Talmud - Beitza 29a ביצה כ״ט א׳

they would say in Sura: Give me that cut of meat called a tarta or half a tarta, without naming a price. In Neresh they would say in reference to those same portions: A part or half a part. In Pumbedita they would say: An uzya or half an uzya. In Nehar Pekod and in Mata Meḥasya they would say: Give me a quarter or half a quarter, thereby establishing the size of the portion without mentioning its price.

MISHNA: One person may say to another on a Festival: Fill this vessel for me, and I will return its contents or reimburse you after the Festival, but he may not ask him to fill the vessel in a particular measure. Rabbi Yehuda says: If it was a measuring utensil, he may not fill it. There was an incident involving Abba Shaul ben Botnit, a Sage who was also a grocer, who would fill his measures on the eve of a Festival and give them to his customers on the Festival. In this way he would know exactly how much he had given each person, without conducting any measurements on the Festival itself.

Abba Shaul, a Sage distinct from Abba Shaul ben Botnit, says: He would do this even on the intermediate days of a Festival because of the clarity of the measures, i.e., in order to clarify precisely how much must be given to each customer, since the measurement is more precise once the foam of the liquid being measured has subsided. And the Rabbis say: Even on a weekday it is proper to do so, because of the draining of the measures. This method allows all the liquid to drain fully out of the seller’s measuring utensil so that the amount is exact.

GEMARA: The Gemara asks: What is the meaning of the phrase: But not in a measure? Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said: But not with a vessel designated for measuring; however, in the case of a vessel that can be used for measuring but has yet to be used for this purpose, he may fill it. According to this, Rabbi Yehuda comes to disagree and say that he may not fill even a vessel that can be used for measuring.

The Gemara asks: Apparently, Rabbi Yehuda is stringent with regard to the joy of the Festival in that he prohibits the use of any sort of measuring utensil, while the Rabbis are lenient. But didn’t we hear them state the opposite, as we learned in an earlier mishna (28a) that Rabbi Yehuda says: A person selling meat on a Festival may weigh the meat against a vessel or against a cleaver, and the Rabbis say: One may not look at the pans of a balance scale at all? Apparently, here, the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda is lenient, while the opinion of the Rabbis is stringent. Therefore, there is a contradiction between the one statement of Rabbi Yehuda and the other statement of Rabbi Yehuda, as well as a contradiction between the one statement of the Rabbis and the other statement of the Rabbis.

The Gemara answers: With regard to the contradiction between the one teaching of Rabbi Yehuda and the other teaching of Rabbi Yehuda, this is not difficult. There, where he is lenient, he is dealing with a vessel that cannot be used for measuring on a regular basis at all, whereas here, he is referring to a vessel that can be used for measuring, and therefore he is stringent even if the vessel has not yet actually been used in this capacity.

With regard to the contradiction between the one statement of the Rabbis and the other statement of the Rabbis, it is also not difficult. There, he is acting in a weekday manner, and consequently they prohibit the weighing, whereas here, he is not acting in a weekday manner, as the vessel is not a measuring utensil, and consequently they permit him to use it. This completes the Gemara’s discussion of Shmuel’s explanation of the mishna.

The Gemara offers a second explanation of the mishna. Rava said: What is the meaning of the phrase: But not by measure? It means that he may not mention to him the name of the measure. For example, he may not say: Fill for me one kav, or two kav. However, he may fill a vessel even if it is designated for measuring. And Rabbi Yehuda comes to say: He may not fill a vessel designated for measuring, even if he does not stipulate a particular measure.

The Gemara asks: Apparently, with regard to the joy of the Festival, Rabbi Yehuda is stringent, and the Rabbis are lenient. But didn’t we hear them state the opposite, as we learned in an earlier mishna (28a) that Rabbi Yehuda says: A person may weigh meat against a vessel or against a cleaver, and the Rabbis prohibit this and say: One may not look at the pans of a balance scale at all? Apparently, Rabbi Yehuda is lenient, while the Rabbis are stringent. Therefore, there is a contradiction between one statement of Rabbi Yehuda and the other statement of Rabbi Yehuda, and there is also a contradiction between one statement of the Rabbis and the other statement of the Rabbis.

