Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 7, scan section 18

when they are almost cured, and the painting is done only for improving the sight? He decided that it is not allowed. R. Ashi objected to him with the same Boraitha which Abayi objected to Rabba as stated above, and Amemar's answer was the same. Amemar himself, however, used to dye his eyes through a Gen- tile on the Sabbath. Said R. Ashi to him : What is your opinion in doing it ? Because Ula the son of R. Ilai said : All that is necessary for a sick man may be done through a Gentile on Sabbath. And also R. Hamnuna said : All things which are not dangerous, it may be said to a Gentile that he should do them. But when is this the case ? When the Gentile does it himself without assistance from the Israelite. But you, Master, assist him in his dyeing by your opening and closing the eyes. And he answered : There is R. Zbid, who has also asked the same question, and I answered him that assistance is not considered a labor at all. The same Amemar allowed that one should dye his eyes on the second day of New Year. Said R. Ashi to him : Did not Rabha say that in the two days of New Year the case is different with an ^%g (see above, p. 8) ? And he answered : My opinion is as that of the sages of Nehardai, who say there is no difference. '■'■ To bake large loaves,'' etc. The rabbis taught : The school of Shammai said : Thick loaves must not be baked on the Pass- over. Beth Hillel permit it. What are called thick loaves? Said R. Huna : If it is a span in thickness, for the showbread was thus. R. Joseph opposed : What comparison is this ? There it is related of the specialists, who knew their work and were careful ; there a great deal of labor was necessary (as stated in Menahoth, TRACT BETZAH (YOM TOB). 43 that the flour of the showbread required three hundred oscil- lations and five hundred beatings of the fist) ; there it was baked with dry wood (as stated in Taanith, that on the fifteenth of Ab they had ceased to cut wood for the Temple) ; there was a hot oven which was constantly fired, and it was of iron. Should it be compared to common people, to common bread, to wet wood, and a brick oven which may not be heated as required ? Said R. Jeremiah bar Abha in the name of Rabh : I have asked especially our Master, our holy rabbi, what is meant by thick loaves ? And he said : A great quantity ; i.e., not the loaves are thick, but the quantity of the dough is great. But why does he call them thick loaves? Because it is thick when kneaded. If so, why is it prohibited only on Passover, why not on other festi- vals also ? It means also other festivals, but the Tana was teach- ing them the laws of Passover, and therefore mentioned that festival. Another Boraitha says plainly : Much bread shall not be baked on a festival, according to Beth Shammai ; but Beth Hillel allow it. MISHNA: He (Rabban Gamaliel) decided the law leniently in respect to the following three things : He allowed to sweep on the festival between the couches (or sofas on which the ancients used to eat), to put spices on live coals (after meals), and to pre- pare a complete roasted kid on the nights of Passover (as a memorial to the Paschal lamb). But the sages prohibit all these. GEMARA : Said R. Assi : They differ only about the enjoy- ment of the odor of the spices, when they are already there ; but to put the spices on the live coals, all prohibit. The schoolmen propounded a question : How is the law to put fruit in the smoke of spices to flavor them on the festival (as the custom was to do)? R. Jeremiah bar Abha in the name of Rabh said : It is prohibited, but Samuel permitted it. R. Huna said : It is prohibited, because one extinguishes the live coals. Said to him R. Na'hman : Let the Master say, because one kindles the spices ? And he answered : In the beginning, when he pours out the spices on the coals, he extinguishes the coals, and afterwards they kindle. R. Jehudah, however, said : That is prohibited only on live coals, but in a heated oven it is permitted. Rabba, however, said : This is also prohibited, because he produces a new odor in the oven. [Rabba and R. Joseph both said : It is unlawful to cover a silk garment with a goblet of spices on a festival in order to impart an odor to it. Why so ? Because the garment produces a new odor. But why is this different from grinding 44 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. or cutting spices for smelling, which is allowed ? There the odor is in it when grinding or cutting them, the odor is only increased, but here he produces a new odor altogether.] Rabha, however, said : Even on live coals it is also permitted, because is it not allowed to put meat on hve coals for eating on a festival? R. Gbiha of Be-Kthil at the door of the exilarch hctured : Fuming is allowed. Said Amemar to him : What is meant by fuming? Does it mean to perfume the sleeves of a woman's dress? This must be done by a specialist, and this is certainly prohibited. And if it means to fume to produce good odors, the producing of a new odor is not permitted also ? Said R. Ashi : / have declared this law to him and in the name of a great man, that it may be even to produce a new odor, and it is nevertheless permissible, because it is equal to meat on live coals, which is permitted. MISHNA: Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah permitted three things which the other sages prohibit : His cow was going out on a Sab- bath with a strap attached to her horns ; he permitted also to curry cattle on the festival, and to grind pepper in a pepper-mill. R. Jehudah says: It is not permitted with an iron currycomb, because a wound may be inflicted ; but with a wooden comb it is. The sages, however, prohibit both. GEMARA : Did R. Elazar ben Azariah possess but one cow? Did not Rabh, or according to others R. Jehudah in the name of Rabh, say that thirteen thousand calves used R. Elazar ben Azariah to give as tithes from his cattle yearly ? We have learned in a Boraitha that the cow mentioned in our Mishna was not his, but his neighbor's, and because he did not protest, it was considered as if it was his own. '' He also permitted to curry cattle,'' etc. The rabbis taught : What is called *ni^p ? An iron comb with small teeth, which produces a wound. What is called P^l^^lp ? A wooden comb with large teeth, which produces no wound. And three Tanaim differ about this law. R. Jehudah holds that if a thing was done even unintentionally, it is prohibited ; but we do not take a precautionary measure to a wooden comb, lest one do it with one iron one. The sages are of the same opinion as R. Jehudah, but they say that such a precautionary measure may be taken. R. Elazar b. Azariah, however, holds with R. Simeon, w^ho said that a thing done unintentionally is not prohibited at all, and