Shabbat 143: Table Scraps, Sponges, Loaves, Pits, Chamber Pots, Squeezing and Liquids

A new Mishna teaches that Beit Shammai say one may clear bones and shells left from the shabbat meal from the table with one's hand, and Beit Hillel say that one may remove the entire board and shake the bones and shells from it but not with one's hand because they are set-aside and cannot be moved.  We may clear crumbs even if they are less than an olive bulk or pea/lentil pod.  These are fit for animal consumption and so they can be moved.  If a sponge has a leather handle, we may wipe the table with it but we must be careful not to come to squeeze liquid from it.  A dry sponge with a handle may be moved on Shabbat without becoming ritually impure - a sponge cannot become ritually impure by Torah nor by rabbinic law.

The rabbis discuss many ways that things might be moved or not moved on Shabbat.  It is said that some rabbis would use a loaf of bread to move almost anything, "A man may perform all his needs with bread" as long as the bread is not ruined.  This is where the rabbis turn to the scatological.  Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, would put bread into a chamber pot with excrement.  The Sages allowed moving repulsive vessels.  Date pits could be put there as well.  Whatever was in the chamber pot could be moved, as it became repulsive.  Rabbis also discuss the unusual ways that they would dispose of date pits, including with their tongues and behind the divan.

Amud (b) begins with a new Mishna, as well.  We learn that if a barrel of wine or oil breaks on Shabbat, we may take food enough for three meals from it.  We are also permitted to tell others to come and take food for themselves.  This cannot be done by soaking up the liquid because that might lead to squeezing.  We are not allowed to squeeze fruits on Shabbat but we my eat the liquid that seeps from fruit intended for eating on Shabbat.  If the fruits were designated for liquids, what seeps from them on Shabbat are prohibited.  Honeycombs crushed on erev Shabbat and honey/wax that has seeped from them on their on are not permitted but Rabbi Eliezer permits using them.

The rabbis consider different fruits, like olives and grapes or mulberries and pomegranates, and their aptness for juicing.  They also tell us about a Mishna teaching that a woman's milk is considered a liquid rendering food susceptible to ritual impurity whether or not the milk was expressed purposefully.  Milk of an animal only renders food susceptible to ritual impurity if it was milked volitionally but not if it dripped on its own.  Human blood from one with a ritual impurity is considered to be a liquid and thus if it touches food that food will become ritually impure.  Animal blood is different, but it also renders food susceptible to ritual impurity.