Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 2, scan section 16

salted ? Only the following kind of salt water may be made : If oil is first put into the water or into the salt. GEMARA : How should the Mishna be understood ? Said R. Jehudah in the name of Samuel: "It is not permitted to make a great deal of salt water, but a little may be made." " Said R. Jose : Is this not brine ? Be it more or less salted.'' The schoolmen asked : " Does R. Jose, by making that state- TRACT SABBATH. 223 ment, mean to say that both should be prohibited or that both be allowed ?" Said R. Rabba and also R. Johanan : " R. Jose meant to say, that both should be prohibited." We have also learned this in a Boraitha: " One shall not make a great deal of salt water in order to put it into a Gistar (a large vessel) filled with things requiring a soaking; but he may make a little salt water to dip his bread into it or use it for seasoning other dishes. Said R. Jose: ' Because one is more and the other less salted the former should be prohibited and the latter should be permitted ; then one might say that a greater act of labor should be prohi- bited and a smaller one permitted ? Therefore, I say, both are not allowed, but it becomes permissible, if oil is put into the water or into the salt, the main thing is that one should not mix water and salt to commence with.' " R. Judah bar Haviva taught: "One shall not make salt water very strong." What does he mean by " ver^' strong" ? Rabba and R. Joseph bar Aba both said: " If one put an egg into the water and the egg f^oat it is strong salt water." Hoav much salt must be used for such water ? Said Abayi : " Two- thirds salt and one-third water." For what purpose can that be used ? For fish-brine. The same Judah b. Haviva taught: "One must not salt pieces of radishes and eggs on the Sabbath." R. Hizkyah in the name of Abayi said: " Salting radishes is not allowed, but salting eggs is." The same Judah b. Haviva taught: "If citrons, radishes and eggs are eaten without the peel (in the case of an egg, the yolk without the white), they remain in the stomach." Rabhin walked behind R. Jeremiah on the banks of the sea of Zidon. Rabhin asked R. Jeremiah: " Is it allowed to wash one's self in this water on Sabbath ? " R. Jeremiah said : " Yes, it is." Asked Rabhin again: " How is it if a man who is bath- ing in this water, opens and closes his eyes, so that the water has access to the eyes ? " Answered R. Jeremiah : " I never heard of just such a case, but of one similar to it. I heard R. Zera say at one time in the name of R. Mathne, another time in the name of Mar Uqba, both of whom said, that the father of Sam- uel differed with Levi and that one of them said, that pouring wine on the eyes as a remedy is allowed but pouring wine into the eyes is not allowed, while the other said that the saliva of a man who had not broken his fast is a remedy for the eyes and must not even be put on the eyes; but Mar Uqba in the name 224 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. of Samuel said : A man may soak a medicament for the eyes on Friday in water and may then use the water on Sabbath with impunity." Bar Levayi was standing before Mar Uqba, and saw the latter opening and closing his eyes, so that the medicinal water may have access to them. Said he to Mar Uqba: " So much Mar Samuel did certainly not permit ! " R. Yanai sent to Mar Uqba a request: " Let master send us the eye-salve prescribed by Samuel for sore eyes." Mar Uqba answered: " I send it to you, so that you do not think me par- simonious, but Samuel said, that bathing the eye in cold water in the morning and bathing the hands and feet in warm water at night is better than any medicine for the eye in the world." The same we have learned in a Boraitha: by R. Muna in the name of R. Jehudah. The same R. Muna used to say: " As soon as a man rises and his hand touches his eye, nose, mouth, ear or a vein, it had better be chopped off. The same should be done with a hand that touches a pitcher used for beer, before it (the hand) is washed, because such a hand causes blindness, deafness and bad odors." We have learned: R. Nathan said: "The eye is (like) a princess and it hurts her to be touched by a hand that has not been washed three times." R. Johanan says: " Puch (a pre- cious stone or a certain kind of paint *) applied to the eye, stills its wrath, dries its tears and causes its lashes to grow." Mar Uqba said: " One who (accidentally) injured his hand or foot so that blood flowed (on the Sabbath) may steep them in wine in order to stop the flow, with impunity." The school- men asked : " May he do this in vinegar also ? " Said R. Hillel to R. Ashi : " When I attended the school of R. Kahana, it was said, that it is not allowed in vinegar." Said Rabha: "And the men of the city of Me'hutza, who are very delicate, are generally cured by wine the same as other people are by vinegar." It happened, that Rabhina came to the house of R. Ashi and saw the latter, having had his foot trodden upon by an ass, soak- ing it in vinegar. Said Rabhina to him : " Does not the Master coincide with R. Hillel, who said, that soaking in vinegar is not allowed ?" R. Ashi answered: " With a wound on the instep * See II Kings ix. 30, Isaiah liv. il and I Chronicles xxix. 2. TRACT SABBATH. 225 of the foot and the back of the hand it is different, because R. Ada b. Mathne said in the name of Rabh, that a wound on the back of the hand and on the instep of the foot is equal to an internal wound and the Sabbath may be desecrated on its account." The rabbis taught : " One may wash his body in the waters of Gror, Chamtan, Essia and Tiberias (all of which are salt waters), but it is not allowed to bathe one's self in the Great Sea and not in water used for soaking flax, also not in the sea of Sodom." Is this not contradictory to what we have learned in the Bora- itha, viz. : " One may bathe in the Tiberias and in the Great Sea, but not in water used for soaking flax and in the sea of Sodom." This presents a difficulty; for in the Boraitha bathing in the Great Sea is permitted, while the rabbis prohibit it. Said R. Johanan : There is no difficulty. One Boraitha is in accordance with the opinion of R. Meir, while the other is in accord with the opinion of R. Jehudah (who differ in Tract Mikva'ath, Chapter V., Mishna 6). R. Na'hman bar Itz'hak opposed this, and said: " They differ only as regards defilement, but have ye heard that they also differ concerning the Sabbath ? " Hence R. Na'hman bar Itz'hak explained this otherwise. He said, that the Boraitha which does not permit bathing in the Great Sea refers to one who stays in the water some length of time (and it is obvious that this is done on account of his