Shabbat 80b (פ:) — the Talmud in English

The Sages taught: one who carries out hair -

enough to knead with it

the clay,

for hair is useful for clay, and the usual practice was to mix it with the clay.

And

the clay

itself - its measure is

enough to make the opening of a crucible of goldsmiths.

We learned in the Mishna:

lime, enough to plaster

the smallest of girls.

The tanna taught: Enough to plaster the little finger of the smallest of girls.

For they would customarily place lime on their bodies so that it would take on a red hue.

Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: Jewish girls who have reached puberty,

meaning that hair had grown on them,

but have not reached the age,

the appropriate age for this, and are embarrassed by the matter -

the daughters of the poor -

apply

smear

them with lime

to remove the hair.

The daughters of the wealthy -

apply them with fine flour.

The daughters of kings -

apply them with myrrh oil.

As it is stated: “Six months with myrrh oil.”

And we explain:

What is myrrh oil?

Rav Huna said: Sitakhet [

Rashi wrote in Pesachim 43a that it was not explained what this is. And the Maharshal wrote here that it is oil made and prepared with spices].

Rabbi Yirmeya bar Abba said: Oil

of

an olive that has not reached one-third.

That is, the olives had not reached the stage of “one-third of their growth.” This is a definition of a stage in growth at which the item is already fit to eat, although it is not yet ripe.

It was taught in a baraita: Rabbi Yehuda says: Anfikon,

the oil concerning which it was taught in the Mishna in tractate Menachot [85b] that one may not bring anfikon oil for meal-offerings - this means

olive oil from an olive that has not reached one-third.

And why do they anoint with it,

with myrrh oil?

Because

it removes the hair [

because it is unripe and has potency. Rashi, Menachot 86a]

and softens the flesh.

Rav Bibi had a daughter,

a daughter.

He applied it,

he smeared lime on her

limb by limb,

one after the other, rather than covering them all at once with lime.

She became beautiful, and many men who wished to marry her approached her. And thus

he received for her

Rav Bibi accepted on her behalf

four hundred zuz,

a marriage settlement from her husband.

There was a gentile in his neighborhood,

living near Rav Bibi.

He too had

also

a daughter.

He applied

lime to his daughter’s entire body

all at once,

at one time and not limb by limb,

and she died.

He said,

the gentile:

“Rav Bibi killed my daughter!”

for he had intended to act as Rav Bibi had.

Rav Naḥman said: Rav Bibi, who drank beer -

his daughters require application,

his daughters need to have lime applied to them, since beer damages the skin and causes more hair to grow. But

we, who do not drink beer -

our daughters do not require application.

We learned in the Mishna:

Rabbi Yehuda says: Enough to plaster the kolkol.

Rabbi Neḥemya says: Enough to plaster the andofi.

And we inquire:

What are kolkol and what is andofi?

Rav said:

Kolkol is

the side-lock,

which one plasters in order to lay the hair flat.

And

andofi is

the area below the side-lock,

which one plasters below the temple in order to remove the fine hair.

And we inquire:

Is this to say that Rabbi Yehuda’s measure is greater,

larger than that of the Rabbis, who said that it is enough to plaster the little finger of the smallest of girls, which seemingly is less than plastering the entire kolkol?

But

it is established for us that the measure of the Rabbis is greater!

And we answer: Rabbi Yehuda’s measure is

smaller than that of the Rabbis, but greater than that of Rabbi Neḥemya.

The measure of enough to plaster the kolkol is less than enough to plaster the little finger, and greater than enough to plaster the andofi. In fact, Rabbi Yehuda is more stringent than the Rabbis with regard to the measures of Shabbat.

He raised an objection

from that which was taught in a baraita:

Rabbi said: The statement of Rabbi Yehuda appears correct with regard to

lime

that has been beaten,

which has been completely dissolved in water and is used to plaster the kolkol.

And

the statement of

Rabbi Neḥemya appears correct with regard to lime eggs,

lime that has been kneaded and formed into egg-shaped lumps, with which one plasters the andofi.

And if it enters your mind

that kolkol and andofi are

the side-lock and the area below the side-lock,

that is, that the hairs on the temple and beneath the temple are plastered with lime, how could Rabbi distinguish between them?

For

both this and that,

both the hair of the side-lock and the hair below the side-lock are plastered with the same lime, with

beaten lime,

since both are hair.

And we answer:

Rather, Rabbi Yitzḥak said: The scholars of the house of Rabbi Ami say:

Andofi is

the andifa,

a water container made of earthenware with two openings, one above and one below. When one wishes to fill it, one seals the lower opening with lime. This lime differs from the lime used for the kolkol.

Rav Kahana raised an objection to this: Does a person render his money a loss,

so that the wine dissolves the lime and escapes through the opening?

Rather, Rav Kahana said:

Andofi is

the markings,

the raised markings inside the container indicating the measures, which are plastered with lime so that they will be white and visible.

As we learned in the Mishna: There were markings in

the measure of

the hin

in the Temple, in order to indicate with them:

“Up to here”

one must place half a hin

for a bull.

“Up to here”

a third of a hin

for a ram.

