Study Shabbat folio 102B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מתני׳ הבונה, כמה יבנה ויהא חייב? הבונה כל שהוא, והמסתת והמכה בפטיש ובמעצד, הקודח כל שהוא — חייב. זה הכלל: כל העושה מלאכה, ומלאכתו מתקיימת בשבת — חייב. וכן רבן שמעון בן גמליאל אומר: אף המכה בקורנס על הסדן בשעת מלאכה — חייב, מפני שהוא כמתקן מלאכה.
Mishnah: With regard to one who builds on Shabbat, thereby violating a prohibition in a primary category of prohibited labor, how much must he build to be liable to bring a sin-offering? The rabbis said: One who builds is liable for building any amount. And one who chisels, or strikes with a hammer or with an adze, or one who drills a hole of any size on Shabbat, is liable. This is the principle: Anyone who performs a prohibited labor and his labor endures on Shabbat is liable. And so too, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: Even one who strikes an anvil with a sledgehammer during his labor has performed a constructive act and is liable, because he is as one who improves the labor that he is performing.
גמ׳ כל שהוא למאי חזיא? אמר רבי ירמיה: שכן עני חופר גומא להצניע בה פרוטותיו. דכוותה גבי משכן, שכן תופרי יריעות חופרין גומא להצניע בה מחטיהן. אביי אמר: כיון דמשתכי לא עבדי הכי. אלא, שכן עני עושה פיטפוטי כירה קטנה לשפות עליה קדירה קטנה. דכוותה גבי משכן, מבשלי סמנין לצבוע יריעות שחסרה מלאכתן, עושין פיטפוטי כירה קטנה לשפות עליה יורה קטנה.
Talmud: The Talmud asks: With regard to any small amount of building, for what use is it suited? R' Yirmeya said: As a poor person digs a hole in the floor of his house in which to hide his coins. Digging a hole in the floor of a house is an act of building. The corresponding situation in the Tabernacle was as those who sewed curtains in the Tabernacle dug holes in which to hide their needles. Abaye said: Since needles rust in the ground, they did not do so. The Talmud seeks a different example of small-scale building that is significant. Rather, an example is that a poor person makes legs for a small stove to place a small pot on it. The corresponding situation in the Tabernacle was with regard to those who cooked herbs used to dye curtains, whose dyeing process was lacking a small amount for completion. At that point, it was not worth the effort to cook a large quantity of dye, and so they would make legs for a small stove upon which to place a small cauldron to cook a small bit of dye to finish the job.