Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Shabbath

Folio 65a

He may spread them out in the sun, but not in the sight of people; R. Eleazar and R. Simeon forbid it.¹

AND WITH THE WADDING IN HER EAR. Rami b. Ezekiel learnt: Providing it is tied to her ear.

AND WITH THE WADDING IN HER SANDALS. Rami b. Ezekiel learnt: Providing it is tied to her sandal.

AND WITH THE CLOTH SHE PREPARED FOR HER MENSTRUATION. Rami b. Ezekiel thought to say, Providing it is fastened between her thighs. Said Raba, Even if it is not tied to her: since it is repulsive, she will not come to carry it.²  R. Jeremiah asked R. Abba: What if she made a handle for it?³  — It is permitted, replied he.⁴  It was stated likewise: R. Nahman b. Oshaia said in R. Johanan's name: [Even] if she made a handle for it, it is permitted.

R. Johanan used to go out with them⁵  to the Beth Hamidrash, but his companions disagreed with him.⁶  R. Jannai would go out with it into a karmelith⁷  but all his contemporaries disagreed with him. But Rami b. Ezekiel learnt: Providing it is tied to her ear?⁸  — There is no difficulty: in the one case it is firmly placed;⁹  in the other it was not.¹⁰

WITH A PEPPERCORN, AND WITH A GLOBULE OF SALT. A peppercorn is for [counteracting] the [evil] breath of the mouth; a globule of salt is for the gum.¹¹

AND WITH ANYTHING THAT SHE PLACES¹²  IN HER MOUTH. [Sc.] ginger, or cinnamon.

AN ARTIFICIAL TOOTH, [OR] A GOLD TOOTH, — RABBI PERMITS BUT THE SAGES FORBID IT. R. Zera said: They taught this only of a gold [tooth], but as for a silver one, all agree that it is permitted.¹³

Abaye said: Rabbi, R. Eliezer, and R. Simeon b. Eleazar all hold that whatever detracts from a person['s appearance], one will not come to display it. Rabbi, as stated.¹⁴  R. Eliezer, for it was taught: R. Eliezer declares [her] non-culpable on account of a kobeleth and a flask of spikenard oil.¹⁵  R. Simeon b. Eleazar, for it was taught: R. Simeon b. Eleazar stated a general rule: Whatever is [worn] beneath the net, one may go out therewith; whatever is [worn] above the net, one may not go out with it.¹⁶

MISHNAH. SHE MAY GO FORTH WITH THE SELA'¹⁷  ON A ZINITH [CALLUS]. YOUNG GIRLS¹⁸  MAY GO OUT WITH THREADS, AND EVEN WITH CHIPS IN THEIR EARS.¹⁹  ARABIAN WOMEN MAY GO FORTH VEILED, AND MEDIAN WOMEN MAY GO FORTH WITH THEIR CLOAKS THROWN OVER THEIR SHOULDERS.²⁰  INDEED, ALL PEOPLE [MAY DO LIKEWISE]. BUT THAT THE SAGES SPOKE OF NORMAL USAGE.²¹  A WOMAN MAY WEIGHT [HER CLOAK] WITH A STONE, NUT, OR COIN, PROVIDING THAT SHE DOES NOT ATTACH THE WEIGHT IN THE FIRST PLACE ON THE SABBATH.

GEMARA. What is ZINITH? A growth caused by the soil.²²  And why particularly a sela'? Shall we say that anything hard is beneficial thereto? Then let a shard be prepared for it? Again, if it is on account of the corrosion,²³  let a metal foil be used? But if it is on account of the figure,²⁴  let him use any circular plate?²⁵  Said Abaye: This proves that all [these things] are beneficial for it.²⁶

YOUNG GIRLS MAY GO OUT WITH THREADS. Samuel's father did not permit his daughters to go out with threads, nor to sleep together; and he made mikwa'oth²⁷  for them in the days of Nisan, and had mats placed in the days of Tishri.²⁸  'He did not permit them to go out with threads'. But we learnt, YOUNG GIRLS MAY GO OUT WITH THREADS! — The daughters of Samuel's father had coloured ones.²⁹  'He did not permit them to sleep together'. Shall we say that this supports R. Huna? For R. Huna said: Women that commit lewdness with one another are unfit for the priesthood.³⁰ —

