Don’t stop beating the swords into plowshares TB Shabbat 63

When the Messiah comes, what will the world be like? Today’s daf TB Shabbat 63 records a disagreement between the sages and Rabbi Eliezer.

“MISHNA: Just as it is prohibited for a woman to carry out certain items unique to a woman into the public domain, the Sages said that a man may neither go out on Shabbat with a sword, nor with a bow, nor with a shield [teris], nor with an alla, nor with a spear. And if he unwittingly went out with one of these weapons to the public domain he is liable to bring a sin-offering. Rabbi Eliezer says: These weapons are ornaments for him; just as a man is permitted to go out into the public domain with other ornaments, he is permitted to go out with weapons. And the Rabbis say: They are nothing other than reprehensible and in the future they will be eliminated, as it is written: “And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not raise sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4).

“GEMARA: We learned in the mishna that Rabbi Eliezer says: These weapons are ornaments for him. It was taught in a baraita that elaborates on this subject: The Rabbis said to Rabbi Eliezer: And since, in your opinion, they are ornaments for him, why are they to be eliminated in the messianic era? He said to them: They will not be needed anymore, as it is stated: “Nation will not raise sword against nation” (Isaiah 2:4). The Gemara asks: And let the weapons be merely for ornamental purposes, even though they will not be needed for war. Abaye said: It is just as in the case of a candle in the afternoon. Since its light is not needed, it serves no ornamental purpose. Weapons, too; when not needed for war, they serve no ornamental purpose either.

“And this baraita disagrees with the opinion of Shmuel, as Shmuel said: The only difference between this world and the messianic era is subjugation of the exiles to other kingdoms, from which the Jewish people will be released. However, in other respects, the world will remain as it is, as it is written: “Because the poor will not cease from within the land” (Deuteronomy 15:11). Society will not change, and wars will continue to be waged.” (Sefaria.org translation)

The disagreement concerning wearing weapons on Shabbat between the sages and Rabbi Eliezer revolves around the different understanding of the messianic era. Rabbi Eliezer believes that the messianic era will be a miraculous time when there will be no war; consequently, swords will only be ornaments and could be worn on Shabbat. At least Shmuel (and perhaps sages) believes that there will be no difference between the present era and the messianic era except that the Jewish people will be autonomous; consequently, weapons of war will be necessary and are not clothing but burdens. We are forbidden to go out with them on Shabbat. Interesting to note that Rambam agrees with Shmuel’s understanding of the messianic era (Mishneh Torah, Sefer Shoftim (the book of Judges), laws of Kings 12:2). But The Shulchan Aruch prohibits the wearing of weapons like the sages on Shabbat (Orech Hayyim 301:7).

I agree with the rabbis when they say, “And the Rabbis say: They are nothing other than reprehensible” The only purpose why civilians bring semi-automatic rifles to protests and other venues is to intimidate others.

 “Gun-carrying protesters outside state capitols are a regular occurrence in many states, especially in Republican-leaning ones. But rarely do such protests converge at the same time around the country like they have during the coronavirus pandemic. In Wisconsin, about a dozen men, several wearing camouflage, carried what appeared to be assault rifles and other long guns and stood around a makeshift guillotine at a protest attended by about 1,500 people. In Arizona, a group of men armed with rifles were among hundreds of protesters who demonstrated at the Capitol last month demanding Republican Gov. Doug Ducey lift his stay-home order. Many in the crowd also carried holstered pistols.

 “Armed protesters storm the Michigan capital protesting Governor Whitmer’s self-sheltering executive order. “While it’s legal to openly carry firearms inside some state capitols, Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, called it “dangerous to normalize this. Armed intimidation has no place in our political debate.” She said those carrying guns at protests are almost always white men, and are “a vocal minority of the country” that opposes the stay-at-home orders” (https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2020/05/02/us/politics/ap-us-outbreak-protests.html?searchResultPosition=3)

 Whenever I and all the other people around me in a store see an armed man near us, none of us feel safe. We all immediately began to leave that area if not the store itself. I hope and pray that Isaiah’s vision of the messianic era will be a time when war will be no more and Yehuda Amichai’s plea in his poem comes true.

 Don’t stop beating the swords

into plowshares, don’t stop! Go on beating

and make musical instruments out of them.

Whoever wants to make war again

would have to turn them into plowshares first.

(Appendix “To the vision of peace” copyright 1997 by Yehuda Amichai translated by Glenda Abramson and Tudor Parfitt)