Study Shabbat folio 93A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
בעיגול של דבילה והוציאוהו לרשות הרבים, בקורה והוציאוה לרשות הרבים, רבי יהודה אומר: אם לא יכול אחד להוציאו והוציאוהו שנים — חייבין, ואם לאו — פטורין. רבי שמעון אומר: אף על פי שלא יכול אחד להוציאו והוציאוהו שנים — פטורים, לכך נאמר ״בעשתה״ — יחיד שעשאה חייב, שנים שעשאוה — פטורין.
In contrast, if two people held a round cake of figs, which is too heavy for one person to carry, and they carried it out to the public domain, or if they held a beam and carried it out to the public domain, R' Yehuda says: If one person is incapable of carrying it out alone, and two people carried it out, they are liable. And if not, if one person is capable of carrying it out alone, they are exempt. R' Shimon says: Even if one person is incapable of carrying it out alone, and two people carried it out, they are exempt. It is with regard to that case that it is stated: “By performing it” (Leviticus 4:27), to establish a principle: An individual who performs a transgression is liable, two people who perform a transgression are exempt.
במאי קמיפלגי? בהאי קרא: ״ואם נפש אחת תחטא בשגגה מעם הארץ בעשתה״. רבי שמעון סבר: תלתא מיעוטי כתיבי, ״נפש תחטא״, ״אחת תחטא״, ״בעשתה תחטא״ — חד למעוטי זה עוקר וזה מניח, וחד למעוטי זה יכול וזה יכול, וחד למעוטי זה אינו יכול וזה אינו יכול.
The Talmud asks: With regard to what do they disagree? The Talmud answers: They disagree over the interpretation of this verse: “And if one person among the common people sins unwittingly by performing it, any one of God’s commandments not to be done, and be guilty” (Leviticus 4:27). R' Shimon holds: 3 exclusionary statements are written in this verse. It is as if it were written: A person who sins, one who sins, and by performing it he sins. The Torah could have conveyed the same meaning by saying simply: And if one of the common people. Apparently, the superfluous words in the verse are exclusionary and the verse should be understood as follows: A person, and not many people; one, and not two; by performing it, and not by two performing it. One of the terms comes to exclude from liability a case where each of the two people performs a part of the transgression, i.e., this person lifts an object from one domain, and that person places it in another domain. And one of the terms comes to exclude a case where this person is capable of performing the action alone, and that person is also capable, and the two of them perform the action together. And one of the terms comes to exclude even a case where this person is incapable of performing the action alone, and that person is incapable of performing the action alone. Since the two of them violated this prohibition together, they are both exempt.