Who is wise? He learns from everybody TB Shabbat 20

Today we finish the first chapter of massechet Barachot and begin the second chapter with daf TB Shabbat 20! The second chapter, Bemeh Madlikin, is one of most well-known chapters in all the Talmud because there’s a tradition to recite it every Friday night during services dating back to the Tur, 1270-1340.  The Ashkenazim recite it between the end of the Kabbalat Shabbat service and the Barachu. The Sephardim recited it at the end of the entire service.

Ben Zoma teaches “Who is wise? He who learns from everyone.” (Avot 4:1) Several times in today’s daf the rabbis turned to the expertise of others to help explain things. The first person we meet is ben Drosai, the Jesse James of his era.

“MISHNA: This Mishna enumerates actions that may only be performed on Shabbat eve if the prohibited labor will be totally or mostly completed while it is still day. One may only roast meat, an onion, or an egg if there remains sufficient time so that they could be roasted while it is still day

The Gemara asks: And how much do they need to be roasted in order to be considered sufficient, so that it will be permitted to complete their cooking afterward? Rabbi Elazar said that Rav said: So that they will be roasted while it is still day like the food of ben Drosai, which was partially roasted. Ben Drosai was a robber and pursued by all. He could not wait for his food to roast completely, so he sufficed with a partial roasting”” (Sefaria.org translation)

I don’t know whether ben Drosai was always on the run from the law and couldn’t wait for the food to be fully cooked or he was just so impetuous he couldn’t wait for the food to be done to eat supper. Either way the rabbis turned to his example to explain how much does a person need to roast something in order to be considered sufficient that they will be permitted to complete their cooking afterward. Rashi and Rambam disagree how long ben Drosai cooked his food. Rashi says the food is 1/3 roasted and Rambam says it has to be ½ cooked through. For example, if it takes one hour to roast a piece of meat, Rashi says that after 20 minutes ben Drosai would eat it and Rambam says it needs to be roasted for 30 minutes before he would eat it.

The Mishna is written in Hebrew. The Babylonian Jewish community spoke Aramaic and were not native Hebrew speakers. The first Mishna in chapter 2 lists six different wicks and six different types of oil one may not use to light his Shabbat lamp (back in the day they did not have wax candles like we do). Consequently, they had to translate those terms into Aramaic. Sometimes the rabbis needed help with the term they did not completely understand. Here is an example where they turned to sailors concerning a wick.

“And we also learned in the Mishna that one may not light with kalakh. Shmuel said: I asked all seafarers, and they said to me that the present-day name of kalakh mentioned in the Mishna is kulka. Rav Yitzḥak bar Ze’ira said: Kalakh is the cocoon of the silkworm [gushkera].” (Sefaria.org translation)

My problem is that I am neither a native Hebrew nor Aramaic speaker so their translations don’t help me. I have to turn to my Jastrow dictionary.