Study Beitzah folio 3A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
גזרה שמא יעלה ויתלוש. היא גופה גזרה, ואנן ניקום ונגזור גזרה לגזרה? כולה חדא גזרה היא.
It is a decree lest one climb the tree and pick the fruit, as this would constitute the prohibited labor of harvesting. If so, the prohibition against eating fruit is itself due to a decree. And will we arise and issue a decree to prevent violation of another decree? Rav Yosef responded: That is not so; rather, when the rabbis issued the initial decree, they enacted the prohibitions against both fruit that fall and a laid egg, as all the prohibitions are components of one decree. In other words, the similar cases of the fruit and the egg were both included in the original decree.
רבי יצחק אמר: גזרה משום משקין שזבו.
R' Yitzḥak said a different reason: An egg that was laid on a Festival is prohibited as a decree due to liquids that seeped from the fruit (Eiruvin 39b), which is prohibited on that day. The legal status of an egg that was laid on a Festival is like that of liquids that seeped from a fruit on a Festival.
אמר ליה אביי: משקין שזבו טעמא מאי — גזרה שמא יסחוט, היא גופה גזרה, ואנן ניקום ונגזור גזרה לגזרה? כולה חדא גזרה היא.
Abaye said to him: With regard to liquid that seeped from fruit, what is the reason that the rabbis prohibited it? It is a decree lest one purposely squeeze the fruit, and thereby perform the prohibited labor of threshing. However, the prohibition against consuming this juice is itself a rabbinic decree. And will we arise and issue a decree to prevent violation of another decree? R' Yitzḥak replied: All the prohibitions are components of one decree. When the rabbis prohibited this juice, they banned the eating of an egg laid on a Festival for the same reason, as the actions are similar.