Shabbat 114a — the Talmud in English

From where is there [a source] for changing garments,

that it is a way of honor to change the ordinary garments for honorable garments, as preparation for an honorable mitzva—

from the Torah?

As it is stated

Leviticus 6]

“And he shall remove his garments and put on other garments

[inferior ones], and he shall take out the ashes.”

And the tanna of the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: The Torah taught you proper conduct: “The garments in which he cooked a pot for his master”—

he should not pour a cup in them for his master.

So too, he should not wear, at the time of the removal of the ashes—which is an unimportant service, and in which he is liable to become soiled—the same garments that he wears at the time of an important service, such as burning and pouring, which are called services of “eating and drinking.”

Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: It is disgraceful for a Torah scholar to go out in patched shoes

with patches

to the marketplace.

And we raised an objection to this:

But Rabbi Aha bar Hanina went out

in them!?

Rabbi Aha, son of Rav Nahman, said:

They taught that they are disgraceful only

when

they are made

with one patch upon another.

And Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: Every Torah scholar in whose garment there is a grease stain

a stain of fat

on his garment—

is liable to death.

For the honor of the Torah is that he appear proper and distinguished.

As it is stated in the Book of Proverbs, chapter 8, in the description of the words of the Torah, where the Torah speaks concerning those who study it and damage its honor

:

“All those who make me hateful—

love death.”

Do not read “those who make me hateful,” but “those who make me hated.”

And a Torah scholar who goes out in a garment with a stain makes the Torah hateful in the eyes of people, since they say: Woe to the students of Torah, for they are repulsive and disgraced. Therefore, he is liable to death.

Ravina said:

that it contains

a layer

of semen on his garment,

it was stated.

And they do not disagree,

these amoraim.

This one,

who said that a grease stain was found on him—

on the cloak,

the outer garment.

This one,

who said semen—

on the garment,

the lower garment, beneath the cloak.

And Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: What is the meaning of that which is written

[Isaiah 20]

“As My servant Isaiah walked

[for three years]

naked and barefoot—

so shall the king of Babylonia lead the captives of Egypt and the exile of Cush, youths and old men, naked and barefoot.”

Isaiah did not walk for three years naked and barefoot. Rather:

“Naked”—

in worn-out garments.

And “barefoot”—

in patched shoes.

We learned there

in tractate Mikvaot: 1.

A grease stain,

of any size, that is found

on the goad

that is upon the donkey—

interposes

during immersion, when one wishes to purify it from its impurity, because he is particular about it.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says:

It does not interpose

until

the size of the grease stain is

like an Italian issar,

for anything smaller than this he is not particular about, and any interposition found on a minority of his body, about which he is not particular, does not interpose during immersion.

2.

And

a grease stain that is found

on garments—

if it is visible only

from one side

of the garment, it

does not interpose.

Only if an amount has penetrated it to such a degree that it is visible

from both sides

of the garment, only then does it

interpose.

Rabbi Yehuda says in the name of Rabbi Yishmael: Even

a grease stain visible on the garment

from one side

alone

interposes.

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish asked Rabbi Hanina:

According to Rabbi Yishmael, who says that a grease stain on a garment interposes when visible from one side:

A grease stain found on

a saddlecloth,

does it interpose even when it is visible on it

from one side

alone,

or

only when it is visible on it

from both sides?

He said to him: This,

a saddlecloth that has a grease stain only on one side—

I have not heard

what its law is. But

a similar case,

from which it is possible to learn,

I have heard.

For we learned: Rabbi Yose says:

A grease stain found on a garment

of the builders,

the Torah scholars who are particular about the cleanliness of their garments, interposes even when it is found

from one side

alone.

And

if it were on the garments

of an ignoramus,

who is not particular about his garments, it interposes only if it is found on him

from both sides.

And

if so,

a saddlecloth

of a donkey

will not be more important than the garment of an ordinary person,

and the grease stain does not interpose in it until it is from both sides.

And the Gemara explains:

What are “the builders”?

Rabbi Yohanan said: These are Torah scholars, who engage all their days in the building of the world.

And Rabbi Yohanan said: Who is a Torah scholar to whom a lost object is returned

when he recognizes it

by his visual recognition

without needing to give a identifying mark for it?

One who is particular about his shirt, to turn it inside out,

so that its outer side should always be on the outside, so that the inner side, which has seams, will not be seen.

And Rabbi Yohanan said: Who is a Torah scholar whom they appoint as a leader over the community?

One whom they ask a matter of halakha in every place, and he answers.

And even

when they ask him

in tractate Kallah,

which they are not accustomed to study [and see Rashi].

And Rabbi Yohanan said: Who is a Torah scholar whose townspeople are commanded to perform his work for him?

