The Talmud notices a contradiction: we said that Beit Shammai puts fewer limitations on slaughtering animals for the Holiday (Yom Tov) meal, and Beit Hillel is more strict. However, right after this, Beit Hillel allowed more ways to get doves out of a dovecote. The question is around the joy of the Holiday: which school, of Shammai or of Hillel, wants to enhance it more?
Rabbi Yochanan said, “It is a mistake! Somebody transmitted their opinions incorrectly, and Beit Shammai should be stricter, as they are wont to be. ” But this is not necessarily so. It could be that Beit Shammai allows slaughtering and covering the blood only in that specific case, where there is a spade already in the ground, so there is no reason to prohibit it, but normally they would be stricter.
Beit Hillel, in its turn, permits using a ladder to get to the dovecote because it is obviously a ladder for that, not for plastering the roof. But in other cases, they may follow a different logic, not necessarily trying to be lenient. The Talmud finds five more contradictions where Rabbi Yochanan claims that it is a mistake, but the Talmud can explain the opinions as they are recorded without reversing them.
Art: A peasant leaning on a spade by Matheus van Helmont
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