Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Shabbath

Folio 141a

which drops saliva.¹  And when it is taught, 'One may take [fodder] from before an animal that is not fastidious', it refers to an ass, which is not particular about what it eats;²  'and put [it] before an animal that is fastidious,' to a cow, which is particular about what it eats.³

MISHNAH. ONE MUST NOT MOVE STRAW [LYING] UPON A BED WITH HIS HAND, YET HE MAY MOVE IT WITH HIS BODY. BUT IF IT IS FODDER FOR ANIMALS, OR A PILLOW OR A SHEET WAS UPON IT BEFORE NIGHTFALL, HE MAY MOVE IT WITH HIS HAND.⁴  ONE MAY UNDO A HOUSEHOLDER'S CLOTHES PRESS,⁵  BUT NOT FORCE IT DOWN.⁶  BUT A LAUNDERER'S [PRESS] MAY NOT BE TOUCHED.⁷  R. JUDAH SAID: IF IT WAS UNDONE BEFORE THE SABBATH, ONE MAY UNFASTEN THE WHOLE AND REMOVE IT.

GEMARA. R. Nahman said: A radish, if it is the right way up, it is permitted; if it is reversed, it is forbidden.⁸  R. Adda b. Abba said, The scholars⁹  said, We learnt [a Mishnah] in disagreement with R. Nahman: ONE MUST NOT MOVE STRAW [LYING] UPON A BED WITH HIS HAND, YET HE MAY MOVE IT WITH HIS BODY. BUT IF IT IS FODDER FOR ANIMALS, OR A PILLOW ON A SHEET WAS UPON IT BEFORE NIGHTFALL, HE MAY MOVE IT WITH HIS HAND: this proves, indirect¹⁰  handling is not designated handling;¹¹  this proves it.

Rab Judah¹²  said: To crush peppergrains one by one with a knife-handle is permitted; in twos, it is forbidden.¹³  Raba said: Since he does it in a different way,¹⁴  crushing even many [is permitted] too.

Rab Judah also said: If one bathes in water, he should first dry himself¹⁵  and then ascend, lest he come to carry¹⁶  four cubits in a karmelith.¹⁷  If so, when he enters¹⁸  too, his force propels the water four cubits,¹⁹  which is forbidden? — They did not prohibit one's force in a karmelith.

Abaye — others state, Rab Judah — said: One may scrape off the clay from his foot on to the ground, but not on to a wall. Said Raba, Why not on to a wall? because It looks like building?²⁰  but it is ignorant building?²¹  Rather said Raba: He may scrape it off on to a wall but not on to the ground, lest he come to level holes. It was stated, Mar son of Rabina said: Both are forbidden; R. Papa said: Both are permitted. According to Mar son of Rabina, whereon shall he scrape it? He scrapes it on a plank.²²

Raba said: A man should not sit on the top of a stake,²³  lest an article roll away from him²⁴  and he come to fetch it.

Raba also said: One must not bend sideways a cask [which is standing] on the ground,²⁵  lest he come to level hollows.

Raba also said: One must not squeeze a cloth stopper into the mouth of a jug, lest he come to wring [it] out.

R. Kahana said: As for the clay [mire] on one's garment, he may rub off from the inside but not from the outside.²⁶  An objection is raised: One may scrape off the clay from his shoes with the back of a knife, and that which is on one's garment he may scrape off with [even]²⁷  his finger nail, providing that he does not rub it. Surely that means that he must not rub it at all? — No: he must not rub it from the outside but only from the inside.