One who sets aside his own concern and engages in the concerns of Heaven.

And this applies—

to taking trouble for his bread,

bread, upon which his life depends, and which he cannot trouble himself to obtain.

And Rabbi Yohanan said: Who is a Torah scholar—

anyone whom they ask halakha in every place and he states it.

What is the practical difference—

for appointing him as a leader over the community.

If

he knows how to answer

in one tractate

that he studies—they appoint him

in his place,

in his locality.

If in all his learning,

in all the tractates—they appoint him

at the head of the academy,

to be the head of the yeshiva.

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: The one concerning whom the Mishna said, “A grease stain found on the garment of the builders”—the reference is not to Torah scholars. Rather:

The statement in the Mishna, “A grease stain found on the garment of builders,” does not refer to Torah scholars. Rather:

these are the garments of the bath attendants,

fine towels,

that come from overseas,

in which distinguished people wrap themselves when they leave the bathhouse, and they are very particular about their cleanliness; therefore even a stain on one side interposes in them. They are called “builders” on account of “the house of the bathhouse,” which is the designation for a bathhouse.

And we challenged his statement:

Does this mean that

those towels

are white

in color

indeed?

For if they were colored, dirt that was only on one side would not be discernible in them, and they would not be particular about it.

And

this is difficult, for

Rabbi Yannai said to his sons: My sons, do not bury me in garments

clothes

of white, and not in garments of black.

In

white

do not bury me—

perhaps I will not merit, and I will be like a bridegroom among mourners.

In

black

do not—

perhaps I will merit, and I will be like a mourner among bridegrooms.

Rather,

bury me

in the garments of the bath attendants,

which are red,

that come from overseas.

Apparently, they are red

in color

indeed!?

And we answer:

It is not difficult.

This—

the garments of the bath attendants that are dyed red—

in the cloak.

This,

that they are white—

in the lower garment,

in the garment beneath the cloak, or in the towel in which they wrap themselves.

We learned in the Mishna:

Rabbi Yishmael says: One may fold

the garments and make the beds from Yom Kippur for Shabbat.

The Sages taught: It is written concerning the additional offering of Shabbat [Numbers 28]

:

“The burnt offering of Shabbat on its Shabbat.”

The special expression used by Scripture, “on its Shabbat,” indicates that it comes to be expounded as though the word “on its Shabbat” had been written without the letter vav, and it should be read “on Shabbat.”

And it is as though Scripture said that it is possible to burn on the altar “this Shabbat’s burnt offering—on another Shabbat.”

And thereby

it taught concerning the fats of this Shabbat

[which ordinarily, on the conclusion of Shabbat, may be burned on the altar throughout the entire night],

that

they

are offered even if, on the conclusion of Shabbat, the sanctity of another “Shabbat” takes effect—

on Yom Kippur,

which is also called “Shabbat.”

One might even

the fats of

Yom Kippur

that occurs on the eve of Shabbat be offered

on

the night of

Shabbat

that follows?

The verse states: “On its Shabbat,” with a vav, whose meaning is to exclude: only on that Shabbat are they offered, and not on another Shabbat,

with a vav, whose implication is to exclude: specifically, they are offered on that Shabbat, but not on another Shabbat,

the words of Rabbi Yishmael.

That is, since on the one hand the verse comes to include that this Shabbat’s burnt offering is offered on another one, and on the other hand it excludes that it is offered specifically on this Shabbat, we expound it to permit that of Shabbat on Yom Kippur, since Yom Kippur is less stringent than Shabbat, and to prohibit that of Yom Kippur on Shabbat, since it is more stringent than it.

Rabbi Akiva says: “The burnt offering of Shabbat on its Shabbat”—

it taught concerning the fats of Shabbat that they are offered on a festival

that occurs on the conclusion of Shabbat.

One might

the fats of Shabbat be offered

even on Yom Kippur

that occurs on the conclusion of Shabbat?

The verse states: “On its Shabbat.”

And in this Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Akiva disagree:

When

you examine their words,

you will find to say:

According to the words of Rabbi Yishmael—

even

vows and freewill offerings,

for which there is no obligation to offer them today,

are offered on a festival; it is obvious that the fats of Shabbat, whose burning cannot be postponed, are offered on a festival.

it is certainly obvious that the sacrificial fats of Shabbat, whose burning cannot be postponed, may be offered on a Festival.

And when the verse

“on its Shabbat” was needed to include even on another Shabbat—

for Yom Kippur.

According to the words of Rabbi Akiva—

vows and freewill offerings are not offered on a festival.

And when the verse was needed—

to permit

the burning of the fats of Shabbat

on a festival.