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Summary

Beraisa: Rabbi Yosi bar Yehuda: The flute overrides Shabbos. Chachomim: It does not override even a yom tov.

Rav Yosef: The dispute is with regard to the shir that accompanied the daily korban [at the time that they would pour wine all year and water on Sukkos].

Rabbi Yosi bar Yehuda holds that the primary component of Shira is the musical instruments, and so they’re considered Avodah which overrides Shabbos.

The Chachomim hold that the primary component of Shira is singing with the mouth, and consequently the instruments are mere accessories which do not override Shabbos.

With regard to the flute of Beis Hashoeiva, everyone agrees that it is not an avodah and does not override Shabbos. [Later the gemara refutes this, but this is the shittah of Rav Yosef].

Rav Yosef: I have proof to this from the following beraisa: Vessels of avodah that are made of wood; Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi deems them unfit and Rabbi Yosi bar Yehuda deems them fit.

It seems that Rabbi Yosi bar Yehuda who deems the wooden vessel fit learns from Moshe’s flute [they had an ancient relic in the Beis Hamikdash, a flute used by Moshe which was made of wood]. This is because he holds that musical instruments are vessels of avodah since they are necessary for shira.

And Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi who deems the wooden vessel unfit holds that the primary shira is singing with the mouth, and the wooden flute was not an instrument of avodah.

Response: That is not a proof. We could say that everyone agrees that shira is singing accompanied by musical instruments. Here, the question is whether we can learn “the possible from the impossible”. It was ‘impossible’ to make this flute of other materials [once a king coated this flute with gold and it no longer had the same sound, so they were forced to remove the coating].

Rabbi Yosi bar Yehuda says that the same law applies where it is ‘possible’ to use different materials, wood is still fit for the Mikdash vessels. Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi holds that what was done in a case where it is ‘impossible’ is not a proof for and in other situations wooden vessels are unfit.