R. Abbahu said in R. Eleazar's name in R. Jannai's name: A new shoe may be scraped, but not an old one.

1. Hence the cow will eat after the ass.
2. It eats fodder even when it contains thorns and thistles.
3. Spurning thorns and thistles.
4. V. supra 50a for notes.
5. The two boards of the press fitted on to four perforated rods: the upper board was pressed down and pegs were inserted in the holes to keep it there. The press may be undone by withdrawing these pegs, because the clothes are required for the Sabbath.
6. As the clothes will be wanted during the week, but not on the Sabbath.
7. This was screwed down very tightly, and undoing it would resemble taking a utensil to pieces.
8. V. supra 123a for notes.
9. Be rab may mean either the academy founded by Rab, or scholars in general, v. Weiss, Dor, III, 158.
10. Lit., 'from the side'.
11. Cf. supra 43b, p 201, n. 1,
12. Asheri in Bez. I, 21 reads: R. Huna.
13. Because then it looks like grinding.
14. From usual, which is in a mill or a mortar.
15. I.e., the part of his body that is not in the water.
16. The water upon him.
17. V. Glos.
18. Lit., 'goes down'.
19. His weight makes the water spurt that distance.
20. Sc. the addition of clay to the wall.
21. Lit., 'a field labourer'. I.e., surely none but the ignorant would think of building in such a manner.
22. Lying on the ground.
23. At the entrance to an alley. whereby carrying therein is permitted; v. p. 30, n. 2.
24. 'Without the entrance, where it is public ground.
25. Text as emended by BaH.
26. In the latter case he looks as though he desires to wash the garment, though it is not actual washing.
27. So Wilna Gaon.

With what does one scrape it? — Said R. Abbahu: With the back of a knife. A certain old man said to him, Delete your [teaching] on account of what R. Hiyya taught: One must not scrape either a new shoe or all old one, nor must he rub his foot with oil while it is in the shoe or sandal;¹  but one may rub his foot with oil and place it in his shoe or sandal; he may also oil his whole body and roll himself on a leather spread without fear.²  R. Hisda said: They learnt this only [if his intention is] to polish it;³  but [if it is] to dress it,⁴  it is forbidden. 'To dress it'? surely that is obvious? Moreover, does any one permit it [if he desires] to polish it? — Rather if stated, It was thus stated: R. Hisda said: They learnt this only of a quantity [sufficient merely] to polish it; but [if] the quantity⁵  [is sufficient] to dress it, it is forbidden.

Our Rabbis taught: A small[-footed] man must not go out with the shoe of a large[-footed] man,⁶  but he may go out with [too] large a shirt. A woman must not go out with a gaping shoe,⁷  nor may she perform halizah therewith; yet if she does perform halizah therewith, the halizah is valid. And one must not go out with a new shoe: of what shoe did they rule this? Of a woman's shoe.⁸  Bar Kappara taught: They learnt [this] only where she had not gone out therein one hour before nightfall;⁹  but if she went out therein on the eve of the Sabbath, it is permitted.

One [Baraitha] taught: A shoe may be removed from its last; while another taught: It may not be removed. There is no difficulty: one is [according to] R. Eliezer, the other [according to] the Rabbis. For we learnt: If a shoe is on the last, — R. Eliezer declares it clean, while the Sages declare it is unclean.¹⁰  This is well according to Raba, who maintained: It is permitted [to handle] an article whose function is for a forbidden purpose, whether it is required itself or for its place: then it is correct. But on Abaye's view that it may be [handled] for itself, but it is forbidden [to handle it] when its place is required,¹¹  what can be said?¹²  — We treat here of one [a shoe] that is loose [on the last].¹³  For it was taught, R. Judah said: If it is loose. it is permitted [to remove it]. The reason [then why it is permitted] is because it is loose. But if it is not loose it is not [permitted]? This is well on Abaye's view that an article whose function is for a forbidden purpose may be [handled] when required for itself, but not when its place [only] is required: then it is correct. But according to Raba, who maintains, it is permitted [to handle it] both when required for itself or when its place is required, what can be said: [for] why particularly a loose [shoe], — even if not loose too it is thus? That¹⁴  represents R. Judah's view in R. Eliezer's name. For it was taught: R. Judah said in R. Eliezer's name: If it is loose, it is permitted.¹⁵

