Commentary for Shabbat 214:10

ואיכא דמתני לה אהא הצד נחש בשבת אם מתעסק בו שלא ישכנו פטור אם לרפואה חייב מאן תנא אמר רב יהודה אמר רב רבי שמעון היא דאמר מלאכה שאינה צריכה לגופה פטור עליה

R. Eliezer holds, It is as the rams: just as there was the taking of life in the case of the rams, so whatever constitutes the taking of life [is a culpable offence]. While the Rabbis argue, It is as the rams: just as rams multiply and increase, so are all which multiply and increase [of account].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In that killing them renders one liable. ');">¹⁷</span> Said Abaye to him, Do not vermin multiply and increase? But a Master said: 'The Holy One, blessed be He, sits and sustains [all creatures], from the horns of wild oxen to the eggs of vermin'?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' 'Eggs of vermin is assumed to mean its progeny. ');">¹⁸</span>

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