Study Shabbat folio 75B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
משום צובע אין, משום נטילת נשמה לא? אימא: אף משום צובע. אמר רב: מילתא דאמרי, אימא בה מילתא, דלא ליתו דרי בתראי וליחכו עלי: צובע במאי ניחא ליה — ניחא דליתווס בית השחיטה דמא, כי היכי דליחזוה אינשי וליתו ליזבנו מיניה.
The Talmud wonders: Is that to say according to Rav, that due to dyeing, yes, he is liable; due to taking a life, no, he is exempt? Rather, emend Rav’s statement and say: He is liable due to dyeing as well. And Rav said: I will say something as an explanation with regard to the statement I said, so that later generations will not come and laugh at me: In what sense is dyeing a desired consequence for him? It is desired that the area of the slaughter will be inundated with blood, so that people will see it freshly dyed and come to purchase fresh meat from him. Therefore, the one slaughtering the animal also wants its neck dyed.
והמולחו והמעבדו. היינו מולח והיינו מעבד! רבי יוחנן וריש לקיש דאמרי תרוייהו: אפיק חד מינייהו ועייל שירטוט. אמר רבה בר רב הונא: האי מאן דמלח בישרא — חייב משום מעבד. רבא אמר: אין עיבוד באוכלין. אמר רב אשי: ואפילו רבה בר רב הונא לא אמר אלא דקא בעי ליה לאורחא, אבל לביתא — לא משוי איניש מיכליה עץ.
We learned in the Mishnah, among those liable for performing primary categories of labor: And one who salts it and one who tans it. The Talmud asks: The prohibited labor of salting is the same as the prohibited labor of tanning, i.e., salting is a stage in the tanning process. R' Yoḥanan and Reish Lakish both said: Remove one of them and replace it with drafting. In their opinion, the labor of drafting, drawing lines on the hide to indicate where it should be cut, should replace salting in the list of 39 labors. Rabba bar Rav Huna said: One who salts meat on Shabbat to preserve it is liable due to the labor of tanning. Rava said: There is no tanning with regard to food. No action taken with food falls into this category. Rav Ashi said: And even Rabba bar Rav Huna said it falls into the category of tanning only when he needs to pack the meat for a trip and salts it thoroughly. However, to eat in the house, a person does not render his food inedible, tantamount to a piece of wood. In that case, he certainly would not salt the meat to a degree that would approximate tanning.