Study Shabbat folio 147B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
דלהשתטף כל גופו אפילו לכתחילה שפיר דמי. מני? רבי שמעון היא. דתניא: לא ישתטף אדם בין בחמין בין בצונן, דברי רבי מאיר. רבי שמעון מתיר. רבי יהודה אומר: בחמין — אסור, בצונן — מותר.
that rinsing one’s entire body by pouring water on it rather than bathing in the standard fashion may well be done even ab initio. The Talmud asks: According to whose opinion is our Mishnah? The Talmud answers: It is in accordance with the opinion of R' Shimon, as it was taught in a baraita: One may not rinse himself on Shabbat, neither with hot water nor with cold water; this is the statement of R' Meir. R' Shimon permits rinsing one’s body even with hot water. R' Yehuda says that there is a distinction: With hot water it is prohibited and with cold water it is permitted.
The Mishnah addressed the permissibility of drying oneself with a towel after bathing on Shabbat, and added the phrase: And dried himself off even with 10 towels. The Talmud comments on the formulation of the Mishnah: The first clause teaches us a novel concept, and the latter clause teaches us a novel concept. The Talmud explains: The first clause: One who…dried himself even with 10 towels may not carry them, teaches us a novel concept, that the prohibition applies even to these towels, which do not have much water absorbed in them. The reason for this is that since he is one person, he may come to squeeze them. And the latter clause teaches us a novel concept, that even these 10 people may carry the towel that they have all used, despite the fact that they have absorbed much water and the towel is very wet. The reason for this is that since they are many people, they remind each other not to wring the towel.