Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 106a
Feb 14, 2009 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Text Study
Among the thirty-nine Torah-prohibited labors of Shabbat is trapping an animal. One violates this prohibition whether one captures the animal with one’s hands and body, or with a net or corral. Here the Mishnah describes a case in which an animal has gone into a doorway and one blocks the door with one’s body to keep the animal trapped. In such a case, one is accounted as having violated Shabbat—he has trapped the animal using his body. However, if one merely sat in the doorway to rest, partially blocking the animal’s way out, one has not violated the prohibition. Only a second person, sitting and thereby fully blocking the door would be liable.
Read MoreBabylonian Talmud Shabbat 41b
Feb 7, 2009 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Text Study
As we have seen, cooking is one of the thirty-nine Torah-prohibited Shabbat labors (avot melakha). It seems clear to us that bringing water to a boil is cooking. But there’s a gray area. Under what circumstances may we put cold water into a container of water that has already been brought to boiling?
Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 73a
Jan 31, 2009 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Text Study
One who performs any of the forbidden labors on Shabbat is held criminally liable. If one, however, does so inadvertently (either because one forgot that it was Shabbat, or because one did not know that the act was forbidden), the Torah requires a sacrifice for each violation.
Read MoreBabylonian Talmud Shabbat 12b
Jan 24, 2009 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Text Study
The light from an oil lamp flickers when the fuel begins to run low. At this point, normally, the reader would tip the lamp to move the viscous oil to the wick in order to extend the time the lamp can burn on its first filling of oil. This act is forbidden on Shabbat. On Shabbat, the lighting of a fire, or extending, or shortening its combustion is prohibited by Torah. Reading by the light of an oil lamp is prohibited by our Sages on Shabbat, lest one tip the lamp out of habit, in a momentary mental lapse. All of this background is encoded in the Mishnah’s terse statement: “Nor should he read by the light of an oil lamp.”
Read MoreBabylonian Talmud, Betza 3a
Jan 17, 2009 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Text Study
In the past few weeks, we have seen that there are two different types of prohibitions on Shabbat: Torah prohibitions and Rabbinic prohibitions. We have seen that there are a number of reasons why our Sages instituted prohibitions beyond those of the Torah. For instance, they prohibited a number of activities which are similar or could be confused with Torah prohibitions, acts which could lead to violations of Torah prohibitions, and acts which they deemed not in consonance with the “spirit of Shabbat.” But sometimes, as is the case in our passage, there will be a disagreement in the Talmud about whether a particular prohibition devolved from the Torah or was instituted by our Sages.
Read MoreBabylonian Talmud Shabbat 146b
Jan 10, 2009 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Text Study
There is another type of prohibition that applies not only to the rules of Shabbat, but to all other areas of Jewish living as well. Marit ayin—literally in sight of eye—is a principle that demands not only that our actions accord with what is right, but that the appearance of all those actions be above suspicion. The Mishnah, in tractate Sheqalim (3:2), explains, “One must fulfill human expectations, just as one does Divine.” Our Sages understood that religious communities are human communities. We believe that living in a human community requires that we take other people’s needs and concerns into account.
Read MoreMishneh Torah, Hilkhot Shabbat 24:13
Jan 3, 2009 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Text Study
Often the Talmud will offer a range of related laws without expressing the coherent goal standing behind them. We have seen an example of this phenomenon over the last several weeks. We have studied a range of sources from the Talmud propounding Rabbinic expansions on Shabbat rest. We have not encountered, however, a single statement that distills the major concern standing behind these non-Torah prohibitions.
Read MoreBabylonian Talmud Shabbat 21b
Dec 27, 2008 By Marcus Mordecai Schwartz | Text Study
We have seen that our Sages forbade a range of acts that have the potential to lead to Torah-level violations of Shabbat. Among these is a prohibition on lighting oil lamps, just prior to Shabbat, with fuels that do not provide adequate, clear, and clean light. Oil lamps were the primary form of artificial illumination in the time of the Talmud.
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