Siman - Beitzah Daf 3
- Forbidding the egg as part of the decree on fallen fruit or the decree on flowing juice
The Gemara brings two more explanations for the Mishnah on why an egg laid on Yom Tov is prohibited. Rav Yosef said: גזירה משום פרות הנושרין – It is a gezeirah because it resembles fruit that falls from a tree on Yom Tov, which is prohibited by a decree lest one actually climb a tree and pick a fruit. The Gemara clarifies כולה חדא גזרה היא - that the case of the egg is subsumed into the decree of fallen fruit. Rashi explains that Beis Hillel’s ruling does not represent a separate edict intended to safeguard the Rabbinic decree on fallen fruits. Rather, since the egg is a type of “fruit” that drops, when ripe from its place of nurturing, it is subsumed into the decree on fallen fruits, even though harvesting eggs does not involve the melachah of קוצר – reaping. Rebbe Yitzchak said: גזרה משום משקין שזבו – The egg laid on Yom Tov is prohibited because it resembles juice that flowed on Yom Tov, which is prohibited because it might lead one to actually squeeze the fruits on Yom Tov and transgress the melachah of דש – threshing. Here too, the case of the egg was subsumed in the original gezeirah, since an egg resembles the juice, in that it issued from a place where it had been absorbed.
- Is an egg more closely related to a fruit or to juice?
The Gemara asks why Rav Yosef did not explain the Mishnah like Rebbe Yitzchak and answers that Rav Yosef would say: ביצה אוכלא ופירות אוכלא לאפוקי משקין דלאו אוכלא – An egg is a food and fruits are foods, in contrast to juice which is not a food, but a liquid. The Gemara asks why Rebbe Yitzchak did not explain the Mishnah like Rav Yosef and answers that Rebbe Yitzchak would say: ביצה בלועה ומשקין בלועין לאפוקי פירות דמיגלו וקיימו – An egg is absorbed in the hen and issues forth, and juice is absorbed in its peel and issues forth, in contrast to fruits, which are already exposed – even before they become detached from their place of growth.
- Why is the egg ספיקא אסורא according to Rav Yosef and Rebbe Yitzchak?
The Gemara challenges the interpretations of Rav Yosef and Rebbe Yitzchak, based on the following Baraisa, which states: Concerning an egg that was laid on Shabbos or Yom Tov, we may not move it, neither to cover the mouth of a kli, nor to support the legs of a bed with it, however, one may invert a kli over the egg so that it should not break, וספיקא אסורה – and in a case of a doubt, the egg is prohibited. Rashi explains that the Gemara assumes that the Baraisa means that there is a doubt when the egg was laid – whether on Yom Tov or before. The Gemara says that while it is understandable according to Rabbah, who said that the egg was prohibited due to הכנה, it is a safek d’Oraysa, וכל ספיקא דאורייתא לחומרא – and all safek d’Oraysas we go l’chumroh, but according to Rav Yosef and Rebbe Yitzchak, who prohibited the egg because of a gezeirah, why should the safek be assur, since כל ספק דרבנן לקולא – every safek d’Rabbanon is l’kulah? After considerable analysis, the Gemara will bring Rav Ashi on Daf 4a, who explains that the egg is forbidden because it is a דבר שיש לו מתירין – an item that will become permitted, i.e., after Yom Tov, וכל דבר שיש לו מתירין אפילו בדרבנן לא בטיל – and any item that will become permitted, even if it is now prohibited m’deRabbanon, cannot become nullified in a mixture . Rashi explains that just as we are machmir in a mixture, we are also machmir in a case of safek.
