Study Shabbat folio 134B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מתני׳ מרחיצין את הקטן בין לפני המילה ובין לאחר המילה, ומזלפין עליו ביד, אבל לא בכלי. רבי אלעזר בן עזריה אומר: מרחיצין את הקטן ביום השלישי שחל להיות בשבת, שנאמר: ״ויהי ביום השלישי בהיותם כואבים״.
Mishnah: One may wash the baby on Shabbat, both before the circumcision and after the circumcision. And one may sprinkle hot water on him by hand but not with a vessel, in order to depart from the usual manner in which this is done. R' Elazar ben Azarya says: One may wash the baby on the 3rd day following his circumcision, even if that third day occurs on Shabbat. On the 3rd day following circumcision, the baby is considered to be in danger, as it is stated with regard to the men of Shekhem, who were circumcised: “And it came to pass on the 3rd day, when they were in pain” (Genesis 34:25). This teaches us that on the 3rd day the pain of circumcision poses a danger.
ספק ואנדרוגינוס — אין מחללין עליו את השבת. ורבי יהודה מתיר באנדרוגינוס.
If there is uncertainty whether or not to circumcise a baby, and likewise in the case of a hermaphrodite [androginos] baby, who possesses both male and female genitals, one does not desecrate Shabbat to perform the circumcision, since it is not certain that the circumcision is required. And R' Yehuda permits doing so for a hermaphrodite baby.
גמ׳ והא אמרת רישא מרחיצין!
Talmud: The Talmud questions the Mishnah’s statement that one may sprinkle hot water on the baby only by hand: Didn’t you say in the first clause of the Mishnah that one may wash him? If it is permissible to wash the baby, it is certainly permitted to sprinkle water on him with a vessel.
רב יהודה ורבה בר אבוה דאמרי תרוייהו ״כיצד״ תני: מרחיצין את הקטן בין לפני מילה בין לאחר מילה. כיצד? מזלפין עליו ביד אבל לא בכלי.
It was Rav Yehuda and Rabba bar Avuh who both said that this Mishnah is taught employing the style known as: How. In this style, the latter clause clarifies the former. It should be understood as follows: One may wash the baby both before circumcision and after circumcision. How may one wash him? One sprinkles water on him by hand, but not with a vessel.