Shabbat 80b — the Talmud in English

The Sages taught: One who carries out hair -

enough to knead with it

the clay,

since hair is useful for clay, and this is the usual way to mix it with the clay.

And

the clay

itself—the measure is

enough to make the opening of a goldsmith's crucible.

We learned in the Mishna:

Lime, enough to plaster

the smallest finger of a girl.

The Sages taught: Enough to plaster the smallest finger of a girl.

Girls used to apply lime to their bodies so that the skin would acquire a reddish color.

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

meaning that hair has grown on them,

but have not reached the proper age,

the age suitable for this, and are embarrassed by the matter—

the daughters of poor people

apply

spread

lime on them

to remove the hair.

The daughters of wealthy people -

apply it to themselves with fine flour.

The daughters of kings -

apply it to themselves with myrrh oil.

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

And we explain:

What is myrrh oil?

Rav Huna said: Sikte [

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

Rabbi Yirmeya bar Abba said: Oil

of

olives that have not reached one-third

of their growth. The olives had not reached the stage called “one-third growth.” This is a definition of a stage of growth at which the produce is already fit to eat but is not yet ripe.

It was taught: Rabbi Yehuda says: Anpikinon,

the oil mentioned in the Mishna in tractate Menahot [85b], where it says that anpikinon oil may not be brought for meal offerings—this means

olive oil from olives that have not reached one-third

of their growth.

And why did they apply it

the myrrh oil

to their bodies?

Because

it removes the hair [because it is unripe and possesses this power. Rashi, Menahot 86a]

and softens the flesh.

Rav Bibi had a daughter.

She applied

spread lime over her

limb by limb,

one after another, rather than covering them all together with lime.

She became beautiful, and many men who wished to marry her came forward. Thus he

received for her

Rav Bibi received on her behalf

four hundred zuz,

the marriage settlement from her husband.

There was a gentile living in his neighborhood,

near Rav Bibi.

He also had

a

daughter.

He applied

lime to his daughter's entire body

at one time,

all at once and not limb by limb,

and she died.

The gentile said:

the gentile:

“Rav Bibi killed my daughter!”

for he had thought of doing the same as Rav Bibi.

Rav Naḥman said: Rav Bibi, who drank beer—

his daughters require lime to be applied to them,

since beer damages the skin and causes increased hair growth. But

we, who do not drink beer,

our daughters do not require lime to be applied to them.

We learned in the Mishna:

Rabbi Yehuda says: Enough to plaster the kolkol.

Rabbi Neḥemya says: Enough to plaster the andufi.

And we raised the question:

What are kolkol and what is andufi?

Rav said:

Kolkol means

the temple,

which one plasters in order to make the hair lie flat.

And

andufi means

the area below the temple,

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

And we raised the question:

Does this mean that Rabbi Yehuda's measure is larger

than that of the Rabbis, who said that the measure is enough to plaster the smallest finger of a girl? Apparently, it is less than the amount needed to plaster the entire temple.

But

it is established for us that the Rabbis' measure is larger!

And we answer: Rabbi Yehuda's measure is

smaller than the Rabbis' measure, but larger than Rabbi Neḥemya's measure.

The amount needed to plaster the entire temple is less than the amount needed to plaster the smallest finger, but more than the amount needed to plaster the area below the temple. In any event, Rabbi Yehuda is more stringent than the Rabbis regarding the measures of Shabbat.

They raise an objection from a source

that was taught:

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

lime

that has been thoroughly beaten,

completely dissolved in water, since it is used to plaster the entire temple.

And

the statement

of Rabbi Neḥemya appears to be correct with regard to lime eggs,

lime kneaded and shaped into egg-like forms, which are used to plaster the area below the temple.

And if it enters your mind

that kolkol and andufi mean

the temple and the area below the temple,

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

For

both this and that,

both the hair of the temple and the hair below the temple, are plastered with the same lime, lime

that has been thoroughly beaten,

since both are hair.

And we answer:

Rather, Rabbi Yitzḥak said: The scholars of the school of Rabbi Ami said:

Andufi means

the andifa.

This is a clay water vessel 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 temple.

Rav Kahana strongly objected to this: Would a person make his money go to waste,

as a loss? The wine would dissolve the lime and flow out through the opening.

Rather, Rav Kahana said:

Andufi means

the markings.

Inside the vessel there are projections marking the measures, and they are plastered with lime so that they will be white and visible.

