Shabbat 34a (לד.) — the Talmud in English

And the priests are distressed by it,

because they need

to make a detour

and travel along a longer route.

Rabbi Shimon said:

Is there

anyone who knows that purity had been established here?

That is, does anyone know that this place, which is now subject to uncertainty concerning ritual impurity, had never been a cemetery?

A certain elder said to him: Here ben Zakkai cut lupines of teruma

as he would plant teruma produce in this place and then uproot it. Produce grown from teruma requires protection so that it remain pure, and ben Zakkai himself was a priest; this is proof that this place had never been a cemetery.

He did

—Rabbi Shimon—

likewise,

and he would cut lupines and throw them, whereupon a miracle occurred: the place where a corpse was buried would rise up, and they marked the location of the grave.

Wherever the

earth was

hard, he declared it pure.

And wherever the

earth was

soft, he marked it.

That elder said: Ben Yohai has purified a cemetery!

Rabbi Shimon said to him

:

Had you been with us

at that gathering when we declared it pure,

and even

if

you had been with us but had not joined with us

in permitting it,

you would be speaking well

now by saying that this place is a cemetery.

But

now, since you were with us

when we declared it pure,

and joined

with us in permitting it,

people will say

: If

prostitutes

beautify

and flatter

one another,

all the more so Torah scholars

will certainly

assist one another and will not cause one another to stumble, as you have done to me.

Rabbi Shimon cast his eyes upon him,

and

he died.

Rabbi Shimon went out

to the marketplace.

He saw Judah ben Gerim and said: Does this man still have

a place

in the world?

He cast his eyes upon him and turned him into a heap of bones;.

Mishna:

A person must say three things in his household,

to the members of his household,

on the eve of Shabbat at twilight,

close to the onset of Shabbat. And not earlier, so that they will not say: We still have time to do them:

a. Have you

tithed

the fruits designated for eating on Shabbat, including even fruits whose processing has not been completed? [Such fruits are permitted to be eaten casually on weekdays, but are forbidden to be eaten on Shabbat, because Shabbat “establishes” the fruits as subject to the obligation of tithing and forbids even casual eating of untithed produce whose processing has not been completed].

b. Have you

prepared

the eruv of courtyards, which permits carrying from the house to the courtyard, and the eruv of boundaries, which permits one to walk an additional two thousand cubits beyond the Shabbat boundary?

c.

Light the lamp!

This statement is not phrased as a question, since one can see whether the lamp is lit.

And when the time of “between sunset and nightfall” arrived, which is

possibly

nightfall and possibly not nightfall —

One may not tithe definite produce,

because rectifying untithed produce was prohibited by the Sages on Shabbat, as it resembles repairing a utensil, which is forbidden as “striking the final blow,” the completion of labor.

And one may not immerse utensils

that became impure, since purifying utensils likewise resembles repairing them.

And

all the more so,

one may not light

then

the lamps,

since lighting is a labor prohibited on Shabbat by Torah law.

But one may tithe

then

demai

—produce purchased from an am ha-aretz, which the Sages required one to tithe, lest the am ha-aretz had not tithed it—since rectifying demai is not considered significant rectification. Most ammei ha-aretz tithe their produce, and the requirement to tithe produce purchased from them is a stringency imposed by the Sages; therefore, they were not stringent about prohibiting tithing during twilight.

And one may prepare

eruvei teḥumin and eruvei ḥatzerot. The Gemara will explain that this does not contradict what was stated earlier in the Mishna, that one must take care to prepare the eruv before twilight.

And one may insulate hot food

with something that preserves its heat.

But once nightfall arrives, one may no longer tithe, prepare an eruv, or insulate food.

Gemara:

And we raise a discussion concerning this:

From where are these matters derived,

what is the scriptural support for asking these three questions before the onset of Shabbat?

And we answer:

Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: The verse states

[Job 5]

“And you shall know that peace is in your tent, and you shall inspect your dwelling,

and you shall not sin.”

The peace of the household depends on these three matters. When the food is not properly prepared for eating, or it is impossible to carry from the house to the courtyard and to walk to wherever one wishes to go on Shabbat, or the house is dark, this undermines peace in the household [see the notes in the Masoret HaShas and in the Rosh].

Rabba bar Rav Huna said: Although the Sages said that a person must say three things, and so on, he must say them gently, so that they will accept them from him.

Rav Ashi said: I had not heard this statement of Rabba bar Rav Huna,

that one must say them gently, but nevertheless

I fulfilled

this

by reasoning.

And furthermore, we raise a discussion concerning this:

This itself is difficult:

You said

at the beginning:

“A person must say three things in his household on the eve of Shabbat at

before

nightfall.”

And it implies:

At

before

nightfall, but not

during twilight, which is

possibly nightfall and possibly not nightfall—

he should not

say it, because it is already forbidden then to prepare an eruv and to separate tithes.

