Shabbat 157: Timing of Nullifying a Woman's Vows, Enhancing Mitzvot on Shabbat

Our final Mishna in Massechet Shabbat teaches that a father or husband may nullify his daughter or wife's vows on Shabbat or request that a Sage dissolve vows regarding Shabbat.  We may seal a window on Shabbat to dissolve vows that allow for more joy on Shabbat.  We may measure a rag to figure out whether or not it is large enough to contract ritual impurity and we may measure a ritual bath to determine if it contains enough water for immersion.  

We learn that Rabbi Tzadok's father and Abba Shaul ben Botnit sealed a window using an earthenware vessel and tied and earthenware shard with a long reed-grass with a temporary knot to determine whether or not the roof had an opening the size of a handbreadth.  From their statements and actions we learn that we may seal windows, measure and tie knots on Shabbat.

The Gemarra tells us that Zutei, a student of Rav Pappa, tells us that we may nullify vows on Shabbat for the purpose of bettering Shabbat only.  Rav Ashi looks at the timing of a woman's vow and we are reminded that a father or husband has twenty four hours after learning of this woman's vow to annul it.  The rabbis walk us through examples of the other halachot regarding sealing windows and measuring roofing.  At the end of our daf, we are reminded about measuring only to enhance a mitzvah - Rabba bar Rav Huna was acting "unawares" when he was sitting in a tub without measuring it.  Thus his actions were not prohibited.  

Shabbat 156: Constellations, Astrology, Hours of the Day

The rabbis discuss how we can do things in unusual ways on Shabbat.  

Some interesting notes:

• one born on a Monday will be short tempered because this is the day that the upper and lower waters were divided during creation on that second day
• one born on the third day of the week will be rich and promiscuous because that was the day vegetation was created mixing boundaries between the grass and the plants
• one born on the fourth day will be wise and enlightened because this was the day the lights from heaven were hung in the sky and wisdom is a type of light
• one born on the fifth day of the week will be one who performs acts of kindness because this day fish and fowl were created and they are sustained only by G-d's kindness
• One born on the sixth day of the week will be a seeker and Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak said that this means one will seek out mitzvot like how Friday prepares for Shabbat
• one born on Shabbat will die on Shabbat because Shabbat was desecrated on his behalf; Rava bar Rav Sheila says that he will be called a person of great sanctity

• one born born under the influence of the Sun will be radiant, self sufficient, and his secrets will be exposed; stealing will be seen by everyone
• one born under the influence of Venus will be rich and promiscuous because fire was born at that our, like the evil inclination
• one born under the influence of mercury will be enlightened and an expert because Mercury scribes for the sun; this person will destroy and build, build and destroy; others will have to support him and his secrets will be hidden, if he steals he will succeed and he is like the mood who changes form
• one born under the influence of Saturn will waste his thoughts and all of his efforts will be for nothing
• one born under the influence of Jupiter (tzedek) will be a just person (tzadkan)
• one born under the influence of mars will be one who spills blood either medicinally or though thievery or slaughtering or a circumciser; Rabba argued this point based on his own behaviour and Abaye notes that he does kill and punish as a judge

The rabbis argue about whether or not the Jewish people are influenced by constellations.  As an outsider, it is difficult to understand how this could be understood as anything but a form of idolatry.

A new Mishna tells us that we may cut pumpkins before an animal on Shabbat as long as they were picked before Shabbat.  We may cut an animal carcass before the dogs on Shabbat.  Rabbi Yehuda says that if it was not already a carcass before Shabbat, we cannot cut off or even move it on Shabbat because it was not prepared for use on Shabbat.

Shabbat 152: Tears, Old Age, Dying and the Soul After Death

Rabbi Yochanan says in the name of Rabbi Yosei ben Ketzarta that tears from smoke, sorrowful crying, and from the bathroom are bad for the eyes.  Tears from medicine, laughter and sharp vegetables are good for the eyes.  The rabbis go on to discuss some of the advantages of youth.  They also speak of the Eunich, who does not have the advantages of a beautiful beard, a loving wife, nor the gift of children from G-d.

 

The rabbis focus in on getting older and losing their vitality, whether that is their stomachs not working properly, generally not sleeping well, not enjoying the voices of men and women in song, not having a sex drive which can motivate one to make peace at home.  We learn that promiscuity results in the symptoms of old age taking hold before their time. 

 

We learn about sitting shiva in the house of the deceased.  After seven days, the deceased appeared to Rav Yehuda in his dream and said “Put your mind to rest, for you have put my mind to rest”.   Rabbi Abbahu says that a deceased person can hear what we say in front of him or her until the tomb is sealed with the top-stone.   Other rabbis disagree, but only about the timing, not about the deceased hearing what we say.  Proof texts are provided.  We are told that we return to G-d in purity, as we came.  There are ways to protect our souls, we learn, including keeping our bodies pure and rested. 

