Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Shabbath

Folio 40a

retracted in favour of R. Joshua.¹  Yet what if it is by deduction? — Perhaps that²  is only in the Mishnah, but not in a Baraitha? — I heard it explicitly, said he to him.

It was stated: if hot water is heated on the eve of the Sabbath, — Rab said: On the morrow one may wash his whole body in it, limb by limb; while Samuel ruled: They [the Sages] permitted one to wash his face, hands, and feet only.

An objection is raised: If hot water is heated on the eve of the Sabbath, on the morrow one may wash his face, hands, and feet therein, but not his whole body. This refutes Rab? — Rab can answer you: Not his whole body at once, but limb by limb. But he [the Tanna] states, his face, hands, and feet? — [It means] similar to the face, hands, and feet.³  Come and hear: It was permitted to wash only one's face, hands, and feet [on the Sabbath] in water heated on the eve of the Sabbath? — Here too [it means] similar to the face, hands, and feet.

It was taught in accordance with Samuel: If hot water is heated on the eve of the Sabbath, on the morrow [the Sabbath day] one may wash his face, hands, and feet therein, but not his whole body limb by limb; and with water heated on a Festival it goes without saying.⁴  Rabbah recited this ruling of Rab in the following version: If hot water is heated on the eve of the Sabbath, — Rab said, On the morrow one may wash his whole body in it,⁵  but must omit one limb. He raised against him all the [above] objections. He is [indeed] refuted.⁶

R. Joseph asked Abaye, Did Rabbah act in accordance with Rabis ruling? I do not know, he replied. What question is this: it is obvious that he did not act, for he was refuted? He did not hear them.⁷  But if he had not heard them he certainly acted [thus]! For Abaye said: In all matters the Master [sc. Rabbah] acted in accordance with Rab, except in these three where he did as Samuel: [viz.,] one may light from lamp to lamp, one can detach [the fringes] from one garment for [insertion in] another, and the halachah is as R. Simeon in respect to dragging.⁸ — He followed Rab's restrictions, but not his leniencies.

Our Rabbis taught: If the holes of a bath-house are plugged⁹  on the eve of the Sabbath, one may bathe therein immediately after the conclusion of the Sabbath; if on the eve of a Festival, one may enter on the morrow,¹⁰  sweat, and go out and have a souse bath¹¹  in the outer chamber.¹²  Rab Judah said: it once happened at the baths of Bene Berak¹³  that the holes were plugged on the eve of a Festival: on the morrow R. Eleazar b. 'Azariah and R. Akiba entered, sweated therein, went out, and had a souse bath in the outer chamber, but the warm water was covered over with boards.¹⁴  When the matter came before the Sages, they said: Even if the warm water is not covered with boards.¹⁵  But when transgressors grew in number, they began forbidding it.¹⁶  One may stroll through the baths of large cities and need have no fear.¹⁷

What is [this reference to] transgressors? For R. Simeon b. Pazzi said in the name of R. Joshua b. Levi on the authority of Bar Kappara: At first people used to wash in pit water heated on the eve of the Sabbath; then bath attendants began to heat the water on the Sabbath, maintaining that it was done on the eve of the Sabbath. So [the use of] hot water was forbidden, but sweating was permitted. Yet still they used to bathe in hot water and maintain, We were perspiring. So sweating was forbidden, yet the thermal springs of Tiberias were permitted. Yet they bathed in water heated by fire and maintained, We bathed in the thermal springs of Tiberias. So they forbade the hot springs of Tiberias but permitted cold water. But when they saw that this [series of restriction] could not stand,¹⁸  they permitted the hot springs of Tiberias, whilst sweating remained in status quo.¹⁹

Raba said: He who violates [even) a Rabbinical enactment, may be stigmatized a transgressor.²⁰  According to whom?

