Daf Ditty.

Shabbes 78: Honey

There is a large body of evidence to support the use of honey as a wound dressing for a wide
range of types of wounds. Its antibacterial activity rapidly clears infection and protects wounds
from becoming infected, and thus it provides a moist healing environment without the risk of
bacterial growth occurring. It also rapidly debrides wounds and removes malodor.

Molan, PC. The Evidence supporting the use of honey as a wound dressing. Lower Extremity Wounds 2006. 5 (1)

1
‫‪In today’s Daf we learn that aside from being delicious, honey was once used as a salve to heal‬‬
‫‪a wound:‬‬
‫שבת עז‪,‬ב‬
‫שׁי‪ :‬״ַעל ָכִּתית״ — ַאפּוָּמּא ְדּכוַּלּהּ‬‫ְדַּבשׁ ְכֵּדי ִליֵתּן ַעל ַהָכִּתית‪ָ .‬תָּנא‪ְ :‬כֵּדי ִליֵתּן ַעל ִפּי ָכִתית‪ָ .‬בֵּעי ַרב ָא ֵ‬
‫שׁא ַקָמּא ְדָּכִתית‪ְ ,‬לַאפּוֵֹקי הוְּדָרָנא ְדָּלא — ֵתּיקוּ‬ ‫ָכִּתית‪ ,‬אוֹ ִדיְלָמא ַאמּוְּר ָ‬

‫‪2‬‬
We learned in the Mishna: The measure that determines liability for carrying
out honey is equivalent to that which is used to place on a sore caused by chafing.

A Tanna taught in a Tosefta: The precise measure is equivalent to that which is placed on the
opening of a sore, i.e., on the wound itself.

Rav Ashi raised a dilemma: Does the term on a sore mean the measure of honey spread on the
opening of the entire sore; or, perhaps it means the measure spread on the primary
protuberance of the sore, to the exclusion of the surrounding area upon which he
does not spread honey?

No resolution was found for this dilemma either. Therefore, let it stand unresolved.

Rashi comments that only honey could be used as a salve for the sore mentioned in our
Mishnah.

But elsewhere in the Talmud, honey was considered to be bad for a wound:
‫א‬,‫בבא קמא פה‬
‫כדתניא הרי שעבר על דברי רופא ואכל דבש או כל מיני מתיקה מפני שדבש וכל מיני מתיקה קשין‬
‫למכה והעלה מכתו גרגותני יכול יהא חייב לרפאותו ת"ל רק‬

It was taught in a Braisa: If the victim of an assault disobeyed the advice of his doctor and ate
honey or all types of sweets - and this violated his doctor's instructions because honey and all
types of sweets are harmful for a wound - it could be thought that the assailant is still
obligated to heal the victim.

Therefore the Torah uses the word ‫( רק‬only) to teach otherwise...(Bava Kamma 85a)

The principal honey of Israel seems to have been a thick syrup made from either grapes or
dates, called dibs in Arabic.1

It is often mentioned in lists of foodstuffs of the land (e.g., Deut. 8:8; II Sam. 17:29; II Chron.
31:5; for the phrase "land flowing with milk and honey”.

It is considered a delicacy (I Kings 14:3; Ezek. 16:13) and is mentioned as the epitome of
sweetness (Ps. 19:11; 119:103; Prov. 16:24; Ezek. 3:3).
Along with leaven it was prohibited in burnt offerings (Lev. 2:4).
Manna had the taste of "wafers (?) in honey" (Ex. 16:31), but the Talmud declares that it had
this taste only for children (Yoma 75b).

1
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/honey

3
Its quality of sweetness caused it to be used figuratively for gracious and pleasant things, such
as the words of God (Ps. 19:11; 119:103), the wisdom of Torah (Prov. 24:13; 25:16), the speech
of a friend (Prov. 16:24; Song 4:11), as well as the seductive language of the strange woman
(Prov. 5:3).

Bees' honey, found wild, is sufficiently rare to have been considered among the finest of foods
("honey out of the rock" in Deut. 32:13; Ps. 81:17). T

his wild honey figures prominently in the story of the wedding of *Samson at Timnah (Judg. 14),
where Samson, having found honey amid a swarm of bees in the carcass (more plausibly,
skeleton) of a lion he had killed, wagered 30 festal garments on the riddle "out of the eater
came something to eat, out of the strong came something sweet" (Judg. 14:14).

The Philistines, unable to solve the riddle, had Samson's wife learn the answer: "What is
sweeter than honey, what is stronger than a lion?" (Judg. 14:18).

