Tanu Rabbanan (The Rabbis taught): hayu lefanav minei ochalim (There were before him kinds of foods). So you have this famous Beraita (early rabbinic teaching): hayu lefanav minei ochalim, ochalim (foods), borer (selecting) ve’ochel (and eats), borer u-maniach (sets aside), velo yivror (and he should not select), and ve’im berer, chayav chatat (if he selected, he is liable for a sin-offering). So, open up, Rabotai (my teachers). You have the Gemara; we have a few Gemarot available. It’s very important. Tosafot.
Mah zeh (what is this) hayu lefanav minei ochalim? How many ochalim do you have in front of you in this Beraita? What is it? It’s ochel mitoch psolet (food from refuse)—there is a psolet there too, mistama (presumably), because to get—the Beraita says, I don’t know, it’s a food with a psolet, mistama. Hayu lefanav minei ochalim: the Beraita says minei ochalim, meaning foods. It’s not telling you what type of foods. Hayu lefanav minei ochalim. No, it could be foods; it’s just giving you the genre. Hayu lefanav minei ochalim, and that ochel has a psolet.
Okay, so then borer u-maniach, borer ve’ochel, ve’im berer, chayav chatat—all that stuff over there. Look at the Tosafot. Tosafot on ayin-daled (seventy-four) comes along and says in the first line: hayu lefanav shenei minei ochalim (two kinds of foods) garsinan (we read). Tosafot adds the words shenei minei ochalim. What is he benefiting from that? Here’s the source of the relative psolet. If you learn the Beraita as hayu lefanav minei ochalim, it says nothing about two foods: you have food in front of you, and the food has a psolet. So it’s a real psolet.
“No, it has to be foods.” That’s another question. If you learn like Tosafot, you mean? “Yes.” If you learn like Tosafot, daf ayin-daled. Mah zeh—what’s the difference? Hayu lefanav shenei minei ochalim: I have two foods in front of me. That’s all I have in front of me. Because hayu lefanav minei ochalim—what is minei ochalim? “No, it doesn’t say two foods! I have food in front of me, minei ochalim. I have nuts.” Yeah, but it doesn’t tell you what the psolet is. Hayu lefanav minei ochalim: I have fisto, and I have another item with shells on it, and filberts with shells on them, and cashews with the shells on them.
“You’re not following me.” Hayu lefanav minei ochalim—what’s the psolet? “I’m answering you! The psolet is the—the psolet, whatever the psolet is.” I’ll say it again. Exactly! Food can be the psolet. The food that you don’t like could be the psolet. That’s the big chidush (novel insight) of the Tosafot here: that one adjustment of the girsa, hayu lefanav she… Because that’s a real psolet. What does psolet mean, by the way? “The shell.” Chazak uvaruch. Could you eat the shell? But if I have two foods, peas and carrots, can I eat the peas? Can I eat the carrots? But if I don’t like the carrots, it’ll be called psolet according to Tosafot. That’s a—what do you mean? You’ve got to fall out of your chair when you hear that chidush. It’s a phenomenal chidush. Okay, you’re right, but he’s building it from the Beraita.
Vechen peresh (and so explained) Rabbenu Chananel (Rabbenu Chananel): “de-ve’ochel mitoch ochel shaycha berirah (selection), she-borer oto she-eino chafetz (wishes) le’echol mitoch oto she-rotzeh le’echol, de-oto she-eino chafetz bo chashiv psolet legabei (with respect to) oto she-chafetz le’echol.” Vechen mashma bi-Yerushalmi (in the Jerusalem Talmud), de-garas borer ochlin mitoch ochlin, bifeirush! You hear that? Shenei minei ochalim, ochlin mitoch ochlin. So this is the source here of the relative psolet.
