Study Shabbat folio 146A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
שבא נחש על חוה הטיל בה זוהמא, ישראל שעמדו על הר סיני — פסקה זוהמתן, גוים שלא עמדו על הר סיני — לא פסקה זוהמתן. אמר ליה רב אחא בריה דרבא לרב אשי: גרים מאי? אמר ליה: אף על גב דאינהו לא הוו, מזלייהו הוו. דכתיב: ״את אשר ישנו פה עמנו עומד היום לפני ה׳ אלהינו ואת אשר איננו פה וגו׳״.
the snake came upon Eve, i.e., when it seduced her to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, it infected her with moral contamination, and this contamination remained in all human beings. When the Jewish people stood at Mount Sinai, their contamination ceased, whereas non-Jews did not stand at Mount Sinai, and their contamination never ceased. Rav Aḥa, the son of Rava, said to Rav Ashi: What about converts? How do you explain the cessation of their moral contamination? Rav Ashi said to him: Even though they themselves were not at Mount Sinai, their guardian angels were present, as it is written: “It is not with you alone that I make this covenant and this oath, but with he that stands here with us today before YHWH our God, and with he that is not here with us today” (Deuteronomy 29:13–14), and this includes converts.
ופליגא דרבי אבא בר כהנא. דאמר רבי אבא בר כהנא: עד שלשה דורות לא פסקה זוהמא מאבותינו: אברהם הוליד את ישמעאל, יצחק הוליד את עשו, יעקב הוליד שנים עשר שבטים שלא היה בהן שום דופי.
The Talmud points out that this opinion disagrees with R' Abba bar Kahana, as R' Abba bar Kahana said: Until 3 generations passed, the moral contamination did not cease from our forefathers: Abraham fathered Ishmael, who was of lowly moral stature; Isaac fathered Esau; finally, Jacob fathered 12 tribes in whom there was no flaw. R' Abba bar Kahana holds that the moral contamination ceased in the Patriarchs long before the Revelation at Sinai.
מתני׳ שובר אדם את החבית לאכול הימנה גרוגרות ובלבד שלא יתכוין לעשות כלי. ואין נוקבין מגופה של חבית, דברי רבי יהודה. וחכמים מתירין, ולא יקבנה מצדה. ואם היתה נקובה, לא יתן עליה שעוה, מפני שהוא ממרח. אמר רבי יהודה: מעשה בא לפני רבן יוחנן בן זכאי בערב, ואמר: חוששני לו מחטאת.
Mishnah: A person may break a jug on Shabbat in order to eat dried figs from it, provided he does not intend to make a vessel. And one may not perforate the plug of a jug to extract wine from it; rather, one must remove the plug entirely to avoid creating a new opening for the jug. This is the statement of R' Yehuda. And the Rabbis permit puncturing the plug, but they too restrict this leniency and say that one may not perforate the plug of the jug on its side. And if it was already perforated, one may not apply wax to it to seal the hole, because in doing so he spreads the wax evenly on the jug and thereby violates the prohibited labor of smoothing. R' Yehuda said: An incident of that kind came before Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai in the city of Arav, and he said: I am concerned for him, because he may be liable to bring a sin-offering as a result of this.