Shabbat 21a (כא.) — the Talmud in English

And we inquire concerning what Rami bar Avin said:

What practical difference does it make?

Everyone recognizes tar and wax.

And we answer:

For buying and selling,

because one who sells wax to another may give him waste of honey without refining it.

The Sages taught: All these

species

that they said

in the Mishna

one may not kindle with them

a lamp

on Shabbat.

But one may make a bonfire from them

[since the fire is large, each one ignites the others]—

whether to warm oneself opposite it or to use its light

of the bonfire on Shabbat.

It is permitted to do so

whether

he makes the bonfire

on the ground or on a stove

[the reading of the Rif:

on a lampstand].

And they prohibited

the Sages

only making a wick for a lamp from them.

We learned in the Mishna: Nor with castor oil.

And we inquire:

What is castor oil?

Shmuel said: I asked all the seafarers,

I asked those who go down to the sea: What is castor oil?

And they told me: There is a bird in the maritime cities called kik.

[In the Jerusalem Talmud, Rabbi Yishmael taught: “‘And the ka’at’—this is the kik.” Yafeh Einayim.] One may not kindle a Shabbat lamp with the oil of this bird.

Rav Yitzhak, son of Rav Yehuda, said:

Castor oil is

kaza oil,

oil made from cotton seeds [cotton].

Reish Lakish said:

It resembles

Jonah’s castor plant,

the prophet.

Rabba bar bar Ḥana said: I myself saw

I saw

Jonah’s castor plant. And it resembles

[a type of nonfruit-bearing tree]

the olive tree.

And when they split,

they grow,

and it grows in watery marshes.

And they raise it over the entrances of shops,

so that it provides shade and gives off a pleasant fragrance.

And from its seeds

they make

oil,

oil.

And beneath its branches rest all the sick people of the West,

all the sick people of the West rest in its shade.

Rabba said: The wicks concerning which the Sages said that one may not kindle with them on Shabbat

—what was the reason for this decree?

Because the flame flickers among them,

that is, the fire is not fixed in one place but jumps about.

Another explanation: it does not hold onto the wick itself but surrounds it, and therefore the Sages were concerned that it might go out and he would relight it.

The oils concerning which the Sages said that one may not kindle with them

a Shabbat lamp—what was the reason for this decree?

Because

these oils

do not flow after the wick,

and therefore there is concern that he might come to tilt the lamp on Shabbat [and thereby incur liability for kindling].

Abaye asked Rabba:

Those

oils concerning which the Sages said that one may not kindle with them on Shabbat—

what is the law if one places some amount of oil into them

that is fit for kindling, so that by adding the oil they flow after the wick,

and kindles

a Shabbat lamp with them?

The sides of the doubt are:

Do we decree, lest

since it will be permitted to kindle with them by adding oil, on another occasion he

come to kindle

when they are

as they are,

without adding oil? Therefore, there is reason to decree that one may never kindle with these oils.

Or not,

did the Sages not issue such a decree, and is kindling permitted when oil is added?

He said to him: One may not kindle

with them at all.

What is the reason?

Because

the Sages decreed that one

may not kindle

with them as they are, and they likewise decreed that it is forbidden even when one has added oil fit for kindling, lest he kindle with them as they are.

He raised an objection to him

from a beraita, which teaches:

If one wound an item

of the type

with which one may kindle around an item with which one may not kindle,

and made them into a single wick—

one may not kindle with it

a Shabbat lamp.

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: In my father’s household,

in the house of Rabban Gamliel,

they would wind a wick around a nut and kindle.

Although a nut is not fit to be used as a wick [as we learned below, 27b: anything that comes from a tree may not be used for kindling, except flax].

In any event, it teaches

in the beraita, in the statement of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, that if one wound a wick around a nut—

one may kindle!

It follows that whenever one combines a substance fit for kindling with one unfit for kindling, it is permitted to kindle with it, whereas you said that one may not kindle.

He said to him: Rather than raise an objection to me

from the words of

the words of

words of

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel,

support them from the words of

[the words of]

the first tanna,

who says: If one wound an item with which one may kindle around an item with which one may not kindle, one may not kindle with it.

And we answer:

This is not difficult.

The difficulty arises from the fact that it is a

“reported practice.” Since Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel testified that this was the practice in the house of Rabban Gamliel, this indicates that it is the halakha. [See Rashi below, 126b, s.v. “reported practice.”] Therefore, he preferred to challenge him from the words of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel rather than support him from the words of the first tanna.

Nevertheless, the objection remains:

In any event, there is a difficulty

with Rabba, who prohibited it, from the words of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel.

Is it not

that they used the nut in order

to kindle

with it?

And we answer:

No,

the nut was not needed for kindling, but

for floating,

in order to support the wick so that it would float on the oil; and therefore it is permitted.

And we challenge:

If it was for floating

that they used the nut,

what is the reason of the first tanna

who prohibits it?

And we answer:

The entire

beraita is the statement of

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel. And the

beraita

is incomplete, and this is what it teaches:

If one wound an item with which one may kindle

on Shabbat

around an item with which one may not kindle—

one may not kindle with it.

