About this episode
Study Guide Beitzah 33 Today's daf is sponsored by Sagi Carmel in honor of Ashley Offenheim on their marriage today. Is it permissible to use wood for other purposes or can it only be used for kindling on Yom Tov? Rabbi Shimon allows and sages forbid. Leading an animal by a stick on a Yom Tov is a dispute between Rabbi Elazar Bar Rabbi Shimon and the rabbis. The rabbis forbid it besides that it is muktze, also because it appears as if he is leading the animal to sell in the market – therefore, even rabbi Shimon would forbid it. There is a dispute between Rav Sheshet and Rav Nachman as to whether it is possible to use a wooden branch for a skewer. Do they disagree about a wet or dry branch? What is the root of their debate? Rava did not allow one to take a branch from the storage shed of wood to use as a coal stoker or to use one that broke on Yom Tov. Why? Is it because he held like Rabbi Yehuda that broken pieces are muktze? Does it not appear from another case that he does not hold like Rabbi Yehuda in this matter? There is a dispute between R. Eliezer and the rabbis – can one collect sliver from the yard for cooking? Can one take a sliver to use for cleaning one's teeth? It is forbidden to light a fire from stones, trees, etc. because it is creating something new. Rav Yehuda said that if a vessel (such as a toothpick for example) is made from animal food, it is permitted because it is not considered that one has created a vessel. Rav Kahana raises a difficulty against him from a braita and the Gemara solves by differentiating between hard and soft. The hard ones are forbidden to be cut to use a toothpick to clean one's teeth on a Torah level and therefore they are forbidden by rabbinic law to cut them for smelling purposes. But Rav Acha raises a contradiction between this and a Mishnah in Masechet Shabbat that it is permissible to break a barrel and remove fruit from it, provided that he does not intend to make a vessel and there is no concern that if we permit it not to create a vessel, one may come to break it also to make a vessel. Also, Rav Yehuda cut branches and distributed them. The contradiction is resolved by connecting these two approaches to a tannaitic dispute between Rabbi Eliezer and the rabbis. Rabbi Eliezer thinks that creating a toothpick is forbidden from the Torah and therefore the rabbis forbade cutting it for smelling. The rabbis thought it was only forbidden by rabbinic law to cut to make a toothpick and therefore the rabbis did not forbid cutting for smelling or other permitted purposes. However, how could Rabbi Eliezer disagree with the Mishnah in Shabbat? They answer that he establishes the Mishnah in a case of Mustaki - a rickety barrel. According to the Mishnah, it is permissible according to Rabbi Eliezer to gather trees from the yard. There is controversy in a braita as to whether it is permissible to put in piles. The basis for the controversy is: do we fear that it seems he is doing it for tomorrow or do his actions prove that he is not.