 

At the end of our daf the rabbis discuss the souls of the righteous being stored beneath the Throne of Glory.  However the oracle woman raised Shmuel up through necromancy.  Thus we learn that within twelve months of his death, a person’s deceased body remains while the soul ascends and descend.  After twelve months, the body does not exist and the soul ascends for good. 

 

This is an explanation of our putting headstones on graves after eleven months; all souls would ascend by that point in time.

Shabbat 151: Bathing After Shabbat, Preparing a Corpse, Compassion for the Poor and “karma”

The rabbis continue to discus Abba Shaul’s principle: Regarding anything that I may discuss on Shabbat, I am permitted to wait for nightfall for its sake.

 

A new Mishna adds to our last Mishna: We may wait for nightfall at the Shabbat boundary to attend to the needs of a bride and the needs of a corpse, like bringing a coffin or shrouds.  If a Gentile brings flutes on Shabbat to play during the eulogy and procession, a Jew may not eulogize with the m unless they are from from within the eiruv.  If Gentiles make a coffin and dig him a grave on Shabbat and then they decide to give them to someone else, a Jew may be buried there.  But if it was initially intended for a Jew, a Jew may never be buried there. 

 

Shmuel teaches that this suggests that uncertainty in whether or not the Gentile’s actions were for a Jew permits a burial.  Similarly, if it is uncertain where the flutes came from for a funeral, we are permitted to have them.  Our notes teach that we wait the amount of time that it would take to deliver the flutes from a certain area to determine whether or not the flutes actually came from that place. 

 

We also learn that Jews must wait the amount of time it would take for bathhouse water to heat up after Shabbat so that we are not benefitting from the water that was heated on Shabbat.  This is only when there is a majority of Jews in a city.  If there are a majority of Gentiles, Jews may bathe immediately after Shabbat. If there is a fifty/fifty split, one waits as long as it would take to heat the water.   If there is a small bath and a ruling power in the city who has others heat the water immediately after Shabbat, a Jew may use that bath right away as well.

 

A second new Mishna teaches that we may perform all of the needs of the dead on Shabbat including smearing the body with oil and rinsing it with water.  We may not move its limbs because of the prohibition against moving set-aside objects.  We may remove a pillow from beneath a corpse and put it cold sand to delay decomposition. We may tie an opening jaw without closing it completely but by stopping it from opening further.  We are permitted to support a broken roof beam with long poles from a bed or with a bench but only to stop it from falling further.

 

There are some bizarre mentions of what one might do to help a corpse from swelling, like sealing up orifices and putting cold and metal vessels on the stomach.  King Solomon is said to speak about a silver cord, a golden bowl, a pitcher broken and a wheel felled (Ecclesiastes 12:6).  This is interpreted by the Gemara as what happens to a corpse.  Another disgusting interpretation of Malachai 2:3 is shared as well. 

 

We look at our third new Mishna.  We are not to shut the eyes of the dead on Shabbat because the body is set aside.  We may not shut the eyes on a weekday because the soul is departing.  If we shut the eyes while the soul departs we are actually murdering someone as we are hastening a person’s death.

The Gemara is clear that people who are alive, even babies at one day old, have the potential to do mitzvot and thus we may desecrate Shabbat for them.  For the deceased, even King David, we do not desecrate Shabbat because once we die, we are “idle from mitzvot”.

 

The rabbis discuss the relationships between live and dead animals people.  After this conversation Rabbi Chanina says that it is prohibited to sleep alone in a house.  Anyone who does this will be seized by the evil spirit Lilith. 

 

The Gemara discusses Rabbi Chiyya and his wife.  He advised her to give a poor person bread immediately so that they will do the same for her (and his children).  Are. You cursing our children, she asks.   He quotes Deuteronomy 13:18 about the cyclical nature of compassion. 

 

We are also told that Rabbi Chanina did not cry when his daughter died.  His wife asked if he had just let a chicken out of the house that he showed no signs of sorrow.  He said that if he cries he will suffer twice, from bereavement and from blindness.

Shabbat 150: The Eiruv and Discussion of Boudaries/Permitted Acts on Shabbat

A new Mishan teaches us that a person may not hire workers on Shabbat to work after Shabbat.  We cannot tell agents to do this for us.  We cannot wait for sunset at the edge of the Shabbat boundary to do this or to bring produce in from the field.  Abba Shaul stated a general principle: regarding anything that I am permitted to discuss on Shabbat, I am permitted to wait for nightfall at the edge of the Shabbat boundary for its sake. 

