KOSHER CHICKEN QUANDARY

A friend often says that there is no such thing as free association, everyone eventually pays.
Truer words were seldom spoken.

If you aren't Jewish, this post will baffle you. If you ARE Jewish, you will probably not be baffled, though you may be baffled - but NOT "baffled" baffled.
If you know what I mean.


In Maseches Shabbos, in the discussion of Eruvim (permitted space that one may utilize on Shabbes), Rav Ashi asks about chickens, citing as example the chicken who crosses the road (being one of four chickens mentioned in the Talmud).

Shammai holds (in Maseches Yuma) that if the chicken forgot to say the appropriate blessing (brocho) and is still within the boundaries of the eruv (in this case the road), he must say the blessing at that moment (and opines that this is a mitzvah she ha zman grama - a blessing with a time component, and hence halachically (according to Talmudic laws) a female chicken does not have to say the blessing).

Rabbi Hillel, however, avers that as long as the chicken is within sight of the road, the blessing must be said, and clarifies that it is sufficient for the chicken to hear the blessing, as an immature or female chicken is not obligated to recite it - the blessing is in the mitzvah and the hearing thereof at the appropriate time, not necessarily the utterance thereof.


Discuss.

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NOTES:

RESHUS = Domain, observance, limitation, entity. Distinguish two types: rechus ha yachid (a private domain; yachid = private, unitary, solus) and rechus ha rabim ( a public domain, a street space). An eruv chatzeiros essentially has to be entirely enclosed, and can include either type of space – provided that the space is entirely within the evident bounds of the eruv. The problem arises when an object occupies space that transcends the boundaries (me’reshus l’reshus), such as a broken or rolling egg, which can inadvertently become reshus ha rabim.

KARMELIS = A bog. A damp space without walls, one of the four categories of domain of the Sabbath (private space, public space, bog, emptiness). One may not transfer anything between domains (one is forbidden to carry on the Sabbath), so if the ambulatory chicken has layed an egg, as chickens are wont to do, within the karmelis, it has to be left there until motzei shabbes - one cannot transfer it to the refrigerator (that being a reshus ha barad).

MELACHA = Work, labour - specifically as it relates to activities forbidden on the Sabbath, such as laying an egg, unless it is a case of pikuach nefesh.
If it merely pleases the chicken (meaning, if it brings pleasure, joy, or a sense of relief to the bird), and abstention does not harm her, then, keeping in mind the natural progression within the hen's oviduct of a series of eggs, the extrusion of said egg falls under the issur of borer.

[The eggshell is approximately 95% calcium carbonate crystals, which the protein matrix stabilizes - lacking the protein, the crystal structure would be far too brittle to keep its form. The standard avian eggshell is a porous structure covered on its outer surface with a cuticle which helps the egg retain the water within, and bars bacteria from without. As the eggs develop within the bird's hindmost part, the shell is formed as a liquid mineral layer around the extra-embryonic membranes, bediavad.]


Deriving any benefit from the (shabbes-layed) egg is considered an issur d'rabbanan, whereas actually consuming it is assur mi d'oraiso, IN ADDITION TO THE PROHIBITION OF NOLAD (see Sefer Ha Teruma).

But note, the Mechabar is less stringent than the Rama in this regard, ruling lechatchila.

However, if the egg was layed absent-mindedly ('beshogeig') during twilight on Friday, Rav Meir holds that one may benefit from it on Shabbes, because Chazal did not impose a penalty when the action was beshogeig. According to Rav Yehuda, however, one may not benefit from this egg on Shabbes, except beshas hadechak (in a 'situation of pressure' or even extreme necessity).
The Rif, Rambam, Baal Halachos Gedolos, Sheiltos, Ramban and Rosh all rule in accordance with Rav Yehuda.

Es bleibt a machlokes.

AV MELACHA = Literally, the father of labour. The term means a primary cause or action involved in work, which is forbidden on the Sabbath. Like with Tumah (pollution), one can distinguish between primary melacha, and subsequent melacha (Tolados). Any acts which were performed in laying the egg qualify as av melacha, and are specifically forbidden on shabbes. All tolados which resemble in effect, and derive from, the avos melachos are of course also forbidden. There are 39 avos melachos.

Now note that while LAYING the egg is, clearly, an av melacha, eggs themselves are by their very nature tolados. This is obvious!


PS. Please assume that the chicken will daven with kavanah.