Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Shabbath

Folio 148a

The halachah is that one may reset a fracture.¹  Rabbah b. Bar Hanah visited Pumbeditha. He did not attend Rab Judah's session, [so] he sent Adda the waiter to him and said, 'Go and seize him.'²  So he went and seized him. When he [Rabbah] appeared, he found him [Rab Judah] lecturing, One may not reset a fracture. Said he to him, Thus did R. Hana of Bagdad say in Samuel's name: The halachah is that one may reset a fracture. Said he to him, Surely Hana is one of ours and Samuel is one of ours,³  yet I have not heard this; did I then not summon you justly?⁴

IF ONE'S HAND IS DISLOCATED, etc. R. Awia was sitting before R. Joseph. when his hand became dislocated.⁵  How is it thus? asked he. It is forbidden. And how is it thus?⁶  It is forbidden. In the meantime his hand reset itself.⁷  Said he to him, what is your question? Surely we learnt, IF ONE'S HAND OR FOOT IS DISLOCATED HE MUST NOT AGITATE IT VIOLENTLY IN COLD WATER, BUT MAY BATHE IT IN THE USUAL WAY, AND IF IT HEALS, IT HEALS. But did we not learn: ONE MAY NOT RESET A FRACTURE, he retorted, yet R. Hana of Bagdad said in Samuel's name, The halachah is that one may reset a fracture.⁸  — Will you weave all in one web?⁹  he replied; where it was stated it was stated, but where it was not stated it was not stated.¹⁰

CHAPTER XXIII

MISHNAH. A MAN MAY BORROW PITCHERS OF WINE AND PITCHERS OF OIL FROM HIS NEIGHBOUR, PROVIDED HE DOES NOT SAY TO HIM, 'LEND [THEM] [HALWENI] TO ME';¹¹  AND SIMILARLY A WOMAN [MAY BORROW] LOAVES FROM HER NEIGHBOUR. IF HE DOES NOT TRUST HIM HE LEAVES HIS CLOAK WITH HIM [AS A PLEDGE] AND MAKES A RECKONING WITH HIM AFTER THE SABBATH. IN THE SAME WAY, IF THE EVE OF PASSOVER IN JERUSALEM FALLS ON A SABBATH, ONE LEAVES HIS CLOAK WITH HIM [THE VENDOR] AND RECEIVES HIS PASCHAL LAMB¹²  AND MAKES A RECKONING WITH HIM AFTER THE FESTIVAL.

GEMARARaba son of R. Hanan asked Abaye: Wherein does halweni differ from hash'ileni?¹³  In the case of hash'ileni, he replied, he [the lender] will not come to write it down;¹⁴  whereas [if he says] halweni he will come to write it down. But since on weekdays it sometimes happens that one wishes to say halweni but says hash'ileni, yet he is not particular¹⁵  and comes to write it down, so on the Sabbath too he may come to write it down?¹⁶  — On the Sabbath, he replied since the Rabbis permitted hash'ileni only, but not halweni, the matter is distinguishable and he will not come to write.

Raba son of R. Hanan said to Abaye: Consider! The Rabbis said, 'Regarding all actions on Festivals, as far as it is possible to vary, we vary them;¹⁷  then the women who fill their pitchers on Festivals, why do they not vary [their way of doing it]? Because it is impossible. How should they do it: shall those who [usually] draw [water] with a large pitcher [now] draw [it] with a small pitcher? then they increase the amount of walking! Shall those who [usually] draw [water] with, a small pitcher [now] draw it with a large one? then they increase the burden.

1. He held that this is the correct reading of the Mishnah.
2. Rashi: take his coat until he comes.
3. They are both of our district.
4. Otherwise we would have remained in error.
5. Lit., 'his hand changed' — from its place.
6. He manipulated his hand in various ways and asked of each whether it was permitted on the Sabbath.
7. Lit., 'was healed'.
8. Which shows that the text may be corrupt. and so the same may apply to the present quotation.
9. Will you apply the same argument to all?
10. You cannot assume that the text is corrupt here too.
11. This is explained in the Gemara.
12. If one forgot to buy an animal before the Sabbath, he leaves his cloak as a pledge with a vendor on the Sabbath, and takes an animal, but must not actually buy it then, fixing its price.
13. Both mean 'lend me', the first implying for a considerable time, the second for a short period (Rashi). — The Mishnah forbids the use of the first term. [Tosaf.: in the first case the object itself passes into the possession of the borrower; in the second, the borrower enjoys only right of use in the object while the object itself remains the possession of the lender. V. Tosaf. a.l., Kid. 47b and Rappaport J. Das Darlehen pp. 29ff.]
14. He expects to remember it in any case.
15. He allows him to keep it for a long time, though the request was only hash'ileni.
16. Thinking that the borrower may keep it a long time.
17. So as not to do them in the same way as during the week, even where they are permitted.

