Study Beitzah folio 9B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מתניתין דלא כי האי תנא, דתניא, אמר רבי שמעון בן אלעזר: מודים בית שמאי ובית הלל שמוליכין את הסולם משובך לשובך. לא נחלקו אלא להחזיר, שבית שמאי אומרים: אין מחזירין, ובית הלל אומרים: אף מחזירין.
§ With regard to the Mishnah itself, the Talmud comments: The Mishnah is not in accordance with the opinion of this tanna, as it is taught in a baraita: R' Shimon ben Elazar said that Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel agree that one may carry a ladder from one dovecote to another to take doves; they disagree only after one has finished at the second dovecote, whether it is permitted to replace the ladder to its original spot at the first dovecote, as Beit Shammai say: One may not replace the ladder, and Beit Hillel say: One may even replace it.
אמר רבי יהודה: במה דברים אמורים — בסולם של שובך, אבל בסולם של עליה — דברי הכל אסור. רבי דוסא אומר: מטהו מחלון לחלון. אחרים אומרים משום רבי דוסא: אף מדדין בו.
R' Yehuda said: In what case is this statement said? With regard to a dovecote ladder, which clearly serves the purpose of taking doves. However, in the case of an attic ladder, which has a variety of uses, everyone agrees that it is prohibited, as this will raise suspicions. R' Dosa says: One may tilt it from one window to another in the same dovecote. Aḥerim say in the name of R' Dosa: One may even shift the ladder from one place to another by shuffling its legs.
בני רבי חייא נפוק לקרייתא. כי אתו, אמר להו אבוהון: כלום מעשה בא לידכם? אמרו לו: סולם בא לידינו, והתרנוהו. אמר להם: צאו ואסרו מה שהתרתם.
The Talmud relates: The sons of R' Ḥiyya went out to the villages to attend to their business. When they came back, their father said to them: Did any incident requiring a ruling of halakha come to your notice? They said to him: The issue of carrying an attic ladder to a dovecote came to our notice, and we permitted it. R' Ḥiyya said to them: Go out and prohibit that which you permitted.