Study Shabbat folio 146B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
משום ריחשא. ויש אומרים אין מוסיפים — זימנין דלא תקניה מעיקרא, ואתי לארווחי ביה. דרש רב נחמן משום רבי יוחנן הלכה כיש אומרים.
because one does not want vermin to enter the coop. And when we learned that some say that one may not add to a preexisting hole, that ruling is also due to a decree lest one come to do so in a chicken coop, as sometimes one does not properly create the opening initially, and comes to expand it so that it will be fit for use. In that case, widening the opening is considered its completion. Rav Naḥman taught in the name of R' Yoḥanan: The halakha is in accordance with the statement cited as: Some say.
ושוין שנוקבין נקב ישן לכתחלה. אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל: לא שנו אלא במקום העשוי לשמר, אבל לחזק — אסור. היכי דמי לשמר, היכי דמי לחזק? אמר רב חסדא: למעלה מן היין — זהו לשמר, למטה מן היין — זהו לחזק. רבא אמר: למטה מן היין נמי זהו לשמר. והיכי דמי לחזק — כגון שניקבה למטה מן השמרים.
We learned in the baraita: And everyone agrees that one may perforate an old hole that was sealed ab initio. Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said: They only taught this in a place where the hole is made to strain the wine from the sediment; however, if it was made to reinforce the jug, it is prohibited (ge’onim). The Talmud asks: What are the circumstances in which a hole is considered to have been made to strain and what are the circumstances in which a hole is meant to reinforce the jug? Rav Ḥisda said: If one perforates the jug above the level of the wine, that is a hole designated to strain the wine, and if one perforates the jug below the level of the wine, that is a hole designated to reinforce the jug. Rava said: A hole made below the level of the wine is also designated to strain the wine, and what are the circumstances in which a hole is meant to reinforce the jug? It is in a case where one perforated it below the sediment.