With yesterday’s daf TB Shabbat 17b we finished for the time being all
the discussions about carrying something from one domain to another. At the
very bottom of the daf and continuing from today’s daf TB Shabbat 18 to the end
of chapter 1, the discussion turns to what is permissible and forbidden to do erev
Shabbat before candle lighting.
Everybody agrees that there are 39 forbidden malachot, types
of creative work, that are forbidden on Shabbat and we shall learn about them
in chapter 7. Shabbat is the fourth commandment in the Decalogue. “Remember the
Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God: you should not do any
work-you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or your cattle, or
the stranger who is within your settlements.” (Exodus 20:8-10) As you can read
not only all human beings in the Jewish orbit are forbidden to work, but also
our animals must rest on the Sabbath.. You might notice what is missing that
our sages picked up upon. What about tools? Of course we can actively use our
tools to do any one of the 39 forbidden acts of work and Shabbat. Do our tools themselves
also have to rest on Shabbat? That is the debate between Beit Hillel and Beit
Shammai.
“MISHNA: In
this mishna there is a fundamental dispute between Beit Hillel and Beit
Shammai: Must one begin refraining from actions prohibited on Shabbat on
Shabbat eve? Or, may one initiate an action prior to Shabbat, even if he knows
that it will continue on its own on Shabbat itself? These are the details of
that dispute: Beit Shammai say: One may only soak dry ink in
water and dry plants, which produce dyes, in water and vetch
for animal food to soften them in water on Shabbat eve, adjacent to Shabbat,if
there is clearly sufficient time for them to soak for their designated
purpose while it is still day, before Shabbat begins, and their
continued soaking on Shabbat will have no effect. And Beit Hillel permit
doing so. Beit Shammai say: One may only place bundles of combed flax
inside the oven on Shabbat eve if there is sufficient time so that they
will be heated while it is still day. And one may only place wool
into the dyer’s kettle if there is sufficient time for the
wool to absorb the dye while it is still day. And Beit Hillel permit
doing so…
“Beit Shammai, and those, Beit Hillel, agree
that, ab initio, one may load the beam of the olive press on
the olives on Shabbat eve while it is still day, so that the oil will continue
to be squeezed out of the olives on Shabbat. So too, one may load the circular
wine press to accelerate the process of producing wine from the grapes.”(Sefaria.org
translation)
Bet Shammai believes that even the passive use of tools on Shabbat
is forbidden and Beit Hillel believes that you may use tools if one initiate
the action prior to Shabbat, even if he knows that it will continue on his own
on Shabbat itself. According to the Tosefta, the collection of tannaitic statements
not included in the mishna, the disagreement is based on their understanding of
two different versus. According to Beit Shammai the verse “Six days you shall
labor and do all your work (כָּל־מְלַאכְתֶּֽךָ) teaches us that all your work must be
completed before Shabbat. According to Bet Hillel the verse that uses a
different Hebrew word for work “six days shall you do your work (מַֽעֲשֶׂ֔יךָ)” (Exodus 23: 12) means
that on Shabbat no work may be done, but an action started before Shabbat even
though it will continue passively without human intervention on Shabbat is
permitted.
Our lives are much better because we follow the opinions of Beit
Hillel. If we start erev Shabbat making cholent in a crockpot or on a stovetop
with a bleich, we can have a hot Saturday afternoon lunch!
No comments:
Post a Comment