Talmud Bavli
Talmud Bavli

Responsa for Shabbat 162:1

חסדא מהו להעלותם אחריו לגג א"ל גדול כבוד הבריות שדוחה את לא תעשה שבתורה יתיב מרימר וקאמר לה להא שמעתא איתיביה רבינא למרימר ר' אליעזר אומר נוטל אדם קיסם משלפניו לחצות בו שיניו וחכמים אומרים לא יטול אלא מן האבוס של בהמה הכי השתא התם אדם קובע מקום לסעודה הכא אדם קובע מקום לבית הכסא

Is it permissible to carry them up [the stones] after one to the roof?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since he could have carried them up there on the eve of Sabbath, Tosaf. ');"><sup>1</sup></span> Human dignity is very important, he replied, and it supersedes a negative injunction of the Torah.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., it is permitted. v. infra 94b. ');"><sup>2</sup></span> Now, Meremar sat and reported this discussion, [whereupon] Rabina raised an objection to Meremar: R. Eliezer said: One may take a chip [lying] before him to pick his teeth therewith;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Though not designated for this purpose beforehand, it is not regarded as mukzeh (q.v. Glos.). ');"><sup>3</sup></span> but the Sages maintain: He may take only from an animal's trough?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' There it is regarded as standing ready for use, but otherwise it is mukzeh, and human dignity, viz., the necessity to clean one's teeth, does not negative this prohibition. ');"><sup>4</sup></span>

Teshuvot Maharam

Q. On the Sabbath, may a Jew use latrines which are built in the city wall and open into a ditch surrounding the wall, so that the feces falling into the ditch are moved (by his force) from one Sabbath domain into another?
A. He should fasten a board beneath the seat (within not more than three tefahim below the latrine walls) so that the feces first fall on the board and then into the ditch. Should the board break on the Sabbath, he would still be permitted to use the latrine on that day.
SOURCES: Cr. 178, 179; Pr. 96; L. 349; Mord. Shabb. 376; Hag. Mord. Shabb. 461; Tashbetz 38; Hag. Maim., Shabbat 15, 4; Kol Bo 31 (p. 34a). Cf. Terumat Hadeshen 66.
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