 

The Gemara describes specific ways of asking things that might not transgress Shabbat prohibitions. The rabbis specify that we cannot say the Shema in front of a naked Gentile.  We know that we cannot do this in front of a naked Jew; why ask again?  In case we look to Ezikiel’s comparison of a Gentile’s skin to that of a donkey and on thinks that means that we can exempt Gentiles from this requirement.  The rabbis mention that Noah nakedness was not seen by his sons, and Noah was a Gentile. 

 

We are permitted to make calculations regarding a mitzva on Shabbat.  We may count out charity for the poor and attend to requirements – saving a life, communal needs, community affairs – on Shabbat.  We may go to theatres, circus performances and courthouses to attend to these affairs on Shabbat.  We can make a shittach, arranged marriage, on Shabbat; we may find teachers for our children.  In other words, we are told that we are permitted to speak about the “business of Heaven” on Shabbat.

 

The rabbis address waiting at the edge of the Shabbat boundary.  They note that if there are small guardhouses, we are permitted to walk to another city over Shabbat.  This is because an entire area can be included in one eiruv if these guardhouses mark the way from one town to another.  Even without the guardhouses, it is permitted to speak about such a journey simply because the journey would be permitted if the guardhouses were there.

 

In further discussion about distinguishing between the sacred and the profane at the end of Shabbat, Abba Shaul’s states a general principle: regarding anything that I am permitted to discuss on Shabbat, I am permitted to fair for nightfall at the edge of the eiruv for its sake.

 

Shabbat 149: Drawing Lots in the Family, Nebuchanezzer and Sin

We just learned a new Mishna.  In daf 149, the Gemara explains that we cannot read our guests or appetizers from a written list in case we made a change or in case we read from a business document accidentally.  The rabbis also want to ensure that we cannot erase writing from up high or low down.  They consider different types of writing.

 

The Gemara speaks of other tanna’im who argues about the same principle: one may not look in a mirror on Shabbat in case one sees a hair hanging and plucks it.  Rabbi Meir permits looking into a mirror on Shabbat if it is fixed on the wall because while going to get scissors to cut the hair, one will remember that it is Shabbat. 

 

We learned in the Mishna that one may draw lots with one’s children to decide on who gets which portion of food.  Why is this restricted to family members?   The rabbis say that other groups might be less familiar with each other and the action could become a business transaction.  And why do we allow drawing lots with our children and families?  Perhaps it is the same reason that we permit people to charge their families members interest on loans: to teach them how difficult it is to repay a loan taken with interest.  Further, there is no violation of halacha because the person lending actually owns the money of those family members, too.

 

The rabbis tell a story about the evil Nebuchadnezzar who would get other kings drunk and rape them.  He erased laughter and song.  People were afraid – not only of him, but of the places he had been, as if demonic spirits would dance there.  When he was with the righteous Zedekiah, something changed.  Nebuchadnezzar’s foreskin “was stretched three hundred cubits and it surrounded the entire feast”.    The people in Gehenna were afraid that he had come to rule over them there, but a Divine Voice said, “Whom do you pass in beauty? Go down and be laid with the uncircumcised” (Ezekiel 32:19). 

 

The connection between evil and homosexual behaviour is very obvious in today’s daf.  Clearly it is evil to rape, it is evil for a man to be with another man, it is evil for one to destroy laughter and happiness.  Further, having a foreskin is a vulnerability that can (and might!) be used to punish you for your evil deeds.

Shabbat 148: Managing Borrowing and Casting Lots on Shabbat

Our last Mishna shared information about smearing and rubbing oil on one's body during Shabbat in addition to other things that might be done on Shabbat but in unusual ways.  Today the rabbis their discussion of that Mishna by teaching about different types of healing that may or may not be done on Shabbat, including setting a broken bone.

A new Mishna teaches that people may borrow jugs of wine and jugs of oil from another on Shabbat as long as these aren't loans.  The same applies to loaves of bread.  A cloak may be left as colateral.  On erev Pesach one may leave a cloak with another while securing a Paschal lamb and then pay him after the Festival.  

The Gemara suggests that we should not be put in a situation where we might write down information about a loan.  The rabbis speak about other atypical situations that may or may not protect people from transgressions on Shabbat.  Rava bar Rav Chanan tells Abaye that we may not clap hands, clap a hand against our bodies, or dance on a Festival, but we do not stop other s from this.  The  principle is that Jews should not be warned, for they would complete their actions anyway and then be liable as intentional sinners.  One example is women who only fast from nightfall on Yom Kippur when we are told to begin the fast while it is still daytime.  

Much of the rabbis' conversations have to do with how to manage loans or other monetary details around repaying debts.  They even consider the Sabbatical Year.  

Our daf ends with a new Mishna: we may count our guests and our appetizers by memory but not with a written list.  We may draw lots with our children and family members at the table to determine who will eat which portion of food as long as all portions are similar sizes.  We may cast lots among the priests for sanctified foods on Festivals but not for specific portions of food.