Shabbat (Talmud)

Shabbat (Hebrew: שַׁבָּת‎), lit. "Sabbath") is the first tractate of Seder Moed ("Order of Appointed Times") of the Mishnah and of the Talmud. The tractate deals with the laws and practices regarding observing the Jewish Sabbath (Shabbat in Hebrew). The tractate focuses primarily on the categories and types of activities prohibited on the Sabbath according to interpretations of many verses in the Torah, notably Exodus 20: 9-10, Deut. 5:13-14.

This is about part of the Talmud; for the Jewish day of rest, see Shabbat.

The Mishnah and Talmud go to great lengths to carefully define and precisely determine the observance of the Sabbath. The tractate is thus one of the longest in terms of chapters in the Mishna, and folio pages in the Talmud. It comprises 24 chapters and has a Gemara – rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah – in both the Babylonian Talmud and all but the last four chapters of the Jerusalem Talmud. There is a Tosefta of 18 chapters on this tractate.

As its name implies, the tractate deals primarily with the laws and regulations for observing the Sabbath, which is the fourth of the Ten Commandments and one of the central religious practices of Judaism. As such, it is dealt with at length in the Mishnah and the Gemara, and many subsequent commentaries have also been written on this tractate, from the early Middle Ages until the present.

In the Babylonian Talmud, the Gemara also contains a discussion of the laws of Hanukkah.

The Jewish religious laws detailed in this tractate, and the subsequent legal codes based on it continue to be followed by observant and traditional Jewish communities in modern Israel and throughout the world.

Subject matter

Six days you shall labor and do all your work; but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath in honor of the Lord your God, you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your cattle, nor the stranger who is within your gates.

— Exodus 20:7–10, the Fourth Commandment, a key source for the subject matter of tractate Shabbat[1]
Main article: Shabbat

This tractate primarily covers the laws of observing Shabbat, the weekly day of rest. It provides comprehensive explanations of the types of activities prohibited on Shabbat, the sources in the Torah for these prohibitions, the details of the laws, and the rabbinic rulings connected with them. It also deals with matters concerning other mitzvot that apply on Shabbat. In addition, the main discussion about the laws of Hanukkah are included in the Babylonian Talmud.[2]

The Sabbath is one the most important religious practices of Judaism, and the Mishna and Talmud go to great lengths to carefully define and precisely determine how it is to be observed. This concern was a reflection of its importance in the Biblical sources, in which there are more reminders about Sabbath observance than about any other matter, with the possible exception of the prohibitions against idolatry.[3][4]

Biblical passages concerning the topics discussed in this tractate include references to the foundational concept of the Sabbath in Genesis 2:2–3, the two iterations of the Fourth Commandment prohibiting creative work in Exodus 20:7–10 and Deut 5:12–14, other actions such as desisting from weekday pursuits (Isaiah 58:13–14) or carrying (Jeremiah 17:21–22), and numerous other references.[4][5][6]

A large portion of this tractate deals with the melakha of transferring between domains, commonly called "carrying" (chapters 1 and 11). The tractate distinguishes four domains: private, public, semi-public and an exempt area. It holds that the transfer of an article from a private to a public domain is Biblically forbidden; transferring an article between a semi-public to a private or public domain is Rabbinically prohibited; transferring of an article between an exempt area and any other domain is permissible; carrying an article four amot may be forbidden in public or semi-public domain and permitted in a private domain or exempt area; and carrying inside a private domain or between private domains may be permissible (see Eruv). For these purposes "transferring" means "removing and depositing", so that carrying an article out of a domain and returning to the same domain with it does not constitute transferring. This may fall into the category of "wearing."

