One may not extract fire (on yom tov) [this being "molid" ("creating"), which is similar to working, the fire being created on yom tov], neither from wood (i.e., by rubbing two pieces of wood together), nor from stones, nor from earth [There is a certain type of earth which emits sparks when dug from its source], nor from water. [Water is put into a vessel of white glass and placed in the sun when it is very hot. The glass becomes red hot, flax is brought and touched to the glass, and it burns.] And re'afim [hollowed earthen tiles used for covering roofs] may not be heated [in fire] for roasting (food) in them. [This, only with new tiles, for he "fashions" them by this heating, the fire glazing and hardening them.] R. Eliezer said further [Because he ruled leniently in respect to muktzeh (4:6) and does so again, "further" is stated]: A man stands over the muktzeh (the place where fruit is spread for drying), the fruit requiring hazmanah (prior designation for use on Shabbath) and hazmanah availing it] on Sabbath eve in the sabbatical year, [when the tithe does not obtain and the figs lack only hazmanah. The same applies to what is tithed, on the other (non-shemitah) years, but the tanna speaks of the ordinary instance, muktzeh, ordinarily, not having been tithed. For dried figs and raisins are generally "muktzeh," and they are not tithed until completely processed], and he says: "From here I shall take for tomorrow," [this sufficing, breirah (retroactive designation) obtaining.] The sages say: (This does not avail) until he indicates [by sign] "from here and from here," [breirah not obtaining. The halachah is in accordance with the sages.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Beitzah
אין מוציאין את האור – because it is like “giving birth” and similar to [prohibited] work, for one creates this fire on the Festival day.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Beitzah
Introduction
The first section of this mishnah teaches that it is forbidden to produce new fire on Yom Tov. This is related to the prohibition of “muktzeh” which was the topic of yesterday’s mishnah. The second half of the mishnah continues to deal with the laws of muktzeh.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Beitzah
מן העפר – there is ground that when one digs it up, one produces fire from the place of its digging.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Beitzah
One may not produce fire either from wood, or from stones, or from dirt, or from water (. While one is allowed to use fire on Shabbat, one is not allowed to create a new fire by “bringing it out” of a substance such as wood (rubbing sticks together) or from stones (striking a stone against another) or dirt (I don’t really know how this was done) or from water, which is the mishnah’s word for gas. We should remember that today creating new fire is exceedingly easy one just flicks a lighter or strikes a match. In ancient times starting a new fire would have been difficult. Most fire was probably just passed from one existing fire to another. The rabbis prohibited creating a new fire because it didn’t exist before Yom Tov began, much as they forbid the egg that was laid on Yom Tov in the first mishnah of this tractate.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Beitzah
ולא מן המים – one puts water in a white glass utensil and places it in the sun and when the sun is very hot and the glass produces a flame, and brings scraps/chips and they reach the glass and it burns.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Beitzah
Nor may one make tiles red-hot in order to roast on them. It is also forbidden to heat up tiles to cook on them because by heating them up he is forging them. This is considered like completing the making of a vessel which is forbidden on Yom Tov.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Beitzah
רעפים – a hollowed out earthenware utensil in its middle when they cover with them the gardens.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Beitzah
Rabbi Eliezer further said: A man may stand near his “muktzeh” on the eve of Shabbat in the sabbatical year and say: “From here I will eat tomorrow.” But the sages say: [This doesn’t work] unless he marks it out and says, “From here to there.” These words of Rabbi Eliezer are a continuation of his words above in mishnah six, which dealt with muktzeh. The word “muktzeh” here refers, according to its accepted interpretation, to a place where a person has set his fruit to dry out (dates, figs and grapes). In order for these fruits to be available for use on Yom Tov, in other words in order for the things in the “muktzeh” to not be “muktzeh”, one must designate them for use before Yom Tov. Furthermore, this can only happen on the Sabbatical year during which one doesn’t have to separate tithes. During the other years because the fruit in the muktzeh has not generally been tithed, and it is forbidden to tithe on Yom Tov, one cannot eat them on Yom Tov even if he had designated them for use. He could only eat them if they had already been tithed. The mishnah now brings a debate concerning how one designates drying fruit for use. According to Rabbi Eliezer all one needs to do is say “From here I will eat.” The rabbis are stricter and rule that he must point specifically to the area of fruit from which he will eat. Just as Rabbi Eliezer was more lenient in mishnah six, so too he is more lenient than the other sages here.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Beitzah
אין מלבנין – with a flame.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Beitzah
את הרעפים – and specifically with new flints because they are similar to a think that is burned, and they are glazed and strengthened by the flame.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Beitzah
ועוד אמר ר"א – because the Tanna taught one for a leniency regarding that which is not permitted for use on the Sabbath/Festival day (i.e., Muktzeh) and afterwards he taught another thing, and it says, “and furthermore.”
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Bartenura on Mishnah Beitzah
עומד אדם על המוקצה – that requires designation of an object for use [on the coming Holy Day], and the designation is beneficial for it.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Beitzah
ערב שבת בשביעית – when the tithe does not apply on it, and is not missing anything other than a designation. But the same law applies by that which is tithed in and in the rest of the years of the seven-year cycle. But he took something that is usual, for something merely set aside is not tithed, for dried figs and raisins are merely things that are stored away and it is not customary to tithe them prior to the completion of the work.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Beitzah
מכאן אני נוטל למחר – and is enough with these when there is choice.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Beitzah
עד שירשום – with a sign/symbol, for there is no choice. But the Halakha is according to the Sages.
