Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Shabbath

Folio 51a

on account of kil'ayim,¹  or the seventh year,²  or tithes,³  and they may be removed on the Sabbath.⁴  This is indeed a refutation.⁵

MISHNAH. IF IT [A POT] WAS NOT COVERED⁶  WHILE IT WAS YET DAY, IT MAY NOT BE COVERED AFTER NIGHTFALL.⁷  IF IT WAS COVERED BUT BECAME UNCOVERED, IT MAY BE RECOVERED. A CRUSE MAY BE FILLED WITH [COLD] WATER AND PLACED UNDER A PILLOW OR BOLSTER.⁸

GEMARA. Rab Judah said in Samuel's name: Cold [water, food, etc.⁹  may be hidden.; Said R. Joseph, What does he inform us? We learnt: A CRUSE MAY BE FILLED WITH [COLD] WATER AND PLACED UNDER A PILLOW OR A BOLSTER. Abaye answered him: He tells us much. For if [we learnt] from the Mishnah [alone], I might argue: That applies only to an object which it is not customary to store away,¹⁰  but not to an object which it is customary to store away.¹¹  Therefore he informs us [that it is not so].

R. Huna said on Rabbi's authority: Cold [water, food, etc.] may not be hidden.¹²  But it was taught: Rabbi permitted cold [water, etc.] to be hidden? — There is no difficulty: the one [ruling was given] before he heard it from R. Ishmael son of R. Jose; the other after he heard it [from him]. For Rabbi sat and declared: Cold [water, etc.] may not be hidden. Said R. ishmael son of R. Jose to him, My father permitted cold [water] to be hidden. Then the Elder¹³  has already given a ruling, answered he.¹⁴  R. Papa observed: Come and see how much they loved each other! For were R. Jose alive, he would have sat submissively before Rabbi, since R. Ishmael son of R. Jose, who occupied his father's place,¹⁵  sat submissively before Rabbi,¹⁶  yet he [Rabbi] said, Then the Elder has already given a ruling.¹⁷

R. Nahman said to his slave Daru: Put away cold water for me,¹⁸  and bring me water heated by a Gentile¹⁹  cook²⁰  When R. Ammi heard thereof, he objected. Said R. Joseph: Why should be have objected? He acted in accordance with his teachers, one [act] being according to Rab, and the other according to Samuel. According to Samuel, for Rab Judah said in Samuel's name: Cold [water, etc.] may be hidden. According to Rab, for R. Samuel son of R. Isaac said in Rab's name: Whatever can be eaten in its natural state,²¹  raw, is not subject to [the interdict against] the cooking of Gentiles. But he [R. Ammi] held that an important man is different.²²

Our Rabbis taught: Though it was said, One may not store [food] after nightfall even in a substance which does not add heat, yet if one comes to add,²³  he may add. How does he do it?²⁴  R. Simeon b. Gamaliel said: He may remove the sheets and replace them with blankets, or remove the blankets and replace them with sheets.²⁵  And thus did R. Simeon b. Gamaliel say: Only the self-same boiler was forbidden;²⁶  but if it [the food] was emptied from that boiler into another, it is permitted: seeing that he cools it,²⁷  will he indeed heat it up!²⁸  If one stored [food] in and covered [it] with a substance that may be handled on the Sabbath, or if he stored [it] in something that may not be handled on the Sabbath, but covered [it] with something that may be handled on the Sabbath, he may remove [the covering] and replace it.²⁹  If one stored [food] in and covered [it] with a substance that may not be handled on the Sabbath, or if he stored (it] in something that may be handled on the Sabbath, but covered it with something that may not be handled on the Sabbath, provided it was partly uncovered, he may take it [out] and replace [it];³⁰  but if not,

1. V. Glos. This does not constitute the planting of diverse seeds.
2. If these are from the sixth year and are placed in the earth in the seventh, they are not subject to the laws of seventh year produce.
3. Having been tithed before they were placed in the earth they are not to be retithed on removal, as though this were a new harvest.
4. On this account the proviso is made that some of the leaves must be uncovered, for otherwise it would be necessary to remove the earth, which may not be done. But the other statements hold good even if they are entirely covered (Rashi and Tosaf.).
5. For it is not stated that the earth must be loosened before the Sabbath.
6. I.e., put away in something to retain its heat.
7. V. supra 34a.
8. To prevent the sun from reaching and warming it.
9. V. preceding note.
10. To heat it, as for instance cold water; therefore it may be hidden in order to keep it cold.
11. For if permission is given to hide it in order to keep it cold, the reverse too may be regarded as permitted.
12. To keep it cool.
13. The Sage, referring to R. Jose.
14. And I retract.
15. I.e., he was as great as his father (Rashi).
16. As a disciple before his master.
17. Thus showing deference to his views.
18. On the Sabbath.
19. Lit., 'Syrian'.
20. On weekdays. Food cooked by Gentiles is forbidden. R. Nahman showed that this interdict does not apply to boiled water.
21. Lit., 'as it is raw'.
22. He should be more stringent for himself.
23. Another covering.
24. In which the pot is wrapped.
25. According as he desires more or less heat.
26. I.e., food may not be stored after nightfall in the same pot in which it was cooked.
27. By emptying it from one pot into another.
28. Surely there is no fear of this, which is the reason for the usual prohibition (supra 34a); hence it is permitted.
29. Since the cover can be removed, one can take hold of the pot.
30. Since there is something by which he can grasp it.

