Study Yoma folio 79B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
הא כביצה — בעי סוכה. ואי סלקא דעתך כותבת הגסה שאמרו יתירה מכביצה, השתא שתי כותבות בלא גרעינן לא הוו כביצה, כותבת הגסה וגרעינתה מי הוי יתירה מכביצה?! אמר רבי ירמיה: אין, שתי כותבות בלא גרעינתן לא הוו כביצה, כותבת הגסה וגרעינתה הוי יתירה מכביצה. אמר רב פפא, היינו דאמרי אינשי: תרי קבי דתמרי חד קבא דקשייתא וסריח.
The Talmud clarifies: Food that has the volume of an egg-bulk is required to be eaten in a sukka. If it should enter your mind to say that the volume of the large date that they spoke of is larger than the volume of an egg-bulk, there is a contradiction. Now, comparing the two episodes, it seems that two dates without their pits are not the volume of an egg. If so, can the volume of a large date and its pit be greater than that of an egg-bulk? Rav Yirmeya said: Yes, although two dates without their pits are not equal to an egg-bulk, the volume of a large date and its pit are larger than an egg-bulk, since date pits are very large. Rav Pappa said: This explains the folk saying that people say: In two kav of dates there is one kav and more of pits, meaning that the volume of the pit is larger than that of the fruit itself.
רבא אמר: התם היינו טעמא משום דהוו להו פירי, ופירי לא בעו סוכה. מיתיבי, אמר רבי: כשהיינו לומדים תורה אצל רבי אלעזר בן שמוע הביאו לפנינו תאנים וענבים ואכלנום אכילת עראי חוץ לסוכה. אכילת עראי — אין, אכילת קבע — לא! אימא: אכלנום כאכילת עראי חוץ לסוכה.
Rava said: This entire line of questioning has no basis: There, in the incident of the sukka, this is the reasoning that the halakha permits eating the dates outside of the sukka, due to the fact that dates are fruit, and fruit need not be eaten in a sukka but may be eaten outside of a sukka. The Talmud raises an objection. R' Yehuda HaNasi said: When we would learn Torah with R' Elazar ben Shamua, they brought before us figs and grapes, and we ate them as a casual meal outside of the sukka. The Talmud analyzes this: This implies that in the case of a casual meal, yes, it may be eaten outside of a sukka; but a fixed meal may not be eaten outside of a sukka. Therefore, a meal consisting of fruit must be eaten in a sukka. The Talmud rejects this: That is the wrong inference. Instead, say we ate them as if they were a casual meal, which may be eaten outside of the sukka, meaning that eating fruit is always considered a snack.