Samson, enraged, slaughtered 30 men in Ashkelon to pay the wager, and departed.

Bees' honey was also found in the forest, where it was eaten by Jonathan in violation of his
father's oath (I Sam. 14:24–30).

Because it is the source of honey, the date is included among the seven choice agricultural
species of Ereẓ Israel (see Deut. 8:8).

During the Talmudic period, however, honey came to refer specifically to bees' honey, with
the result that a distinction was made; regarding vows, the commonly accepted use of the word
determined the extent of the vow, and it was decided that "He who takes a vow to abstain from
honey is permitted to eat date honey" (Ned. 6:9).

In accordance with the rule "that which issues from an unclean creature is unclean" (Bek. 1:2) it
should follow that bees' honey is forbidden since the bee belongs to the class of unclean
insects.

The rabbis, however, permitted its use by asserting that honey is not the product of the bee; it
is merely stored in its body (likewise, a Neo-Assyrian text of the eighth century B.C.E. refers to
the "buzzing insects that 'collect' honey").

The permissibility of eating bee’s honey seems to fly in the face of a general principle of
kashrut: the product of a non-kosher animal is non-kosher (Mishnah, Bechorot 5b; Rambam,
Ma’achalot Asurot, 1:5).2

2
https://outorah.org/p/5705/

4
Thus, for example, camel’s milk, ostrich eggs and catfish roe are not kosher. Yet bee’s honey is
kosher. The Talmud (Bechorot 7b) offers two possible reasons for this:3 Either this is because of
a Scriptural decree, based on Leviticus 11:21, which exempts honey from the general rule, or it
is because the bee does not actually produce honey the way a camel produces milk. For
something to be considered an animal product in halacha, it must be metabolized within the
animal.

The Talmud states that honey is not “produced” by the bee, it is simply nectar taken from
plants and regurgitated into the hive to be stored as food for the winter.4 Indeed, this Talmudic
analysis coincides with contemporary science. The bee does not decompose food into base
components and then “produce” honey. The ingested nectar is merely regurgitated by the bee
after a minor chemical transformation takes place (enzymes in the bee’s saliva act upon the
nectar).

The Shulchan Aruch (YD 81:8) rules that bee’s honey is kosher but does not provide a reason
for the ruling. Rambam states that it is permissible because it is simply stored nectar, while
Rosh and Ramban state that it is permissible because of a Scriptural decree. Other bee
products, such as royal jelly (also known as bee’s milk), do raise kashrut concerns. Royal jelly,
which is a glandular secretion, is produced as “royal” food for the developing queen bee. Since
it is an authentic product of the bee, some authorities rule that it is not kosher.5

The custom practiced in many families, of dipping bread in honey (instead of the usual salt),
during the period from Rosh ha-Shanah to Hoshana Rabba, symbolizes the wish for a sweet new
year. Similarly, on Rosh Ha-Shanah, an apple is dipped in honey and eaten, and a prayer for a
"good and sweet year" is recited.
During the Middle Ages, there developed a picturesque ceremony of introducing the child to his
Jewish studies; it included the custom of writing the letters of the alphabet on a slate and
covering them with honey.

3
when the Talmud (Bechorot 6b) queries the reason milk is kosher and is not considered eiver min hachai , it cites the phrase
“Eretz zavat chalav udevash” (Exodus 3:8). Yet, when discussing the permissibility of eating bee’s honey, it does not cite that
phrase. We can assume that if the Gemara would have understood devash to be bee’s honey, it would have cited the phrase.
Clearly the Talmud understood devash to mean something else.
4
The Torah Temimah (Leviticus 11:21, note 66) quotes several halachot that result from the fact that honey is just regurgitated
nectar. These include Rishonim who said that but for the fact that the original plant taste is not detectable, the berachah on bee’s
honey would be Ha’adamah; Rambam’s ruling that bee’s honey, like fruit juice, does not cause chimutz (leavening) and Shu”t
Sha’ar Ephraim’s ruling that one who vows not to eat products of living creatures may eat honey. Employing this logic, it can be
observed that because the sweet syrup of any fruit is called honey (Rashi, Leviticus 2:11), bee’s honey may actually be called
honey because it is merely regurgitated fruit nectar. Hence all honey is fruit nectar, and bee’s honey is simply one example.
5
This is the position of the OU (The Daf Hakashrus 7 [Cheshvan 5759/November 1998]: 7-8) and the Star-K. Rabbi Eliezer
Waldenberg (Tzitz Eliezer 11:59) permits eating royal jelly for a variety of reasons. Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch (Teshuvot
Vehanhagot 4, YD:188, pp. 180-182), hesitatingly permits it, but only for an ill person, and only if it will surely benefit him.

