Introduction to Masechet Beitzah by Gitta Jaroslawicz-Neufeld
לע”נ מרת איידל בת ר ‘ נתן ע”ה
(In “Yeshivish,” this masecheta is often called “Bei’ah,” the Aramaic word for “egg.”)
Masechet Beitzah, known in Talmudic literature as Masechet Yom Tov (holiday), deals with the laws which are common to all the holidays, as opposed to the festival-specific laws which are dealt with in their respective masechtot (Sukkah, Pesachim, Yoma, Rosh HaShana and Megilla), and the laws of Chol HaMoed (in Moed Katan). The name of the masechta derives from the first case discussed, the status of an egg that was laid on Shabbat or a holiday.
The primary focus is the obligation to rest from work, as expressed through both positive and negative commandments. This is derived from two pesukim:
Vayikra 23:24 |
דַּבֵּר אֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר בַּחֹדֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִי בְּאֶחָד לַחֹדֶשׁ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם שַׁבָּתוֹן זִכְרוֹן תְּרוּעָה מִקְרָא־קֹדֶשׁ׃ Speak to the Israelite people thus: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts. |
And
Vayikra 23:7-8 | |
בַּיּוֹם הָרִאשׁוֹן מִקְרָא־קֹדֶשׁ יִהְיֶה לָכֶם כׇּל־מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ׃
וְהִקְרַבְתֶּם אִשֶּׁה לַיהֹוָה שִׁבְעַת יָמִים בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי מִקְרָא־קֹדֶשׁ כׇּל־מְלֶאכֶת עֲבֹדָה לֹא תַעֲשׂוּ׃ {פ} |
On the first day you shall celebrate a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations.
Seven days you shall make offerings by fire to the LORD. The seventh day shall be a sacred occasion: you shall not work at your occupations.
|
Just as intentional creative work is forbidden on Shabbat (the 39 melachot, found in Shabbat 73a), there is a prohibition of melacha on the holidays, with two primary differences:
- One who violates the prohibition of labor on Shabbat is subject to the death penalty; on the holidays, the punishment is lashes (as is the punishment for transgressing most negative commandments)
- On Shabbat, all labor is forbidden; on the holidays, melechet avoda (servile work) is prohibited. This is based on Vayikra 23:7 (above). According to tradition, labor that is required for sustenance (the preparation of food) is permitted. The exploration of this limitation is the primary focus of the masecheta.
Not all activities related to food preparation are permitted. There is a debate among the commentaries whether the excluded activities are prohibited on a Torah level or were added by the Rabbis as a “safeguard” for the sanctity of the holidays. The distinction is made between activities that prepare the items to become food (such as hunting and harvesting) and the actual food preparation (cooking and baking). Although on a Torah level, we can do what is necessary for food preparation, the Rabbis limited this permission so that the holidays would retain an extra dimension of sanctity. At the same time, based on the principle of Beit Hillel on 12a: לצורך ה שהותר מתוך לצורך שלא נמי הותרה) Since [the melacha] was permitted for a [food related] purpose, it is also permitted even when there is not that purpose). For example, since one is permitted to transport food from one house to another, one may carry other items needed on the holiday as well.
In some cases, the Rabbis were stricter with regard to holidays than with Shabbat, since the more lenient punishment status and ability to perform some activities forbidden on Shabbat might lead people to take the holidays lightly. On the other hand, there is a special mitzva to rejoice on the holidays (Devarim 16:14-15):
וְשָׂמַחְתָּ בְּחַגֶּךָ אַתָּה וּבִנְךָ וּבִתֶּךָ וְעַבְדְּךָ וַאֲמָתֶךָ וְהַלֵּוִי וְהַגֵּר וְהַיָּתוֹם וְהָאַלְמָנָה אֲשֶׁר בִּשְׁעָרֶיךָ׃ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים תָּחֹג לַיהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בַּמָּקוֹם אֲשֶׁר־יִבְחַר יְהֹוָה כִּי יְבָרֶכְךָ יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ בְּכֹל תְּבוּאָתְךָ וּבְכֹל מַעֲשֵׂה יָדֶיךָ וְהָיִיתָ אַךְ שָׂמֵחַ׃ |
You shall rejoice in your festival, with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow in your communities. You shall hold a festival for the LORD your God seven days, in the place that the LORD will choose; for the LORD your God will bless all your crops and all your undertakings, and you shall have nothing but joy. |
We have already seen in Pesachim (109a) that this joy is expressed by food, drink and wearing special clothes. The Rabbis needed to balance between these two sometimes opposing mandates: to honor the holiday as a day of respite and to allow people to rejoice. This concern will be discussed in several places in the masechta.
Additional Issues
When Shabbat and a holiday occur in succession, with the holiday on Sunday or (more critically) on Friday, additional issues arise. We cannot prepare for one day to the next on a holiday. How then, especially in a time without the ability to prepare food in advance and store it safely, can we prepare for Shabbat if the holiday is on Friday? The main solution for this issue is the rabbinic enactment of the eiruv tavshilin (the joining of cooked foods), which allows one to prepare food on the Friday holiday for Shabbat.
