Shabbat 95: Reasons for Prohibitions on Shabbat; Seeds, Vessels and Ritual Puirty

Women can put eye shadow or blush on herself during Shabbat because we cannot do this 'dyeing' well when we do it for ourselves.  When we do this for other women, though, we are liable.  Similarly, braiding a woman's hair is thought to be prohibited because it is 'building', especially when done for ourselves.

A bariata teaches that we cannot milk an animal, set milk to curdle, make cheese in the measure of a dried fig-bulk, sweep the house, sprinkle water on the floor or remove honeycombs.  If we do these things accidentally we are liable to bring sin-offerings.  If we do them intentionally on a Festival we receive forty lashes.  But these are rabbinic decrees and not Torah law, so are we liable to bring sin-offerings or to receive lashes at all?

The rabbis explain why milking, setting milk to curdle and making cheese are prohibited.  One would be breaking the rules regarding extracting, a subcategory of threshing, selecting, and building.  One who sprinkles water on the floor and removes honeycombs is liable to bring a sin-offering if the actions are done unwittingly.  On a Festival, one receives forty lashes for these transgressions.  Taking from a honeycomb is like picking from a tree.  Sprinkling water in the city of Mechoza was permitted there were no holes to smooth out on unpaved floors.  Instead it was a way of managing the dusty stone floors.  One rabbi notes that a large basin of water can do this - we wash our face in one corner, our hands in another and our feet in yet another.  Eventually the entire house is sprinkled.

A new Mishna teaches us that one who severs a leaf or a fruit from a plant growing in a perforated flowerpot on Shabbat is liable because that plant has the status of one that is connected to the ground.  Picking from it is like the forbidden act of reaping.  Picking from a pot without holes is exempt but it is prohibited to do so ab initio.  Rabbi Shimon says that one who does so is exempt in all cases.

The Gemara notes that the only difference between perforated and unperforated pots is that seeds seeds in a perforated pot have the legal status of seeds planted in the ground and thus cannot become ritually impure.  Rabbi Shimon says that the status of a perforated pot is associated with things being detached.  However, ritual impurity is a separate matter, for Leviticus 11:37 teaches that "If anything falls from their carcasses upon any sowing seed that is sown, it is pure". 

An Elder asked Rabbi Zeira about a case where the root of a plant in a perforated pot is opposite the hole - is it considered to be attached to the ground?  Rabbi Zeira was silent.  Later R. Zeira was found saying, "And Rabbbi Shimon agrees that if the hole in the flowerpot is large enough to render it ritually pure (unable to hold olives), it is considered to be attached to the earth regarding Shabbat.

The rabbis end up arguing about the placement of the pot and whether it might be considered to be a vessel.  If it is perforated with a small hole to extract liquid, it is not a vessel and is ritually pure.  The rabbis end by speaking of the size of the holes in an earthenware vessel.  If the mouth of the vessel is surrounded by a sealed cover, i toes not become ritually pure even if the hole was large enough to enable a pomegranate seed to go out.  It protects what is inside the vessel from contracting impurity unless the majority of the vessel is broken.