Pesachim 21b — the Talmud in English

Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira says: It is forbidden to sell kutach and every kind of kutach thirty days before Pesach.

“And it is permitted to derive benefit from it”: It is obvious; it is necessary for a case where he charred it before its time. And we hold according to Rava, who said: If he charred it before its time, it is permitted for benefit even after its time. “Its time passed: It is forbidden to derive benefit from it”:

It is obvious; it is necessary for the rabbinic hours, as Rav Giddel said in the name of Rav Chiyya bar Yosef in the name of Rabbi Yochanan: If one betroths a woman from six hours onward, even with Kordyanean wheat, we do not have concern for the betrothal.

“And he may not use it to heat an oven or a stove”: It is obvious; it is necessary according to Rabbi Yehuda, who says: There is no removal of chametz except by burning. It might enter your mind to say: Since Rabbi Yehuda said that its mitzva is through burning, while he is burning it, let him derive benefit from it. It teaches us that this is not so.

Hezekiah said: From where is it derived that chametz on Pesach is forbidden for benefit? As it is stated: “He shall not eat chametz.” It shall not have a permission of eating. The reason is that the Merciful One wrote, “he shall not eat chametz”; but if “he shall not eat” had not been written, I would have said that it implies a prohibition of eating, but it does not imply a prohibition of benefit. And this disagrees with Rabbi Abahu, for Rabbi Abahu said: Everywhere that “he shall not eat,” “you shall not eat,” or “you shall not eat” is stated, one means both a prohibition of eating and a prohibition of benefit, until Scripture specifies for you, as it specified for you concerning an animal carcass, as it was taught: “You shall not eat any carcass; to the stranger who is within your gates you shall give it, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a gentile,” and so forth. I have only that to a stranger it is given, and to a gentile it is sold. From where is it derived that it may be sold to a stranger? The verse says: “To the stranger who is within your gates you shall give it, or you may sell it to a gentile.” From where is it derived that it may be given? The verse says: “You shall give it, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a gentile.” You thus say: Both a stranger and a gentile, whether through sale or through giving, are permitted—these are the words of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Yehuda says: The words are as they are written: to a stranger through giving, and to a gentile through sale.

What is the reason of Rabbi Yehuda? If it enters your mind that it is as Rabbi Meir said, let the Merciful One write: “To the stranger who is within your gates you shall give it, that he may eat it, and sell it.” Why do I need “or”? Learn from it that the matters are as they are written. And Rabbi Meir: “Or” serves to place the giving to the stranger before the sale to the gentile. And Rabbi Yehuda: This verse is not needed, since with regard to a stranger you are commanded to sustain him, whereas with regard to a gentile you are not commanded to sustain him; therefore, a verse is not needed—it is logical. Granted, according to Rabbi Meir, who says that both a stranger and a gentile, whether through sale or through giving, are permitted: From the fact that a verse was needed to permit benefit from a carcass, it follows that all prohibitions in the Torah are forbidden both in eating and in benefit. But according to Rabbi Yehuda, who says that the verse came to teach that the matters are as they are written, from where does he derive that all prohibitions are forbidden in benefit? He derives it from “To the dog you shall cast it.”