Q&A: An Egg Laid on a Festival Day
An Egg Laid on a Festival Day
Question
a0In the Talmud it is brought that if we are dealing with a hen kept for eating, the egg is considered food that separated off; but if we are dealing with a hen kept for laying eggs, the egg is considered something newly created. My question is: what is the distinction? Either it is newly created in both situations, or it is food that separated off.
Answer
If the hen is kept for eating, then all of it is food, and the egg is seen as part of it and not as something new. Therefore it is food that separated off. But a hen kept for laying eggs is not itself considered food, and then the egg that came from it is new food that has come into being.
Discussion on Answer
I don’t understand the question. I explained the difference. Now you’re pointing out that there is another preliminary assumption in the Talmud that even though the hen is food, the egg is still considered something newly created. I explained the view that distinguishes between different kinds of hens, because that’s what you asked about. So you’re bringing me a different view (or really a preliminary assumption) that does not distinguish. So what? In that preliminary assumption, even something that comes from food can still be considered newly created.
Why doesn’t the Talmud explain the Mishnah as dealing with a hen kept for eating: according to Beit Hillel its egg is something newly created, and according to Beit Shammai its egg is food that separated off?
There is a development in the Talmudic discussion. Maybe for the same reason that the preliminary assumption regarding Rabbi Shimon is rejected.
According to Rabbi Shimon, who is lenient regarding muktzeh, a hen kept for laying eggs is considered like food, and even so is there a preliminary assumption in the Talmud that its egg is something newly created?