Bava Kamma 80a (פ.) — the Talmud in English

And the butcher

who gathers the animals for market day

takes

the animals

and slaughters them

immediately; or, if he wishes, he

takes

them thirty days before market day

and keeps

them until market day.

Provided that he does not keep

the

aguna

among them [

the last one that he purchased close to market day]

for thirty days

from the day that he purchased it; and just as they said with regard to the Festival.

The students of Rabban Gamliel asked him:

What is the ruling with regard to raising

small livestock in Eretz Yisrael?

He said to them,

Rabban Gamliel:

It is permitted

to raise them.

And we raise an objection to this:

But didn’t we learn

in our Mishna:

One may not raise

small livestock in Eretz Yisrael!?

Rather, this is what they asked him [

this is what his students asked him]:

What is the ruling with regard to keeping

small livestock in the house, so that it does not go out to graze with the flock?

He said to them,

Rabban Gamliel:

It is permitted

to keep it in the house,

provided that it does not go out and graze with the flock; rather, one ties it to the legs of the bed.

The Sages taught: There was an incident involving a certain pious man

who was groaning from his heart [

crying out because of heart pain],

and they consulted physicians, who said: He has no remedy until he drinks hot milk [

milk from the animal’s udders]

from morning to morning.

And they brought him a goat, tied it to the legs of his bed, and he

would suckle from it from morning to morning.

After some time [

later]

the

Sages,

his colleagues

of that pious man,

entered to visit him;

when

they saw that goat

which was

tied to the legs of the bed, they turned

back,

and said: An armed robber

is in this man’s house, and we are entering to visit him!?

They sat and investigated, and found in him

nothing

except that sin involving that goat.

And he too—

the pious man—

at the time of his death,

said: I know that there is no sin in me except the sin involving that goat, through which I transgressed the words of my colleagues.

Rabbi Yishmael said: My father’s household were among the landowners of the Upper Galilee; and why were they destroyed? Because they would pasture

their small livestock

in forests [

in wooded areas],

and they would adjudicate monetary cases as a single judge.

And although they had forests near their homes,

where grazing is permitted, as explained in the beraita above, on 79b, nevertheless

a small field

belonging to others

was

situated between their home and the forests,

and they would lead

the animals

through it,

and that is why they were destroyed.

The Sages taught: A shepherd

who owns small livestock,

who repented [

who came to repent and no longer raise small livestock],

is not required to sell

all his animals

immediately,

but he sells them gradually [

little by little].

And likewise, a convert who inherited dogs and pigs [

from his gentile father’s household], which he is prohibited to raise, as explained in our Mishna,

is not required to sell them immediately

all

but sells them gradually.

And likewise, one who vowed to acquire a house and to marry a woman in Eretz Yisrael,

is not required to acquire immediately

whatever he finds,

until he finds one suitable for him.

And there was an incident

involving

a certain woman,

a widow or divorcee, whose son

was distressing her,

because she should marry a man,

and she hastily swore: Whoever comes

to propose to me—

I will not turn him away!

And unsuitable men hastened

to her

to marry her.

And when the matter came before the Sages, they said: She intended only

to marry

one who was suitable for her,

and she is not obligated to marry them.

Just as they said: One may not raise small livestock

in Eretz Yisrael,

so too they said: One may not raise small wild animals [

gazelles and foxes] in Eretz Yisrael.

Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: One may raise Persian dogs [

small and dwarf dogs],

and cats, and monkeys, and marten-like animals that live among bushes [

animals that dwell in a thorn bush],

because they are suited to clear the house

of mice.

And we explain:

What are the “marten-like animals that live among bushes”?

Rav Yehuda said:

It is the animal called

shartza hartza.

Some say:

The “marten-like animal that lives among bushes” is called

hartza,

whose legs are small,

its legs being thin; and therefore it is called hartza, because the grooves between its legs are discernible, since they are thin and appear elevated,

and it grazes among rose bushes,

it grazes among thorn bushes. And it is not the weasel mentioned in the Torah among the creeping creatures.

And what is

“shartza,”

and which is the weasel mentioned in the Torah among the creeping creatures? It is the one

whose legs are short, [

its legs being short], and it swarms upon the ground.

Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: We made Babylonia for ourselves like Eretz Yisrael with regard to small livestock: They should not raise small livestock there, because from the time of the exile of Jeconiah, students multiplied in Babylonia and settled there in a permanent settlement.

Rav Adda bar Ahava said to Rav Huna:

What about yours [

what is the status of your animals]!? That is to say: You have small livestock; how do you raise them in Babylonia!?

Rav Huna said to him,

Rav Adda bar Ahava:

Ours—

Hova guards them [

my wife, whose name is Hova, guards mine].

He said to him,

Rav Adda bar Ahava to Rav Huna:

Hova, may she bury her son [

may she bury her son], for you rely upon her, and she is unable to guard them.

And because of these words that Rav Adda bar Ahava said:

Throughout Rav Adda bar Ahava’s lifetime, Rav Huna had no surviving offspring from Hova [

throughout Rav Adda bar Ahava’s lifetime, no offspring of Rav Huna from Hova survived].

Some say, Rav Huna said [

Rav Huna was the one who said]:

We made Babylonia for ourselves like Eretz Yisrael with regard to small livestock from the time Rav came to Babylonia, [

from the time Rav’s arrival in Babylonia], for at that point the number of settlers there increased because of his yeshiva.

There was an incident involving

Rav, Shmuel, and Rav Asi,

who

happened to arrive at the house of the week of the son [

a circumcision ceremony],

and some say, at the house of the salvation of the son [

the redemption of the firstborn]. When they reached the entrance of that place, the Sages deliberated about what they should do, because:

Rav would not enter before Shmuel [

it was not Rav’s practice to enter before Shmuel], as the reason is explained later in the discussion—