And

“up to here for a lamb,”

a quarter of a hin. [

Rashi cites another interpretation in the name of his teachers: Rabbi Yitzḥak’s andifa means that they plastered the entire body so that it would take on a red hue, not in order to remove the hair. For this they used thick lime. Rav Kahana objects that it was not customary to plaster the entire body, due to the concern that she might die, as the gentile’s daughter died. Rather, he explains that they plastered the markings, meaning limb by limb. Rashi rejects this interpretation, since it is not the way of the Talmud to call “limb by limb” by the term “markings].

And if you wish, say: What is andifa?

The forehead,

the forehead, which they plastered [not in the area of the hair] so that it would take on a red hue; therefore, they used lime thicker than the lime used to remove hair.

And is this like the incident involving a certain Galilean, who happened to come to Babylonia,,

and they said to him: “Arise and expound for us concerning the Account of the Chariot.”

He said to them: “I will expound for you as Rabbi Neḥemya expounded to his colleague.”

And a hornet emerged

a hornet

from the wall, and it struck him

it bit him

on the andofi,

on his forehead,

and he died.

And they said to him,

they said about that Galilean:

“From his own

hand

this came to him,”

this happened to him, because he should not have expounded concerning the Account of the Chariot.

This demonstrates that andofi is a term for the forehead.

Mishna:

Red earth,

red clay; its measure for carrying out is

the size of a seal

of sacks,

the amount sufficient to make from the clay a seal for sacks of merchandise,

the statement of Rabbi Akiva.

And the Sages say: The size of a letter seal,

with which letters are sealed so that no other person will read them. This is less than the size of a sack seal.

Manure and fine sand -

enough to fertilize a cabbage stalk, the statement of Rabbi Akiva.

And the Sages say: Enough to fertilize a leek,

a blade of grass. This is less than a cabbage stalk.

Coarse sand -

enough to place

of it

on a full plasterer’s spoonful of lime,

as plasterers would mix sand with lime, and the amount of sand needed for a spoonful of lime is the measure for carrying out.

A reed -

enough to make a quill.

And if it was

the reed

thick or cracked,

split, so that it was unfit for writing, its measure is

enough to cook the easiest-cooking of eggs,

namely, a hen’s egg when it is

beaten,

mixed,

and placed in a pan

that has already been heated, so that it cooks quickly. [Rabbenu Ovadya of Bertinoro].

And the measure of the reed is enough to fuel this pan.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna:

On a full plasterer’s spoonful of lime.

The tanna taught: Enough to place on the mouth of a plasterer’s spoon.

And we inquire:

Who is the tanna

who holds

that sand is beneficial

improves

the lime?

Rav Ḥisda said: It is Rabbi Yehuda!

As it was taught in a baraita: A person may not plaster his house with lime

after the Destruction, because of mourning over Jerusalem,

unless he mixed straw or sand into it,

so that it would not be entirely white.

Rabbi Yehuda says:

If he mixed

straw into it, it is permitted.

But if he mixed

sand into it, it is prohibited, because it is traksid.

The sand causes the lime to harden and become stronger. Therefore, although it darkens it somewhat, it is prohibited.

This shows that Rabbi Yehuda holds that sand benefits lime.

Rava said: You may even say

the Mishna is the opinion of

the Rabbis; nevertheless, the measure is determined by the amount of sand placed into lime, for

its damage is its repair.

Because it damages and darkens the lime, they permitted plastering with it. Therefore, it was customary to mix sand into lime. [

Since it damages and darkens the lime, they permitted plastering with it. Therefore, the usual practice is to mix sand into lime.

Rashi cites an interpretation in the name of his teachers that “its damage is its repair” means that although the sand damages and darkens the lime, on the other hand it repairs and strengthens it, and therefore it was customary to mix it into the lime.

Rashi rejected this interpretation, since according to it the wording is imprecise: The damage itself is not the repair; rather, despite the damage, there is also a repair].

We learned in the Mishna:

A reed, enough to make a quill.

The tanna taught: A quill that reaches

at its end

the finger joints

of a person.

Rav Ashi raised a question:

Which joint is meant? Is it

the upper joint,

in the middle of the palm, where the fingers branch out,

or

the

lower joint,

in the middle of the finger?

And we conclude:

Teyku!

We learned in the Mishna:

And if it was thick.

The tanna taught: Enough to cook an egg

Enough to cook an egg

beaten with oil,

which cooks quickly,

and placed in a pan.

Mar, son of Ravina, said to his son: Have you heard

this

“easiest-cooking egg”

of the Mishna -

what is it?

He said to him: The egg of a tziltsela,

the egg of a small bird called a tatsil [Rashbam, Bava Batra 75a, s.v. “Like an egg”].

And

why

do we determine the measure by it?

Because it is small.

Mar, son of Ravina, said to his son:

Perhaps the egg of a small bird,

the egg of a bird, which is smaller?

His son was silent

and did not answer.

He said to him,

to his father:

“Did you hear anything about this?”

He said to him: This is what Rav Sheshet said: A hen’s egg.

And why is it called an easiest-cooking egg?

The Sages assessed

that

there is no egg easier to cook than a hen’s egg!

His son said to him:

And how does this differ

from

all the measures of Shabbat

for food, whose amounts for carrying out, harvesting, and grinding are measured by

the size of a dried fig?

And here

we measure by

the size of an egg?

He said to him,

Mar, son of Ravina:

This is what Rav Naḥman said: In the Mishna too, we measure by

the size of a dried fig from an easiest-cooking egg,

and not by the entire egg

alone.