Up to now the Gemara takes for granted that
we know that there are 39 different forbidden primary categories of labor, מלאכות. Finally the Mishna
enumerates them on today’s daf TB Shabbat 73. I have divided these 39 primary
categories of labor into five arch types. The first 11 are the steps in making
bread. The next 13 are the steps in making cloth. The third group of seven are
the steps in making hides of an animal. The next seven are steps in the process
of building. And the last category is caring an object from one domain to
another.
“MISHNA: This fundamental mishna enumerates
those who perform the primary categories of labor prohibited on Shabbat,
which number forty-less-one. They are grouped in accordance with their
function: One who sows, and one who plows, and one who reaps, and one who
gathers sheaves into a pile, and one who threshes, removing the
kernel from the husk, and one who winnows threshed grain in the wind,
and one who selects the inedible waste from the edible, and one who
grinds, and one who sifts the flour in a sieve, and one who kneads
dough, and one who bakes.
“Additional primary categories of prohibited labor are the following: One
who shears wool, and one who whitens it, and one who combs the
fleece and straightens it, and one who dyes it, and one who spins the
wool, and one who stretches the threads of the warp in the loom, and
one who constructs two meshes, tying the threads of the warp to the base of
the loom, and one who weaves two threads, and one who severs two threads
for constructive purposes, and one who ties a knot, and one who
unties a knot, and one who sews two stitches with a needle, as well
as one who tears a fabric in order to sew two stitches.
“One who traps a deer, or any living
creature, and one who slaughters it, and one who flays it, and one
who salts its hide, a step in the tanning process, and one who tans its
hide, and one who smooths it, removing hairs and veins, and one who cuts
it into measured parts.
“One who writes two letters and one who erases
in order to write two letters. One who builds a structure, and one who dismantles
it, one who extinguishes a fire, and one who kindles a fire. One
who strikes a blow with a hammer to complete the production process
of a vessel (Rabbeinu Ḥananel),
“and one who carries out an object from domain to domain. All
these are primary categories of labor, and they number forty-less-one.” (Sefaria.org translation)
Back on TB
Shabbat 49b we learned, “The primary categories of labor, which are
prohibited by Torah law on Shabbat, are forty-less-one; to what does
this number correspond? That is to say, what is the source of this
number? Rabbi Ḥanina bar Ḥama said to them: They correspond to the labors in
the Tabernacle.” (Sefaria.org
translation) Rashi explains that the building of the Tabernacle required
these 39 different categories of prohibited labor. Hai Gaon[1]
explains that the operation of the Tabernacle required these 39 different
categories of prohibited labor.
A primary category of labor is an
av melakhah, אב מלאכה and a derivative of an av
melakhah is a toladah, תולדה. Rashi points out
there are co-avot (avot is the plural of av) since they performed the same task
but for different species. For example, one sows, זורע, plants and one plants, נוטע, trees. זורע and נוטע are co-avot. If one sows wheat and plants a tree unwittingly on Shabbat, the
person is only obligated to bring one sin offering.
[1] Hai
Gaon was a medieval Jewish theologian, rabbi and scholar who served as Gaon of the Talmudic academy of Pumbedita during the early 11th century. He was born in 939 and
died on March 28, 1038. According to Sefer HaKabbalah of Rabbi Abraham
ben David (Ravad), he
was the last of the Geonim.
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