Study Bava Metzia folio 89A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מכדי כל מילי איתנהו בחסימה, דילפינן ״שור״ ״שור״ משבת. אם כן, לכתוב רחמנא: ״לא תדוש בחסימה״, שור דכתב רחמנא למה לי?
Now, consider: All matters, i.e., all animals, are included in the halakha of muzzling, as we derive a verbal analogy between the term “an ox” stated here and the term “an ox” stated with regard to Shabbat. Just as the prohibition against having one’s animal perform labor on Shabbat applies not only to oxen but to all animals, as explicitly stated in the Torah (Deuteronomy 5:14), so too the halakha of muzzling includes all animals, not merely oxen. If so, and the term “ox” in this verse does not limit the halakha to that animal alone, let God write in general terms: You should not thresh while muzzling; why do I need the word “ox” that God writes?
לאקושי חוסם לנחסם ונחסם לחוסם. מה חוסם אוכל במחובר – אף נחסם אוכל במחובר. ומה נחסם אוכל בתלוש – אף חוסם אוכל בתלוש.
It serves to juxtapose and compare the one who muzzles to the muzzled animal, and likewise to compare the muzzled animal to the one who muzzles: Just as the one who muzzles, a person, may eat from produce attached to the ground, so too the muzzled animal may eat from attached produce. And just as the muzzled animal may eat from detached produce, so too the one who muzzles may eat from detached produce.
תנו רבנן: ״דיש״, מה דיש מיוחד – דבר שגידולי קרקע, ובשעת גמר מלאכה, ופועל אוכל בו – אף כל שגידולי קרקע פועל אוכל בו. יצא החולב והמחבץ והמגבן, שאין גידולי קרקע ואין פועל אוכל בו.
§ A baraita states another exposition with regard to the wording in the verse: “You should not muzzle the ox in its threshing.” The verse mentions threshing. Just as threshing is unique in that it applies to an item grown from the ground, and it is performed at the time of the completion of its work, and a laborer may eat from it, so too with regard to any item that is grown from the ground, a laborer may eat it. This serves to exclude one who milks a cow, one who makes butter from cream, and one who makes cheese from milk, as these are not grown from the ground, and therefore a laborer may not eat them.