And afterward it teaches: “Possibly nightfall and possibly not nightfall”—

one may prepare an eruv!?

The Gemara brings the answer of Rabbi Abba in the name of Rav Hiyya bar Ashi in the name of Rav, and records by means of a mnemonic several other places in tractate Shabbat where the statement of Rabbi Abba in the name of Rav Hiyya bar Ashi in the name of Rav appears.

Mnemonic: Bagufya

—that is, in our passage, where he comes to resolve the contradiction within the Mishna itself—

Zimra, Tzipra, Beḥavla Milta.

Rabbi Abba said in the name of Rav Hiyya bar Ashi, who said in the name of Rav: It is not difficult.

Here,

in the first clause, where the Mishna said that the eruv is permitted specifically while it is still day, it is speaking

of an eruv teḥumin,

which is a significant act of rectification, since the prohibition against leaving the Shabbat boundary has scriptural support.

Here,

in the latter clause, where we learned that one may prepare an eruv during twilight, it is speaking

of an eruv ḥatzerot,

since the prohibition against carrying has no scriptural support. Therefore, preparing an eruv ḥatzerot is not considered significant rectification, and such rectification may be performed even during twilight.

The Gemara brings another halakhic ruling concerning placing an eruv teḥumin during twilight.

The principle of an eruv teḥumin is that a person acquires a place of residence for Shabbat at the place where he deposits the eruv. From there he may walk two thousand cubits in every direction.

This place of residence must be acquired by him at the onset of Shabbat, because after the onset of Shabbat he cannot change his “place of residence.”

Therefore, ideally, one should place the eruv teḥumin before twilight, since that is, by uncertainty, the time when “the sanctity of the day begins.”

The eruv acquires the place of residence only if it was in existence at the onset of Shabbat, since, as stated, the time when the place of residence is fixed is at the onset of Shabbat. The Gemara now explains the status of a person who, after the fact, placed his eruv during twilight.

And Rava said: Two people said to one

man, a messenger:

Go

to the end of the city’s Shabbat boundary

and prepare an eruv,

place an eruv teḥumin there,

for us,

on our behalf.

The messenger went and placed the eruv on behalf of each of them, but two things occurred:

a. It happened that

for one

of them

the messenger prepared an eruv

for him

while it was still day.

And

if

for one

of them he

prepared an eruv for him

only afterward, when the time of

twilight had arrived.

b. It happened that

the one for whom the eruv had been prepared while it was still day—

his eruv was eaten

by a dog or a person during

twilight.

The eruv was no longer present once nightfall arrived.

And

if

the one for whom the eruv had been prepared during twilight—

his eruv was eaten once nightfall arrived.

Thus,

both acquired an eruv.

For regarding the first eruv, which was placed before twilight, we treat twilight as night, and say that the day had already become sanctified during twilight before the eruv was eaten. Regarding the second eruv, we treat twilight as day, and it follows that the eruv was placed before the onset of Shabbat and remained there until the beginning of the night, which is the time of the onset of Shabbat.

And we wonder:

Whichever way you look at it!

If twilight is day—

only the

later eruv should acquire

a place, whereas the

earlier eruv should not acquire

one, since the eruv was eaten during twilight, which according to this possibility was still day.

And if twilight is night,

only the

earlier eruv should acquire

a place, whereas the

later eruv should not acquire

one, since it follows that the eruv was placed after the onset of Shabbat.

And we answer: The period of

twilight

is uncertain,

whether it is day or night. The prohibition of boundaries and the placement of an eruv are only rabbinic,

and in a rabbinic uncertainty

the ruling is lenient.

We learned in the Mishna that one may insulate hot food during twilight. It follows that after nightfall it is forbidden to insulate it, even with something that does not add heat [hevel], because with something that adds heat it is forbidden to insulate even while it is still day [below, in the Mishna on 47b].

Rava said: Why did they say: One may not insulate with something that does not add heat once nightfall arrives,

such as wool, although it does not add heat to the cooking?

It is a decree lest

when he comes to insulate it he find it cold, and

he will boil

the pot and violate the prohibition against cooking on Shabbat.

Abaye said to Rava

:

If so,

according to your statement, that there is concern even when insulating with something that does not add heat, lest he come to boil it, concerning

twilight as well, we should issue a decree

not to insulate then! After all, with regard to a rabbinic shevut that is based on concern for a Torah prohibition, they issued a decree during twilight; the proof is that they prohibited tithing definite untithed produce then, because of the decree lest one come to repair utensils on Shabbat!?

Rava said

to Abaye:

Ordinary pots are boiling

at the time of twilight, because they are removed from the fire shortly before twilight, and at that time there is no concern that he will find a cold pot and come to boil it.