Shabbat 139b — the Talmud in English

But did not Rabbi Yehuda bar Shilat say that Rabbi Asi said: An incident occurred in the synagogue of Maon

where there was a corpse

on a Festival adjacent to Shabbat, ![](pamud.bmp "

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and we do not know whether

the Festival was on the day that

preceded it

[Friday],

or

whether it was on the day that

followed it

[Sunday].

And they came before Rabbi Yohanan. And he said to them:

They permitted the prohibition of instructing on a Festival for the honor of the corpse, and therefore

gentiles shall attend to it

for its burial.

Rav Asi understood that Rabbi Yohanan did not permit burial on a Festival that falls in the middle of the week, because the prohibition should be permitted only so that the corpse should not remain for more than one day. And his uncertainty was whether Rabbi Yohanan permitted only in the case of a corpse that died on Shabbat, to bury it on the Festival that is the first day of the week, because it had already remained [unburied] and had begun to decompose, or whether even in the case of a corpse that died on Friday, which is the Festival, it is permitted to bury it on that day, so that it should not remain for two days and decompose, since on Shabbat there is no permission whatsoever to bury it .

And Rava said: A corpse

lying [awaiting] burial

on the first day of a Festival—

gentiles shall attend to it .

And if it lies upon us to bury it

on the second day of a Festival,

which is only rabbinic,

Israelites shall attend to it .

And even on the second day of Rosh Hashanah

Israelites shall attend to its burial, even though it is more stringent than every other second day of a Festival, because according to the enactment of the Sages its sanctity is one sanctity with that of the first day.

This is not so with regard to an egg

that was laid on a Festival. For we were stringent concerning it on the second day of Rosh Hashanah: if it was laid on the first day of the Festival, it is forbidden also on the second day of the Festival, because the two days of Rosh Hashanah have one sanctity. This is not so with regard to the other Festivals, for if it was laid on the first day, it is permitted on the second, since the entire basis of the sanctity of the second day is only because of the uncertainty, perhaps the first day was an ordinary weekday, and an egg laid on an ordinary weekday is certainly permitted on a Festival.

And if so, the question arises: Why did Rav Menashya not permit the people of Bashkar to bury on the first day by means of gentiles, and on the second day by means of Israelites in accordance with the words of Rabbi Yohanan and Rava?

And we answered:

Because they are not learned in Torah,

and they will come to be lenient even in the prohibited manner.

Rav Avin bar Rav Huna said that Rav Hama bar Gurya said: A person may wrap himself in a canopy,

for a canopy is a sheet spread over poles, and therefore he may wrap himself in its sheet in the manner of clothing,

and in its cords

[together with the straps hanging from it],

and go out into the public domain on Shabbat, and he need not be concerned because of

the carrying of the straps, which do not serve for wrapping.

And we raised an objection:

What is different

about carrying the canopy’s straps

from

that

of Rav Huna?

For Rav Huna said that Rav said: One who goes out with a tallit whose ritual fringes are not according to its halakhic requirements on Shabbat—

is liable to bring a sin-offering,

because the ritual fringes are not part of the garment , but when they are valid, they are needed by the garment and fulfill its mitzva ; but when they are invalid, they are not needed, and they are a burden. And the same should be the law with regard to the canopy’s straps!

And we answered:

Ritual fringes

that contain tekhelet

with regard to a tallit—

are significant

in themselves

and do not become nullified

and are not part of the garment, but

these

straps

are not significant.

And they become nullified

with regard to the garment. And the status of a garment rests upon them.

Rabba bar Rav Huna said:

According to the Rabbis, who prohibit hanging the strainer, and whose reason is because of weekday activity, it is permitted to hang it in order to place pomegranates upon it, since this is not weekday activity . And

a person may employ a ruse concerning the strainer on a Festival,

and spread it out in order

to hang pomegranates in it,

even though he does not need the matter, and after he has hung it on the utensil,

he hangs sediment in it,

for it is permitted to strain on a Festival.

Rav Ashi said: And this is when he hung in it

first

pomegranates,

thereby demonstrating through his action that he hung the strainer for pomegranates; it is not sufficient that he say at the time of hanging that he is hanging the strainer for pomegranates, nor is it sufficient that he hang pomegranates in it after he has strained the sediment.

And we raised an objection to Rav Ashi:

What is different

here, where they permitted employing a ruse only in a manner in which he initially performs an action indicating as though he truly hung the strainer for pomegranates, so that it would not occur to a momentary observer that he hung it for sediment,

from

what we find concerning labor on the intermediate days of a Festival?

For it was taught in a beraita: One may brew beer

[make beer]

on

the intermediate days of a Festival

for the needs of the Festival.

But

not for the needs of the Festival—

it is prohibited. Whether date beer or barley beer.

And even though they have

old

beer,

and he wants to make new beer so that beer will remain for him after the Festival,

he employs a ruse

and makes beer during the Festival,

and drinks from

the

new

beer that he made during the Festival .

It follows that they permitted employing a ruse even though he does not demonstrate that he truly made it for the needs of the Festival, except at the end, when he drinks , and despite the fact that when they see him brewing beer, it appears that he is certainly doing so not for the needs of the Festival, since he has old beer!

And we answered:

There,

with beer,

the matter is not apparent

that he is employing a ruse, since people do not know that he has old beer.