Okay? Open up the Rambam, Rabotai. We have a Rambam in front of us, Baruch Hashem. HaRambam is in Perek Chet (chapter eight) of Hilchot Shabbat (Laws of Shabbat), Halachah Yod-Bet (law twelve). Let’s start with Yod-Bet. Hacham Rambam: “ha-borer ochel mitoch psolet, o she-hayu lefanav shenei minei ochalin, u-virer min mi-min acher, be-nafah u-vi-kvarah chayav, be-kanon u-ve-tamchui patur, ve-im birer be-yado le’echol le’altar (immediately) mutar.” That’s the case of ochel mitoch psolet.
Yod-Gimel: “ve-ha-borer psolet mitoch ha-ochel afilu be-yado achat chayav, ve-ha-borer turmosin—turmos is like the bean that they used to eat—mitoch ha-psolet shelahen chayav, mipnei she-ha-psolet shelahem memateket otan keshe-yishleku otan imahen, ve-nimtza ke-varer psolet mitoch ochel ve-chayav.” Okay, that’s the case of a turmos: borer turmosim mitoch ha-psolet shelahem—you’re taking the turmos from the psolet—chayav mipnei she-ha-psolet shelahem memateket, which means the psolet will be considered like an ochel. So if you take the turmos out of the psolet, you’re chayav because the psolet sweetens it. The psolet is somehow good in that case, because when you cook it, it sweetens. Okay, it’s a chidush by turmosin.
We continue: “ha-borer ochel mitoch psolet be-yado le-haniach, afilu levo bayom, na’aseh ke-varer le-otzar (for storage) ve-chayav. Hayu lefanav shenei minei ochalin me’oravin—oh! What does it say? Shenei minei ochalin! It’s our case!—me’oravin, borer echad me-echad u-maniach le’echol miyad, ve-im birer ve-hiniach le’achar zman, afilu levo bayom, kegon she-birer be-shacharit le’echol bein ha-arbayim, chayav.”
What does HaRambam say here? Hayu lefanav shenei minei ochalin me’oravin—that’s clear, shenei minei ochalin me’oravin—borer echad me-echad. Mah zeh echad me-echad? Which one? “No, he didn’t say that! He didn’t say that!” All right, look here. He didn’t say that! “But that’s what Tosafot said!” It’s your choice. “No, but then you’re falling into taking out psolet.” That’s what Tosafot said. What, are you bringing Tosafot into the Rambam? “But that’s because it’s a real psolet.” Yeah, it sounds like he changed the rule a little bit. He changed the rule on us! Chachamim, if you are a lawyer and you’re writing a document over there, you’ve got to write clearly here: hayu lefanav shenei minei ochalim me’oravim. It should say, borer et ha-echad she-rotzeh le’echol u-maniach et ha-zeh. Mah zeh borer echad me-echad? He just gave you the guidelines: you can take out the good from the bad, so of course it’s the good one that you want to take out.
“I don’t see it like that. I think he’s changing the rules.” It sounds like he’s saying you can select good from bad; you just can’t do it for otzar. But you can’t leave it for later—that’s what it sounds like. I mean, borer echad me-echad is somewhat shayach borer. That’s what it sounds like to me.
So he comes along and starts the analysis. We’re reading Rambam again. “Ha-borer ochel mitoch psolet, o she-hayu lefanav shenei minei ochalin, u-virer min mi-min acher, ve-chulei, ve-im birer be-yado le’echol le’altar mutar. Ha-borer ochel mitoch psolet be-yado le-haniach”—that’s the next halachah—“afilu levo bayom na’aseh ke-varer le-otzar ve-chayav.” And in the continuation it says: “hayu lefanav shenei minei ochalin me’oravin, borer echad me-ha-acher u-maniach le’echol miyad, ve-im—echad me-echad.” He has echad me-ha-acher over there. Okay, is it echad me-echad in our text? Fine, echad me-ha-acher or me-echad me-echad, fine. “U-maniach le’echol miyad. Ve-im birer ve-hiniach le’achar zman”—here’s also a chidush, by the way—“ve-im birer ve-hiniach le’achar zman, afilu levo bayom, kegon she-birer be-shacharit le’echol bein ha-arbayim, chayav.”
