Shabbat 113b — the Talmud in English

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“that your speech on Shabbat should not be like your speech on a weekday”,

such as matters of buying and selling and weekday calculations.

Speech

is that which is

forbidden,

but

thought,

such as concerning financial expenditures,

is permitted.

And we raise an objection concerning it:

Granted, all the others -

that is fine.

The matter of what they are is understood.

But “that your walking on Shabbat should not be like your walking on a weekday” -

what is it?

And we answer:

Like that which Rav Huna said in the name of Rav—and some say, Rabbi Abba said in the name of Rav Huna: If one was walking on Shabbat and encountered a water channel, if he can place his

sole

of his

foot

first

on the other side of the water channel

before

his

second

foot is uprooted from its first side -

it is permitted

even to jump and leap over it, for this is considered walking calmly.

But if not -

it is forbidden

to leap, for this is not walking calmly.

Rava raised an objection against it: What should he do?

If he

go around it—to go around the water channel,

that is exertion in his walking, for

he increases

he increases

in walking.

Let him cross

within the water channel itself without leaping over it -

sometimes his garments become filled with water

so that his clothes will become wet in the

water, and he may come to squeezing.

Rather,

you are necessarily to say that

in this

case, where he must leap over the water channel,

since it is impossible

in another manner without being harmed on Shabbat -

it is properly permitted.

Rather,

Rava explains that the special walking appropriate to Shabbat is

like

the matter

concerning which Rabbi asked Rabbi Ishmael son of Rabbi Yosei: What is the law regarding taking a large stride on Shabbat?

He said to him: But on a weekday, who permitted it?

For I say: A large stride takes away one five-hundredth of a person’s light of his eyes. And he restores it to him

and the person restores to himself the light of his eyes that was taken when he took a large stride,

by

drinking the wine of

the kiddusha de-vei shimshai,

at the onset of Shabbat.

Further,

Rabbi asked Rabbi Ishmael son of Rabbi Yosei: What is the law regarding eating earth

red clay

on Shabbat?

He said to him: But on a weekday, who permitted it?

For I say: Even on a weekday it is forbidden, because it is harmful.

It brings the one who eats it to illness.

Rabbi Ami said: Anyone who eats from the soil of Babylonia -

it is as though he eats from the flesh of his forefathers,

who are buried in its soil.

And some say: It is as though he eats vermin and creeping things.

As it is written [Genesis 7]

“And He blotted out all existence.”

Reish Lakish said: Why was its name called “Shinar”?

Because

all the dead of the Flood were shaken there.

Rabbi Yohanan said: Why was its name called “the deep”?

Because

all the dead of the Flood became clear there.

And some say: It is as though he eats vermin and creeping things.

And we raise an objection concerning it:

But surely they were completely decomposed,

the vermin and creeping things from the generation of the Flood, and they no longer exist!?

And we answer:

They say: Since it is harmful,

for it makes the one who eats it ill,

the Rabbis decreed concerning it

that one should not eat it because of eating vermin and creeping things.

For there was that man who ate gargishta,

clean clay earth,

and ate

also

garden cress,

which is a type of plant, and the garden cress took root in the earth within his intestines and grew there,

and it bored into him

the

garden cress in his heart,

for the garden cress reached his heart and bored a hole in it,

and he died.

It is written [Ruth 3]

“And you shall wash and anoint yourself, and place your garments.”

But is it not obvious that she had to dress in garments?

Rabbi Elazar said: These are garments

special

for Shabbat.

It is written [Proverbs 9]

“Give to the wise man -

and he will become wiser still.”

Rabbi Elazar said: This refers to Ruth the Moabite and Samuel the Ramathite.

Ruth -

for had Naomi said to her, “And you shall wash and anoint yourself and place your garments upon you,

and afterward -

“and you shall go down to the threshing floor.””

But in her own case,

in Ruth herself,

it is written: “And she went down to the threshing floor,”

and afterward,

only there she dressed, so that they would not notice her special garments -

“and she did according to all that her mother-in-law had commanded her.”

Samuel

who heard a voice from the Sanctuary calling him but did not know who the caller was. And he asked Eli what to do.

For had Eli said to him [I Samuel 3]

“Lie down, and if he calls to you,

he

you shall say: ‘Speak, O Lord, for your servant hears!’”

But in his own case,

in Samuel,

it is written concerning him: “And the Lord came and stood, and called as at the other times: Samuel, Samuel! And Samuel said: ‘Speak, for your servant hears,’”

and he did not say

Samuel:

“Speak, O Lord!”

for he was concerned lest it was not the voice of the Lord.

