Musar for Eruvin 125:2

רבינא סר סכינא בבבל א"ל רב אשי מאי טעמא עבד מר הכי

Rabina examined the slaughterer's knife<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Used in the ritual slaughter of clean beasts and fowls. Such a knife, in order to reduce the pain of the animal to the lowest minimum, must he carefully ground until a very fine edge is obtained, and before use must also be submitted to the highest local religious authority for examination.');">⁴</span> in Babylon.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Though his Master, R. Ashi, was the supreme religious authority at Matha Mehasia, a place near Sura. [The town Babylon was in the neighbourhood of Sura, v. Obermeyer p. 304].');">⁵</span> Said R'Ashi to him, 'Why does the Master act in this manner? ' 'Did not,' the other replied: R'Hamnuna decide legal points at Harta di Argiz during the lifetime of R'Hisda? '<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' As R. Hamnuna, though a disciple of R. Hisda, was allowed to give legal decisions in a Babylonian town because R. Hisda, the supreme religious chief, resided in another part of Babylon so, Rabina submitted, was he also allowed to occupy the position of local religious authority in respect of the examination of the slaughtering knife in a town in which R. Ashi himself did not reside.');">⁶</span>

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