Temura 9: A Young Gourd Now is Better than a Full Grown Gourd Later

Yesterday's daf included an argument in the Gemara about human nature.  The common expression is butzina tav mi'kara, a young gourd now is better than a full-grown gourd later.  We are not willing to put the effort into something simply because we hope that we will derive benefit from it in the distant future.  

Rabbeinu Tam disagrees.  He says that the Gemara states that burkina and kara are two different plants in a number of different places.  The butzina is preferred because it is smaller and ripens more quickly than the kara.  

We know that butzina is the Aramaic term for zucchini.  It has been mistranslated as a cucumber; we know that it is a long and narrow vegetable that grows up to 80 cm long.  It has light green skin and dark green stripes and is covered by thin fibres.  It is eaten raw or cooked.

The kara is known to be the bottle gourd which usually grows on the ground.  It is 40-50 cm in length  and 25-30 cm in width.  If it is harvested young it can be cooked and eaten; its seeds are eaten as a snack.

Gourds become harder and more difficult to digest as they age.  Thus the expression butzina tav mi'kara can be understood best in that context.