A second issue is the rabbinic enactment that people living outside the land of Israel are required to observe a second day of the holiday (yom tov sheini shel galuyot – the second holiday of the Diaspora). This decree was originally established because of problems in timely and accurate communication between Israel (where the new month was sanctified and declared) and the far-flung communities of Jews outside the land of Israel. The Rabbis decreed that those communities observe two days for the holiday; one would certainly be the correct one (since there are astronomical and mathematical limitations to when the new month can begin – it only varies by one day). (More about this when we learn Masechet Rosh haShana!) This enactment continued (for a variety of reasons) even when the calendar was fixed and dates of holidays predetermined for millennia.
Muktzeh
The laws of muktzeh comprise a significant portion of the discussions in this masechta. The word muktzeh literally means “set aside,” and refers to objects which usually are not intended for use on Shabbat or holidays. As we learned on Shabbat 123b, the decree of muktzeh dates back to the early days of the Second Temple, when Nechemya ruled that these objects may not be handled or moved, as a safeguard for the sanctity of Shabbat and to prevent people from inadvertently transgressing by using these objects.(*)
* There are other reasons given for this enactment: So that Shabbat would be discernably different from weekdays (based on Isaiah 58:13), and so that those who do not usually engage in labor would have a distinction made for Shabbat. The Raavad claims that the original decree was to prevent people from transporting utensils from one domain to another. Later, it was modified to exclude utensils that would be used for permissible activities.
There are several categories of muktzeh, with the underlying consideration being the idea that the item was not מוכן prepared before Shabbat. Note that the preparation does not have to be overt – if an item is normally used for permissible activities, it is considered prepared. The Shulchan Aruch lists the following categories of muktzeh:
- Fear of monetary loss מחמת חיסרון כיס: Any object whose owner would object to its general use for fear that it become damaged. For example, one might think that he could use a surgeon’s scalpel to cut fruit. While its primary use is prohibited (surgery), cutting fruit is not. However, since the owner of the scalpel would be concerned that the unskilled (permitted) use of the scalpel would damage it, the scalpel is muktzeh (Of course, if there is a need for life-saving surgery, this does not apply.) If the object may be used for its skilled purpose on the holiday (for example, a shochet’s knife), it is not muktzeh on the holiday.
- Primarily used for prohibited work כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור: Any utensil whose primary use is for a prohibited action, but can occasionally be used for permitted activities. For ex ample, a hammer is generally used for building, which is forbidden, but is also used for cracking nuts, which is permitted, and the owner is not concerned about damage to the hammer when engaged in this activity. This level of muktzeh is more lenient.
- Intrinsic מחמת גופו: An object which is neither a utensil or edible (for humans or animals) food. This would include stones, money, earth, a corpse, fruit which need to be processed to be edible (raisins, olives) or living animals. If the object may be used on the holiday (for example, wood for kindling or an animal designated for slaughter on that day), it is not muktzeh on the holiday.
- A base for a forbidden object בסיס לדבר האסור: An otherwise non muktzeh item upon which a muktzeh item rests. Even after the muktzeh item has been removed (for example, by a non-Jew), the “base item” retains its muktzeh status until the conclusion of that Shabbat or holiday. This extension of muktzeh status only applies if the muktzeh item was on the base at the beginning of Shabbat or the holiday. If the muktzeh item was placed on the base during Shabbat or the holiday, once it is removed, the base is no longer muktzeh.
- Attached to the ground or uncaptured מחובר ומחוסר צדה: A growing item which was not cut before twilight, or an animal which was not trapped before that time. Should the fruit/vegetable become detached over the course of Shabbat or the holiday, it remains muktzeh for the rest o f the day. Similarly, although one may slaughter and cook an animal on the holiday, if it was not trapped before the holiday, it may not be slaughtered on the holiday.
- Newborn נולד: An object which first becomes useable on Shabbat or the holiday. An example would be ashes that were formed by wood that had burned on Shabbat. The logic is that it was not useable before the onset of Shabbat and therefore could not have been prepared. Interestingly, this category is more stringent on holidays than on Shabbat. If something is not “entirely” new, it is permitted on Shabbat, yet forbidden on the holiday. For example, bones left over from meat that was eaten may be given to animals on Shabbat, but not on a holiday. The bones are not “entirely” new in the sense that they were prepared with the meat. Yet on the holiday, they are seen as having become something new – bones fit for animal consumption. (Note that they still may be removed and discarded, since they are repugnant.)
- Set aside for its mitzva מוקצה למצוותו: An item which was designated for the mitzva of the day (for example, the wood and decorations of the sukka). Note that this category is different from the others – more about that on 30b).
The prohibitions of Muktzeh:
- Moving a muktzeh object: The primary restriction is carrying or moving an object that is designated as muktzeh
- Eating a muktzeh object: This is a more stringent restriction, based on Shemot 16:5 וְהָיָה בַּיּוֹם הַשִּׁשִּׁי וְהֵכִינוּ אֵת אֲשֶׁר־יָבִיאוּ וְהָיָה מִשְׁנֶה עַל אֲשֶׁר־יִלְקְטוּ יוֹם יוֹם׃, on the sixth day, when they apportion what they have brought in, it shall prove to be double the amount they gather each day. This implies that the food of Shabbat needs to be prepared in advance
The primary disagreements with reference to muktzeh are between Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Shimon. In most cases, Rabbi Shimon is more lenient. |
The Content of the Masecheta
לע”נ מרת איידל בת ר ‘ נת ן ע”ה