Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 7, scan section 16

tain that a duty must be brought of a profane (ordinary) quaHty ? He means to teach us, that even if one has expHcitly said that he intends the thanksgiving-offering also for a feast-offering, nev- ertheless the duty of the feast-offering is not fulfilled. As R. Simeon b. Lakish asked of R. Johanan : If one say, '' I will bring a thanksgiving-offering, and with this I will fulfil the duty of a feast-offering " ; or, " I will be a Nazarite, but when I shall bring the offering after shaving,* I will take it from the second tithe money," what is the law? And R. Johanan answered him: He must bring a thanksgiving-offering, but the duty of the feast- offering is not fulfilled ; he is a Nazarite, but cannot bring the shaving-offering from the second tithe money. It once happened a man said : Give four hundred Zuz to a certain man, and he shall marry my daughter. Said R. Papa : The four hundred Zuz must be given to him, and the daughter, if he likes her, he can marry, but not otherwise. The reason is, because he has said first, " give him the money " ; [but if he had mentioned the daughter first he would get the money only if he married]. If he had said : He shall marry and take the money, then he must marry her first. Meremar was sitting and declar- ing the Halakha in his own name. Said Rabbina to him : You teach this as if it were a Boraitha ; we, however, learn it as the question of Resh Lakish from R. Johanan, mentioned above, and the decision is R. Johanan's. The rabbis taught : It happened to Hillel the Elder that he brought his burnt-offering to the Temple-court for laying hands on it on the festival. The disciples of Shammai the Elder, how- ever, surrounded him, and asked him : What is the matter with this animal ? And he answered : It is a female, and I have brought it for a peace-offering. And he shook the animal's tail, and they went away. And on that day the school of Shammai took the upper hand over Beth Hillel, and the people wanted to decide the Halakha according to them ; but one old man was there among the disciples of Shammai the Elder, Baba ben Butta by name, who was certain that the Halakha prevailed according to Beth Hillel. And he sent and brought of the best sheep of Jerusalem, and placed them in the Temple-court, and said : Everybody who wants to lay his hands upon them shall come and do so. And on that day Beth Hillel took the upper hand, * See Num. vi. q. ^S THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. and the Halakha was decided according to them, and no objec- tion was made by anybody. Again, it happened once that a disciple of Beth Hillel brought his burnt-offering into the Temple-court for the purpose of laying his hands upon it, and a disciple of the school of Shammai met him and said: Why the handling? And he replied: Why are you not silent ? So he silenced him with a rebuke, so that he went away. Said Abayi : From this we may infer that if a young scholar says to another a few words, the answer shall not be more lengthy than the remark which was addressed, as we have seen in the case of the two disciples, when he asked him : *' Why the laying of the hands ? " he answered him : " Why not be silent ? " We have learned in a Boraitha : The disciples of Hillel said to the disciples of Shammai: (Is not this an a fortiori?) If on Sabbath, when all things to be done for a human being are prohibited, nevertheless in honor of the Lord all is per- mitted ; on a festival, when all things necessary for a human being may be done, so much the more everything may be done for the Lord {i.e., and why, then, shall a burnt-offering of the pilgrimage not be sacrificed ?). And they answered : You can infer this from voluntary and vow offerings, that are permissible for a human being, and nevertheless even you own that they must not be sacrificed on a festival. Said Beth Hillel again : There is no comparison here because voluntary and vow offerings have no appointed times. The burnt-offerings, however, have stated times. Rejoined Beth Shammai : Nay, even these have no appointed time, as we have learned in a Mishna : One who has not brought his feast-offering on the first day of a festival may do it during the whole festival and even on its last day. Re- joined Beth Hillel again : Is this not a fixed time? As we have learned in another Mishna, if one has not brought a feast-offering during the whole festival, he is no longer responsible to do it (consequently there is a stated time for it, and if we will prohibit him from bringing it on the first day of the festival, he may not bring it any more at all). Said Beth Shammai again : Has it not been said in the verse, *' an assembly shall be unto you," which may signify for your sake and not for the Lord's sake? And they answered : Does not another verse say : ** An assembly shall be unto the Lord " ? Whence we may infer that all which is in honor of the Lord shall be done. And from the expression *' unto you " we may infer '' for your sake but not for the sake of strangers." TRACT BETZAH (YOM TOB). 39 R. Ivlah the Elder asked R. Huna : An animal which is half a Gentile's and half an Israelite's, how is the law of slaughtering it on a festival ? And he answered : One may do it. And he asked him again : What is the difference between this and volun- tary vow-offerings ? And he replied : A raven flew away. When R. Iviah was gone, said Rabba, R. Huna's son, to his father : Was this not R. Iviah the Elder, whom you praised to me as a great man ? And he answered : What could I have done with him ? I am to-day weak, I have lectured, and need what is writ- ten in Song of Songs, ii. 5, to " strengthen me with flagons of wine, refresh me with apples " ; and he asked me a thing of which the reason must be explained (at length). [And in reality, what is the reason ? This : An animal which is half a Gentile's and half an Israelite's may be slaughtered on a festival, because if one wants to eat meat even the size of an olive, he cannot take it from the animal when it is still alive, but it must be slaughtered ; and as this animal belonged half to an Israelite, he can certainly slaughter it. But vow and voluntary offerings, they are con- sidered all for Heaven, and although the priests eat some of their meat, this is only because of their reward from Heaven, and not from the one who brings the offerings.] Dough, however, which is half an Israelite's and half a Gen- tile's, is not to be baked on the festival, because it can be divided when it is yet dough. R. Hana bar Hanilai objects : We have learned of dough made for dogs, if the shepherd can eat of it, one is liable to take of it first dough, and may make an Erub with it, and may use it for the combining of the entrance ;