Beitzah 7

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get fertilized by the rooster.

On today’s daf, we don’t get the most profound of lessons, but we get a good laugh.

The Sages taught in a baraita: Any species whose intercourse occurs only in the hours of the day is born only by day; any species whose intercourse occurs only at night is born only by night; any species whose intercourse occurs either by day or by night is born either by day or by night. The Gemara elaborates: Any species whose intercourse occurs by day is born by day, this is referring to a chicken.

Well, if sex in the Talmud was not entertaining enough – the Talmud realizing it’s own inaccuracy is amusing.

Is that so? But didn’t Rabbi Yosei ben Shaul say that Rav said: If one examined a chicken’s nest on a Festival eve and did not find an egg in it, and the following day he rose early and found an egg in it, it is prohibited? This indicates that a chicken might indeed lay an egg at night!

How do the rabbis solve this contradiction? The Gemara answers: There it is referring to an egg that the chicken absorbed from the earth, i.e., an unfertilized egg (that is not produced by intercourse) can be laid at night as well.

The Gemara challenges this: If so, in Rav Mari’s case too, you can say that the chicken absorbed from the earth and laid the egg during the night of the Festival. How, then, could Rav Mari permit the egg? The Gemara answers: There it is referring to a case where there is a male with it. The Gemara asks: Even where there is a male with it, one can also say that it absorbed from the earth rather than from the male. The Gemara answers that Ravina said: It is learned as a tradition that anywhere that a male is present, a chicken does not absorb from the earth.

Now I want you to play “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” as you read the explanation of how close a rooster needs to be for us to assume all the eggs are fertilized.

The Gemara asks: Until where exactly is it considered to have a male with it; How near must a rooster be for this principle to come into effect? Rav Gamda said in the name of Rav: The male must be any place where the hen can hear its voice by day. If the chicken is close enough to hear the rooster’s call by day, the rooster is considered close enough to the chicken that the latter will produce eggs only through fertilization by the male. . .

The Gemara comments: And if there is a river between the rooster and the chicken, the chicken does not cross the river; but if there is a bridge, it crosses the river. And if there is only a rope bridge suspended across the river, the chicken will not cross on the rope. The Gemara comments: Nevertheless, an incident occurred in which a chicken crossed over on a rope bridge. However, one may not rely on this possibility.

I am picturing that chicken walking the rope bridge singing, “Ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no river wide enough, to keep me from you!”

Hope this brought you a smile on New Year’s Day. L’Shana Tova.