But

here,

with a strainer, which ordinarily is hung for sediment, if he strains in it first,

the matter is apparent

that he is hanging the strainer in order to strain with it. Therefore he must first hang pomegranates in it, and only afterward may he strain in it.

The Rabbis said to Rav Ashi: Let the master see

[may the master see]

this Torah scholar, whose name is Rav Huna son of Rabbi Hiyyon—and some say his name is Rav Huna son of Rabbi Halwan,

who performs acts of employing a ruse:

1.

He takes a clove of garlic and places it in the spigot of a barrel

[he takes a clove of garlic and places it in the opening in the barrel made for the wine to exit], thereby repairing the barrel.

And he says:

I do not intend to repair the barrel, but only

to conceal it

[to conceal] the clove of garlic there

before me, please.

2.

And he goes and sleeps in a boat

[he goes and falls asleep in a gentile’s boat],

and crosses to the other side and surveys his produce

[and crosses to the other side of the river to guard his produce there].

And he says: I,

did not intend to sail in the boat on Shabbat , but

to sleep

in the boat

I intended.

Rav Ashi said to them

Rav Ashi:

Are you speaking of employing a ruse?

For

this ruse

is

a rabbinic matter,

because

the prohibition against crossing in a boat, even when he himself guides it, is rabbinic, and all the more so when a gentile guides it. Likewise, there is no biblical prohibition in stopping an opening by means of foods with which it is not customary to stop it .

And

therefore, although it is not appropriate to permit every person to do this, lest he come to permit himself even without employing a ruse,

a Torah scholar does not come to do this initially

and it is permitted for him .

Mishna:

1.

One places water

on Shabbat

upon the sediment

that was in the strainer from before Shabbat

so that it will become clear

[so that the sediment will become clear], and the water will flow out of it together with some of the wine that remained absorbed in the sediment .

b.

And they strain the wine through cloths and in an Egyptian basket [

or in a basket made of palm branches], because straining through them involves a change from the usual manner of the labor, for the usual manner of straining is through a filter . And even with them, they did not permit straining wine that cannot be drunk without the straining.

c.

And they place an egg in a mustard strainer

into which mustard had been placed on the eve of Shabbat , the yolk of the egg descends below and mixes with the mustard and gives it a yellow color, whereas the white remains above in the strainer with the refuse.

d.

d.

And they make anomelin [

a mixture of wine, honey, and peppers ]

on Shabbat,

and it is not necessary to make only a restricted amount for the needs of Shabbat alone .

one prepares a small amount

Rabbi Yehuda says: On Shabbat

they make a small amount

in a cup, on a festival

they make more

in a lagin

which is a vessel larger than a cup,

and on

chol ha-moed—in a barrel.

Rabbi Tzadok says: Everything

they make

according to the guests .

Gemara:

Zeiri said: A person may place clear wine and clear water into a mishmeret

on Shabbat and need not be concerned,

since the majority of people are not particular not to drink the wine or the water without this straining—there is no sorting prohibition in it,

but turbid liquids

that people are not accustomed to drink

—no.

He objected

from that which was taught in a beraita:

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: A person stirs [

mixes]

a barrel of wine, its wine and its sediment, and places it into a mishmeret on Shabbat, and need not be concerned.

It follows that they permitted placing turbid wine into a mishmeret, since it is fit for drinking, even though people are not accustomed to drink it without straining!

Zeiri

explained

it:

The words of the beraita were taught concerning the time

“between the winepresses.”

During the season when the grapes are pressed in the winepresses, all wines are turbid, and people are accustomed to drink them when they are mixed with wine sediment; therefore, their straining is not considered a correction through sorting .

We learned in the Mishna:

They strain the wine through cloths.

Rav Shimi bar Hiyya said: Provided that he does not make

in them

a hollow,

because of a weekday-like practice, or because of concern lest he come to squeeze.

And likewise we learned:

And in an Egyptian basket.

Rav Hiyya bar Ashi said in the name of Rav: Provided that he does not raise

the basket

from its bottom

of the lower vessel

a handbreadth,

for then he makes a tent .

Rav said: This puranka [

a garment that they spread over a wine vat to cover it],

over half the vat—

is permitted [

to place it over half the vat—it is permitted], because this is not a tent. To place it

over the entire vat—

is forbidden

because of making a tent , when the vat is not full and there is a handbreadth between the wine and the garment . Rav Pappa said: A person should not tightly pack reeds [

he should not place reeds and splinters in a tight manner in the mouth of the small funnel of the barrel,

through which the wine is poured from the barrel into cups], in order to stop the refuse, because it appears like a filter,

even though this is not an actual filter, for the sediment is not separated from the wine through it, and it is useful only for larger refuse .

although it is not an actual strainer, since the sediment is not separated from the wine by this means, which is effective only for larger particles of refuse.

In the house of Rav Pappa, they poured beer from one vessel into another [

in the house of Rav Pappa they poured beer in a measured manner from one vessel into another, and the refuse remained in the first vessel], and there is no sorting prohibition in this, since the beer that they pour is not mixed with the refuse, but stands above it.

Rav Aha of Difti said to Ravina:

How did Rav Pappa permit them this?

Is there not

after the flow had stopped

drops [

small drops], and those drops were certainly mixed with the refuse and were separated from it by them!

Ravina said to him:

Drops are not significant for the house of Rav Pappa

because they had a great deal of beer, and when the flow stopped, they discarded what remained and did not sort the drops from the refuse .

We further learned:

And they place an egg in a strainer

of mustard.