1. This refers to one whose garments are accidentally wetted on the Sabbath. The first Tanna forbids them to be spread out in the sight of the people, lest they suspect him of having washed them on the Sabbath, yet he permits it to be done privately, thus agreeing with the Baraitha just quoted. While R. Eleazar and R. Simeon forbid it even in private, which agrees with Rab.
2. If it drops out.
3. Sewing on to it a piece that she could hold in her hand. This is not repulsive, and so she may carry it.
4. It is repulsive none the less.
5. Sc. the wadding in his ear, because he had a copious discharge of pus, and with wadding in his sandals. This must be the explanation according to cur. edd. which reads 'with them'; this appears to be Alfasi's version too (v. Korban Nethanel on Asheri a.l.). Rashi reads: with it, and refers it to the first mentioned.
6. Rashi: because he did not have it tied to his ear.
7. V. Glos. and supra 6a.
8. Whereas R. Johanan did not have it tied to his ear.
9. [In which case tying to the ear is not necessary. Hence the practice of R. Johanan.
10. Rami b. Ezekiel refers to the latter case.
11. Jast. Rashi: toothache.
12. Sic. The reading in the Mishnah is slightly different.
13. Rashi: a gold tooth being valuable, the woman may take it out of her mouth for display, and meanwhile carry it in the street; but this does not apply to a silver tooth.
14. This being the reason that he permits a gold tooth, in spite of its being valuable.
15. V. supra 62a.
16. V. supra 57b.
17. A coin.
18. Lit., 'daughters'.
19. To prevent the hole pierced for ear-rings from closing up.
20. Parap, p.p. parup. f.p. perupoth, means to fasten a garment over the shoulder by attaching a weight to its overhanging corner (Jast.).
21. Arabian and Median women affect these fashions.
22. The pressure or chafing of the ground on the foot causing a wound or a bunion.
23. Of the metal, which softens the callus.
24. Stamped on the coin, which may protect the growth.
25. Rashi: of wood, upon which a figure is impressed.
26. Viz., the hardness, corrosion, and the figure, and only a coin possesses all three.
27. Mikweh, pl. mikwa'oth, ritual bath.
28. A mikweh made of collected rain water is efficacious only if its water is still, not running or flowing. But 'a well or spring, with its waters gushing forth from its source, is efficacious even when they flow onward. Now, during the whole year the river may contain more rain water or melted snow (which is the same) than its own natural waters; consequently it is all considered as rain water, which does not cleanse when in a running state. But in Tishri when the rains have ceased, nor is there any melted snow in the river, it is like a well or spring, and even though running its waters are efficacious. — According to this the river's rise is caused mainly by rain. — Hence in Nisan he did not permit them to take their ritual bath in the river, but made special enclosed baths for them. But in Tishri they could perform their ablutions in the river. Yet since the bed of the river is miry, and should the feet sink into it, the water cannot reach the soles, thus rendering the immersion invalid, he placed mats on the river bed for them to stand on (Rashi). R. Tam a.l. and Rab in Ned. 40b explain: he hung up mats on the shore, to serve as a screen.
29. Which they might remove and show.
30. Sc. to marry a High Priest, who must marry none but a virgin (Lev. XXI, 13), for their lewdness destroys their virginity. Though there were no High Priests in his days, he nevertheless objected to this on grounds of decency, and therefore may have taken steps to prevent it. — V. Weiss, Dor, II, 23.

No: it was in order that they should not become accustomed to a foreign body. 'And he made a mikweh for them in the days of Nisan'. This supports Rab, for Rab said: Rain in the West [Palestine] is strongly testified to by the Euphrates;¹  and he [Samuel's father] feared that the rainwater might exceed the running water.²  Now, he differs from Samuel, who said: A river increases in volume from its beds.³  But this conflicts with another [statement] of his. For Samuel said: No water purifies when flowing, save the Euphrates in the days of Tishri alone.⁴

A WOMAN MAY WEIGHT [HER CLOAK] WITH A STONE, etc. But you say in the first clause, that she may weight it?⁵  — Said Abaye: The second clause refers to a coin.⁶

Abaye asked: May a woman evade [the Sabbath prohibition] by weighting [her cloak] with a nut in order to carry it out to her infant child on the Sabbath? This is a problem on the view of both him who maintains that an artifice may be used and him who holds that an artifice may not be used.⁷  It is a problem on the view that all artifice may be used in the case of a conflagration: that is only there, because if you do not permit it to him, he will come to extinguish it; but here, if you do not permit it, one will not come to carry it [sc. the nut] out.⁸  Or perhaps, even on the view that all artifice may not be used; there that is a normal way of carrying [clothes] out;⁹  but here this is not a usual way of carrying it, and therefore I might say that it is well.¹⁰  The question stands over.

MISHNAH. A STUMP-LEGGED PERSON MAY GO FORTH WITH HIS WOODEN STUMP:¹¹  THIS IS R. MEIR'S VIEW;

1. Rashi: for when it rains in Palestine the water flows down to Babylon and causes the swelling of the Euphrates. Obermeyer, p 45 and n. 2 rejects this on hydrographical grounds, and explains that in most cases the rains in northern Mesopotamia in the Taurus range, where the Euphrates has its source, are the precursors of rain in Palestine. — Thus Rab too holds that the swelling of a river is caused chiefly through rain.
2. I.e., the added rain water might exceed the normal volume of the river, in which case it is all regarded as rain water; v. p. 310, n. 11.
3. Lit., 'rock'. Though it seems to swell through the rains, actually more water gushes upward from the river bed than is added by the rain.
4. Which is in accordance with his father and with Rab.
5. Which certainly means that she may do so in the first place on the Sabbath, since the preceding clause has already taught that she may wear a weighted cloak.
6. Which may not be handled on the Sabbath.
7. V. infra 120a.
8. Hence it is possibly forbidden.
9. E.g., clothes; merchants wear the clothes they have to sell (Rashi).
10. Since the first is the normal way of carrying, when one puts on more than he requires the excess is a mere burden, carried out in the normal manner; hence it is forbidden. But in the case under discussion, even if a person intentionally carries a nut out thus, without any subterfuge, he does not transgress by Biblical law and is not liable to a sin-offering, which is incurred only for doing a thing in its normal fashion. Hence a subterfuge may be permitted even by Rabbinical law (R. Jacob Emden, Novellae).
11. A log of wood hollowed out to receive the stump.