Study Pesachim folio 105B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
קידוש היום, מפני שקידוש היום קודם לכבוד יום (וכבוד לילה). ואם איתא — לישבקיה עד למחר, וליעביד ביה תרתי! אמר ליה: חביבה מצוה בשעתה.
the sanctification of the day, i.e., kiddush at night, at the beginning of Shabbat, because the sanctification of the day takes precedence over the honor of the day and the honor of the night. And if it is so, that one who fails to recite kiddush at night may do so at any time during the day, let him leave over the cup of wine until the following day and use it for two mitzvot, as he can recite kiddush during the day and simultaneously honor the Shabbat day by drinking wine. Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said to him: A mitzva is beloved in its proper time.
ומי אמרינן חביבה מצוה בשעתה? והא תניא: הנכנס לביתו במוצאי שבת מברך על היין ועל המאור ועל הבשמים, ואחר כך אומר הבדלה על הכוס. ואם אין לו אלא כוס אחד — מניחו עד לאחר המזון ומשלשלן כולן לאחריו, ולא אמרינן חביבה מצוה בשעתה!
Ravina objected to this answer: And do we say that a mitzva is beloved in its proper time? But wasn’t it taught in a baraita: One who enters his home at the conclusion of Shabbat recites the blessing over the wine, and then over the light, and then over the spices, and recites havdala after that over the cup of wine. And if he has only one cup of wine, he leaves it for after he eats his food, and uses it for Grace after Meals, and arranges all of the other blessings together after that. This baraita indicates that we do not say that a mitzva is beloved in its proper time, as one does not have to recite havdala immediately, i.e., before partaking of his meal.
אמר ליה: אנא לא חכימאה אנא, ולא חוזאה אנא, ולא יחידאה אנא, אלא גמרנא וסדרנא אנא, וכן מורין בבי מדרשא כוותי. שאני לן בין עיולי יומא לאפוקי יומא: עיולי יומא — כל כמה דמקדמינן ליה עדיף, ומחבבינן ליה. אפוקי יומא — מאחרינן ליה, כי היכי דלא ליהוי עלן כטונא.
He said to him: I am neither a scholar, nor a speculator, nor an important individual; rather, I teach and systematically arrange halakhic rulings, and the scholars instruct the students in the study hall in accordance with my opinion. I maintain that there is a difference for us between the arrival of the day of Shabbat and the departure of the day. With regard to the arrival of the day, the sooner we welcome the day by reciting kiddush the better, and we thereby express how beloved it is to us. With regard to the conclusion of the day, we delay it so that Shabbat will not appear to be like a burden to us.