The Gemara answers: With regard to the contradiction between one teaching of Rabbi Yehuda and the other teaching of Rabbi Yehuda, this is not difficult. There, with regard to weighing meat against a vessel, he is dealing with a vessel that is not designated for measuring, and therefore he is lenient, whereas here, he is referring to a vessel that is designated for measuring, with regard to which he is stringent. With regard to the contradiction between one statement of the Rabbis and the other statement of the Rabbis, this is also not difficult. There, he is acting in a weekday manner, and consequently they prohibit the weighing, whereas here, he is not acting in a weekday manner, as people are accustomed to offer their friends wine in a measuring utensil and drink. Since the use of such a vessel is not exclusive to commercial transactions, the Rabbis permitted it here as well.

§ The mishna recounted an incident involving Abba Shaul ben Botnit, a Sage who was also a grocer, who would fill his measures on the eve of a Festival and give them to his customers on the Festival. A tanna taught in a baraita: He would do this even on the intermediate days of a Festival, in order to prevent dereliction of Torah study in the study hall. Since he wanted to spend most of his day in the study hall and not have to interrupt his study to carry out measurements, he would measure for his customers at night, when it was not a time of study.

The Sages taught in a baraita: Abba Shaul ben Botnit collected three hundred earthenware jugs of wine, to which he thought he was not entitled due to the clarity of the measures, as he thought that he had unfairly profited from the foam at the top of the liquid he measured. And his colleagues, similarly God-fearing grocers, collected three hundred earthenware jugs of oil, which they thought were not rightly theirs due to the draining of the measures; they were concerned that because they had measured for their customers using their own vessels, they might not have drained the entire measure from their containers into the customers’ vessels. And they brought these jugs of wine and oil to Jerusalem before the Temple treasurers, as they did not want to benefit from possibly stolen goods.

The treasurers said to them: You need not do this, as all buyers take into account the foam and what is left in the sellers’ vessels and pay with this in mind. They said to them: Just like the buyers give up their claim to it, we too do not wish to benefit from this, even if strictly speaking it is not considered stolen property.

The treasurers said to them: Since you are so stringent with yourselves, use the wine and oil for communal needs. As it is taught in a baraita: If one stole and does not know from whom he stole, he should use the stolen items for communal needs, thereby repaying all of the Jewish people. The Gemara asks: What are communal needs? Rav Ḥisda said: He should finance the digging of cisterns, ditches, and caves, for storing water for travelers.

§ Rav Ḥisda authorized Rabbana Ukva to give a public lecture, and he taught the following: A person may not measure barley and place it before his animal on a Festival, but he may cut out [koder] a hole in the pile of grain by means of a vessel of one kav or two kav, and place the barley before his animal, and he need not be concerned about the measuring this entails, as he does not transgress the prohibition against using a measuring utensil if he is not particular about measuring precisely. And a baker may measure spices and put them in his pot, so as not to spoil his dish, since if he puts in too much he will ruin the food.

Rav Yirmeya bar Abba said that Rav said: A woman may measure flour on a Festival and put it into her dough in order to separate ḥalla generously, because if she knows the exact amount of dough she can separate the proper amount of ḥalla. And Shmuel said: It is prohibited, as she can estimate the amount that must be set aside as ḥalla. The Gemara asks: But didn’t a Sage of the school of Shmuel teach a baraita stating that this is permitted?

Abaye said: Now that it is known that Shmuel said it is prohibited and a Sage of the school of Shmuel taught a baraita that it is permitted,

Traduction : The William Davidson digital edition of the Koren Noé Talmud, with commentary by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz.

Beitza 29a explores buying meat by local portion names on Festivals and rules on filling measuring vessels without exact quantities.