I better check my fire insurance TB Shabbat 115

We begin chapter 16 with today’s daf TB Shabbat 115. The Gemara leaves the topic of explaining the 39 prohibited labors that were introduced in chapter 7 on daf TB Shabbat 73a and begins exploring other Shabbat related laws. We already know that we are forbidden to extinguish a fire because it is one of the 39 prohibited labors. We also know that were allowed to extinguish a fire when people’s lives are at risk. The sages understood the urge to extinguish a fire to save one’s possessions when no life is in danger. They sought to find a balance between what you may remove from a burning house and what you may not to assuage urge to extinguish the fire.

Everybody agrees that one may save sacred scrolls, Torah, Prophets, and Writings, written in the original Hebrew. There is a disagreement whether one is permitted to translate sacred scrolls into other languages. If these sacred scrolls are already translated into another language, Rav Huna and Rav Hisda disagree whether one is allowed to save them from a burning building.

“GEMARA: It was stated that amora’im debated the status of sacred writings written in Aramaic translation or in any other language. Rav Huna said: One may not rescue them from the fire on Shabbat. And Rav Ḥisda said: One may rescue them from the fire on Shabbat. The Gemara adds: According to the one who said that sacred writings written in other languages may be read, everybody agrees that one may rescue them. Where they argue is according to the one who said that they may not be read. Rav Huna said: One may not rescue them, as they may not be read. Whereas Rav Ḥisda said: One may rescue them due to disgrace to sacred writings that will result.” (Sefaria.org translation)

The rabbis did not extend this leniency beyond scrolls of our Bible. “The Sages taught in a baraita: The blessings (think of this as a siddur like we use-gg) that are written and the amulets, even though there are the letters of the Name of God in them and matters that appear in the Torah are mentioned in them, they are not rescued from the fire; rather, they burn in their place, they and the names of God contained therein.” (Sefaria.org translation) At this time the Oral Torah, תורה שבעל פה, was still memorized and not written down. So this injunction didn’t apply. Books like we enjoy also didn’t exist.

Obviously times have changed and the Rishonim recognized this. Rishonim were the leading rabbis and poskim who lived approximately during the 11^th to 15^th centuries, and the era before the writing of the Shulkhan Arukh. They knew that because of the urgency of a particular moment in history, The Oral Torah was published first in scroll form and later in book form. Since these scrolls/books were read, the Rishonim permitted the saving of their books from a fire.

All sacred writings in any language and in any script are saved from a fire on Shabbat. In our generation there is an absolute permission to write Torah and all of the Oral Torah in any language. These books are considered important and are saved from a fire. The argument of Rav Hisda and Rav Huna were during a time when one did not write, read, and study from these kind of books, ספרים (the Hebrew word for books has a connotation of those that are holy). See Tosefot, Rabbeinu Asher (רא"ש), and Nissim of Gerona (ר"ן). Codified in the Shulkhan Arukh, Orekh Khayyim, 334:12) “In these days, all holy scriptures are saved from a fire and read from [publicly], even if they are written in any language and even if they are written with dye or red paint (meaning types of paint) or anything else. Similarly, a set of blessings that the Sages established [i.e., a siddur] should be saved from a fire or from any "turpah" (meaning an open and vulernable place). Similarly, a translation written in Hebrew like "Yagar Shahaduta" [Genesis 31:47] or "Thus shall you say to them" [Jeremiah 10:11, in Aramaic], or Hebrew written in Aramaic or in another language that the people are proficient in, or a Torah scroll that has 85 letters part of full words or has the name of God; all of these are saved.”(Sefaria.org translation)

When I was in rabbinical school, one of my teachers exhorted us to buy books. Who knew where we would ultimately end up and perhaps we would have the best and/or only Jewish library in town. If the book we needed was not on our bookshelf, we would never be able to reference it. (Remember this was a time before Amazon prime!) Since that time, I hardly met a book I didn’t like and didn’t want to own. So I bought it. My library has grown to over flowing. There is no way I would be able to save all my holy scriptures from a fire, God forbid, in my house or in my office. I should check my fire insurance to make sure that I could replace the books in my library I could save from the fire.