Il legno (per accendere) non viene tagliato (su yom tov) da travi [per costruzione, disposte sul terreno per impedire che si pieghino], né da una trave che si è rotta su yom tov. [Anche se adesso è adatto all'accensione, non lo era prima di yom tov.] E non si può tagliare: né con un'ascia [La nostra Mishnah è difettosa. Fu insegnato così: ... "ma si può tagliare la legna da una trave spezzata prima di yom tov. E quando tagliano, non tagliano né con un'ascia"] né con una sega, [che è uno strumento da operaio], né con una falce [anche questo è uno strumento da operaio e (nell'usarlo) dà l'impressione di voler eseguire il lavoro], ma [tagliano] con un hack, [un hack da macellaio, che non è uno strumento da operaio . Alcuni hanno due teste, una larga, chiamate "femmina"; l'altro, stretto, chiamato "maschio". E si può tagliare solo con la testa maschile.] Una casa piena di frutti—Se fosse chiuso e aperto, si potrebbe estrarre (frutti) attraverso l'apertura. [E non diciamo che sono muktzeh a causa del proibizionismo, essendo vietato aprirlo su yom tov, in modo che la sua mente non sia su di loro. Perché la "casa" della nostra Mishnah non è una costruita con catrame e calce, ma una disposizione di mattoni, uno sopra l'altro, senza catrame. In modo che, non essendoci alcun divieto della Torah di aprirlo, i frutti non sono muktzeh—proprio come diciamo per quanto riguarda il tevel (prodotto non abbinato), che non è muktzeh; poiché se lo trasgredisce e lo modifica (cioè la decima) (su yom tov), viene modificato.] R. Meir dice: Potrebbe persino aprirlo per cominciare e prendere. [Dal momento che non c'è catrame, ma solo mattoni accatastati l'uno sull'altro, questo non è soter ("abbattimento"), ed è consentito aprirlo ab initio. L'halachah non è conforme a R. Meir.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Beitzah
אין מבקעין עצים מן הקורות – that are set up in the Land, in order that they do not curve, and stand for building.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Beitzah
Introduction
The first topic of this mishnah is chopping wood to make firewood on Yom Tov. The second topic is opening up a sealed storage room to take out produce. Both of these topics touch at least indirectly upon the subject of muktzeh.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Beitzah
ולא מן הקורה שנשברה ביו"ט – and even though that now they exist for burning, at eventide, they don’t exist for this.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Beitzah
One may not chop up wood, neither from beams nor from a beam which was broken on Yom Tov. This first section is concerned with chopping wood from a beam that was not designated for use as firewood before Yom Tov began. One may not chop up a beam that was meant to be used in building because it is muktzeh before Yom Tov there was no intention to use it for fire. Even if the beam breaks on Yom Tov and is now only good for lighting fires, he can’t chop it up into firewood because when Yom Tov began it was muktzeh. Only if it was broken before Yom Tov can he chop it up.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Beitzah
ואין מבקעין לא בקרדום – Our Mishnah is deficient and should be read as follows, but they chop firewood from the beam that was broken on the eve of the Festival day, and when they chop it, they should not do so with an ax.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Beitzah
And one may not chop with an axe or with a saw or with a sickle but only with a [butcher's] chopper. This section refers to wood that one is allowed to chop up on Yom Tov. Even though it is permitted to do so, one shouldn’t do so in a normal fashion because this looks too much like “business as usual.” One shouldn’t use the normal instruments but rather a butcher’s knife, one usually used for cutting bones and meat. This requirement will probably make people prefer to chop up their wood before Yom Tov begins chopping wood with a butcher’s knife won’t make the butcher very happy and it’s not a good idea to tick off people who own big knives.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Beitzah
ולא במגרה – a sort of long knife filled with notches and cuts with it thick wood, for it is the utensil of an artisan.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Beitzah
A [closed] room full of produce which was burst open [on Yom Tov] he may take [produce] out through the breach. Rabbi Meir says: he may make a hole at the outset and bring out [the produce]. This section refers to a storage room that has been closed off by a row of bricks that have not been cemented together. According to the first opinion, if some of the bricks should fall away he may go into the room through the opening and take out the produce and use it on Yom Tov. Since there was no cement sealing the bricks together, the produce is not considered muktzeh. However, according to this opinion, he may not himself remove the bricks because this is too close to “tearing down” a building, a prohibited labor on Shabbat and Yom Tov. Concerning this last ruling, Rabbi Meir disagrees. Since the bricks were not cemented together, he may even take them down and create a new opening on Yom Tov.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Beitzah
מגל – this also is the tool of an artisan, and appears like [one] wanting to do work.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Beitzah
אלא בקופיץ – a mere hatchet (i.e., curved cutting tool) is a knife of butchers and is not the utensil of an artisan. And there are among them those which have two heads, one head is wide and is called the broadside of a double tool (see Talmud Betzah 31b), and the other head is narrow and is called the thin and pointed side of a double tool, and we don’t chop with it other than where its head is narrow and is the thin and pointed side of the double tool.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Beitzah
ונוטל ממקום הפחת – and we don’t say that they are in consequence of a ritual prohibition, for he is not able to make a breach/hollow it out on Yom Tov and his mind is upon them, for the hut/house that is taught In our Mishnah speaks of that which is not built with plaster and lime, but is an arrangement of stones one on top of another without plaster, and not that its breach is not forbidden according to the Torah, therefore they are not forbidden for use or handling [on Shabbat and Festivals], and since we have said regarding eatables forbidden pending the separation of sacred gifts are not forbidden for use and handing and if he transgressed and repaired it, it is made legally fit by giving priestly dues.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Beitzah
אף פוחת לכתחלה – for since there is no plaster there but only bricks stacked on top of the other, he does not tear them down and iit is permitted to make a breach ab initio. But the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Meir.