CHAPTER XXI

MISHNAH. A MAN MAY TAKE UP HIS SON WHILE HE HAS A STONE IN HIS HAND OR A BASKET WITH A STONE IN IT; AND UNCLEAN TERUMAH MAY BE HANDLED TOGETHER WITH CLEAN [TERUMAH] OR WITH HULLIN.¹⁶  R. JUDAH SAID: ONE MAY ALSO REMOVE¹⁷  THE ADMIXTURE [OF TERUMAH IN HULLIN] WHEN ONE [PART IS NEUTRALIZED] IN A HUNDRED [PARTS].¹⁸

GEMARA. Raba said: If one carries out¹⁹  a live child with a purse hanging around its neck, he is culpable on account of the purse; a dead child with a purse hanging around its neck, he is not culpable. 'A live child with a purse hanging around its neck, he is culpable on account of the purse. But let him be culpable on account of the child? — Raba agrees with R. Nathan, who maintained, A living [person] carries himself.²⁰  But let the purse be counted as nought in relation to the child? Did we not learn, [If one carries out] a living person in a bed, he is not culpable, even in respect of the bed, because the bed is subsidiary to him? — A bed is accounted as nought in relation to a living person,²¹  but a purse is not accounted as nought in relation to the child.

'A dead child with a purse hanging around its neck, he is not culpable.' But let him be culpable on account of the child? Raba agrees with R. Simeon, who maintained: One is not culpable on account of a labour unrequired per se.²²

We learnt: A MAN MAY TAKE UP HIS SON WHILE HE HAS A STONE IN HIS HAND?²³  — The School of R. Jannai said: This refers to a child who pines for his father.²⁴  If so,

1. Because the oil incidentally softens the leather, which is forbidden.
2. Of transgression.
3. When he puts his oiled foot in the shoe or sandal his purpose is to polish the leather.
4. To soften the leather or make it more pliable.
5. Of oil rubbed on to the foot.
6. Lest it fall off, and he come to carry it.
7. Rashi. Jast.: 'a flappy (outworn) shoe' — either because she may be laughed at and so she will take it off' (Rashi), or it fall off, and she come to carry it.
8. She is particular about the fit, and if it is not exact, she may remove and carry it. 'New' means never worn at all.
9. Lit., 'while it was yet day Friday.'
10. 'Clean' and 'unclean' mean not susceptible and susceptible to uncleanness respectively. R. Eliezer holds that as long as it is on the last it is not a completely finished article, whereas only such can become unclean. Since it is not a finished article, it may not be handled on the Sabbath. The view of the Rabbis is the reverse.
11. V. notes supra 123b.
12. For the function of the last is a forbidden one, and in removing the shoe one must necessarily handle the last, though he does not require the use of the last itself, and according to Abaye that is forbidden.
13. So that the last is not handled at all.
14. The Baraitha which makes a distinction between where it is loose or not
15. Though R. Eliezer holds that as long as it is on the last it is not completely finished (v. supra) and therefore may not be handled, that is only if it is tightly fitted on it, so that there is some difficulty in removing it. But if it is loose and comes off easily he admits that it is finished; hence it ranks as an article, is susceptible to defilement, and may be handled on the Sabbath.
16. Although the stone or the unclean terumah by itself may not be handled as mukzeh.
17. Lit., 'take up'.
18. If one part of terumah is accidentally mixed with a hundred parts of hullin it is neutralized and the mixture is permitted to non-priests. Nevertheless, since it does contain some terumah, though it cannot be distinguished from the rest, one part must be removed, and R. Judah permits this on the Sabbath.
19. From a private into a public domain.
20. V. supra 94a.
21. Since the bed is required for him.
22. V. supra 30a; carrying out a dead child comes under this category, supra 94b.
23. This proves that the man is not regarded as himself holding the stone, which would be forbidden. Hence by analogy he does not carry out the purse suspended around the child's neck; why then is he culpable on its account?
24. If he does not take him up he may sicken with pining, though it will not actually endanger him: hence since the father does not actually handle the stone himself he is permitted to take him up.