And one may place a vessel beneath dripping waters on Shabbat.

(2) Any [act] for which one is liable on Shabbat as a matter of shevut [restrictions established by the Sages regarding Shabbat to prevent violation of Torah-level Shabbat prohibitions, and to increase its sanctity], or as an optional matter [i.e. something not fully a mitzvah], or as a mitzvah, one is also liable [for such an act] on a holiday. And these are [the acts for which one is liable] as a matter of shevut: one may not climb a tree, and one may not ride atop an animal, and one may not swim in water, and one may not clap, nor slap [thighs], nor dance. And these are [the acts for which one is liable] as an optional matter: one may not judge [a court case], and one may not betroth, nor perform chalitzah [the ceremony performed to release a widow of a childless man from the obligation of levirite marriage], nor perform yibum [the enactment of a levirite marriage of the widow of a childless man]. And these are [the acts for which one is liable] as a mitzvah: one may not consecrate [anything to the Temple], nor vow a personal valuation, nor make something cherem [proscribed from personal use, possibly due to being dedicated to the Temple], nor raise terumah or tithes out [from one's produce]. All of these were said [to be forbidden] regarding holidays so, a fortiori, [they must also be forbidden] on Shabbat. There is no difference between [the laws of] holidays and Shabbat except only for [the permissibility on holidays of] the preparation of food for living beings.

(3) An animal and vessels are [restricted, on Shabbat, from being moved beyond limits] equivalent to [those of] the feet of the owners [i.e. the owners techum, the area around a person or community within which it is permissible to travel on Shabbat]. One who transmits his animal to [the keeping of] his son or a shepherd [on Shabbat], they [the animals] are thereby [restricted to limits] equivalent to [those of] the feet of the owner. Vessels which are designated to one of the brothers in a house are thereby [restricted to limits] equivalent to [those of] his feet. And those that were not designated [to any one brother, are restricted] to the area in which they [all] may go.

(4) If one borrows a vessel from his fellow on the eve of holiday, it is [restricted by the same limits] as the feet of the borrower. If [one borrows it] on the holiday, it is as the feet of the lender. A woman who borrowed spices from her fellow [woman], or water or salt for her dough, they are thereby [restricted by limits the same] as the feet of them both [i.e. the area in which both women may travel on Shabbat]. Rabbi Yehudah exempts regarding water, because it has no substance.

(5) A live coal is [restricted from being moved beyond the same limits] as the feet of its owner, but a flame [may be taken] anywhere. It is possible to become liable for me'ilah [misuse of consecrated property] with a live coal of consecrated property, but regarding a flame [of sanctified property], one may not derive benefit from it; but one [who does] is not become liable for me'ilah on its account. One who carries a live coal out into the public domain [on Shabbat] is liable, but [one who carries out] a flame is exempt. The [water from a] private well is [restricted from being moved beyond the same limits] as the feet of its owner. And [the water from a well] belonging to the inhabitants of that town, is [as restricted] as the feet of the people of that town. And that [water] belonging to those who ascend from Babylonia is [restricted] as the legs of the one who drew [the water].

(6) If one's produce was in another city, and the inhabitants of that city made an eruv [a halachic merging of separate domains by means of setting aside an amount of food in a designated place] in order to bring some of his produce to him, they may not bring it to him. But if he himself made an eruv [including the location of his produce], his produce is [restricted from being moved by the same limits] as himself.

(7) If one invited guests to his home, they may not take [any] portions [back] with them, unless he had awarded them their portions on the eve of the holiday. One may not give drink to and then slaughter wilderness animals, but one may give drink to and then slaughter household animals. And which are [considered] household animals? Those that are in the city over nights. [And which are considered] wilderness animals? Those that are in the meadow over nights.