may be eaten on the ninth, tenth, or eleventh days from when it is baked, no less and no more. How so? In its usual manner it is eaten on the ninth day after it was baked, as it is baked on Shabbat eve and it is eaten on the next Shabbat, on the ninth day from when it was baked. If a Festival occurs on Shabbat eve, the shewbread is not baked on the Festival day but rather on Thursday, the eve of the Festival. Consequently, it is eaten on Shabbat of the next week, on the tenth day from when it was baked. If the two Festival days of Rosh HaShana preceded Shabbat, the shewbread is baked on Wednesday, Rosh HaShana eve, and it is eaten on the next Shabbat, on the eleventh day from when it was baked, because baking the shewbread does not override Shabbat or a Festival. Rabba asks: If you say that whatever one needs for Shabbat may be done on a Festival, why doesn’t the baking of this bread override the Festival? Since the shewbread is eaten on Shabbat, it should be considered food that one is permitted to prepare during the Festival.

Rav Ḥisda said to him: They permitted one to override the rabbinic decree in the Temple only with regard to baking on a Festival for the proximate Shabbat, i.e., Shabbat that immediately follows the Festival. However, they did not permit one to override the rabbinic decree to prepare for a distant Shabbat, namely Shabbat of the next week.

The Gemara asks: And according to Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, who said in the name of Rabbi Shimon, son of the deputy High Priest, that the baking of the shewbread overrides a Festival but does not override the fast day of Yom Kippur, what can be said? Apparently, the issue is the subject of a tannaitic dispute between Rabbi Shimon, son of the deputy High Priest, who contends that it is permissible to prepare the shewbread during a Festival, and the Rabbis, who prohibit it.

The Gemara explains that they do not dispute the basic principle. Rather, this is the point over which they disagree: One Sage, i.e., the Rabbis, holds that they permitted one to override the rabbinic decree only to prepare for the proximate Shabbat, but they did not permit one to override the rabbinic decree to prepare for a distant Shabbat. Therefore, the baking of the shewbread does not override the Festival. And one Sage, Rabbi Shimon, holds that they also permitted one to override the rabbinic decree in order to prepare for a distant Shabbat.

Rav Mari raised an objection: The two loaves of bread that are brought as a communal offering on Shavuot are eaten by the priests no sooner than the second day and no later than the third day from when they are baked. How so? They are generally baked on the eve of the Festival and eaten on the Festival, the second day from their baking. If the Festival occurs after Shabbat, they are baked on Friday and they are eaten on the third day from the baking, because the baking of the two loaves does not override Shabbat or the Festival. Rav Mari asks: If you say that whatever one needs for Shabbat may be done on a Festival, now that it is permitted to engage in the necessary preparations for Shabbat on a Festival, is it necessary to mention that it is permitted to bake for the Festival itself on the Festival? As such, why doesn’t the baking of the two loaves override the Festival?

The Gemara answers: It is different there, in the case of the two loaves, as the verse says: “No kind of labor shall be done on them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done for you” (Exodus 12:16). This indicates that it is permitted to cook and bake only “for you,” i.e., for human consumption, and not for the One above, namely for the Temple service.

The Gemara asks: And according to Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, who said in the name of Rabbi Shimon, son of the deputy High Priest, that baking the shewbread overrides the Festival, what can be said? How does he understand the term: For you? The Gemara answers: He holds in accordance with the opinion of Abba Shaul, who said that this verse should be understood in the following manner: Cooking and baking are permitted for you, and not for gentiles; for the sake of the Temple service, however, they are permitted.

Rav Ḥisda sent a question to Rabba with Rav Aḥa bar Rav Huna: Do we say the principle: Since, etc.? Didn’t we learn in a mishna: There is a case in which one plows one furrow and is liable for violating eight prohibitions with this single act? The mishna explains that this applies to one who plows with an ox and a donkey, thereby violating the prohibition: “You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together” (Deuteronomy 22:10), and they were consecrated, in which case plowing with them constitutes misuse of consecrated property. If his plowing aids the growth of food crops in a vineyard, he has transgressed a third prohibition.