Boating brings back fond memories TB Shabbat 19

I have really enjoyed studying the Talmud every day in the course of my daf yomi journey. Because of the pace of the study, we can’t go into any depth of any particular issue. We must be satisfied with the breath of study instead. This approach so different when I was a rabbinical student at JTS. We moved very slowly and dived deeply into the meaning of the sugiah, the topic at hand. Today’s daf TB Shabbat 19 brought back fond memories of my days at JTS. One of my favorite teachers was Dr. Israel Francus who taught me codes, Jewish law, one year. One of the topics we studied was when a person is allowed to enter boat before Shabbat.

“The Sages taught: One may not set sail on a ship fewer than three days before Shabbat, to avoid appearances that the Jew is performing a prohibited labor on Shabbat. In what case is this statement said? In a case where he set sail for a voluntary matter; however, if he sailed for a matter involving a mitzva, he may well do so. And, even then, he must stipulate with the gentile ship captain that this is on the condition that he rests, i.e., stops the ship, and even if the gentile does not rest. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: He need not stipulate. And sailing on a ship that is traveling from Tyre to Sidon, a short journey by sea, is permitted even on Shabbat eve.” (Sefaria.org translation)

I’ll just give you a little taste of how we approached the text. ““The Sages taught: One may not set sail on a ship fewer than three days before Shabbat, to avoid appearances that the Jew is performing a prohibited labor on Shabbat.” That’s not a very clear statement. The Rishonim, rabbis from the 11^th-15^th century, argued with each other which day a person was allowed to enter the boat. If you begin with Shabbat as the first day, Friday is the second day, then Thursday is the day you’re allowed to go on a boat. If Friday is the first day, Thursday is the second day, then Wednesday is the day you’re allowed to go on about. But if you have to wait three full days that could mean that you may not enter the boat before Wednesday or before Tuesday or before Monday depending on how you count the days. To compound the issue even more, there were even some rabbis who decided that you can enter the boat right up to candle lighting time no matter how long the journey was. After we had covered all the different aspects of this law, we moved on to a completely different topic.

One day in the cafeteria we were sitting around the table eating lunch when one of our friends Maureen Richardson asked us a question. During the break, her parents had invited her on a cruise along the Danube River. I don’t remember exactly all the details but she asked us if she allowed to enter the boat on Shabbat. We were so excited to answer the question because we knew all the different ways all the different rabbis interpreted the law and could give her a detailed answer. The next day after class a group of us approached Dr. Francus and told him that all of the halachot he taught us that year the one about when a person is allowed to enter upon a boat was the most hypothetical and useless for our career in the rabbinate and that’s the one somebody davka asked us. He smiled at us and said, “Even if I would have known that, I still would have taught this topic!”