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Beitzah 7

7b

QUESTION: Rebbi Yosi ben Shaul says that if one checked the chicken's nest for eggs before Yom Tov and did not find any, and on the morning of Yom Tov one finds an egg in the nest right before dawn, the egg is Asur. The Gemara explains that Rebbi Yosi ben Shaul is referring to a case where there is no rooster in the vicinity, and thus the egg must have been formed from the heat of the ground ("Safna me'Ar'a") and was laid at night, on Yom Tov. The Gemara asks that if there is no rooster around, then even if one did *not* check the nest before Yom Tov, the egg should be Asur, because it may have been laid at night on Yom Tov! The Gemara answers that when he did not check the nest before Yom Tov, we assume that the egg was laid during the day before Yom Tov, and that is why it is Mutar.

Why, when in doubt, do we assume that the egg was laid before Yom Tov? Since the Gemara is discussing a case where there is no rooster in the vicinity, there is a possibility that the egg was laid at night on Yom Tov, and thus it should be a Safek when the egg was laid! As such, it should be Asur because of the Safek (since it is a Davar she'Yesh Lo Matirin)!

ANSWERS:

(a) TOSFOS (DH Ki Lo Badak) answers that most eggs are born during the day (even if they are Safna me'Ar'a), and therefore we do not have to take into consideration the small chance that it was laid at night, unless we know that the chicken coop was empty of eggs before Yom Tov. This is also what RASHI (DH Eima) writes, as well as other Rishonim.

This answer, though, is problematic, because we learned earlier (4a) that even though most of the eggs in a mixture are permitted, we prohibit the entire mixture because a "Davar she'Yesh Lo Matirin" is not Batel. Here, too, the egg should not be permitted just because most eggs are laid during the day!

The answer to this question is that the principle of "Davar she'Yesh Lo Matirin" only makes the items Asur when it is *known for certain* that at least one item in the group is Asur ("Ischazek Isura") and now a Safek has arisen which one it is; for example, it fell into a mixture with more Heter than Isur. However, if there is a "Rov" working to permit the item, and the item was never known to be certainly Asur (it was only a Safek), then it is Mutar and the principle of "Davar she'Yesh Lo Matirin" does not prohibit it. (RE'AH, RAN)

Alternatively, in this case it is not merely a chance "Rov" which tells us that the egg was laid during the day and thus should be Mutar. Rather, it is a naturally occurring process ("eggs are normally laid by day"). Such a pre- determined Rov may prove to us that the egg was born during the day.

(b) The RIF omits the Halachah of Rebbi Yosi ben Shaul, who says that when there is no rooster in the vicinity and one checked the nest before Yom Tov, the egg that is found there on Yom Tov morning is Asur. From the words of RABEINU YEHONASAN M'LUNIL it seems that he feels according to the Rif that even if one did *not* check the nest before Yom Tov there is still a Safek when the egg was laid, and it is Asur because of that Safek (not like Tosfos).

However, the Gemara states clearly that if one did not check the nest before Yom Tov, the egg is *Mutar*! How does the Rif explain the Gemara?

The Rif learns that this Gemara is in accordance with the opinion of Rav Papa (3b) who maintains that a Safek "Davar she'Yesh Lo Matirin" is *Mutar* in the case of a Safek d'Rabanan, in contrast to the opinion of Rav Ashi (4a). Since the Halachah follows the opinion of Rav Ashi regarding a Safek d'Rabanan which is a "Davar she'Yesh Lo Matirin" (and it is Asur), the egg in this case, too, will be Asur.

This also seems to be the opinion of the RAMBAM (as the TZELACH (7b) points out).