Hi friends, and welcome back to Talmud Daily, our 40-week tour throughout the entire Babylonian Talmud. And this week, we are exploring Tractate Beitzah, which literally means egg in Hebrew. Like if you go to a store, ask for a beitzah, they will give you an egg. And our tractate, don’t panic, is not about how to make eggs, scrambled or sunny side up. It is about something known as Yom Tov, or sometimes you’ll hear Jews pronounce it Yontif, which is like a more of a Yiddish-ized pronunciation.
But Yom Tov literally means a good day, but what it means in the context of Jewish life are all of the holidays such as Passover, Shavuos, Sukkos.Rosh Hashanah is considered a Yom Tov. In some ways Yom Kippur is considered a Yom Tov. We’re not going to include Yom Kippur. It’s talking about days that are not Shabbos where general work is prohibited. So that’s why we’re not including Purim and Chanukah. We’ll get up to those. So let’s just call those days—these are the days that are known in plural as Yamim Tovim. So you will hear colloquially people ask, “When’s Yontif?” They’re talking about the next upcoming Yom Tov. So that might be they’re asking about Passover, they’re asking about Sukkos, they’re asking about Shavuos, they’re asking about Rosh Hashanah. “Are you ready for Yontif?” That’s…a lot of times it’ll be pronounced that way. But Yontif, again, is a Yiddish-ized version of Yom Tov.
We have a lot of words like that.I don’t want to go through our whole list, but I think my favorite is the third meal on Shabbos. We eat a meal at night, Friday night, Shabbos day in the morning, and then there’s one meal that you’re supposed to have right towards the end on Shabbos afternoon, and we sometimes call it shalashudis. That doesn’t mean anything. Shalashudis:that is an amalgamation of shalosh seudos, the three meals. So a lot of times we have words like that. And one of the probably the most famous example is Yom Tov, which is very often, especially in the Ashkenazi world—our Sephardic brethren, we love you as well, but you guys pronounce things much better than we do—and it is Yontif.
So what is this tractate exactly about? And it really all begins in a verse in the book of Shemos, in the 12th chapter, I believe the 16th verse. The verse is specifically referring to Passover. This is the book of Exodus, they’re about to leave Egypt, and God is telling the Jewish people about the holiday of Passover. This is what the Torah says, of course, I will translate: “Uvayom harishon,” on the first day of the holiday, “mikra kodesh,” is going to be holy, “uvayom hashvi’i mikra kodesh.” So the holiday is going to be bookended, which is true to this day. The beginning of a holiday is prohibited in most kinds of work, and the end of the holiday, what we sometimes call the last days of Yontif, are also prohibited in work. And that middle area, which we will get to, is known as Chol Hamoed, which is still part of Passover, but you’re allowed to go out and do things and go on trips and all that other stuff.
So it’s the first day and the last day, and these days should be holy. “Mikra kodesh yiheyeh lachem,” should be considered holy, “kol melacha lo ye’aseh,” you’re not going to do any work, “lo ye’aseh bahem,” you’re not going to do any work, except—here’s the exception that our tractate talks about—”Ach asher ye’achel lechol nefesh hu levado ye’aseh lachem.” Except, one exception: the things that you need to prepare for food, those things you can be busy with even on Yom Tov itself.
So this is major distinction number one between Shabbos and Yom Tov. This is a very important distinction. On Yom Tov, you are allowed to prepare the food that you need for that Yontif. So you can cook, you can fry. On Shabbos, all the cooking needs to be done beforehand, and on Yontif you are allowed to cook and prepare food on Yom Tov itself. We’re going to get into the why of that distinction as well, but not right now.
Now, a couple things to really understand that emerge from this Talmudic tractate. There is a major dispute between all of the commentators. Primarily Rashi and Rambam have a little bit of a dispute. When we say that you’re allowed to prepare food, what exactly is included in food preparations? Is it like anything? Can I go out, I don’t know, go out to the farm and, you know, get the animal, bring it in, slaughter—like which part of the food preparation is actually permitted?
So the Rambam actually says all food preparation is permitted, except we’re rabbinically prohibited from doing some food preparation. While Rashi says when the food preparation is not directly, immediately necessary—we’re going to get into the exact distinction in a moment—it’s actually biblically prohibited even though technically it falls into food preparation. A good example is like getting the actual animal and like trapping it and making sure that it could come down so it’s now ready.
Now, why is only like, according both to Rashi and the Rambam, why is it specifically, why do they define preparing food in such a limited way that it doesn’t include, you know, the trapping or the other things? You could think about that. You know, there are so many things that are necessary in order to get food, but we don’t go shopping on Yom Tov. We don’t drive and go to the store. That’s prohibited on Yom Tov. So where do we draw that line?
So Rashi has a very brilliant distinction and the boundary, and it’s one that’s very sensible if you think about it. Rashi says the permissibility of preparing food is specifically things that are required in order to have fresh, delicious food for Yom Tov. So that really limits it quite a bit. I could go shopping before Yom Tov and get the food ready and have it in the house. So that is not allowed on Yom Tov. But you want to know what is allowed on Yom Tov? The actual cooking. The actual like preparing with the food on the counter. Why is that all of a sudden permissible?
Because Rashi says this straight up: fresh food is a lot better and we’re doing this in order to enhance the Yom Tov experience. Preparing fresh, delicious food is permissible on the day of Yom Tov. But if the preparations do not contribute directly to the food being fresh and delicious, it’s something that you could have done beforehand. Yeah, you could go shopping beforehand, that’s not going to affect anything. There are a lot of things that you can do beforehand. So it’s limited to the preparations that ensure that the food you serve on Yom Tov is fresh and delicious. That is the first major subject and a distinction between Shabbos and Yom Tov that really gets into the essence of the day. We’ll come back to that in a little bit.
