Shabbat 12

Chapter 12

א לחי מכאן ולחי מכאן או קורה מכאן וקורה מכאן ונושא ונותן באמצע אמרו לו אין מערבין רשות הרבים בכך

1 a board or a beam at each side1

ב ואמאי קרו ליה גמורה מהו דתימא כי פליגי רבנן עליה דרבי יהודה דלא הוי רה"י ה"מ לטלטל אבל לזרוק מודו ליה קמ"ל:

2 and carry between them.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' R. Judah holds that two partitions facing each other render the space between private ground by Biblical law. The outside walls of the houses are two such partitions, while the two are added to mark out this particular space and distinguish it from the rest of the street. ');">2

ג אמר מר זו היא רה"ר למעוטי מאי למעוטי אידך דרבי יהודה דתנן רבי יהודה אומר אם היתה דרך רה"ר מפסקתן יסלקנה לצדדין וחכמים אומרים אינו צריך

3 Said they to him: A street cannot be made fit [for carrying] by an 'erub in this way.3

ד ואמאי קרו ליה גמורה איידי דתנא רישא גמורה תנא נמי סיפא גמורה

4 And why is it called 'absolute' [public ground]? — You might argue, The Rabbis differ from R. Judah, [maintaining] that it is not private ground only in respect of carrying [therein]:4

ה ולחשוב נמי מדבר דהא תניא איזו היא ר"ה סרטיא ופלטיא גדולה ומבואות המפולשין והמדבר אמר אביי לא קשיא כאן בזמן שישראל שרויין במדבר כאן בזמן הזה:

5 but in respect of throwing5

ו אמר מר אם הוציא והכניס בשוגג חייב חטאת במזיד ענוש כרת ונסקל בשוגג חייב חטאת פשיטא במזיד ענוש כרת ונסקל אצטריכא ליה

6 they agree with R. Judah:6

ז הא נמי פשיטא הא קמ"ל כדרב דא"ר מצאתי מגלת סתרים בי רבי חייא וכתוב בה איסי בן יהודה אומר אבות מלאכות מ' חסר אחת ואינו חייב אלא אחת

7 hence we are informed [otherwise].

ח איני והתנן אבות מלאכות מ' חסר אחת והוינן בה מנינא למה לי ואמר רבי יוחנן שאם עשאן כולן בהעלם אחת חייב על כל אחת ואחת

8 The Master said: 'That is [absolute] public ground.' What does this exclude? — It excludes R. Judah's other [ruling]. For we learnt: R. Judah said: If the public thoroughfare interposes between them, it must be removed to the side; but the Sages maintain: It is unnecessary.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A well ten handbreadths deep and four broad in a public highway is private ground, as stated above; consequently, if one draws water and places it at the side, he desecrates the Sabbath. Therefore the Rabbis enacted that it should be surrounded by boards, even at some distance, and placed at intervals, providing that there is not a gap of more than ten cubits between any two; this renders the whole private ground, as though it were entirely enclosed. But R. Judah maintains that if the actual road taken by travellers lies between these boards, it destroys its character as private ground and makes it public ground in spite of the boards, and therefore it must be diverted. The emphasis in our Baraitha — that is public ground — is to reject this view of R. Judah. ');">7

ט אלא אימא אינו חייב על אחת מהן והא קמ"ל הא מהנך דלא מספקן:

9 And why is it called 'absolute?' — Because the first clause states 'absolute', the second does likewise. Now, let the desert too be enumerated, for it was taught: What is public ground? A high-road, a great open space, open alleys and the desert? — Said Abaye, There is no difficulty: The latter means when the Israelites dwelt in the desert; the former refers to our own days.8

י אמר מר אבל ים ובקעה והאיסטוונית והכרמלית אינן לא כרה"י ולא כרה"ר ובקעה אינו לא כרה"י ולא כרשות הרבים והא תנן הבקעה בימות החמה רה"י לשבת ורה"ר לטומאה בימות הגשמים רה"י (לכאן ולכאן)

10 The Master said: 'If one carries out or in, unwittingly, he is liable to a sin-offering; if deliberately, he is punished by kareth or stoned.' 'Unwittingly, he is liable to a sin-offering': but it is obvious? — It is necessary [to state] 'If deliberately, he is punished by kareth or stoned.' But that too is obvious? — We are informed the following, in agreement with Rab. For Rab said, I found a secret scroll of the school of R. Hiyya<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H] Rashi: When a scholar heard a new law which had no authoritative tradition behind it and was thus rejected by the schools, he committed it to writing for fear that he might forget it, and kept it secret. Weiss, Dor, II, 189 thinks that the scroll contained views which R. Juda ha-Nasi had desired to exclude from his authoritative compilation, and therefore it was kept concealed. — On these lines a very considerable portion of the Baraitha would have had to be kept secret! Kaplan, Redaction of the Talmud, p. 277 suggests that the concealed scroll contained laws which were unsuited for unrestricted publicity. He also suggests that the phrase may not mean 'concealed' but written in a 'concealed', i.e. esoteric style. But there is nothing particularly esoteric about the style of the law quoted here. V. also Levi, Worterbuch s.v. ');">9

יא אמר עולא לעולם כרמלית הויא ואמאי קרי לה רה"י לפי שאינה רה"ר

11 wherein it is written, Issi b. Judah said: There are thirty-nine principal labours, but one is liable only [for] one. Yet that is not so? for we learnt: The principal labours are forty less one: and we pondered thereon, Why state the number?10

יב רב אשי אמר

12 And R. Johanan answered: [To teach] that if one performs all of them in one state of unawareness,11 he is liable for each separately! Rather, say thus: for one of these he is not liable; and so we are informed here that this one [sc. carrying] is of those about which there is no doubt. The Master said: 'But the sea, a plain, a colonnade, and a karmelith rank neither as public nor as private ground.' But is a plain neither private nor public ground? Surely we learnt: A plain: in summer it is private ground in respect to the Sabbath and public ground in respect to uncleanness;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In summer it is not sown, hence a few may pass through it, yet not many will trouble to leave the highway. Hence carrying therein is permitted. With respect to uncleanness, it is a general principle that if a doubt arises in a strictly private place, a stringent ruling is given, and the article or person concerned is unclean; if it arises in a public i.e., not a strictly private place, we are lenient. Hence, since the plain is not strictly private, it ranks as public ground. ');">12 in winter it is private ground in both respects!13 — Said 'Ulla: After all it is a karmelith; yet why is it called private ground? Because it is not public ground.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And as the main purpose of that Mishnah is to draw a distinction between the Sabbath and uncleanness, that is sufficient, without pointing out that it is a karmelith. ');">14 R. Ashi said:

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