So he comes along and says that even with shenei minei ochalin, you’re going to be chayav chatat if you didn’t do it le’altar. Okay, well, I guess if you hold that there’s borer by shenei minei ochalin, the same rules apply.
Ve-dayek (and he infers) the Beit Yosef: Beit Yosef made a distinction between the Rambam’s law of berirat ochel psolet and the law of berirat ochel me-ochel. It’s true; you cannot deny that. HaRambam put them in different halachot. If ochel and ochel is also ochel and psolet, then put them all together. Why does HaRambam give you the classic case of ochel mitoch psolet in Halachah Yod-Bet, and the relative case in Yod-Gimel? If ochel mitoch psolet is also ochel and ochel, just put them together! So the Beit Yosef always makes a diyuk: why did HaRambam separate them?
“De-ve-din berirat ochel mitoch psolet katav she-im birer le-haniach chayav, ve-ilu be-din berirat ochel mitoch psolet katav she-hiniach le’achar zman, kegon she-birer shacharit le’echol bein ha-arbayim.” Ah, that’s a good diyuk, by the way. The Beit Yosef makes a diyuk. In Halachah Yod-Bet, what was le-haniach? The last part: “ve-im birer, ha-borer ochel mitoch psolet, o she-hayu lefanav shenei minei ochalim, u-virer mi-zeh mi-zeh, echad mi-zeh mi-zeh kevar hayah chayav.” Next, Yod-Gimel: “ha-borer psolet mitoch ochel.” Okay, afilu be-yado chayav. Okay, leave the turmosim.
“Ve-ha-borer ochel mitoch psolet be-yado le-haniach”—he doesn’t tell you how long is le-haniach. You did ochel mitoch psolet le-haniach. “Afilu levo bayom.” Afilu levo bayom. Okay, afilu levo bayom na’aseh ke-varer le-hotza’ah. When it comes to shenei minei ochalim: “ve-im birer ve-hiniach le’achar zman, afilu”—for example, if he selected in the morning to eat in the afternoon. What is he throwing—why, when it came to shenei minei ochalim, did he start giving you the example of the morning and the afternoon? When it came to regular ochel mitoch psolet, HaRambam said levo bayom. Whatever levo bayom is.
That’s clearly something interesting, a diyuk. HaRambam should have said: “ha-borer ochel mitoch psolet levo bayom chayav, ve-chen shenei minei ochalim, u-vorer one of them levo bayom gam ken chayav.” What is levo bayom? What is levo bayom? Afilu mi-shacharit le-fein ha-arbayim, because levo bayom is a general rule. When it came to borer ochel mitoch psolet, a real psolet, he just said levo bayom. I don’t know what levo bayom is. When it came to ochel mitoch ochel, then he started to say: “she-birer, kegon she-birer be-shacharit le’echol bein ha-arbayim.” So the Beit Yosef is medayek: why, when it came to that… Which means, “ve-ilu bi-vrirat ochel me-ochel shari gam be-ofen she-eino le’altar mamash.” That’s right! That’s a big chidush.
Let’s say ochel mitoch ochel. I didn’t do it from shacharit to bein ha-arbayim. I did it half an hour before lunch. I’m having lunch, right? And I was borer the foods. I separated the foods from the foods: “Oh, I don’t want the carrots.” Put the carrots over here. I put the whatever, ochel ochel; I separated it half an hour before lunch. According to HaRambam, it’s mutar. Whereas, if I was borer ochel from a psolet, it’s got to be le’altar. You understand what we’re saying here, Rabotai?
