Shabbat 258:1

בדבר אחר קשה לדבר אחר

a swine,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'something else'. ');">¹</span>

רב ושמואל דאמרי תרוייהו האי מאן דעביד מילתא לישהי פורתא והדר ליקום דאמר מר ה' דברים קרובין למיתה יותר מן החיים ואלו הן אכל ועמד שתה ועמד ישן ועמד הקיז דם ועמד שימש מטתו ועמד

it [the meeting] is harmful in respect of something else.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Viz., leprosy, which this may cause. ');">²</span>

אמר שמואל פורסא דדמא כל תלתין יומין ובין הפרקים ימעט ובין הפרקים יחזור וימעט

Rab and Samuel both say: One who is bled should tarry awhile and then rise, for a Master said: In five cases one is nearer to death than to life. And these are they: When one eats and [immediately] rises, drinks and rises, sleeps and rises, lets blood and rises, and cohabits and rises.

ואמר שמואל פורסא דדמא חד בשבתא ארבעה ומעלי שבתא אבל שני וחמישי לא דאמר מר מי שיש לו זכות אבות יקיז דם בשני ובחמישי שב"ד של מעלה ושל מטה שוין כאחד

Samuel said: The correct interval for blood-letting is every thirty days; in middle age<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., " at="" the="" middle="" stages',="" viz.,="" from="" forty="" onwards="" (rashi).="" ');"="">³</span>

בתלתא בשבתא מאי טעמא לא משום דקיימא ליה מאדים בזווי מעלי שבתא נמי קיימא בזווי כיון דדשו ביה רבים (תהלים קטז, ו) שומר פתאים ה'

one should decrease [the frequency];<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The body then begins to lose heat, and frequent bleeding may be injurious. ');">⁴</span>

אמר שמואל ד' דהוא ד' ד' דהוא ארביסר ד' דהוא עשרים וארבעה ד' דליכא ארבע בתריה סכנתא

at a [more] advanced age<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Rashi: from the age of sixty. ');">⁵</span>

ר"ח ושני לו חולשא שלישי לו סכנה מעלי יומא טבא חולשא מעלי יומא דעצרתא סכנתא וגזרו רבנן אכולהו מעלי יומא טבא משום יומא טבא דעצרת דנפיק ביה זיקא ושמיה טבוח דאי לא קבלו ישראל תורה הוה טבח להו לבשרייהו ולדמייהו

he should again decrease [the frequency]. Samuel also said: The correct time for bloodletting is on a Sunday Wednesday and Friday, but not on Monday or Thursday, because a Master said: He who possesses ancestral merit may let blood on Monday and Thursday, because the Heavenly Court and the human court are alike then.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The court used to meet on Mondays and Thursdays, v. B.K. 82a. One's transgressions are punished in a time of natural risk. Cf. supra 32a. ');">⁶</span>

אמר שמואל אכל חטה והקיז דם לא הקיז אלא לאותה חטה והנ"מ לרפואה אבל לאוקולי מיקיל

Why not on Tuesday? Because the planet Mars rules at even-numbered hours of the day.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Jast. Ma'adim lit., means the reddener. The hours as well as the months were thought to stand under the influence of planets which moulded their nature. The planet Mars represented war and pestilence and retribution, whilst the even-numbered hours of the day were regarded as particularly susceptible to disaster. This double combination was therefore very dangerous, and bloodletting might have serious results. ');">⁷</span>

המקיז דם שתייה לאלתר אכילה עד חצי מיל

But on Friday too it rules at even-numbered hours? Since the multitude are accustomed to it,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Sc. bleeding on Friday. ');">⁸</span>

איבעיא להו שתייה לאלתר מעלי אבל בתר הכי קשי או דילמא לא קשי ולא מעלי תיקו

'the Lord preserveth the simple.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ps. CXVI, 6. ');">⁹</span>

איבעיא להו אכילה עד חצי מיל הוא דקמעלי הא בתר הכי ומקמי הכי קשי או דילמא לא קשי ולא מעלי תיקו

Samuel said: A Wednesday<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'fourth' day of the week. ');">¹⁰</span>

מכריז רב מאה קרי בזוזא מאה רישי בזוזא מאה שפמי ולא כלום אמר רב יוסף כי הוינן בי רב הונא יומא דמפגרי ביה רבנן אמרי האידנא יומא דשפמי הוא ולא ידענא מאי קאמרי:

which is the fourth [of the month], a Wednesday which is the fourteenth, a Wednesday which is the twenty-fourth a Wednesday which is not followed by four [days]<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In the same month (Rashi). ');">¹¹</span>

וקושרין הטבור: ת"ר קושרין הטבור ר' יוסי אומר אף חותכין וטומנין השליא כדי שיחם הולד אמר רשב"ג בנות מלכים טומנות בספלים של שמן בנות עשירים בספוגים של צמר בנות עניים במוכין