As we learned in a Mishna: There were markings on

the measure of

the hin

in the Temple, to indicate:

“Up to here”

one must put 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 explanation in the name of his teachers: Rabbi Yitzḥak's andifa means that the entire body was plastered so that it would acquire a reddish color, and not in order to remove hair. For this, thick lime was used. Rav Kahana objected that it was not customary to plaster the entire body, because of the concern that the woman might die, as the gentile's daughter died. Rather, he explained that the markings were plastered, meaning limb by limb. Rashi rejects this explanation, since it is not the way of the Talmud to call “limb by limb” by the term “markings.”

Alternatively, what is andifa?

The forehead,

the forehead, which they plastered [not where there was hair] so that it would acquire a reddish color. Therefore, they used lime thicker than the lime used to remove hair.

And is this not like the incident involving a Galilean who happened to come to Babylonia,

and they said to him: “Stand and expound for us on the Work of the Chariot.”

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

And a hornet emerged

from the wall,

and struck him

bit him

on the forehead

on his forehead,

and he died.

And they said about him

they said about that Galilean:

“From his own

hand

this came to him,”

meaning that this happened to him because he should not have expounded on the Work of the Chariot.

Thus, andufi is a term for the forehead.

Mishna:

Red earth,

red clay—the measure for carrying it out is

like the seal

of pack-saddles,

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

the statement of Rabbi Akiva.

And the Sages say: Like the seal of letters,

used to seal letters so that no one else will read them. This is less than the seal of pack-saddles.

Manure and fine sand -

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

And the Sages say: Enough to fertilize a leek,

which is a type of grass. This is less than a cabbage stalk.

Coarse sand -

enough to place

of it

on a full spoonful of lime

used by plasterers. They would mix sand with lime, and the amount of sand required for a spoonful of lime is the measure for carrying it out.

A reed -

enough to make a quill.

And if it was

the reed

thick or cracked,

so that it was not fit for writing, its measure is

enough to cook the easiest-to-cook egg among eggs.

This means a hen's egg when it is

beaten,

mixed,

and placed in a pan

that has already been heated, so that it cooks quickly. [Rav Ovadya of Bartenura].

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

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna:

“On a full spoonful of lime.”

The Sages taught: Enough to place it on the mouth of a plasterer's spoon.

And we raise the question:

Who is the tan nay

who holds

that sand is beneficial

and improves

lime?

Rav Ḥisda said: It is Rabbi Yehuda!

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

after the destruction, because of mourning for 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 reinforced lime.

The lime becomes harder and stronger through the sand. Therefore, although the sand makes it somewhat darker, it is prohibited.

Thus, Rabbi Yehuda holds that sand benefits lime.

Rava said: You may even say

that the Mishna is

the opinion of the Rabbis.

Nevertheless, the measure is determined by sand as the amount placed into lime, because

its damage is its repair.

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 explanation 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; therefore, it is customary to mix it into lime.

Rashi rejected this explanation, since according to it the wording is imprecise. It is not the damage itself that constitutes the repair; rather, despite the damage, there is also a benefit.

We learned in the Mishna:

“A reed, enough to make a quill.”

The Sages taught: A quill that reaches

with its end

to the joints of his fingers

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:

The question remains without a decision!

We learned in the Mishna:

“And if it was thick.”

The Sages taught:

Enough to cook an egg

beaten in oil,

which cooks quickly,

and placed in a pan.

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

about this

“easy egg”

of the Mishna—

what is it?

He said to him: The egg of a tzelel bird,

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

And

why

do we use it as the measure?

Because it is small.

Mar, son of Ravina, said to his son:

Perhaps it means the egg of a small bird,

the egg of a bird, which is smaller?

His son was silent

without answering.

He said to him,

to his father:

“Have you heard anything about this?”

He said to him: “This is what Rav Sheshet said: It is a hen's egg.”

And why is it called an easy egg?

The Sages estimated

that

there is no egg that cooks more easily than a hen's egg!

His son said to him:

“And what is different

from

all the measures of Shabbat

for food, for which the measures for carrying out, harvesting, and grinding are determined by

the size of a dried fig?

Here,

why is the measure determined by

the size of an egg?”

Mar, son of Ravina, said to him:

Mar, son of Ravina,

said to him: “This is what Rav Naḥman said:

In the Mishna as well, the measure is determined by

the size of a dried fig from an easy egg,

not by the entire egg.