Pesachim 68B

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Text Excerpt

והקטר חלביו וכו׳. תניא אמר רבי שמעון: בא וראה כמה חביבה מצוה בשעתה, שהרי הקטר חלבים ואברים ופדרים כשרים כל הלילה, ואין ממתינים להם עד שתחשך.

We learned in the Mishnah that when the eve of Passover occurs on Shabbat, burning the fats of the Paschal lamb overrides Shabbat. The Talmud notes that it was taught in the Tosefta: R' Shimon said: Come and see how dear is a mitzva performed in its proper time. For burning the fats and limbs and inner fats is valid all night and it would have been possible to wait until the conclusion of Shabbat and burn them at night, but nonetheless we do not wait with them until nightfall; rather, we burn them immediately, even on Shabbat.

הרכבתו והבאתו וכו׳. ורמינהו: חותכין יבלת במקדש, אבל לא במדינה. ואם בכלי ⁠— כאן וכאן אסור.

The Mishnah also taught that carrying the Paschal lamb through a public domain, bringing it from outside the Shabbat limit and cutting off its wart do not override Shabbat. The Talmud raises a contradiction from another Mishnah in tractate Eiruvin, which teaches: One may cut off a wart by hand on Shabbat in the Temple but not in the rest of the country outside the Temple. And if the wart is to be removed with an instrument, it is forbidden both here, in the Temple, and there, outside the Temple. From here we see that in the Temple cutting off a wart, at least by hand, is permitted.

רבי אלעזר ורבי יוסי בר חנינא, חד אמר: אידי ואידי ביד; הא בלחה, הא ביבשה. וחד אמר: אידי ואידי בלחה, ולא קשיא: הא ביד, הא בכלי.

Two amora’im, R' Elazar and R' Yosei bar Ḥanina, disagreed about how to resolve this contradiction. One of them said: Both this Mishnah in Pesaḥim and that Mishnah in Eiruvin speak of cutting off the wart by hand. This Mishnah that forbids cutting it off refers to a moist wart, which is considered like the flesh of the animal. It is therefore prohibited by rabbinic decree to cut off the wart; and since it could have been removed before Shabbat, the decree applies even in the Temple, where rabbinic decrees are generally not applicable. That Mishnah that permits cutting it off refers to a dry wart, which breaks apart by itself, and so there is no prohibition even by rabbinic decree to cut it off. And the other one said: Both this Mishnah and that Mishnah speak of cutting off a moist wart, and it is not difficult. This Mishnah that says it is permitted talks about removing the wart by hand, which is prohibited only by a rabbinic decree that was not applied to the Temple; whereas that Mishnah that says it is prohibited talks about removing the wart with an instrument, which is prohibited by Torah law and forbidden everywhere.

Text data via Sefaria: William Davidson Edition - English and William Davidson Edition - Vocalized Aramaic, CC-BY-NC; edition provenance: Koren. Display terminology has been modernized for readability.