And now the Gemara brings several further homilies that Rabbi Elazar expounded on the verses of the Scroll of Ruth.

“And she went, and she came, and she gleaned in the field”;

Rabbi Elazar said:

It teaches

that she went and came, went and came, until she found proper people

among the reapers, in order

to go with them. “And Boaz said to his servant who stood over the reapers: Whose young woman is this?”

Was it Boaz’s way to ask about a young woman?

Did he look at them?

Rabbi Elazar said:

Because he

saw a matter of wisdom in her.

If she saw

two ears of grain

falling -

she gathered them,

but if she saw

three ears of grain

lying together on the ground -

she did not gather them.

And this is the law of gleanings.

In the metanita it was taught: He saw a matter of modesty in her.

If she saw a forgotten sheaf of grain

standing -

she gathered it while her body was

standing,

and if she saw a forgotten sheaf of grain

fallen -

she did not bend toward it, because of the way of modesty, but gathered it while her body was

seated.

“And here you shall cling with my maidens.”

But was it Boaz’s way to cling with women?

Rabbi Elazar said: Since he saw [Ruth 1]

“And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her,” he said: ‘It is permitted to cling to her.’

“And Boaz said to her at mealtime: Draw near here.”

Rabbi Elazar said:

The Divine Spirit was cast into him, and he

hinted a hint to her: The kingship of the house of David is destined to emerge from you, as it is written concerning him,

in King David,

“here”;

as it is stated [II Samuel 7]

“And King David came and sat before the Lord.

And he said: ‘Who am I, Lord God, and what is my house, that You have brought me to here?’”

“And dip your bread in vinegar.”

Rabbi Elazar said: From here that vinegar is beneficial for heatstroke.

Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said: He hinted a hint to her -

a son is destined to emerge from you, whose deeds will be harsh like vinegar, and who is he -

Manasseh.

“And she sat beside the reapers.”

Rabbi Elazar said:

He seated her

beside the reapers, and not among the reapers.

And the reapers separated between him and her. Since the Divine Spirit was cast into him, he

hinted a hint to her

by this,

that the kingship of the house of David is destined to be divided.

“And he handed her roasted grain, and she ate

and was satisfied.”

Rabbi Elazar said:

It is an expression of wealth.

And she ate -

in the days of David, and was satisfied -

in the days of Solomon, and had surplus -

in the days of Hezekiah.

And there are those who say: And she ate -

in the days of David and in the days of Solomon, and was satisfied -

in the days of Hezekiah, and had surplus -

in the days of Rabbi.

For the Master said: Rabbi’s

supervisor over the horses and mules

was

wealthier

richer

than the king of Persia.

In the metanita it was taught: And she ate -

in this world, and was satisfied -

in the days of the Messiah, and had surplus -

in the future to come.

And we find that these amoraim disagreed in the homiletical interpretation of other verses as well.

It is written [Isaiah 10], in the prophecy of Isaiah the prophet concerning the army of Sennacherib:

“And beneath his glory, it shall burn with burning -

like the burning of fire”;

Rabbi Yohanan said: “And beneath his glory,”

as beneath the lower part of the glory of the army of Sennacherib there will burn a burning of fire, and that is beneath his garments,

and not

beneath

his glory

itself

literally.

And the Gemara explains that

Rabbi Yohanan

expounded this

according to his own reasoning.

For Rabbi Yohanan called his garments

his clothing

“my honors.”

And this is the meaning of the verse: At the bottom of the garments [which are his glory] of the army of Sennacherib there will burn a burning of fire, and their bodies will burn, but their garments will not burn.

Rabbi Elazar says: “And beneath his glory” -

beneath his glory literally.

That is, their bodies will burn, and in the place of [“beneath”] his glory, [namely, the army of Sennacherib itself] - only ash and burning will remain.

Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said:

Their bodies will not burn. Rather,

“beneath his glory” -

there will be

like the burning of the sons of Aaron.

Just as there -

the burning of the soul while the body remains intact, so here -

the burning of the soul while the body remains intact.

For he interpreted the word “beneath” like Rabbi Yohanan, that it means “at the bottom,” whereas he interpreted the word “his glory” like Rabbi Elazar, that it refers to the army of Sennacherib itself.

And this is what the verse says: At the bottom of the army of Sennacherib there will burn a burning of fire, but they themselves will not burn in it; only their glory will burn, that is, their souls will burn while their bodies will remain intact.

Rabbi Aḥa bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: