Study Shabbat folio 25A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
עשה. והוה ליה יום טוב עשה ולא תעשה — ואין עשה דוחה את לא תעשה ועשה.
The latter term is a positive mitzva to rest. And, if so, observance of a Festival is a mitzva that was commanded with both a positive mitzva to rest and a prohibition: “You should do no manner of servile work” (Leviticus 23:8). And there is a principle that a positive mitzva, e.g., burning consecrated items whose time has expired, does not override a mitzva that was commanded with both a prohibition and a positive mitzva, e.g., observance of the Festival.
ביום טוב הוא דאסיר, הא בחול — שפיר דמי: מאי טעמא? אמר רב: כשם שמצוה לשרוף הקדשים שנטמאו, כך מצוה לשרוף את התרומה שנטמאת. ואמרה תורה: בשעת ביעורה תיהני ממנה. היכן אמרה תורה? מדרב נחמן, דאמר רב נחמן אמר רבה בר אבוה, אמר קרא: ״ואני הנה נתתי לך את משמרת תרומותי״ — בשתי תרומות הכתוב מדבר, אחת תרומה טהורה ואחת תרומה טמאה. ואמר רחמנא: ״לך״ — שלך תהא, להסיקה תחת תבשילך.
By inference, the conclusion is that, specifically on a Festival, lighting with burnt oil is prohibited. During the week one may well do so. The Talmud asks: What is the reason for this distinction? It would be reasonable to say that it is prohibited to derive any benefit from teruma that became ritually impure. Rav said: Just as there is a mitzva to burn consecrated items that became ritually impure, so too, there is a mitzva to burn teruma that became ritually impure, and the Torah said: While it is being destroyed, derive benefit from it. The Talmud asks: Where did the Torah say this? Where is there an allusion to this in the Bible? The Talmud answers: It can be derived from the statement of Rav Naḥman, as Rav Naḥman said that Rabba bar Avuh said: The verse said: “And I, behold, I have given you the charge of My terumot” (Numbers 18:8). From the amplification of the plural: My terumot, it is derived that the verse is speaking of two terumot, one teruma that is ritually pure and one teruma that is ritually impure. And God said: “I have given you,” i.e., it should be yours, and you may derive benefit from it. Since there is a stringent prohibition against eating it, the benefit permitted is to burn it beneath your cooked dish. Similar forms of benefit may also be derived from burning teruma.