Beth Shammai dit: la maison est balayée [l'endroit où ils ont mangé est balayé de miettes], puis les mains sont lavées [pour la grâce. Car parfois le serveur est un ha'aretz et laisse sur des particules de nourriture de la taille d'une olive; et si vous dites que les mains sont lavées en premier, la nourriture sera gâtée. Car les eaux de cette dernière lessive couleront sur eux et les "souilleront".] Et Beth Hillel dit: Les mains sont lavées et ensuite la maison est balayée. [Beth Hillel soutient qu'il est interdit d'employer un serveur qui est un ha'aretz; et un serveur qui est un talmid chacham (un érudit de la Torah) ne laissera pas de particules de nourriture de la taille d'une olive, mais les enlèvera. Et si l'eau goutte sur des particules inférieures à la taille d'une olive, il n'y a pas lieu de s'inquiéter. Car de telles particules peuvent être vides pour être avec. La halakha dans ce cas est conforme à Beth Shammai, il est permis d'employer un serveur qui est un ha'aretz.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Berakhot
בית שמאי אומרים: מכבדין את הבית – A place where they ate [a meal], we put the room in order (i.e. clean it/sweep it} from the remnants of the food that became crumbled on it, and afterwards, we wash our hands with מים אחרונים/The Latter Waters, since there are times when the attendant is an עם ארץ/ignoramus (and someone not necessarily punctilious in the separation of tithe) and he leaves the crumbs of an olive’s bulk there, and if one says that one should wash one’s hands first, you might lose the foods from the “Latter Waters/מים אחרונים” that spray on them and become detestable. The School of Hillel holds that it is prohibited to use an attendant who is an ignoramus (of Jewish law, especially, the laws of ritual purity), since an attendant who is a Torah scholar would not leave crumbs of an olive’s bulk, but would remove them, and if the water ( מים האחרונים) sprays upon the crumbs, it is meaningless, since those crumbs do not add up to an olive’s bulk, it is permitted to get rid of them with one’s hand. But the Halakha is in accordance with the School of Shammai in that it is permissible to use an attendant who is an ignoramus.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Berakhot
Introduction Today’s mishnah contains a debate concerning cleaning up after the meal.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Berakhot
Bet Shammai says: [after the meal] they sweep the floor and then they wash their hands. But Bet Hillel says: they wash their hands and then they sweep the floor. According to Bet Shammai first they sweep the floor to gather up all the crumbs that might have fallen during the meal. Evidently these crumbs would be eaten. Food was quite scarce in those times and when we take into consideration how much work they had to put into making bread, it is no wonder that they didn’t want to waste anything, even a small amount of food. Only after sweeping up the crumbs would they wash their hands. This would prevent the crumbs from being ruined by the water. Bet Hillel holds that the first thing they should do is wash their hands so that they can bless and say Birkat Hamazon immediately. In the time of the mishnah it was considered mandatory to wash one’s hands before reciting Birkat Hamazon. Many Jews still observe this law on Shabbat and holidays. According to the Talmud the servant would pick up all the pieces of significant size (more than an olive’s worth) before they would wash their hands so that those pieces could be saved. It seems that to Bet Hillel it was important that they shouldn’t delay Birkat Hamazon any more than is absolutely necessary.
