Shabbat 44b — the Talmud in English

And if so, you can object:

But what of a new lamp

that was

made for this purpose,

in any event,

since he did not light with it—

it is permitted to move it.

A bed, which was not made for this purpose—

all the more so

that it is not muktzeh, despite the fact that they designated it for money!?

And we answer:

Rather, if it was stated—

this is how it was stated:

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav:

a.

A bed that one designated for money,

if

he placed money upon it

on the eve of Shabbat—

it is forbidden to move it

even if the money was removed from it before Shabbat. For this is not merely a designation of “preparation”; rather, he actually used it for money.

If he never placed

at any time

money

upon it—

it is permitted to move it, despite the fact that he designated it for money.

b.

If he did not designate it for money,

and now, on Shabbat,

there is money upon it—

it is forbidden to move it.

If there is no money upon it—

it is permitted to move it,

even if there was money upon it on weekdays.

And this is so provided that there was not money upon it during twilight.

For if there was money upon it during twilight and it was removed from it on Shabbat, by a gentile or a child, we say: since it was set aside during twilight, it was set aside for the entire day.

Ulla said: Rabbi Elazar raised an objection:

A person or a vessel that makes an overhanging covering over a corpse or a grave becomes impure with corpse-impurity.

A wooden vessel whose volume is more than forty seah, which makes an overhanging covering over the corpse, does not become impure at all.

And it also constitutes a barrier against impurity for other vessels located inside it. For the matter is considered as though the vessels are located in another “tent,” and they do not make an overhanging covering over the corpse.

For the purpose of calculating the measurement of the volume of the wooden vessel, if it contains more than forty seah, the thickness of the vessel’s walls and the bases of the small legs upon which it stands are also calculated.

One form of a large wooden vessel that contains, in the total calculation, more than forty seah is a wagon [called a “shida”] made of wood, surrounded by partitions, with wooden wheels on its sides, and with seats for people inside it.

The people and the vessels found inside the wooden wagon do not become impure when the wagon passes through a cemetery and makes an overhanging covering over the graves. Since the wagon itself does not become impure, on account of its being larger than forty seah, it also separates between the impurity and the people and vessels found inside it.

The wooden wheel of the wagon, called a “mukhni,” had a receptacle, and it was less than forty seah. At times it was permanently attached to the wagon, and at times in a manner that allowed it to be dismantled and assembled.

We learned in the Mishna in tractate Kelim, chapter eighteen: The wooden shida—

the mukhni,

which is its wooden wheel,

when it [

the “mukhni” is feminine in grammatical gender]

is detachable,

when the wheel is not fixed to the wagon, but is made to be dismantled from it and then assembled onto it again, then the wheel is not considered part of the wagon, but rather is a wooden vessel in its own right; therefore, the law of that “mukhni” [the wooden wheel]:

a.

It has no connection

with it concerning impurity.

For if the shida does not contain forty seah and is susceptible to impurity, then if the wagon becomes impure, the mukhni does not thereby also become impure, since it is a vessel separate from it.

And likewise, if the mukhni becomes impure, the wagon does not become impure.

And likewise, if the wagon contains forty seah and does not become impure, nevertheless the mukhni becomes impure, since it is not part of the wagon, but rather is a vessel in its own right.

b.

And it is not measured

the mukhni

with it,

with the shida, to determine whether the wagon, together with the mukhni, contains forty seah.

c.

And it does not protect together with it in the tent of the corpse.

For if the wagon passes through a cemetery, and vessels protrude above and outward from the wagon’s walls, while the wagon’s wheel is beneath those vessels, the thickness of the wheel does not separate between them and the impurity over which they make an overhanging covering. For the wheel is not part of the wagon, but rather is a separate vessel that contains a receptacle of less than forty seah, is susceptible to impurity, and does not constitute a barrier against it [according to Rav Ovadiah of Bertinoro on the Mishna, in the corrected version there, and the Maharsha here].

d.

And one does not drag it on Shabbat when there is money upon it.

For if the wheel were not a vessel in its own right, but rather part of the wagon itself, it would be permitted to drag the wagon on Shabbat despite the fact that the money is lying upon the wheel, since the money is not lying upon the principal vessel, but upon something attached to it. But since the wheel is a vessel in its own right, it is forbidden to drag the wagon together with the wheel and the money upon it, because dragging the wheel is dragging a vessel in its own right, and it is forbidden to drag it because of the money found upon it.

And we infer:

Is it not the case that if there is not upon it

of the mukhni now

money—

it is permitted

to move it,

even though there was upon it

the money

during twilight!

And we answer:

That

Mishna of tractate Kelim—

it is the opinion of Rabbi Shimon, who does not hold of muktzeh

with regard to an object that is fit for use, and we do not say concerning it: since it was set aside during twilight, it was set aside for the entire day.

And

if

Rav—

he holds in accordance with Rabbi Yehuda

who holds of muktzeh.