ואמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל: שפוד שצלו בו בשר, אסור לטלטלו ביום טוב. רב אדא בר אהבה, אמר רב מלכיו: שומטו ומניחו בקרן זוית. אמר רב חייא בר אשי, אמר רב הונא: והוא שיש עליו כזית בשר. רבינא אמר: אף פי על שאין עליו בשר מותר לטלטלו, מידי דהוה אקוץ ברשות הרבים. אמר רב חיננא בריה דרב איקא: שפוד, שפחות, וגומות, רב מלכיו; בלורית, אפר מקלה, וגבינה, רב מלכיא. רב פפא אמר: מתניתין ומתניתא, רב מלכיא. שמעתתא, רב מלכיו. וסימניך: מתניתין מלכתא. מאי בינייהו? - איכא בינייהו שפחות.
[1]And Rav Yehudah said in the name of Shmu’el: A spit on which meat was roasted is not to be handled on a festival day. Rav Adda bar Ahavah said in the name of Rav Malkiyo: One may slip it away and leave it in a corner. Rav Hiyyah bar Ashi said in the name of Rav Huna: This is [permitted] only if an olive-sized piece of meat [remains on the spit]. Ravina said: Even if there is no meat [on the spit at all] it is permitted to handle it, just as it is true of a thorn in a public domain. Rav Hanina, the son of Rav Iqa said: [The rulings concerning] the spit, maidservants and pores were made by Rav Malkiyo. The [rulings about] locks of hair, ashes and cheese [were made by] Rav Malkiya. Rav Pappa said: [The rulings that concern] a mishnah or a baraita [were made by] Rav Malkiya. [The rulings that concern a] statement [by amoraim were made by] Rav Malkiyo. And your mnemonic device: The Mishnah is queen [malkata]: What is the difference between them? The difference between them is: the maidservants.
[1] This text has a parallel version in bMeg 7b.
@General observations
A (roasting) spit may be moved on a festival day for two reasons: First, if a piece of meat at least as big as an olive is still left on it, it may be moved to be consumed; or second, even if no meat is left on it, since the spit is a hazard and people could hurt themselves handling it, it may be removed. Rav Hanina bar Iqa stated that this ruling was taught in the name of Rav Malkiyo. However, there were two rabbis with similar names: Rav Malkiyo and Rav Malkiya. Given such similar names, they were often mixed up. Therefore, the gemara tries to clarify which statements belong to which rabbi. Rav Hanina said that the following three rulings were made by Rav Malkiyo:[1]
1. The spit.
2. Maidservants. This ruling refers to mKet 5:5/bKet 59b where the labors that a wife owes to her husband are listed. Whereas it is stated that a wife can free herself from certain labors by bringing maidservants to do these tasks for her, Rabbi Eli‘ezer rules that even if she brings one hundred maidservants, she still has to spin and weave, because “idleness leads to sin.” Rav Malkiyo agrees with Rabbi Eli‘ezer.
3. Pores: According to bNid 52a, Rav Helbo said in the name of Rav Huna that the two pubic hairs that are a sign of legal adulthood must grow from welldefined pores. Rav Malkiyo rules that the existence of two such pores is evidence of pubic hairs even if hairs are not found growing from them, since we can assume that the hairs must have fallen out, or been plucked.
The following three rulings were attributed to the second rabbi, Rav Malkiya:
1. Locks of hair: The rabbis spoke of a practice by “idolaters” who left a lock of hair growing on their heads to serve their fetishes. A baraita cited in bAZ 29a teaches us that a Jewish barber must desist from cutting the hair of an idolatrous customer before reaching this lock of hair, so as not to partake in this practice. Rav Malkiya explains that the barber must stop three fingerbreadths all around the hair lock.
2. Ashes: According to bMak 21a, Rav Malkiya said that one is forbidden to put ashes on an open wound in order to heal it, the reason being that ashes leave a mark on the skin after healing, similar to a tattoo, which is in any case prohibited.
3. Cheese: It is taught that a Jew may not eat cheese made by gentiles (bAZ 29b). The reason given by Rav Malkiya (bAZ 35b) is that gentile manufacturers regularly coat their cheese with lard.
Rav Pappa does not agree with the above ascriptions and claims that Rav Malkiya made four of the six rulings – three concerning mishnaic statements (maidservants, locks of hair, cheese) and the one amoraic statement about ashes. As a mnemonic device, Rav Pappa relies on the sentence “the Mishnah is a queen” because of the feminine-like ending of Rav Malkiya’s name (יא), a reminder that his rulings were the mishnaic ones.
[1] For the following explanation see REISMAN and GOLDWURM, Tractate Beitzah, bBets 28b.
@Feminist observations
The above-mentioned “ruling of the maidservants” refers to the following mishnah:
אלו מלאכות שהאשה עושה לבעלה: טוחנת, ואופה, ומכבסת, מבשלת, ומניקה את בנה, מצעת לו המטה, ועושה בצמר. הכניסה לו שפחה אחת, לא טוחנת ולא אופה ולא מכבסת; שתים, אינה מבשלת ואינה מניקה את בנה; שלש, אינה מצעת לו המטה ואינה עושה בצמר.
These are the labors which the wife must perform for her husband: Grinding flour and baking bread and washing clothes and cooking food and nursing her child and making his bed and working in wool. If she brought him one maidservant, she need not grind or bake or wash; if two [maidservants], she need not cook or nurse her baby; if three [maidservants], she need not make ready his bed or work in wool.
The clear ascription of certain acts of labor to women, or to female slave labor, in mKet 5:5 is indirectly quoted in Massekhet Betsah, which deals with all of the above-mentioned labors without explicitly mentioning women. Yet the fact that this particular mishnah is cited within the tractate itself indicates that the labors discussed therein were indeed associated with women’s areas of work by the rabbis who edited it.