Sunday, November 19, 2006

Beitza 23b - Rashi's opinion of ochel nefesh

Rashi at the beginning of the perek 23b holds that ochel nefesh is only a heter for melachos that could not have been done before yom tov. Rashi indicates this way in 2 other places (12b d.h. mahu, 14b d.h. avul). Tosafos 3a already rejects this approach as does the rosh and ran bec. only by machshirin do we make this distinction, but by ochel nefesh there is no difference. Furthermore, Rashi on 12a is extremely liberal when it comes to 'mitoch' even for no need, yet he will be machmir for actual ochel nefesh if it could have been done before!
R' Yaacov M'lisa (in a sefer called kehillas ya'acov printed with Toras Gittin) says that Rashi holds like the opinion of the Ramban (mentioned in m.b. 495:12) that any melacha that is generally done in advance is assur, but any melacha that is generally done for that day, even if you could have done it before is mutar. Whereas by machshirin we are only matir (acc. to R' Yehuda) if it is normally done for that day AND could not have been done before.

1 comment:

Yossie Schonkopf said...

there is a machlokes bach and beis yosef wether acc to rashi for no need at all it is foridden m'drobonon, if you hold it is then your wonder is not so wonderous, if you hold there isn't you might be forced to say like this pshat...