Commentary: On the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Beẓah

First Half of the 11th Century

About This Entry

Ḥananel (Elḥanan) ben Ḥushiel’s commentary on the Babylonian Talmud was one of the earliest such works to be composed outside of the Babylonian academies. It draws on the Jerusalem Talmud and writings of the geonim—and also on traditions of his own family, going back to their roots in Italy. The scope of the commentary is unclear, although it seems to have covered many tractates. This excerpt begins by discussing the case when a festival falls on a Friday, to be followed immediately by the Sabbath, and the institution of the eruv tavshilin, where one cooks a small quantity of food before the beginning of the festival specifically to be consumed afterward, on the Sabbath, so as to allow for cooking other food intended to be eaten on the Sabbath on the festival itself. Ḥananel explains the give-and-take of talmudic dialectic and provides legal conclusions where the Talmud does not.

If a festival occurred [on a Sabbath eve], one may not initially cook on the festival for Shabbat, etc. [m. Beẓah 2:1]¹

From where do we derive that one may prepare a cooked dish on a festival eve and rely on it [when cooking food on the festival day] for the Sabbath? Samuel said: From the fact that it is written: Remember the Sabbath day (Exodus 20:7), that is, remember it before the arrival of a festival, which can cause it to be forgotten.

And Rava said: Since one knows that on the following day [i.e., the festival] he will have to cook separately for the Sabbath, he intends to select a good portion [as his eruv tavshilin] for the Sabbath, so that he will not cook everything on the festival.

R. Ashi said: Why may one cook on a festival for a Sabbath only by virtue of an eruv [tavshilin]?² So that people will say, “We may not bake on a festival for the Sabbath; all the more so, on a festival for a weekday.”

The Gemara raises a difficulty against this claim: If that is the reason, why does he have to make the eruv on the eve of the festival? Let him do so even on the festival as well.³

The Gemara answers that this is a decree in case one is negligent on the festival,⁴ and he will end up baking and cooking without an eruv tavshilin.

There is a tanna who explains that the source for the mishnah’s ruling is from this verse: that which you will bake, bake; that which you [will cook, cook, and all that remains put aside for you to be kept until the morning] (Exodus 16:23). In other words, if you baked yesterday, you may bake today as well, and likewise if you already have a cooked dish, you may cook. Now this cannot be explained as referring to a weekday, but rather from a festival to a Sabbath. Since the verse states that one may bake only in surplus to that which is already baked, and one may cook only in addition to cooked food, the sages found support in this verse from the Torah for the law of eruv tavshilin.

The meaning of “owners of pitasin” is owners of large jugs, i.e., they have a lot of wine and food [waiting for them at home], and have therefore left early so that they can finish their wine by the evening.⁵ The owners of barrels have less wine than they do, as laginin are smaller than barrels, and cups are yet smaller than laginin.

He [R. Eliezer] said about the sixth group [who left the house of study and do not even possess cups of wine], “These are owners of a curse.” In other words, they have nothing, and therefore they have neither fulfilled the commandment of the joy of the festival nor the commandment of sitting in the study hall, as they have already departed.

The Gemara concludes that whoever was able to prepare an eruv tavshilin but failed to do so is a negligent person.

Translated by Avi Steinhart.

Notes

[The mishnah continues: “However, one may cook for the festival itself, and if he left anything over, he left it over for Shabbat. One may also prepare a cooked dish on a festival eve and rely on it for Shabbat”; i.e., one may proceed to cook on the festival for Shabbat, with reliance upon that dish. The section of the Gemara discussed here is from b. Beẓah 15b.—Trans.]

[I.e., an eruv tavshilin, which is the dish prepared on the festival eve, as stated in the Mishnah.—Trans.]

[If one prepares a special dish for this purpose, this would serve as a reminder that we may not bake on a festival for a Sabbath.—Trans.]

[And fails to prepare the dish.—Trans.]

[This term is from a story cited in the continuation of the Gemara: An incident occurred involving R. Eliezer, when he was sitting and lecturing on the laws of the festival during an entire festival day. When the first group left in the middle of his lecture, he said, “These must be owners of pitasin.” Soon, a second group left, and he said, “These are owners of barrels.” When a third group departed, he said, “These are owners of jugs.” A fourth group left, and he said, “These are owners of laginin.” When a fifth group left, he said, “These are owners of cups.” When a sixth group got up to leave, he said, “These are owners of a curse.”—Trans.]

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 3: Encountering Christianity and Islam.