Shall one spread a cloth? then he may come to wring it out. Shall one cover it with a lid? it [the string wherewith it is tied] may break and he will come to knot it.¹  Therefore it is impossible.

Raba son of R. Hanan also said to Abaye: We learnt, One must not clap [the hands], beat [the breast], or dance²  on Festivals. Yet we see that they do it, and do not rebuke them in any way? — Then on your reasoning, when Rabbah said: A man should not sit on the top of a stake, lest an article roll away from him and he come to fetch it,³  — yet we see [women]⁴  who carry pitchers and sit at the entrance of alleys, and we do not rebuke them? But leave Israel: better that they should [sin] in ignorance than deliberately. Now, he understood from this that that [principle] holds good only in respect of Rabbinical [enactments] but not Scriptural laws.⁵  Yet that is not so: there is no difference between a Rabbinical and a Scriptural law. For lo! the addition to the Day of Atonement is Scriptural,⁶  yet we see them [women] eat and drink until it is dark and do not rebuke them.

AND SIMILARLY A WOMAN [MAY BORROW] LOAVES FROM HER NEIGHBOUR, [etc.] Only on the Sabbath is it forbidden, but on weekdays it is well. Shall we say that our Mishnah does not agree with Hillel, for we learnt: And thus Hillel used to say: A woman must not lend a loaf to her neighbour without first valuing it, lest wheat advances and they [the lender and the borrower] come to [transgress the prohibition of] usury?⁷  — You may even say [that it agrees with] Hillel: the one is in a place where its value is fixed; the other, where its value is not fixed.⁸

IF HE DOES NOT TRUST HIM. It was stated: As for a loan made on a Festival, — R. Joseph said: It cannot be claimed;⁹  whilst Rabbah¹⁰  said: It can be claimed. 'R. Joseph said: It cannot be claimed', for if you say that it can be claimed, he [the lender] will come to record it. 'Rabbah said: It can be claimed', for if you say that it cannot, he will not lend him, and so he will come to abstain from the joy of the Festival.

We learnt: IF HE DOES NOT TRUST HIM, HE LEAVES HIS CLOAK WITH HIM: now, it is well if you say that it cannot be claimed, therefore he must leave his cloak with him and make a reckoning with him after the Sabbath. But if you say that it can be claimed, why must he leave his cloak with him: let him, lend it and then [re-]claim it? — He says, I do not wish to stand at court and before judges.

R. Idi b. Abin objected: If one kills a cow and apportions it on New Year, [then] if the month was prolonged it cancels [the debt]; but if not, it does not cancel the debt.¹¹  But if it cannot be claimed,¹²  what does it cancel! — There it is different, because it is [retrospectively] revealed that it was a weekday.¹³  Come and hear [a refutation] from the second clause: 'but if not, it does not cancel the debt'. Now, it is well if you say that it can be claimed, hence he teaches [that] it does not cancel [the debt]; but if you say that it cannot be claimed, then what is meant by 'it does not cancel [the debt]'? — That if he [the debtor] pays him, he accepts it: whence it follows that the first clause means that [even] if he pays him he must not accept!¹⁴  — In the first clause he must tell him, 'l release it,' while in the second he need not say, 'l release it'. As we learnt: If one repays a debt in the seventh year he [the creditor] must tell him, 'I release it;' but if he [the debtor] replies, '[I repay] even so,' he may accept it from him, for it is said, And this is the word¹⁵  of the release.¹⁶