“Looks like Yod-Bet is talking about two different foods, two different items, and Yod-Gimel is talking about one item that has two things mixed into it.” Therefore? “Therefore, there’s a difference between if you have peas and carrots and if you have, let’s say, two items mixed together, where you take out the psolet.” What are the two items, peas and carrots? “No, not peas and carrots. Something that’s more mixed together, one food that’s maybe mixed together. I don’t know if you consider spaghetti and meatballs or something like that that is mixed.” So it says… Where do you see that HaRambam switched from spaghetti and meatballs to peas and carrots? “No, because it says mitoch ha-ochel, one ochel.” What’s psolet there? What does psolet mean? “The thing you don’t want.” Shells! Psolet is one word! Psolet means psolet, the refuse, the junk!
Now, shenei minei… Yod-Bet says shenei minei ochalim… How many—where are you, in Yod-Bet or Yod-Gimel? “So shenei minei… Anytime you see the word psolet, psolet means psolet.” Fine, but Yod-Bet says shenei minei ochalim, and then Yod-Gimel says psolet mitoch ha-ochel, but there’s one food there instead of two in Yod-Bet. Tell me the end game. Therefore, what do you want to say? What’s your chidush? “There’s a difference between the case in Yod-Bet and in Yod-Gimel.” I’m not arguing with you; I’ll definitely tell you there’s a difference. In Yod-Gimel, borer psolet mitoch ha-ochel is always going to be chayav. I don’t have a problem with that part. That’s the easiest part of this halachah, the beginning of Gimel. I don’t know this turmos—what he’s mixing me up with. Go to the next one: ha-borer ochel mitoch psolet is also the easiest halachah, because ochel mitoch psolet be-yado should be okay, but le-haniacho is a problem.
Now what is le-haniacho? Set aside, not now. “No, no, le-haniacho means le-haniacho, not now. Set it aside, set it aside. I mean, I’m having lunch in half an hour. That’s le-haniacho.” Anything that’s not le’altar is le-haniacho. “Later, like it means it’s from shacharit, not—” Is that what you saw in these words? Why are you giving me a hard time today? When you read a Rambam over there, it says: “le-haniacho afilu levo bayom na’aseh ke-varer le-otzar ve-chayav.” Especially when, in Halachah Alef, he came along and told me: “ve-im birer be-yado le’echol le’altar mutar.” So I know what mutar is. Mutar is le’altar. Bi-deyuk. So anything that’s not le’altar is chayav. Therefore, if I went before lunch, half an hour before lunch, and I was borer, and I was sitting in the den waiting for lunch for half an hour, it’s not le’altar.
Then he comes along and says: “hayu lefanav shenei minei ochalin me’oravin”—two foods; now he comes to the relative psolet—“borer echad me-echad,” which we’re assuming means the good from the bad, “u-maniach le’echol miyad.” Okay, u-maniach le’echol miyad. Good, le’echol miyad, and therefore anything that’s not miyad, chayav. Then he says: “ve-im birer ve-hiniach le’achar zman, kegon she-birer be-shacharit le’echol bein ha-arbayim.” Wait a minute, why did you give me such a window? A big window! Bi-deyuk! You just told me it has to be miyad, so anything more than miyad, you’re out. No, he tells me shacharit bein ha-arbayim. So this is the Beit Yosef’s diyuk, Rabotai.
So you’re saying when it’s actual psolet, then you have a very short window. That’s what it sounds like. When you have food from food, it sounds like you have a longer window. That’s the Beit Yosef’s diyuk in the Rambam, which is a nice diyuk. But he says: “ve-chatav sham Maran ha-Beit Yosef she-eino yode’a ta’am lechalek ba-zeh.” Yeah, once you tell me that ochel and ochel is a psolet, then it’s borer. Borer is borer is borer. If you don’t subscribe to this relative psolet—okay, it’s not borer—then there are no rules. Then there’s no miyad, there’s no be-yad, there’s nothing, there’s no le’achar zman.
So open up Shulchan Aruch, Rabotai. Open up Shulchan Aruch, Halachah Bet. That’s where we’re up to: Shin-Yod-Tet, Halachah Bet and Gimel. Bet, Gimel. I got it here. No, no, I got it here. Look at that, yishtabach shemo. You gave me a good book. I know how to pick them.