Mesorat%20hashas for Nedarim 74:2

אלא גבי שבת היינו טעמא דאין קוראין בתחילה משום דיפנו אבהתהון דינוקי למצותא דשבתא ואיבעית אימא משום דבשבתא אכלין ושתין ויקיר עליהון עלמא כדאמר שמואל שינוי וסת תחילת חולי מעיים

as Samuel said: The change in one's regular diet is the beginning of digestive trouble.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'disease of the bowels'. The Sabbath being a day of delight, the parents naturally wish to play and amuse themselves with their children thereon. But if the children study a new passage on that day, since this requires great concentration, the parents may be afraid of distracting their attention. It is interesting to observe from actual life what the Sabbath meant to the people. In spite of the innumerable restrictions pertaining to that day, and on account of which the Sabbath has been severely criticised as an intolerable burden, right from the New Testament times down to the present day, this simple statement, teaching no doctrine or view of the Sabbath, but recording a simple fact, vividly illustrates the utter shallowness of all that misinformed criticism. Cf. Schechter, Studies in Judaism ('The Law and Recent Criticism, pp. 296f). — 'On the one side, we hear the opinions of so many learned professors, proclaiming ex cathedra that the Law was a most terrible burden, and the life under it the most unbearable slavery&nbsp;… On the other side we have the testimony of a literature extending over about twenty-five centuries, and including all sorts and conditions of men, scholars, poets, mystics, lawyers&nbsp;… schoolmen, tradesmen, workmen, women, simpletons, who all&nbsp;… give unanimous evidence in favour of this Law, and of the bliss and happiness of living and dying under it, — and this, the testimony of people who were actually living under the Law, not merely theorising upon it'. ');">³</span> Now, he who maintains that remuneration is for the teaching of accentuation, — why does he reject the view that it is for acting as guardian? — He reasons: Do daughters then need guarding?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Girls are generally at home and do not venture into the streets; hence require no guarding. Now the Mishnah states in general terms that he may not teach Scripture. Though this, as explained, refers to a minor, yet even so the law holds good both of boys and of girls, since no limitations are given. But if payment is for guardianship, he should be permitted to teach girls, who do not need it. — Another reading is: does an adult need guarding? According to this, the explanation that the Mishnah refers to a minor is rejected as being too farfetched. ');">⁴</span>

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