Structure

The tractate consists of 24 chapters and 138 paragraphs (mishnayot) and has a Gemara – rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah – in both the Babylonian Talmud and all but the last four chapters of the Jerusalem Talmud. There is also a Tosefta of 18 chapters for this tractate.[5][7]

In standard printed editions of the Babylonian Talmud, the Gemara contains 157 folio (double-sided) pages and is the longest tractate by page count after Baba Batra, which has 176 folio pages. There are 92 folio pages of Gemara in the Jerusalem Talmud.[2][4]

In the Jerusalem Talmud, the Gemara for the last four chapters of the Mishna no longer exist. It is likely that handwritten manuscripts of these four chapters existed before the age of printing but that all the copies were destroyed in periodic acts of antisemitic violence, as well as by acts of deliberate destruction and suppression of the Talmud, such as at the Disputation of Paris. [5][7]

The mishnayot in the tractate are arranged in a sequential order, apart from the first one, which addresses the topic of carrying, but which can, however, be relevant right at the beginning of Shabbat. The tractate then continues to discuss what may not be done on Friday afternoon, and goes on to topics relevant to actions and preparations immediately before Shabbat.[4][8]

The tractate then deals with lighting the Shabbat candles, discussing the oils and wicks that may be used for the Sabbath lights; it goes on to discuss matters concerning food on the Sabbath such as which food may be stored for the Sabbath, and keeping food hot for the Shabbat meals by leaving it on top of a stove from before Shabbat and insulating hot food before the beginning of Shabbat; and then continues to discuss the laws of carrying, mentioned first at the beginning of the tractate, for transferring from one domain to another.[4][8]

The Mishnah then lists the 39 principle categories of work, derived from the Torah and known as melakhot, and these are discussed in detail in the subsequent chapters. After that, the tractate covers several subjects, including those actions which are rabbinical injunctions, such as shevut and muktzeh. The tractate concludes with laws applicable at the end of the Shabbat, such as walking to the furthest extent of the Shabbat border to get an early start on a journey, and the laws of taking care of animals on Shabbat.[4][8]

An overview of the topics of the chapters is as follows:

