And this Mishnah will talk about three different halachic (pertaining to Jewish law) opinions of Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah that were lenient, as opposed to the chachamim (sages), who were machmir, who were strict. The Mishnah says there are three different things that Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah allowed while the chachamim prohibited them.
Number one: His cow would go out on Shabbat into the public domain with a ribbon between its horns because he held that, even though the ribbon was for decoration and looking good, it was still considered a piece of clothing for an animal. Generally, a person is not allowed to have his animal violate any of the 39 melachot (prohibited labors). Carrying something would be hotza'ah (carrying something). The question becomes: Is it clothing? Wearing an item of clothing is not considered hotza'ah. But Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah allowed this cow to wear this ribbon because he said that type of ribbon is a type of clothing for a cow.
We should also mention that it wasn't really his cow. We're only calling it parato shel (his cow) Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, but it wasn't really his. It was actually one of his neighbors'. The fact that he never protested the animal going out into the public domain on Shabbat says that he shares some of the responsibility. Therefore, we're calling it his cow.
Number two: You're allowed to scratch the body of an animal with a metal comb on Yom Tov (festival day). The teeth of this type of comb were very sharp and fine, and they may cause the animal to bleed. This is something unintended, which, according to Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, is permitted because it doesn't happen automatically and isn't intentional.
Number three: He allows people to grind peppercorns in their specific grinder on Shabbat. According to Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah, this is no issue.
We'll now list why the chachamim argued on these three things. When it comes to the ribbon between the horns, the chachamim said it's not considered to be a piece of clothing. It's purely decorative. Therefore, you're not allowed to have your animal carry it outside.
Number two was the fine-toothed metal comb. According to the chachamim, it may make the animal bleed, and therefore a person is not allowed to do something that may result in a problem, a melacha, even if there's no intention for that melacha to take place. Lastly, the third one was the peppercorns. According to the chachamim, you're not allowed to grind peppercorns in their normal grinder because it looks like a weekday activity. Therefore, they said that it was asur (prohibited).
We'll now elaborate a little bit more on scratching the animal to scrape things off its skin. The Mishnah continues: On Yom Tov, Rabbi Yehuda says you're not allowed to scratch an animal with this metal comb because you may make a wound on the animal. But you're allowed to use a wooden comb because a wooden comb would never make that type of wound. You have no chashash. You have no worry about what's going to happen.
But the rabbis disagree even here. The chachamim say you're not allowed to use a metal comb. Of course, you're not allowed to. But, say the chachamim, you're not even allowed to use the wooden comb, because if we allow the wooden comb, then people are going to think that all combs are allowed to scratch the animal with, even the metal ones, which are going to be problematic. So the chachamim made a gezerah (rabbinic decree) against the wooden combs as well.