QUESTION: The Gemara discusses whether or not an animal that one is feeding
must be standing mostly in Reshus ha'Yachid. The Gemara suggests that if the
animal is standing in Reshus ha'Rabim and one is not holding the animal, one
may not feed it directly because he may be drawn after the animal and carry
the bucket of food into Reshus ha'Rabim. If most of the animal is in Reshus
ha'Yachid, though, one may feed the animal even if one is not holding the
animal at the time.
The Gemara cites a Beraisa to challenge the assumption that one may feed the
animal directly even when one is *not* holding it as long as it is mostly in
Reshus ha'Yachid. The Beraisa says that one may not feed an animal (that he
is not holding) directly, but must instead pour the food or water in front
of the animal and let it feed on its own. The Gemara answers that the
Beraisa is referring to a case where there is a trough in Reshus ha'Rabim
that extends into the Reshus ha'Yachid in which the person is standing, and
an animal is eating from the trough. One may not feed the animal directly,
but rather one must pour the water into the trough and let the animal eat
from there. One is not permitted to feed the animal directly, out of a
concern that he might take the bucket of water outside of the Pasei Bira'os
(the Reshus ha'Yachid in which he is standing) while holding it over the
trough and then accidentally put down the bucket in Reshus ha'Rabim.
RASHI (DH Ha Itmar) explains that one end of the trough is within the Pasei
Bira'os, and the rest of the trough is in Reshus ha'Rabim. The animal eating
from the trough is standing in a *different* Reshus ha'Yachid on the *other
side* of the trough, and it is sticking out its head into Reshus ha'Rabim to
the trough (see Bach, #2).
TOSFOS (DH Amar Abaye) asks why Rashi explains the case in such a strange
way, with the cow standing in a separate Reshus ha'Yachid. He should have
simply explained that the cow is standing in Reshus ha'Rabim eating from the
trough!
ANSWER: The RASHASH answers that Rashi was forced to explain that the animal
is standing inside of another Reshus ha'Yachid for the following reason. The
Gemara just told us that when one is holding the bucket *and* the animal,
there is a question whether or not the animal must be mostly in Reshus
ha'Yachid. However, when one is holding only the bucket and *not* the
animal, then certainly the animal must be mostly in Reshus ha'Yachid.
If the animal is feeding from a trough which is in Reshus ha'Rabim, how can
most of the animal be in Reshus ha'Yachid? Rashi had to explain that the
animal is in a Reshus ha'Yachid on the other side of Reshus ha'Rabim,
sticking its head out and eating from the trough. Most of the animal is in
Reshus ha'Yachid, albeit not the Reshus ha'Yachid of the Pasim.
QUESTION: Now Rashi's explanation is now clear. What, then, was Tosfos'
question?
ANSWER: Tosfos apparently understood that there are three ways to feed the
animal. (1) One holds the bucket and feeds the animal, in which case the
animal must be mostly in Reshus ha'Yachid, especially if one is not holding
the animal; (2) one pours water in front of the animal and lets it drink by
itself, in which case the animal could even be in Reshus ha'Rabim; (3) one
takes a bucket of water and places it down on the part of the trough which
is in Reshus ha'Yachid, but *remains holding* on to the bucket. This last
case is the case of the Gemara when it discusses feeding the animal via the
trough -- when one holds on to the bucket after he places it down. Such
feeding is permitted even if the animal is standing mostly in Reshus
ha'Rabim, as long as one does not actually hold the bucket up to the animal
while it drinks from it. In such a case we are not afraid that the person
feeding the animal will be drawn after the animal to Reshus ha'Rabim, if not
for the fact that the trough itself protrudes into Reshus ha'Rabim, and we
are therefore afraid that he might carry the bucket which he is holding into
Reshus ha'Rabim. (That is, we are afraid that he might try to put the bucket
down on the end of the trough which is in Reshus ha'Yachid and then he will
notice something wrong on the trough on the other side; alternatively he
will find that he cannot put the bucket down on this side of the trough in
Reshus ha'Yachid because it is uneven.) This seems to be the intention of
Tosfos. (M. Kornfeld)