— [all] are dangerous.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For bleeding. ');">¹²</span>

אמר רב נחמן אמר רבה בר אבוה אמר רב הלכה כר' יוסי

The first day of the month and the second [cause] weakness; the third is dangerous. The eve of a Festival [causes] weakness; the eve of Pentecost is dangerous, and the Rabbis laid an interdict upon the eve of every Festival on account of the Festival of Pentecost, when there issues a wind called Taboah,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'slaughter'. ');">¹³</span>

ואמר רב נחמן אמר רבה בר אבוה אמר רב מודים חכמים לר' יוסי בטבור של שני תינוקות שחותכין מ"ט דמנתחי אהדדי

and had not the Israelites accepted the Torah it would absolutely have killed them.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'their flesh and blood.' ');">¹⁴</span>

ואמר רב נחמן אמר רבה בר אבוה אמר רב כל האמור בפרשת תוכחה עושין לחיה בשבת שנאמר (יחזקאל טז, ד) ומולדותיך ביום הולדת אותך לא כרת שרך ובמים לא רחצת למשעי והמלח לא המלחת והחתל לא חתלת

Samuel said: If one eats a grain of wheat and [then] lets blood, he has bled in respect of that grain only.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., bleeding immediately after a meal serves only to lighten one of that meal, but has no wider effects. ');">¹⁵</span>

ומולדותיך ביום הולדת מכאן שמיילדים את הולד בשבת לא כרת שרך מכאן שחותכין הטבור בשבת ובמים לא רחצת למשעי מכאן שרוחצין הולד בשבת והמלח לא המלחת מכאן שמולחין הולד בשבת והחתל לא חתלת מכאן שמלפפין הולד בשבת:

Yet that is only as a remedy,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If it is done as a remedy it is ineffective. ');">¹⁶</span>

<br><br><big><strong>הדרן עלך מפנין</strong></big><br><br>

but if it is to ease one,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' E.g., if one suffers from high blood.pressure. ');">¹⁷</span> it does ease.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Even if performed immediately after a meal. ');">¹⁸</span> When one is bled, drinking [is permissible] immediately; eating until half a <i>mil</i>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., as long as it takes to walk that distance-about nine minutes; v. supra 34b, 35a. ');">¹⁹</span> The scholars asked: [Does this mean], immediate drinking is beneficial, but after that it is injurious; or Perhaps [after that] it is neither harmful nor beneficial? — The question stands over. The scholars asked: Is eating beneficial only until half a <i>mil</i>, but before or after it is harmful; or perhaps it is [then] neither harmful nor beneficial? The question stands over. Rab announced: A hundred gourds for one <i>zuz</i>, a hundred heads for one <i>zuz</i>, a hundred lips for nothing.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Rashi: gourds and animal-heads are but slightly beneficial, and they are worth having only when a hundred can be bought for one zuz; but the lips of animals are quite worthless. Tosaf., reading with R. Han. [H] instead of [H] translates: a hundred (surgeons') horns (i.e., bleedings) for one zuz, a hundred heads (i.e., hair cuttings) for one zuz, a hundred lips (trimmings of moustaches) for nothing, as this was free if done at the same time as the bleeding or hair cutting. Thus 'a day of lips' became a proverbial description of a day without profit. ');">²⁰</span> R. Joseph said: When we were at R. Huna's academy, on a day that the scholars took a holiday they would say, 'This is a day of lips,' but I did not know what they meant. WE TIE UP THE NAVEL-STRING. Our Rabbis taught: We tie up the navel-string. R. Jose said: We cut [it] too; and we hide the after-birth, so that the infant may be kept warm. R. Simeon b. Gamaliel said: princesses hide [it] in bowls of oil, wealthy women in wool fleeces, and poor women in soft rags. R. Nahman said in Rabbah b. Abbuha's name in Rab's name: The <i>halachah</i> is as R. Jose. R. Nahman also said in Rabbah b. Abbuha's name in Rab's name: The Sages agree with R. Jose in the case of the navel-string of twins, that we cut them. What is the reason? Because they pull upon each other.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Which endangers their lives. ');">²¹</span> R. Nahman also said in Rabbah b. Abbuha's name in Rab's name: All that is mentioned in the chapter of rebuke<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Wherein Ezekiel rebukes the Jews; ch. XVI. ');">²²</span> is done for a lying-in woman on the Sabbath. As it is said, And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to cleanse thee' thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ezek. XVI, 4. ');">²³</span> 'And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born': hence an infant may be delivered on the Sabbath; 'thy navel was not cut': hence the navel-string is cut on the Sabbath: 'neither wast thou washed in water to cleanse thee': hence the infant is washed on the Sabbath; 'thou wast not salted at all': hence the infant is salted on the Sabbath; 'nor swaddled at all': hence the infant is swaddled on the Sabbath.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' no note. ');">²⁴</span>