In what case is this said?

When he wound it in order

to kindle.

But

if he wound it in order

to make it float, it is permitted.

For Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: In my father’s household they would wind a wick around a nut

in order to make it float.

And we ask:

Is that so?

Did you think that adding oil to an item with which one may not kindle is prohibited?

But Rav Bruna said in the name of Rav: Melted forbidden fat

—melted [and see the Ran whether this means cooked or merely not congealed]

and liquefied fish entrails—

one places some amount of oil into them and kindles

with them.

It follows that adding oil is effective even with a substance with which one may not kindle.

And we answer:

These

—melted forbidden fat and fish entrails—

flow,

they draw the oil and are fit for kindling

as they are,

in their unaltered state.

But these,

concerning which the Mishna said that one may not kindle with them—

do not flow as they are,

and are not fit in their unaltered state.

Since these two substances do flow, it would be proper for it to be permitted to kindle with them as they are, even without adding oil.

And the Sages decreed concerning melted forbidden fat

that one may not kindle with it,

because of unmelted forbidden fat,

since when it is unmelted it does not flow after the wick.

And

they decreed

concerning liquefied fish entrails

that one may not kindle with them,

because of fish entrails that have not liquefied,

which do not flow after the wick.

And we ask:

Let

the Sages

also

decree that it be forbidden to kindle with

melted forbidden fat and liquefied fish entrails into which one has placed oil—

because of melted forbidden fat and liquefied fish entrails into which one has not placed oil,

so that one will not come to kindle with them without oil!?

And we answer: The prohibition against lighting them

is itself a rabbinic decree, and

since

are we then to arise and institute a decree safeguarding a decree?! [

Therefore, we establish that one may light with melted suet and liquefied fish entrails into which oil was added, and these are not comparable to the other substances disqualified for lighting. See also what the Tosafot Yeshanim raised as a difficulty].

Rami bar Hama taught: With regard to the wicks and oils that the Sages said one may not light with on Shabbat—

one may not light with them

the lamp of the candelabrum

in the Temple.

And the reason

is because it is stated

in the command concerning the lighting of the lamps of the candelabrum

“to kindle a perpetual lamp.”

He taught it

as a halakhic ruling,

and he stated it

to explain how it is inferred from the verse that this is prohibited.

And this is how he expounds it: “to kindle

so that the flame

of the candelabrum

rises on its own

without requiring adjustment,

and not so that it rises through another agency,

such that it would require adjustment and tilting.

And we raise an objection:

We learned

in a Mishna in Sukka:

From the worn-out trousers of the kohanim

the trousers of the kohanim that had become worn,

and from their belts—

the old belts—

they would tear strips

and make wicks from them.

And from them, they would light

the lamps used for the Celebration of the Drawing of the Water.

But the trousers and belts of the kohanim were made of wool and linen, as it is written: “twisted linen, and blue wool, and purple wool”; shesh is linen, and tekhelet is wool. And it was taught above: They added wool to the substances with which one may not light. This indicates that although it is prohibited to light with wool wicks for the honor of Shabbat, nevertheless, in the Temple it is permitted.

And we answer:

The Celebration of the Drawing of the Water is different.

“To kindle” is not written with regard to it; “to kindle” is written only with regard to the lighting of the candelabrum.

Come and hear, as Rabba bar Mattana taught: Worn-out priestly garments—

they would tear them into strips.

And from them they would make wicks for the Temple.

And we analyze this:

Is it not

speaking here of priestly garments

made of mixed species,

which contain wool? And learn from this that it is likewise permitted to light the lamps of the candelabrum with them.

And we reject this: The beraita

does not

speak of garments made of mixed species—[trousers and belts]—but of garments

of linen,

made entirely of linen, such as the tunics, without wool.

Rav Huna said: With regard to the wicks and oils that the Sages said

that

one may not light with them on Shabbat,

even

one may not light with them on Hanukkah—

whether on Shabbat

of Hanukkah, or

whether on a weekday .

Rava said: What is the reason for Rav Huna’s ruling?

He holds:

If

it is extinguished

the Hanukkah lamp after it has been lit,

one is required to attend to it

to adjust it and relight it. Therefore, one must initially prepare it in a manner that will prevent it from being extinguished, because perhaps it will be extinguished and he will be negligent and fail to repair it .

And from the fact that Rav Huna added that this ruling applies both on Shabbat and on weekdays, we learn an additional law:

and it is permitted

to make use of its light,

the light of a Hanukkah lamp. Therefore, Rav Huna added that even on Shabbat of Hanukkah it is prohibited to light with wicks that do not draw up the oil properly, because of the concern “lest he adjust the flame” in order to use their light and repair them. By inference, it is permitted to benefit from the light of a Hanukkah lamp.

And Rav Hisda said:

These oils with which one may not light a Shabbat lamp—

one may light with them

a Hanukkah lamp

on a weekday, but not on Shabbat.

What is his reason?