R. Awia used to take a pledge.¹⁷  Rabbah¹⁸  b. 'Ulla had recourse to an artifice.¹⁹

IN THE SAME WAY, IF THE EVE OF PASSOVER, etc. R. Johanan said: One may sanctify his Passover sacrifice on the Sabbath²⁰  and his Festival sacrifice on the Festival.²¹  Shall we say that we can support him: IN THE SAME WAY, IF THE EVE OF PASSOVER IN JERUSALEM FALLS ON A SABBATH, ONE LEAVES HIS CLOAK WITH HIM AND RECEIVES HIS PASCHAL LAMB, AND MAKES A RECKONING WITH HIM AFTER THE FESTIVAL?²²  — [No.] We treat here of one who assigns shares to others together with himself in his Passover sacrifice,²³  so that it stands sanctified from before. But we learnt: One may not enrol [to share] in an animal on the Festival in the first place?²⁴  — Here it is different: since he is a habitue of his, it is as though he had enrolled for it beforehand. But R. Oshaia taught: 'A man can go to a shepherd to whom he is accustomed to go and he gives him a sheep for his Passover sacrifice, and he sanctifies it and fulfils his obligation therewith? — There too, since he is accustomed to go to him, he [the shepherd] does indeed sanctify it beforehand.²⁵  But he states, 'he sanctifies it'?²⁶  — This sanctification is a Rabbinical preferment.²⁷  But did R. Johanan say thus? Surely R. Johanan said: The halachah is [always] as an anonymous Mishnah, whereas we learnt: One may not sanctify, vow a 'valuation',²⁸  devote,²⁹  or separate terumoth and tithes: all these were said of Festivals, and how much more so of the Sabbath! — There is no difficulty: One refers to obligatory offerings for which there is a fixed time;³⁰  the other refers to obligations for which there is no fixed time.

MISHNAH. A MAN MAY COUNT HIS GUESTS AND HIS DAINTY PORTIONS BY WORD OF MOUTH, BUT NOT FROM WRITING. A MAN MAY CAST LOTS WITH HIS SONS AND THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD FOR THE TABLE,³¹  PROVIDED THAT HE DOES NOT INTEND TO OFFSET A LARGE PORTION AGAINST A SMALL ONE.³²  AND [PRIESTS] MAY CAST LOTS FOR SACRIFICES ON FESTIVALS, BUT NOT FOR THE PORTIONS.³³

1. With a permanent knot, which is forbidden.
2. The former two in grief the third in joy.
3. V. supra 141a.
4. V. BaH.
5. Both cases mentioned here are Rabbinical.
6. The fast must begin before the Day of Atonement actually commences, and this is deduced from Scripture; v. Yoma 81b.
7. V. B.M. 75a.
8. If the price of the loaf is fixed (and our Mishnah refers to such) even Hillel agrees, because if it advances the lender will make an allowance when it is returned.
9. In a court of Law.
10. Alfasi and Asheri read: Raba.
11. This refers to New Year following the seventh year, debts contracted during which are void (v. Deut. XV, 1, 2). The months consist of either thirty or twenty-nine days; in the former case the following month is celebrated with two days as New Moon, the first of which is the last day of the previous month. Now if a butcher kills a cow and divides it among his customers on credit on the first New Year's day following the seventh year: if the previous month, Elul, consisted of thirty days, this New Year's Day was really the last day of Elul, i.e., of the seventh year, and therefore the debt cannot be claimed. But if Elul consisted of twenty-nine days, this New Year's Day is the first of the eighth year, hence the debt can be claimed. — New Year, of course, is a Festival.
12. Sc. a debt contracted on any Festival.
13. Sc. the last day of Elul, in spite of the fact that it was celebrated as New Year.
14. Surely not! The year of release does not actually cancel debts but merely deprives the creditor of his right to exact them.
15. E. V. 'manner'.
16. Deut. XV, 2.I.e., the creditor must inform the debtor of the release.
17. From anyone who borrowed from him on a Festival.
18. Var. lec.: Raba.
19. Rashi: after the Festival he would take an article from the debtor and then detain it.
20. I.e., when the eve of Passover falls on the Sabbath.
21. An animal must be formally sanctified before it may be offered as a sacrifice. This may not be done on Sabbaths or Festivals, but since two animals are actually offered on those days respectively they may be sanctified too, if that was not done previously.
22. And of course he would have to sanctify it on the same day.
23. Those who participate in the sacrifice must formally enrol themselves as members to share in that particular animal (v. Ex. Xli, 4). Thus the payment is merely for a share in an animal which is already consecrated.
24. Because it is regarded as transacting business, v. Bez. 27b.
25. I.e., the shepherd sanctifies it on the festival even on his behalf.
26. l.e., when he receives it.
27. l.e. the Rabbis held it more fitting that the owner too should sanctify the animal, but actually that has already been done.
28. Heb. [H]. This is the technical term for a vow to give one's own or another person's 'valuation' to the Temple. V. Lev. XXVII, 1ff
29. Heb. [H], i.e. renounce an object by dedicating it absolutely for priestly use; v. Lev. XXVII, 28f.
30. E.g., the Passover sacrifice and Festive offerings. Such may be sanctified on the Sabbath and Festivals, as otherwise the obligation must remain unfulfilled.
31. Which portion of the food shall belong to each.
32. The portions must be alike in size, not one larger and one smaller, so that the first drawn by lot shall receive the largest, etc.
33. This is explained in the Gemara.