5
These the child licked with his tongue so that the words of the Scriptures might be as "sweet as
honey" 6 Honey cake was a feature of the same ceremony. Called "Honig lekakh" in Yiddish, it is
a favorite pastry to this day.

Honey has been used as a medicine for at least the last 3,000 years.

The honeybee is the only insect that produces food eaten by humans. Here is what happens: The
female honeybees use their proboscis (a tube-like tongue) to up suck flower nectar and mix it
with their saliva and enzymes. Then they store it in a honey sack. Back at the hive, the mixture is
regurgitated into cells, dried to about 16% moisture, and stored as a primary food source.

As you might expect, the content of the honey depends on a number of factors including the
species of bee, the kind of flowers on which they fed, and the conditions in which the honey was
stored.7

In an article that focuses on the antimicrobial properties of honey, Zafar Israili from the Emory
School of Medicine8 noted that a large number of laboratory and clinical studies have
confirmed the broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties of honey.

These include antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and antimycobacterial.

“honey was found to be an effective topical treatment for ringworms, athlete’s foot, jock itch,
nail fungus, and yeast infections and reported to be comparable to many over-the-counter
antifungal preparations.”

These properties are likely due to the honey’s acidity, osmotic effect, high sugar concentration,
and the presence of chemicals like hydrogen peroxide, antioxidants, and lysozymes.

Recent Archeological Finds:9

Amihai Mazar, Eleazar L. Sukenik Professor of Archaeology at the Hebrew University, revealed
that the first apiary (beehive colony) dating from the Biblical period has been found in

6
Ma'aseh Roke'aḥ, 295–6, Maḥzor Vitry, ed. by S. Hurwitz (1923), 628, 508
7
http://www.talmudology.com/jeremybrownmdgmailcom/2016/8/22/bava-kamma-85a-is-honey-bad-for-you

8
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54694fa6e4b0eaec4530f99d/t/57bb2e94e4fcb5b0553b396b/1471884973195/Antimicrobial
+Properties+of+Honey+2013.pdf

9
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070904114558.htm

6
excavations he directed this summer at Tel Rehov in Israel's Beth Shean Valley. This is the
earliest apiary to be revealed to date in an archaeological excavation anywhere in the ancient
Near East, said Prof. Mazar. It dates from the 10th to early 9th centuries B.C.E.

Tel Rehov is believed to have been one of the most important cities of Israel during the Israelite
monarchy. The beehives there were found in the center of a built-up area there that has been
excavated since 1997 by Dr. Nava Panitz-Cohen of the Hebrew University. Three rows of
beehives were found in the apiary, containing more than 30 hives. It is estimated, however,
based on excavations to date, that in all the total area would have contained some 100 beehives.
Each row contained at least three tiers of hives, each of which is a cylinder composed of
unbaked clay and dry straw, around 80 centimeters long and 40 centimeters in diameter.
One end of the cylinder was closed and had a small hole in it, which allowed for the entry and
exit of the bees. The opposite end was covered with a clay lid that could be removed when the
beekeeper extracted the honeycombs. Experienced beekeepers and scholars who visited the site
estimated that as much as half a ton of honey could be culled each year from these hives.

Prof. Mazar emphasizes the uniqueness of this latest find by pointing out that actual beehives
have never been discovered at any site in the ancient Near East.

A particularly fascinating find at the site is an inscription on a ceramic storage jar found near
the beehives that reads "To nmsh". This name was also found inscribed on another storage jar
from a slightly later occupation level at Tel Rehov, dated to the time of the Omride Dynasty in

7
the 9th century BCE. Moreover, this same name was found on a contemporary jar from nearby
Tel Amal, situated in the Gan HaShelosha National Park (Sachne).

The name "Nimshi" is known in the Bible as the name of the father and in several verses the
grandfather of Israelite King Jehu, the founder of the dynasty that usurped power from the
Omrides (II Kings: 9-12).

It is possible that the discovery of three inscriptions bearing this name in the same region and
dating to the same period indicates that Jehu's family originated from the Beth Shean Valley
and possibly even from the large city located at Tel Rehov. The large apiary discovered at the
site might have belonged to this illustrious local clan.