5. Dough which begins to leaven must be burned, but he who eats it is free. When it begins to crack it must be burned, and he who eats it must be cut off. “What is leavening?” “Like the horns of locusts.” “Cracking?” “When the cracks intermingle.” The words of R. Judah. But the Sages say, “if either of them be eaten, the eater must be cut off.” “And what is leavening?” “All which changed its appearance, as when a man's hairs stand on end through fright.”
6. “If the fourteenth day of Nisan happened on the Sabbath?” “They must clear off all the leaven before the Sabbath begins.” The words of R. Meier. But the Sages say, “in the proper season.” Rabbi Eleazar, the son of Zaduk, said, “the heave-offering before the Sabbath, and ordinary things in the proper season.”
7. “If one went to kill his passover, or circumcise his son, or to eat the marriage-feast in the house of his father-in-law, and he remembered that there was leaven in his house?” “If he can he must return and clear it out, and return to his duties. He must return and clear it away. But if not, he can esteem it as nothing in his heart.” “(If one went) to save a person from the militia, or from a river, or from robbers, or from burning, or from the fall of buildings?” “He may esteem it as nothing in his heart.” “But if he is reposing at his ease?” “He must return off-hand.”
8. And so also when one went forth from Jerusalem and remembered that he had holy flesh in his hand. If he passed Zophim[137] he must burn it on the spot. But if not he must return and burn it in front of the temple with the wood of the [pg 091] altar. “And for how much flesh or leaven must men return?” Rabbi Meier said, “both of them the size of an egg.” Rabbi Judah said, “both the size of an olive.” But the Sages say, “Holy flesh the size of an olive, and leaven the size of an egg.”
Chapter IV
1. “A place in which men are accustomed to do work on the eve of the passover?” “For half a day they may work.” “A place in which they are not accustomed to work?” “They must not work.” “If one goes from a place where they work to a place where they do not work; or from a place where they do not work to a place where they do work?” “The Sages put on him the burden[138] of the place from which he went, or the burden of the place to which he came; but a man should not change the customs of a place, as it causes quarrels.”
2. Like to him is he who carried fruits of the Sabbatical year from a place where they were finished growing to a place where they were not finished growing; or from a place where they were not finished to a place where they were finished. He is bound to remove them. Rabbi Judah said, “they can say to him, go and bring them for yourself from the field.”[139]
3. “A place in which men are accustomed to sell small cattle to Gentiles?” “They may sell them.” “A place in which they are not accustomed to sell them?” “They may not sell them.” But in no place may they sell working cattle—calves, ass-foals, either unblemished or broken down.[140] Rabbi Judah “allowed the broken down.” The son of Bethira “allowed a horse.”
4. “A place where men are accustomed to eat roast meat on the night of the passover?” “They may eat it.” “A place in which they are not accustomed to eat it?” “They may not eat it.” “A place in which they are accustomed to light a candle on the night of the Day of Atonement?” “They may light it.” “A place in which they are not accustomed to light it?” “They may not light it.” But men may light candles in the synagogues, and in the schools, and in the dark streets, and for the sick.