SATURDAY PRAYER: HOD-YESHIVAT HAVERIM יְשִׁיבָה חברים – BABYLONIAN TALMUD p95

READING: BETWEEN AFTER MIDNIGHT AND DAWN SATURDAY

The master said: “She-goats must not go out with a bag attached to their udders.” Is there not a
Boraitha which teaches that they may? Said R. Jehudah: “This presents no difficulty. In the
former case the bag is not tied fast, in the latter it is (and there is no reason for apprehension lest
it drop off and will have to be carried).” Said R. Joseph: “Why, you have entirely done away
with the teachers of our Mishna. There is a difference of opinion between the teachers in this
very Mishna: ‘She-goats may go out with a bag tied to their udders.'” R. Jossi forbids all except
sheep with covers on to protect the wool. R. Jehudah says: “She-goats may go out with their
udders tied up for the purpose of preventing lactation, but not for the purpose of saving the
milk.”
We have learned in a Boraitha: R. Jehudah related the case of she-goats which he saw in
Antioch. Their udders were so large that bags had to be made for them in order to prevent their
dragging on the ground and becoming mutilated. (These bags were worn also on the Sabbath.)
The rabbis taught: “It happened with one man whose wife died and left him a nursing child, he
was so poor that he could not pay a wet-nurse. A miracle happened to him; his breasts opened
and he nursed his child.” Said R. Joseph: Come and see how great the man must have been that
such a miracle was wrought for him. Said Abayi to him: On the contrary, Behold how bad the
man must have been that the nature of mankind changed in him and nothing occurred to enable
him to earn enough money to pay a nurse. Says R. Jehudah: Come and see how hard it is for
heaven to change the fate of a man concerning his livelihood, that the nature of the world was
changed, but not his fate. Said R. Na’hman: It is proven by this fact that
a miracle occurred, but he was not provided with means for paying a wet-nurse.