1. Supra 29b.
2. Sc. Johanan's rule on compromise.
3. I.e., limb by limb.
4. One may certainly not wash his whole body therein on the Festival.
5. This, in view of the reservation that follows, must mean simultaneously (Rashi).
6. As the answer given previously that it means similar to the face, etc., does not apply to his version in which he permits the wholy body simultaneously, v. n. 2.
7. Rabbah did not know of these refutations. Or possibly, he did not accept them; cf. Kaplan, Redaction of the Talmud, p. 138.
8. V. supra 22a, q.v. notes.
9. So that its steam should not be lost.
10. I.e., the Festival day.
11. Of cold water or water warmed on Sabbath eve, v. supra 39b.
12. But not in the inner chamber where people wash, lest it be said that he washed his whole body. which is forbidden.
13. Near Jaffa, the seat of R. Akiba's academy: v. Josh. XIX, 45.
14. I.e., and they had no fear that the water in which they soused might have been heated by the heat of the baths. (Rashi). [Aliter: they took a souse in cold water, and the hot water in the bath house was covered to prevent the shower-bath water getting warm, v. Tosaf. a.l.]
15. It is permitted.
16. A steam bath on Sabbath.
17. He may stroll through, not to sweat, and need not fear that he will be suspected of an unlawful purpose.
18. They could not be enforced, being regarded as too onerous for the masses.
19. Forbidden. — It is not clear whether these subterfuges were resorted to because the Rabbis might punish non-observance, or because public opinion condemned the open desecration of the Sabbath, even in respect of Rabbinical enactments.
20. Without fear of proceedings for libel.

According to this Tanna.¹  'One may stroll through the baths of large cities, and need have no fear.' Raba said: Only in large cities, but not in villages. What is the reason? Since they are small, their heat is great.²

Our Rabbis taught: A man may warm himself at a big fire, go out, and have a souse in cold water; providing that he does not have a souse in cold water [first] and then warm himself at the fire, because he warms the water upon him.

Our Rabbis taught: A man may heat a cloth on the Sabbath to place it on his stomach, but must not bring a hot water bottle³  and place it on his stomach on the Sabbath;⁴  and this is forbidden even on weekdays, because of its danger.⁵

Our Rabbis taught: A man may bring a jug of water and stand it in front of a fire; not for it to become warm, but for its coldness to be tempered. R. Judah said: A woman may bring a cruse of oil and place it in front of the fire; not for it to boil, but to become lukewarm. R. Simeon b. Gamaliel said: A woman may smear her hand with oil, warm it at a fire, and massage her infant son without fear.⁶

The scholars propounded: What is the first Tanna's view on oil? — Rabbah and R. Joseph both interpret it permissively; R. Nahman b. Isaac interprets it restrictively. Rabbah and R. Joseph both interpret it permissively: Oil, even if the hand shrinks from it,⁷  is permitted, the first Tanna holding that oil is not subject to [the prohibition of] cooking. Then R. Judah comes to say that oil is subject to cooking, but making it lukewarm is not cooking [boiling] it; whereupon R. Simeon b. Gamaliel comes to say that oil is subject to cooking, and making it lukewarm is tantamount to cooking in its case. R. Nahman b. Isaac interprets it restrictively: oil, even if the hand does not shrink from it, is forbidden, the first Tanna holding that oil is subject to [the prohibition of] cooking, and making it lukewarm is cooking it; then R. Judah comes to say that oil is subject to cooking, but making it lukewarm is not boiling it; whereupon R. Simeon b. Gamaliel comes to say: oil is subject to boiling, and making it lukewarm is tantamount to boiling it.⁸  Then R. Simeon b. Gamaliel is identical with the first Tanna? — They differ in respect to a back-handed manner.⁹

Rab Judah said in Samuel's name: Both in the case of oil and water, if the hand shrinks from it,¹⁰  it is forbidden;¹¹  if the hand does not shrink from it, it is permitted. And how is 'the hand shrinking from it' defined? — Said Rahaba: if an infant's belly is scalded [by it].