The second major subject of this tractate, which is actually in many ways the simple reason of why the tractate is called egg… And you should know in later commentaries very often they refer to this tractate as not Tractate Beitzah, the tractate about egg. Very often this is referred to as Maseches Yom Tov, the tractate that talks about Yom Tov. And you’re going to look through like, “Oh no, we don’t have a Tractate Yom Tov. Did my Mishnah, did my Talmud come incomplete?” No, Beitzah is very often called Tractate Yom Tov.
But I want to talk about the second subject that appears in this tractate, and that is the idea of muktzeh, which is an incredibly profound idea. Muktzeh is the Talmudic term for items that have not been set aside for use, and this applies to both Shabbos and Yom Tov.
You may remember if you’ve been in a Yom Tov or Shabbos-observant house, the word muktzeh, especially by children, is very often used to refer to anything prohibited on Shabbos and Yom Tov. My children refer to it that way. They’ll use the word muktzeh and say, “Is this muktzeh?” They’re really asking, “Am I allowed to use this on Shabbos or Yom Tov? Is this something I’m allowed to do?”
But muktzeh is actually a very precise and technical term. It refers to items that either because of their use or their nature are not part of the Yom Tov or Shabbos experience. They have not been set aside. Now, I want to make something very clear. This does not mean that before Yom Tov and before Shabbos you literally go around your house and setting aside to say, “I want to use this chair, I want to use this table, I want to use this couch.” No, that’s not… We assume that something that is permissible and you’re using it all the time, you don’t have to verbally declare that I’m setting it aside.
But it’s the inverse. People do go around their house, and what do they check for? They check for items that are not Yom Tov items. What’s a good example of this? A good example of this is like a pen on a couch. When a pen is on a couch, so now that is very problematic. You’re not allowed to write on Shabbos or on Yom Tov, so a pen, which is a utensil for writing, is now considered muktzeh, which literally means it’s set aside. It is prohibited from use. It is not a part of your Yom Tov world.
Now, defining exactly what is considered muktzeh, what is not considered muktzeh, is a very complex Talmudic, later commentaries. A very good rule of thumb is that if this item is used to do something prohibited or something that we don’t really do on Yom Tov, that item and really the entire station around it is probably not a good idea to handle on Shabbos and Yom Tov. Which is why we don’t carry our wallet on Shabbos and Yom Tov. A wallet has money. Money is considered muktzeh. We’re not going out and doing transactions and buying things on Shabbos and Yom Tov. So a wallet is a most classic example. If you walk into an observant household or an observant synagogue, you will find that most people do not have their wallets on them. A lot of exceptions, and there are people who are just learning the rules. They don’t know all the details. But generally we do not carry our wallets on Yom Tov.
Another interesting example to think about is your key ring. On a lot of key rings, you’ll notice it’s not just the house key. On the key ring, especially nowadays, we have what’s known as, I think it’s called a key fob. That fob, whatever it’s called—that drives your car, that opens your car—that’s probably tricky, and a lot of people would make sure that the keyring that they use on Shabbos and Yom Tov does not include their car keys.
This is all to contribute to create the world of Shabbos and Yom Tov. You want to create an environment of Shabbos and Yom Tov, and to have such an environment means that keys and pens and moneys and wallets shouldn’t be strewn all over the table, shouldn’t be on all the countertops. They should be moved aside. Cell phones is probably the best example, and a lot of homes, because we’re so attached to our cell phones, there’s a special box that they keep their cell phones on Shabbos. I would recommend that, especially for young kids where it’s really hard. Put it in a special Shabbos box that you don’t need to think about it.
The beauty and the environment of Shabbos and Yom Tov emerges when it’s not just the activities, but it’s the entire environment that envelops the home. And this idea of muktzah, items that are set aside not to be handled, not to be moved, not to be carried on Shabbos and Yom Tov, is a fundamental part of this tractate.
I want to close with one basic word about this tractate. This tractate is very often called Maseches Beitzah. You may meet some Jews who actually pronounce it Maseches Beiah. Why do some people call it Beiah instead of Beitzah? So, one, it’s the Aramaic pronunciation. The other reason is a little bit… I don’t know.I learned this in ninth grade, so we were giggling, but a beitzah, like beitzim, can also mean like a… What’s the right way to say this? Like it could mean the in the genital area. I’ll be more blunt: testicles can be called sometimes a beitzah or beitzim. You could imagine why.
So because it’s a word that sometimes is used to describe things that are less savory that we don’t want to necessarily talk about just in a frivolous way—could be easily misunderstood—there are people, I’m not one of them, but there are people who are very careful to pronounce it Beiah.
But one final idea. It is not a coincidence that at the heart of this tractate is the idea of an egg. Because what an egg represents is all of the work that goes into creating the egg: the fertilization, carrying it through, finally laying the egg. But there’s a more profound idea. An egg represents potential of what could be. And I believe every day of Yom Tov, every day of Shabbos, is in some sense this potential for hatching new life, for creating a new moment, a new experience in your life. Every Shabbos and Yom Tov has the capacity to find and discover new things about yourself. In this quieted world, without as many distractions, without as many busyness, we have the opportunity, so to speak, of giving birth to a new life that we have on Shabbos and Yom Tov.
So I’m so excited to explore this tractate together with you, and let’s together keep making Torah sweet.