Shabbat 42 - Unintended Consequence

Disagreements about mixing hot and cold water on Shabbat.

The School of Shammai says that one can pour hot water in to cold water, but not cold into hot. Hillel says either way is permitted - in a cup, but that Shammai's rule holds for a bath. Others forbid both for a bath.

Perhaps the issue is that a bath needs to be kept warm for washing (unlike drinking). If one cools it down, one may be tempted to heat it up!

Similar to the end of the last page which states that water cannot be pourend into a hot but empty pot on Shabbat, because it tempers (hardens) the metal.

Got to watch out for those uninteded consequences!

Shabbat 41 - Torah in the Baths

A sweet story is told. Rabbi Zera is avoiding His teacher Rab Judah, because he wants to leave Babylonia and his master in order to emigrate to Israel. But he decides to seek out one last lesson. Zera finds his master, Rab Judah, in the baths giving order in Hebrew to his attendant:

"Bring me natron (a kind of soap) and a comb, open your mouths and expel the heat, and drink of the water of the baths."

From this, Rabbi Zera is satisfied. He learns that

1. Secular matters can be discussed in Hebrew

2. The heat of the bath which causes perpetration is healthy

3. In the bath one should heat the inside (by drinking warm water) as well as the outside.

This too is Torah!

Now if this surprises you - you are wondering - where's the great spiritual insight - it's important to remember that for the Rabbis, "Torah" encompasses all of life. Taking care of the body, a gift from G-d, is as important as taking care of the soul.

Shabbat 40 - Loopholes

A regression is reported: laws becoming more restrictive because of abuse.

"At first people used to wash in pit water heated on the eve of the Sabbath; then bath attendants began to heat the water on the Sabbath, maintaining that it was done on the eve of the Sabbath. So [the use of] hot water was forbidden, but sweating was permitted. Yet still they used to bathe in hot water and maintain, We were perspiring. So sweating was forbidden, yet the thermal springs of Tiberias were permitted (since they used no fire). Yet they bathed in water heated by fire and maintained, We bathed in the thermal springs of Tiberias. So they forbade the hot springs of Tiberias but permitted cold water. But when they saw that this [series of restriction] could not stand, they permitted the hot springs of Tiberias, whilst sweating remained in forbidden."

That will teach you to exploit loopholes! Or maybe not - if you live in Tiberias!

Shabbat 39 - Solar Power!

"A [warm] dish may be placed in a pit [on the Sabbath]. . . to be cooled, or cold water in the sun, for it to be heated."

"Said R. Nahman: In the sun, all agree that it is permitted; in a fire-heated object all agree that it is forbidden"

"An egg may be rolled [roasted] on a hot roof"

This is something I had not really thought or read about - the use of solar power on Shabbat. Remarkable, in a way, because in an earlier Mishnah, the Rabbis forbade the people of Tiberias from using the heat of sulphur springs to cook on Shabbat. After all, the prohibition is against using fire. So what's the problem? As it turns out, the Rabbis rescinded that prohibition when they realized it was an entirely natural process which did not involve fire. (Of course, by then the Tiberians had already abandoned their novel and natural process!)

Here, however, there is no prohibition against using solar power for cooking (at least directly. It would probably be a different matter to use solar generated electricity to heat a burner).

Something we should be thinking about. Solar power is environmentally and Shabbat friendly!

Shabbat 38 – Loophole Closed

We read:

R. Hiyya b. Abba was asked:  What if one forgot a pot on the stove and [thus] cooked it on the Sabbath? He was silent and said nothing to them [his questioners]. The next day he went out and lectured to them: “If one cooks [food] on the Sabbath unwittingly, he may eat [it]; if deliberately, he may not eat [it]; and there is no difference.”

The intention of the person matters. We have learned that you cannot cook or even leave a dish on a hot wood or charcoal fed stove. But what if a pot is accidently left on after the Sabbath begins, must the food be forbidden? Seemingly not – if there is no intention to break the law, it is reasonable to allow it.

But things don’t always stay that way.

R. Judah b. Samuel said in the name of R. Abba in the name of R. Kahana in Rab's name: At first it was ruled: One who cooks [food] on the Sabbath unwittingly, may eat it, if deliberately, he may not eat. The same applies to one who forgets. 

But when those who intentionally left [it there] grew numerous, and they pleaded, "We had forgotten [it on the stove]," they [the Sages] retraced their steps and penalized him who forgot.

It seems once a loophole is found, it will be exploited. So the law becomes ever more restrictive. 

Sound familiar?

Shabbat 37 - Hot Fence

Mishnah from page 36|: IF A STOVE WITH TWO POTS IS HEATED WITH STUBBLE OR RAKINGS, A POT MAY BE PLACED ON IT; WITH PEAT OR WOOD, ONE MAY NOT PLACE [A POT THERE] UNTIL, HE SWEEPS IT OR COVERS IT WITH ASHES.

The issue is discussed at great length - with many contricdictory statements. The questions revolves around the concern that one may thoughtlessly stir up the coals, which is forbidden on Shabbat. That makes sense if you are actually cooking (I.e. needing to bring water to a boil. But if the dish being prepared is just being kept warm and actually deteriorates with heat, stirring up coals is unlikely.

This is a law known to the Rabbis as a "fence around the Torah" - forbidding something not because it is a problem of itself, but as a way to prevent something worse.

Shabbat 36 - Trumpet and Shofar

The public blast sounded to announce the beginning of Shabbat is discussed. The problem is the person who blows the 6 sounds (the Hazzan) now has to go home with the shofar. But it is forbidden to carry a shofar on Shabbat! Or is it?

Perhaps it is a "chotzotzrah" (trumpet) which is forbidden to be carried rather than a "shofar" (ram's horn). Or the other way around. The shofar might be permitted because it can serve a dual purpose - one can fill it with water and drink from it!

There are competing texts as to which may or may not be carried on Shabbat. R. Hisda resolves the conflict by saying that several words switched their meaning after the destruction of the Temple! So a trumpet might be called a shofar and a shofar a trumpet. But the Rosh Hashana calls must be done on a ram's horn.

A trumpet by any other name would sound as sweet!