Beitzah 35a

ביצה ל״ה ע״א

Learn Beitzah 35a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Beitzah 35a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Does שבת, תרומה, or a person's designation fix produce for מעשרות? The view of רבי אליעזר, and רבי יוחנן's rule that only fruit whose work is finished becomes fixed.

Overview

The גמרא asks whether רבי אליעזר really holds that designating fruit for שבת fixes it for מעשרות. After all, the leftovers can go back to the pile, and in the משנה of olives from a vat he says returnable leftovers are not fixed. An attempt to explain the case as a pure storage area with an impure person is rejected, because the rest of the fruit never moved. Instead, רב שימי בר אשי says רבי אליעזר follows his own view: even taking תרומה fixes produce, and שבת all the more so. The גמרא then tries to prove from the חכמים that שבת fixes produce. That proof is rejected, because the person's own words 'from here to there' fixed the fruit, and the mention of שבת teaches that טבל counts as prepared for שבת. A ברייתא about finishing a cluster of grapes seems to contradict רבי אליעזר. רבי נתן explains that 'he may finish' means only after leaving the חצר or after שבת ends. Finally, רבי יוחנן rules that שבת, תרומה, חצר and a purchase fix fruit only once its work is finished. Listing שבת rejects הלל, who forbids such fruit even before its work is done.

Opening lines

The steps (17)

1. ChallengeBut the leftovers go back, so how is anything fixed?
2. ProofSource: the משנה of olives taken from a vat
3. QuestionWhy does purity make a difference?
4. Responseרבי אבהו: it depends on whether he can put the olives back
5. ResolutionThe משנה is also a pure storage area with an impure person
6. ChallengeBut the fruit is already in place
7. Resolutionרבי אליעזר follows his own view
8. ProofSource: רבי אליעזר says תרומה fixes produce
9. ProofA proof from the חכמים that שבת fixes produce
10. RejectionNo, his own words fixed the fruit
11. ChallengeThen why mention שבת at all?
12. Resolutionטבל counts as prepared for שבת
13. ChallengeA contradiction from the case of eating a cluster of grapes
14. Resolutionרבי נתן explains what 'he may finish' really means
15. Conclusionרבי יוחנן's rule: things fix fruit only when its work is finished
16. StatementWhy שבת is in the list: to reject הלל
17. ProofThe ברייתא showing הלל's view on fruit still being worked on when שבת begins