it may not be removed and replaced. R. Judah said: Thoroughly beaten flax is the same as foliage.¹  A boiler may be placed upon a boiler, and a pot upon a pot,²  but not a pot upon a boiler,³  or a boiler upon a pot;⁴  and the mouth [thereof]⁵  may [also] be daubed over with dough:⁶  not in order to make them⁷  hotter, but that [their heat] may be retained. And just as hot [food] may not be hidden, so may cold [food] not be hidden. Rabbi permitted cold [food] to be hidden. And neither snow nor hail may be broken up on the Sabbath in order that the water should flow, but they may be placed in a goblet or dish, without fear.⁸

CHAPTER V

MISHNAH. WHEREWITH MAY AN ANIMAL GO OUT [ON THE SABBATH], AND WHEREWITH MAY IT NOT GO OUT? A CAMEL MAY GO FORTH WITH A BIT, A DROMEDARY [NE'AKAH] WITH ITS NOSE-RING [HOTEM], A LYBIAN ASS WITH A HALTER, A HORSE WITH ITS CHAIN, AND ALL CHAINWEARING ANIMALS MAY GO OUT WITH THEIR CHAINS AND BE LED BY THEIR CHAINS, AND [WATER OF LUSTRATION] MAY BE SPRINKLED UPON THEM, AND THEY MAY BE IMMERSED IN THEIR PLACE.⁹

GEMARA. What is meant by a NE'AKAH WITH A HOTEM? — Said Rabbah b. Bar Hanah: A white [female] camel with its iron nose-ring.

A LYBIAN ASS WITH A HALTER. R. Huna said: That means a Lybian ass with an iron halter.¹⁰  Levi sent money to Be Hozae¹¹  for a Lybian ass to be bought for him. [But] they parcelled up some barley and sent it to him, to intimate to him that an ass's steps depend on barley.¹²

Rab Judah said in Samuel's name: They [the scholars] transposed them¹³  [in their questions] before Rabbi: What about one animal going forth with [the accoutrement] of the other? As for a dromedary [ne'akah] with a bit, there is no question; since it is not guarded thereby, it is a burden.¹⁴  The problem is in respect of a camel with a nose-ring. How is it: Since a bit is sufficient, this [the nose-ring] is a burden; or Perhaps an additional guard is not called a burden? Said R. Ishmael son of R. Jose before him, Thus did my father rule: Four animals may go out with a bit: a horse, mule, camel and ass. What does this exclude? Surely it excludes a camel [from being led out] with a nose-ring? — No: it excludes a dromedary [ne'akah] with a bit. In a Baraitha it was taught: A Lybian ass and a camel may go out with a bit.

This is dependent on Tannaim: A beast may not go forth with a muzzle;¹⁵  Hananiah said: It may go forth with a muzzle and with anything whereby it is guarded. To what is the reference? Shall we say, to a large beast? is a muzzle sufficient! But if a small beast is meant, is a muzzle insufficient?¹⁶  Hence they must surely differ in respect to a cat: the first Tanna holds: since a mere cord is sufficient, it [a muzzle] is a burden;¹⁷  while Hananiah holds, Whatever is an additional guard is not called a burden. R. Huna b. Hiyya said in Samuel's name: The halachah, is as Hananiah.

Levi son of R. Huna b. Hiyya and Rabbah b. R. Huna were travelling on a road, when Levi's ass went ahead of Rabbah b. R. Huna's, whereupon Rabbah b. R. Huna felt aggrieved.¹⁸  Said he [Levi], I will say something to him, so that

1. It adds heat, and therefore food may not be put away in it even before the Sabbath.
2. A boiler is of copper, and a pot is of earthenware.
3. That is the corrected text.
4. Var. lec.: and a pot upon a boiler, but not a boiler upon a pot. [The reason for the distinction is not clear and Rashi explains because a pot being of earthenware retains more effective heat which it communicates to the boiler of copper. Tosef. Shab. VI, however reads: and a pot upon a boiler and a boiler upon a pot. V. Asheri and Alfasi].
5. [I.e., of the lower vessel, v. R. Hananel].
6. Kneaded before the Sabbath.
7. [I.e., the contents of the upper vessel].
8. Of desecrating the Sabbath, though they may melt there.
9. To whom the law of Sabbath rest applies. V. Ex. XX, 10; Deut. V, 14. If the chain becomes ritually unclean, the ceremony of sprinkling (v. Num. XIX, 14 seq.) and immersion (tebillah) may be performed while they are on the animal.
10. The words used in the Mishnah had become unfamiliar to the Babylonian amoraim and needed explaining.
11. A district on the caravan route along the Tigris and its canals. The modern Khuzistan, a province of S.W. Persia, Obermeyer, Landschaft, pp. 204ff.
12. I.e., barley is the proper food for asses. — Rashi: they returned the money, not wishing to send an ass so far.
13. [I.e., the appurtenances mentioned in the Mishnah.
14. And must certainly not be led out with it.
15. Or, collar.
16. It is a complete guard in itself, and there can be no reason for prohibiting it.
17. Therefore it is forbidden.
18. He thought that Levi had acted intentionally, which was disrespectful, for Rabbah b. R. Huna was a greater scholar.