Mishnat Beytzah

There is no difference between Shabbat and Yom Tov except the preparation of food.

. . .

An egg laid on Yom Tov: Bet Shammai say it may be eaten and Bet Hillel say it may not be eaten.

Bet Shammai say: leaven is like the size of an olive and hametz is of the size of a date and Bet Hillel say: both are of the size of an olive.

Something which is "muktzeh" is forbidden as food on a festival.

"Muktzeh" is something which was not designated to be eaten.

Similarly, "nolad" is forbidden on a festival.

"Nolad" is something which is forbidden on a festival because it was not thought of like fruit falling off a tree.

And the tractate revolves around these two principles.

. . . If a chicken is kept to lay eggs alone and not to be slaughtered and eaten then there is no argument that an egg laid on a festival is forbidden. The argument is about a chicken that was ready to be eaten. . .

Someone who slaughters a wild animal or a bird on a festival: Bet Shammai say he may dig with a pronged tool and cover and Bet Hillel say he may not slaughter unless he has had earth "prepared" during the day.

And they agree that if he did slaughter he should dig with a pronged tool and cover, and that ashes from a stove count as being "prepared".

Bet Shammai say: one may not carry a ladder from one dovecote to another, but he may incline it from one window to another and Bet Hillel permit.

Bet Shammai say: one may not take them unless one has moved them the day before and Bet Hillel say, one stands and declares "this one or that one I am taking."

Any labor that may be performed on the day prior to the holiday without loss or inadequacy if performed then, our Sages forbade on the holiday itself, even if it was performed for the sake of food.

But on the sixth day, they shall prepare what they bring in . . .

If he designated black but found white, white but found black, two but found three, they are forbidden.

Three but found two, they are permitted.

Inside the nest and he found them in front of the nest, they are forbidden. But if none were there except these, they are permitted.

Bet Shammai say: one may not remove shutters on Yom Tov and Bet Hillel permit even to return them to their place.

Bet Shammai say: one may not take a pestle even to cut up meat on it and Bet Hillel permit.

Bet Shammai say: one may not place a hide in the treading-place nor may he even lift it up unless there is an olive’s worth of flesh on it. And Bet Hillel permit.

Bet Shammai say: one may not bring an infant or a lulav or a Torah scroll out into the public domain. And Bet Hillel permit.

Bet Shammai say: one may not take hallah or priestly gifts to a priest on Yom Tov, whether they were separated on the day before or on that day. And Bet Hillel permit.

Bet Shammai said to them: A gezerah shavah! Hallah and priestly gifts go to the priest and terumah goes to the priest; just as one may not take terumah so one may not take priestly gifts.

Bet Hillel said to them: No! If you say in the case of terumah which one has not the right to separate, will you say this about priestly gifts which he is permitted to separate?

Bet Shammai say: spices may be crushed with a wooden pestle and salt in a small pot or with a wooden soup-ladle.

And Bet Hillel say: spices may be crushed in the usual way with a stone pestle and salt with a wooden pestle.

Someone who sorts pulses [legumes] on Yom Tov: Bet Shammai say: he chooses the edible and eats.

And Bet Hillel say: he may sort as usual in his lap or in a basket or in a dish; but not with a board or in a sifter or in a sieve. Rabban Gamaliel says: he may even rinse and skim off [sholeh].

And He said, “Do not come close! Remove [shal] your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground!”

Bet Shammai say: one may only send portions [of food] out on Yom Tov.

And Bet Hillel say: one may send cattle, game and poultry, whether alive or slaughtered. One sends wines, oils, flours and pulses but not grain.

And Rabbi Shimon permits grain.

One may send clothes, whether they are sewn up or not sewn up, and even if thery contain kil'ayim, provided they are necessary for the festival.

But not hob-nailed sandals, nor unfinished shoes.

Rabbi Judah says: and not white shoes because they require an artisan.

This is the general rule: whatever may be used on Yom Tov may be sent.

If Yom Tov fell on the eve of Shabbat, one should not cook on Yom Tov for Shabbat, in the first instance, but one may cook for Yom Tov, and if any is left over it is left over for Shabbat. And one may prepare a dish on the eve of Yom Tov and rely upon it for Shabbat.

Bet Shammai say two dishes and Bet Hillel say one dish. They agree that a fish and an egg upon it are two dishes.

If he ate it or it was lost, he may not cook on it in the first instance. But if any of it remained, he may rely on it for Shabbat.

And he said to them, This is that which the Lord has said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath to the Lord: bake that which you will bake today, and what you will boil, boil today; and that which remains over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

If it fell on the day after Shabbat, Bet Shammai say one must immerse everything before Shabbat and Bet Hillel say: vessels before Shabbat but people on Shabbat.

And Shabbat was used here to inform you of the power of the School of Hillel, that even on the Sabbath, they permitted the ritual immersion of a person, because it appears like cooling him down and washing for pleasure and not for the sake of ritual immersion.

