Beitzah 28a

ביצה כ״ח ע״א

Learn Beitzah 28a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Beitzah 28a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Weighing meat and sharpening knives on יום טוב: what looks like weekday work, and the הלכה about מכשירי אוכל נפש

Overview

The משנה records a מחלוקת about weighing meat on יום טוב. רבי יהודה allows weighing it against a vessel or a cleaver, while חכמים forbid using a scale at all, not even to keep meat safe from mice. The גמרא adds related rules: an expert butcher may not weigh meat by hand or in water, a handle may not be cut into meat with a tool but may be made by hand, and meat may be marked to show whose it is. When two sages weighed portion against portion, the גמרא explains they followed רבי יהושע. רב יוסף rules like him based on a משנה in בכורות, and אביי rejects that proof in two ways. A second משנה forbids sharpening a knife on יום טוב but allows rubbing one knife against another. The גמרא gives several versions of שמואל's comment about sharpening versus removing fat. It then shows the ban does not follow רבי יהודה, who permits מכשירי אוכל נפש, and רב חסדא agrees the הלכה follows רבי יהודה. A story about רבא begins and continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (29)

1. Statementרבי יהודה: weighing meat against a vessel or cleaver
2. Statementחכמים: no use of a scale at all
3. QuestionWhat does 'at all' add?
4. ResponseEven to protect meat from mice
5. StatementOnly when the scale hangs ready for weighing
6. StatementAn expert butcher may not weigh meat by hand
7. StatementAn expert butcher may not weigh meat with water
8. StatementNo cutting a handle into meat
9. StatementMaking the handle by hand is allowed
10. StatementMaking a mark on meat is allowed
11. StatementTwo sages weighed portion against portion on יום טוב
12. ChallengeWhose view did they follow?
13. ResolutionThey followed רבי יהושע
14. Conclusionרב יוסף rules like רבי יהושע
15. ProofThe proof from the משנה in בכורות
16. Rejectionאביי: רבי יהושע may only allow weighing on יום טוב
17. Rejectionאביי: The רבנן may allow weighing only with a בכור
18. ChallengeWere רבי חייא and רבי שמעון really that careful with each other?
19. Resolutionרב פפא: Swap one of the names in the story
20. StatementNo sharpening a knife on the festival, but running it over another knife is allowed
21. StatementThe ban applies only to a stone sharpener, not a wooden one
22. StatementStone is forbidden only for sharpening, not for scraping off fat
23. StatementAnother version: wood is allowed only for scraping off fat
24. StatementA third version: שמואל comments directly on the משנה
25. StatementA fourth version: שמואל's comment on the knife-on-knife clause
26. QuestionWho forbids using a sharpener?
27. Responseרב חסדא: Not like רבי יהודה
28. Statementרבא: We quote you as ruling like רבי יהודה
29. Statementרב נחמיה begins a story about רבא