R. Isaac b. Abdimi said: I once followed Rabbi into the baths, and wished to place a cruse of oil for him in the bath.¹²  Whereupon be said to me, Take [some water] in a second vessel¹³  and put [the cruse of oil in it]. Three things are inferred from this: [i] Oil is subject to [the prohibition of] boiling; [ii] a second vessel cannot boil; [iii] making it lukewarm is boiling it.¹⁴  But how might he [Rabbi] act thus? Did not Rabbah b. Bar Hanah say in R. Johanan's name: One may meditate [on the words of the Torah] everywhere, except at the baths or a privy?¹⁵  And should you answer, He said it to him in secular language,¹⁶ — surely Abaye said: Secular matters may be uttered in the Holy language, whereas sacred matters must not be uttered in secular language. — Restraining one from transgression is different. The proof is: Rab Judah said in Samuel's name: It once happened that a disciple of R. Meir followed him into the baths and wished to swill the ground for him, but he said to him, One may not swill;¹⁷  [then he wished] to oil the ground for him, but he said to him, One may not oil. This proves that restraining one from transgression is different; so here too, restraining one from transgression is different.

Rabina said: This proves that if one cooks in the hot waters of Tiberias on the Sabbath, he is liable. For the incident of Rabbi happened after the decree,¹⁸  yet he said to him, Take [some water] in a second vessel and put [the cruse of oil in it].¹⁹  But that is not so? For R. Hisda said: If one cooks in the hot springs of Tiberias on the Sabbath, he is exempt? — By 'liable' he too meant flagellation for disobedience.²⁰

R. Zera said: I saw R. Abbahu swimming in a bath, but I do not know whether he lifted [his feet] or not.²¹  Is it not obvious that he did not 'lift' [his feet]? For it was taught: One must not swim in a pool full of water, even if it stands in a courtyard.²²  There is no difficulty: in the one case

1. Who refers to the above as transgressors for evading Rabbinical enactments,
2. And even a stroll through them causes sweating.
3. Kumkumos is a kind of kettle; obviously something in the nature of an open hot water bottle is meant here.
4. Rashi: in case it spills, and so he will have bathed on the Sabbath.
5. Of scalding. — Needless self-endangering of life is forbidden.
6. Of desecrating the Sabbath.
7. I.e., even if it becomes so hot that one involuntarily withdraws his hand when he touches it.-In respect to Sabbath prohibitions, as also in respect to certain laws concerning the mixing of forbidden with permitted commodities, this is recognized as the last stage before boiling.
8. Since a higher temperature is not required. Hence he permits it only when the oil is smeared on one's hand, which is an unusual way of heating it, but it may not be put in front of the fire in a cruse.
9. An idiom for doing anything in an unusual way. R. Simeon permits it, while the first Tanna forbids it.
10. I.e., the hand put in it is spontaneously withdrawn.
11. They may not be placed in front of a fire to reach temperature.
12. This was in the hot springs of Tiberias, which was finally permitted; supra a. — He wished to warm the oil before use.
13. A vessel into which a boiling mass has been poured, opposed to [H], a first vessel, containing the mass direct from the fire. The water was drawn direct from the spring into the bath (it was a bath naturally constructed in the ground), which is regarded as a first vessel. It is a Talmudic principle that a first vessel, if the mass in it is still seething, can cook or boil something placed in it, but a second vessel, even if very hot, cannot do this. He therefore told him to pour water out of the bath into a second vessel, and then place the oil in it, to avoid boiling.
14. For he did not intend more than this, and yet Rabbi forbade him to place it in the bath itself. In the second vessel it would not even become lukewarm, but merely have its coldness tempered.
15. Hence Rabbi should not have thought of the religious aspect of the act in the bath.
16. Probably: in a phraseology not usually associated with learning. This might indicate that the language of learning as incorporated in the Mishnah was an artificial one; scholars, however, are opposed to that view; v. Segal, Mishnaic Hebrew Grammar, Introduction; S. D. Luzatto in 'Orient. Lit.' 1846, col. 829; 1847, cols. 1 et seq.
17. Lest the water form ruts, which is forbidden.
18. Forbidding sweating in ordinary (artificially heated) baths. Hence this must have happened in the natural thermal baths of Tiberias.
19. But he forbade him to put it directly in the first vessel (v. p. 188, n. 6.), which proves that boiling even in naturally hot water involves liability.
20. Punishment decreed by the Rabbis, as opposed to stripes, ordained by Biblical law.
21. I.e., he did not know whether he was actually swimming or merely bathing.
22. Where there is no fear of splashing water for a distance of four cubits in public ground.