They agree that one may make water in a stone vessel "kiss" [the water in the mikveh] in order to purify it, but one may not immerse; and one may immerse from one purpose to another or from one company to another.

Bet Shammai say, one may bring peace-offerings and may not lay hands upon them, but one may not bring burnt-offerings.

And Bet Hillel say: one may bring peace-offerings and burnt-offerings and also lay hands upon them.

He shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering and slaughter it at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting; and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall dash the blood against all sides of the altar.

All offerings of an individual require placing hands, except for the firstborn offering, the animal tithe offering, and the Paschal offering.

Bet Shammai say, a person may not heat water for his feet unless it is also fit for drinking.

And Bet Hillel permit.

A man may make a fire and warm himself at it.

In three cases Rabban Gamaliel was strict like the words of Beth Shammai.

One may not cover up hot food on Yom Tov for Shabbat; and one may not stand up a lamp on a festival; and one may not bake thick loaves but only wafer-cakes.

Rabban Gamaliel said: “In all their days, my father’s house never baked large loaves but only wafer-cakes.”

They said to him: “What can we do with regards to your father’s house, for they were strict in respect to themselves but were lenient towards Israel to let them bake both large loaves and even charcoal-roasted loaves.”

He also made three lenient decisions.

One may sweep up between the couches; and put on the "mugmar" [spices on a fire] on a festival; and roast a kid whole on the night of Passover.

And the sages forbid.

In three cases Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah permits and the Sages forbid.

His cow used to go out with the strap which she had between her horns; one may curry cattle on a festival; and one may grind pepper in its own mill.

Rabbi Judah says: one may not curry cattle on a festival, because it may cause a wound, but one may comb them.

And the Sages say: one may not curry them, and one may not even comb them.

The pepper-mill is susceptible to impurity because of three utensils; because of the receptacle, because of the metal [grinder] and because of the sifter.

A child’s cart is susceptible to the impurity of midras, and it may be handled on Shabbat, but it is dragged along only on matting.

Rabbi Judah says: no vessels may be dragged along except a wagon because it presses down [the earth].

Child's cart – made for a child to play with, and it is especially for him to sit on it.

On top of clothing – because it makes a ditch in the ground and someone who digs is liable because of plowing.

One may not catch fish from a vivarium on Yom Tov nor give them food, but one may catch animals and birds from a vivarium and one may put food before them.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says: not all vivaria are alike. This is the general rule: anything that still needs to be trapped is forbidden but anything that need not be trapped is permitted.

On Yom Tov, one may not take from traps for wild animals, birds or fish which were set on the eve of Yom Tov, unless one knows that they were caught on the eve of Yom Tov.

It happened that a non-Jew brought fishes to Rabban Gamaliel and he said: they are permitted, but I have no wish to receive from him.

If an animal is about to die one may not slaughter it unless there is time enough on that day to eat from it as much as an olive of roasted flesh.

Rabbi Akiva says: even as much as an olive of raw flesh from the place where it's slaughtered.

If he slaughtered it in the field, he may not bring it in on a pole or a barrow, but he may bring it in limb by limb in his hand.

A first-born that fell into a pit. Rabbi Judah says, let an expert go down and inspect. If it had a blemish he may bring it up and slaughter it, but, if not, he may not slaughter it.

Rabbi Shimon says: any animals whose blemish was not observed on the day before the Yom Tov is not prepared.

Rabbi Judah says that one recognises blemishes on the festival and Rabbi Shimon says that one does not recognise blemishes on the festival. . . . and the halakha is like Rabbi Shimon.

If a beast died, they may not move it from its place.

It happened that they once asked Rabbi Tarfon concerning this and concerning hallah that had become defiled. He went into the bet midrash and inquired, and they said to him: they may not move them from their place.

This is only about a holy animal that died because, in principle, we can't feed holy things to dogs so we don't move it from its place, while an ordinary animal, if it died, we would cut up and feed to the dogs.

All this on condition that it was evidently about to die before the festival - otherwise it would be mukzeh and forbidden to move it.

In the first instance, one does not put people down as partners in an animal on Yom Tov, but they may be put down on the eve of Yom Tov, and they may then slaughter it and divide it between them.

Rabbi Judah says: a person may weigh meat against a utensil or against a butcher's cleaver.

And the sages say: one may not pay attention to the scales at all.

One may not sharpen a knife on a festival, but one may draw it over its partner.

A person should not say to a butcher, “Weigh me a dinar’s worth of meat” but he may slaughter and they share between them.

A person says to his fellow, “Fill me this vessel,” but not in a specific measure.

Rabbi Judah says: if it was a measuring-vessel he may not fill it.

It happened that Abba Shaul ben Batnit used to fill up his measures on the eve of Yom Tov and give them to his customers on Yom Tov. Abba Shaul says: he used to do so even during hol hamoed. And the sages say: he used also to do so on an ordinary day for the sake of the draining of the measures.

A person may go to a shopkeeper to whom he generally goes and say to him, “Give me a certain number of eggs and nuts” since this is the way of a householder to reckon in his own home.