  • Chapter 1 deals with the issue of "domains", including ways in which things may not be brought from a private domain to the public domain and vice versa on the Sabbath, and with questions concerning what may or may not be done on Friday before sunset when the Sabbath begins.[5][7]
  • Chapter 2 deals with the lighting of the Sabbath lights, the kinds of oil which may be used, and the materials which may serve as wicks, along with further details concerning lamps, cases in which lamps may be extinguished on the Sabbath, and actions that women must do and that the head of the household needs to remind to be done before the Sabbath begins.[5][7]
  • Chapter 3 examine permitted and prohibited methods of keeping food warm or warming it up on the Sabbath, and things which are regarded as set apart (muktzeh) and which one is forbidden to move on that day.[5][7]
  • Chapter 4 continues the discussion of topics from chapter 3.
  • Chapter 5 addresses the commandment to allow domestic animals to rest on the Sabbath, and examines details such as with what an animal may be led on the Sabbath, such as a bridle, and what is regarded permissible to place on it, such as a blanket, and what is considered a burden that is forbidden to load on an animal on that day if it is not required for the health or safety of the animal, or for guarding it.[5][7]
  • Chapter 6 discusses what one may wear a part of one's clothing, and what may not be worn; a discussion of whether weapons may be considered a permissible adornment; the majority of the Talmudic sages deciding that weapons disgrace the person who bears them, since they are instruments of murder, and the ideal of the future is a time when the nations will live in everlasting harmony and exchange their weapons for implements of peace, as envisioned in the Bible (Isaiah 2:4).[5][7]
  • Chapter 7 lists the 39 principal categories of creative activity (melakha) forbidden on the Sabbath, seven related to agriculture, four to the preparation of food, thirteen to clothes making, seven to butchering and tanning, two to writing and erasing, two to building and demolishing, two to lighting and extinguishing fires, one to giving the finishing touch to something, and one to carrying an object from the public to the private domain and vice versa; it and also discusses the sin-offering to be sacrificed in the Temple for the inadvertent violation of the Sabbath and the minimal quantities which incur the obligation to do so.[5][7]
  • Chapter 8 continues examining the question the quantity of various objects which, if they are carried, violate the Sabbath, and citing Isaiah 30:14. [5]
  • Chapter 9 begins the definitions of various melakhot, citing additional Biblical verses as proofs or texts and provides further details concerning the quantities of many items that may not be carried on the Sabbath.[5]
  • Chapter 10 examines the cases in which someone who transports an object is not violating the Sabbath, cases in which two people who carry an object together from one place to another are or are not violating the Sabbath, transporting a corpse or a living person, and the questions of whether it is permissible to bite or cut ones nails or remove hair on the Sabbath.[5]
  • Chapter 11 examines the melakhot related to throwing objects from one place to another, from one house across the street to another, from the land into the water and vice versa, or from a ship to the sea and vice versa.[5]
  • Chapter 12 examines the melakhot of building, hammering, sawing, boring, weeding fields, chopping trees, and gathering wood or plants; writing two letters of the alphabet and of writing in general, together with cases in which writing does not violate the Sabbath.[5]
  • Chapter 13 examines the melakhot of weaving, spinning, sewing, tearing, washing, dyeing, and hunting.[5]
  • Chapter 14 considers cases in which hunting on the Sabbath are permissible, the preparation of a salt solution and which medicines and remedies are permitted on the Sabbath and which are forbidden. [5]
  • Chapter 15 discusses which types of knots may be tied on the Sabbath and which may not; and putting clothes away and making beds.[5]
  • Chapter 16 mainly discusses the problems arising from a fire which breaks out on the Sabbath, rescuing sacred writings and phylacteries (tefillin), as well as food that is necessary for that day; permitting non-Jews, but not Jews, to extinguish the fire; and prohibiting a Jew from requesting a non-Jew to do work for him or her on the Sabbath.[5][7]
  • Chapter 17 deals with the topic of muktzeh, particularly, containers which may be carried on the Sabbath, and lowering blinds.[5]
  • Chapter 18 examines things which may be moved on the Sabbath, leading calves and foals, leading but not carrying a child, helping cattle when about to give birth, and assisting a woman in labor.[5]
  • Chapter 19 deals with the issue of circumcision, and the necessary preparations for it on the Sabbath.[5]
  • Chapter 20 begins an exploration of miscellaneous questions relating to the Sabbath, starting with how wine may be strained and cattle fed on the Sabbath.[5]
  • Chapter 21 examines whether and how objects, regarded as muktzeh, may be moved and put away, and the clearing of the table.[5]
  • Chapter 22 considers the preparation of food and drink on the Sabbath, and bathing and anointing with oil on that day.[5]
  • Chapter 23 examines lending, raffling, and distributing food and drink on the Sabbath, preparations for the evening of the week-day which may be made on the Sabbath, and caring for the dead on the Sabbath.[5]
  • Chapter 24 discusses the case of a traveler overtaken by the Sabbath eve before he reaches a city, the feeding of cattle and the fulfillment of vows on the Sabbath.[5]

References
  1. Birnbaum, Philip (1975). "Sabbath". A Book of Jewish Concepts. New York, NY: Hebrew Publishing Company. p. 579–581. ISBN 088482876X.
  2. Steinsaltz, Adin (2013). Reference Guide to the Talmud. Koren. p. 62. ISBN 978-1-59264-312-7.
  3. Lipman, Eugene J., ed. (1970). "Shabbat – Sabbath". The Mishnah: Oral Teachings of Judaism (1st ed.). New York: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 79–80. OCLC 1043172244.
  4. Freedman, H. (1948). "Introduction to Shabbat". In Epstein, I. (ed.). Shabbat. The Babylonian Talmud. London: The Soncino Press. pp. xxxiii–xxiii. ISBN 9789562913447.
  5.  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Shabbat" . The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
  6. Other Biblical references cited as sources for tractate Shabbat include Exodus 16:22–30, Exodus 23:12, Exodus 31:12–17, Exodus 34:21, and Exodus 35: 12–17; Leviticus 19:3, Leviticus 23:3, Leviticus 26:2 and Numbers 15:32–26
  7. Ehrman, Arnost Zvi (1978). "Shabbat". Encyclopedia Judaica. 14 (1st ed.). Jerusalem, Israel: Keter Publishing House Ltd. p. 1215-1216.
  8. Kornfeld, Mordecai. "Introduction to tractate Shabbat". Dafyomi Advancement Forum. Jerusalem, Israel: Kollel Iyun Hadaf. Retrieved 2020-04-13.
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