Shabbat 90a — the Talmud in English

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They taught this with sweetening substances,

for all of them have a sweet taste,

since they are fit to sweeten a pot,

therefore they combine to prohibit, for their taste is the same.

And we analyze:

The reason

that they combine is because

they are fit to sweeten the pot. But if not,

for example, with the other kinds of spices that do not sweeten,

they do not

combine.

But our Mishna does not distinguish in this matter; rather, all kinds of spices combine for the measure of carrying out, even though they are not fit to be used together. For their taste is not the same?

And we answer:

Here too, they are fit to sweeten.

We learned in the Mishna:

Walnut shells, and pomegranate shells, stis, and foa: enough to dye a small garment.

And we raise a contradiction:

It was taught in a beraita:

One who carries out soaked dyes,

with which one dyes, their measure is

enough to dye with them

a little wool for a

sample,

as a dyer does when he shows people the shade on wool, whether they desire this shade or that, and this measure corresponds to the amount of dye needed

for an ira

to stop up the mouth of the reed around which the weaver winds the weft thread.

And this measure is too small to dye a small garment, and the beraita poses a difficulty to the Mishna?

And we answer:

Rav Naḥman said that Rabba bar Avuha said:

Walnut shells are different,

because a person does not trouble himself to soak dyes

in an amount sufficient only

to dye with them a sample for an ira;

rather, when he needs to soak them, he soaks at least enough to dye a small garment. Therefore, less than this measure has no significance. But soaked dyes have significance even in an amount smaller than this.

We learned in the Mishna:

Urine.

The tanna taught: Urine, up to forty days

but if it remained longer than this, it is not fit for laundering.

We learned in the Mishna:

Natron.

The tanna taught: Alexandrian natron, but not Anpentinian natron [

names of places].

We learned in the Mishna:

Borit.

Rav Yehuda said:

Borit

is this sand.

And we object:

But was it not taught: The borit and the sand,

which indicates that they are two things?

And we answer:

Rather, what is borit?

Like sulfur,

sulfur.

He raised an objection

from that which was taught:

They added to them

other things to which the laws of the Sabbatical year apply:

the ḥalavitzin, and the la’inon,

wormwood,

and the borit.

And if it enters your mind

that borit is

kivrita, does kivrita exist in the Sabbatical year?

But was it not taught: This is the general rule: Anything that has a root,

which is rooted in the ground,

has

the laws of

the Sabbatical year.

And anything that has no root—

it has no Sabbatical year.

And sulfur has no root in the ground, so why do the laws of the Sabbatical year apply to it?

And we answer:

Rather, what is borit?

Aḥla.

And we object:

But was it not taught: And the borit and the aḥla?

This indicates that borit is not aḥla?

And we answer:

There are two varieties of aḥla,

and one of them is borit.

We learned in the Mishna:

Kimoleya.

Rav Yehuda said:

Kimola is

shlof duts [

what it is was not explained. But this is its name. Rashi].

We learned in the Mishna:

Alum.

Shmuel said: I questioned all the seafarers

who go down to the sea,

and they said to me: Its name is shunana, and it is found in the hole of a pearl

the hole of the pearl,

and they take it out with an iron probe.

And they remove it with a long iron nail [the commentator on the margins, Niddah 62].

Mishna:

One who carries out pepper—

any amount [

the reference is not to pepper, for it is included among the spices that we learned above, but to what they used to remove bad breath, Rashi; see Tiferet Yisrael and Rashash].

And tar,

the waste of pitch—

any amount.

Kinds of perfumes, and kinds of metals—

any amount.

From the stones of the altar, and from the dust of the altar, book-eaten matter and the eaten matter of their cloths,

the portion gnawed from books or from their cloth by the bookworm called makak—

any amount.

Because

they set it aside to bury it,

for every sacred object requires burial; therefore even any amount has significance.

Rabbi Yehuda says: Also one who carries out the accessories of idolatry—

any amount.

As it is stated: “And nothing from the banned property shall cleave to your hand”,

for Scripture thereby gave significance even to any amount with regard to its prohibition [and when he removes it from his house, he performs a great rectification by removing idolatry from his house. Rav Ovadiah of Bartenura]. Therefore, he is liable for it even for any amount.

Gemara:

And we explain:

Pepper, any amount—for what is it fit?

For bad breath,

for it removes bad breath from the mouth.

We learned in the Mishna:

Tar, any amount.

And we explain:

For what is it fit?

For tzilḥata,

for it is fit as a remedy for a person who has pain in half his head.

We learned in the Mishna:

Kinds of perfumes, any amount.

The Sages taught: One who carries out a foul odor—

any amount,

which they use to drive away harmful spirits from the sick and from infants.

Fine oil—

any amount. Purple dye,

the dye with which they dye purple—

any amount,

for it is fit to smell.

And an unopened rosebud,

a rose leaf that has not yet opened—

one.

We learned in the Mishna:

Kinds of metals, any amount.

And we explain:

For what are they fit?

It was taught: Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: For one can make from it a small goad [

a needle inserted into the head of the ox-goad that directs them for plowing].

The Sages taught: One who says, “It is incumbent upon me”

to bring

iron

for the examination of the House in the Temple, and did not specify how much.

Others [

Rabbi Meir]

say: He may not give less than a cubit by a cubit

of iron.

And we explain:

For what is it fit?

Rav Yosef said: For a crow-deterrent,

for they would place on the roof of the Sanctuary iron plates, pointed at their edges, one cubit by one cubit in size, standing upright on their sides, in order to prevent crows from sitting on the roof of the Sanctuary.

Some say

the same matter in different wording:

Others say: No less

than

a “crow-deterrent.”

And we explain:

And how much

is its measure?

Rav Yosef said: A cubit by a cubit.

And the beraita continues: If he said, “It is incumbent upon me”

copper—

he may not give less

than copper worth

a silver coin.

It was taught: Rabbi Eliezer says: He may not give less than a small copper fork,

a small fork,

of copper.

And we explain:

For what is it fit?

Abaye said: For picking at the wicks,

removing the burnt head of the wick,

and wiping the lamps,

of the menorah, of the ash inside them.

We learned in the Mishna:

Book-eaten matter and the eaten matter of a cloth.

Rav Yehuda said: The book-eater is the takhakh of silk,

the worm that gnaws silk, and likewise all those below are names of worms:

the ayla of grapes, the feh of figs, and the heh of pomegranates—

all of them are dangerous

to eat.

There was a certain student who was sitting before Rabbi Yoḥanan; he was eating figs.

He said to him,

the student:

Rabbi! There are thorns in the figs!

For the worm pricked his throat, and it seemed to him to be a thorn.

He said to him,

Rabbi Yoḥanan:

The feh killed

the worm whose name is feh killed

this one,

this person!

Mishna:

One who carries out a peddler’s box,

a small box belonging to sellers of perfumes,

even though it contains many kinds

of perfumes—

he is liable for only one sin-offering.

For it is all considered one act of carrying out.

Garden seeds—

less than a dried fig,

although with all foods the measure is a dried fig [as above, 76b], nevertheless, something designated for sowing has its measure at less than a dried fig. [That is, close to a dried fig, Rambam in his commentary on the Mishna].

Rabbi Yehuda ben Beteira says:

Even if he carried out only

five

seeds, he is liable for a sin-offering.