Someone who carries jars of wine from place to place may not carry them in a basket or in a hamper, but carries on his shoulder or in front of him.

Similarly, someone who brings straw may not hang the hamper on his back but carries it in his hand.

And one may start a heap of straw, but not the wood from the back-yard.

One may not take wood from a sukkah but only from next to it. One may bring wood in from the field wood if it is collected together, and from a karpef even though it is scattered.

What is a karpef? Anything next to the town, according to Rabbi Judah. Rabbi Yose says: anything which one enters with a key, and even if it is out to (but within) the Shabbat border.

One may not chop up wood, neither from beams nor from a beam which was broken on Yom Tov. And one may not chop with an axe or with a saw or with a sickle but only with a cleaver.

A sealed building full of produce which opened - he may take out through the breach. Rabbi Meir says: he may hollow out in the first instance and take out.

One may not hollow out a lamp because that is making a vessel. And one may not make charcoal on Yom Tov and one may not cut a wick into two.

Rabbi Judah says: he may cut it into two with fire.

One may not break up a potsherd, nor cut paper in order to roast a salty fish on it, and one may not rake out an oven or a range, but one may press down, and one may not place two jars side by side in order to balance a pot on them, and one may not support a pot with a wooden wedge and the same with a door.

And one may not drive cattle with a staff on a festival.

One may not support a pot with a wedge – and they do not use wood other than for burning, and a wooden wedge is wood that has been split.

Place jars side by side – bring them close to each other, move a creation.

Rabbi Eliezer says: a person may take a chip from that which is lying before him to pick his teeth, and he may collect from the whole courtyard and light up, for everything in the courtyard is considered "prepared".

And the sages say: he may only collect from that which is lying before him and light it up.

One may not produce fire either from wood, or from stones, or from dirt, or from water. Nor may one make tiles red-hot in order to roast on them.

Rabbi Eliezer also said: A man may stand at his fruit-store on the eve of Shabbat in the sabbatical year and say: “From here I will eat tomorrow.” But the sages say, until he marks it out and says, “From here to there” [the food is not properly designated].

One may not produce fire – because it is like “giving birth” and similar to [prohibited] work, for one creates this fire on the Festival day.

One may throw fruit down through a trap-door on Yom Tov but not on Shabbat. And one may cover up fruit with vessels on account of drips, and likewise jars of wine and jars of oil. And one may place a vessel beneath the drips on Shabbat.

Everything for which one is liable on Shabbat because of shevut [rest], because of reshut [optionality], or because of mitzvah, one is also liable for on Yom Tov.

These are because of shevut: not climbing a tree, not riding on an animal, not swimming in water, not clapping, not slapping, and not dancing.

And these are because of reshut: not judging, not betrothing, not performing halitzah, nor performing yibbum.

And these are because of mitzvah: not dedicating [to the Temple], not valuing, not devoting [to the Temple], not taking terumah or maaser.

All these things were said about Yom Tov, how much more so about Shabbat.

There is no difference between Yom Tov and Shabbat except for human food.

Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest [tishbot], in order that your ox and your ass may rest, and that your maid-servant's son and the stranger may be refreshed.

A beast and utensils are like the feet of the owners [same Shabbat limits].

If someone hands over his cow to his child or to a cowherd, they are like the feet of the owner.

Vessels which have been designated for one of the brothers in a house, are like his feet, but those which have not been designated are like a place where they [all] may go.

If someone borrows a vessel from their neighbor on the eve of Yom Tov, it is like the feet of the borrower.

On Yom Tov, it is like the feet of the lender.

If a woman borrowed from her neighbor spices, water or salt for her dough, these are like the feet of both them.

Rabbi Judah exempts in the case of water, because it has no substance.

A live coal is like the feet of the owners and a flame can be taken anywhere.

A live coal of sanctified property is subject to meila [trespass on holy property]. With respect to a flame, one may not derive benefit from it but there is no trespass.

Someone who carries out a live coal into the public domain is liable; with a flame he is exempt. [this section is not in Kaufmann]

An individual's well is like the feet of the individual; a town well is like the feet of the people of that town.

A well from those who came up from Babylon is is like the feet of the person who fills [the bucket, i.e. who draws the water].

If someone has his produce in another town, and the inhabitants of that city made an eruv in order to bring to him of his produce, they may not bring it to him.

But if he himself made an eruv, his produce is like himself.

If someone invited guests to their home, they may not take away with them portions unless they had assigned them their portions on the eve of Yom Tov.

One may not water and slaughter field animals, but one may water and slaughter domesticated animals.

These are domesticated animals: that sleep in town. Field animals are ones which sleep in the meadow.

If someone invited guests to their home – from another town and they would come to him via an eruv.

We will return to you, Tractate Beitzah, and you will return to us; our mind is on you, Tractate Beitzah, and your mind is on us; we will not forget you, Tractate Beitzah, and you will not forget us – not in this world and not in the next world.