Rif Shabbat 8b

HIDE/SHOW IMAGE
8b

{Shabbat 20a continues}
"BUT IN THE COUNTRY, THERE MUST BE TIME FOR THE FIRE TO TAKE HOLD OF ITS GREATER PART":
What is the meaning of "OF ITS GREATER PART?"
Rav said: the greater part of each one {log}.
And Shmuel said: Such that they do not say "Let us bring wood {chips} to place under them {to help them ignite}.

Rabbi Chiyya {our gemara: Rav Chiyya} taught a brayta which supports Shmuel: Shemot 27:20:

כ וְאַתָּה תְּצַוֶּה אֶת-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, וְיִקְחוּ אֵלֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן זַיִת זָךְ כָּתִית--לַמָּאוֹר: לְהַעֲלֹת נֵר, תָּמִיד.

20 And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually.

such that the flame rises of its own accord, and not that it rises via help of something else.

A single log, Rav said: the greater part of its thickness, and Shmuel said: The greater part of its circumference.

Rav Pappa said: Therefore we require the greater part of both its thickness and its circumference.

Rav Yehuda {our gemara: Rav Huna} said: Canes require the greater part, [but] if they are tied together, they do NOT require the greater part. {As one gloss notes, the girsa in our gemara is the reverse.} Kernels [of dates] do require the greater part; but if they are put in bales they do NOT require the greater part. {once again, our girsa is the reverse}

Rav Chisda asked: Just the opposite! The reverse is logical.

{Shabbat 20b}
I was also stated {by Amoraim}:
Rav Kahana cited Rav {our girsa: just Rav Kahana}: Canes tied together require the greater part.

Rav Yosef learnt {tnei}: Four fires do not require the greater part: pitch, sulphur, grease, and wax {our gemara: cheese}.

In a brayta is was taught: even straw and rakings {small stubble collected in the field}.

SLIKU LEHU YETZI`OT HASHABBAT
END PEREK ONE

BEGIN PEREK TWO

MISHNAH.
WHEREWITH MAY WE KINDLE [THE SABBATH LIGHTS], AND WHEREWITH MAY WE NOT KINDLE THEM]?

WE MAY NOT KINDLE [THEM] WITH LEKESH, HOSEN [TOW], KALLAK, A BAST WICK, A DESERT WICK, SEAWEED, ZEFETH [PITCH], SHA'AWAH [WAX], KIK OIL, OIL OF BURNING, TAIL FAT, OR TALLOW.
NAHUM THE MEDE SAID: WE MAY KINDLE [THEM] WITH BOILED HELEB;
BUT THE SAGES MAINTAIN: WHETHER BOILED OR NOT, YOU MAY NOT KINDLE THEREWITH

Gemara:
Lechesh is cedar bark.
But cedar bark is simply wood! {and would certainly be unfit for a wick!}
It means the woolly substance [bast] within it.

"NOR WITH CHOSHEN":
Abaye said: It is crushed but uncombed flax.

"NOR WITH KALLACH":
Shmuel said: I asked all seafarers about it, and they told me that it is called kulcha.
{Jastrow: Jast.: cissaros-blossom, 'a woolly substance growing on stones at the Dead Sea, looking like gold, and being very soft; ... and it resembles sheep wool'}

Yitzchak bar Ze'eri said: Its name is gushkera. {a cotton-like plant}

"NOR WITH A BAST WICK {petilat haIdan}":
Willow-bast - the wool-like substance within.

"NOR WITH A DESERT WICK":
Mullein. {a tall, woolly weed}

"NOR WITH SEAWEED":
What is this?
Rav Papa said: it is the black fungus of ships.
A Tanna taught: To these [enumerated in the Mishnah] were added [wicks] of wool and hair.

"ZEFETH": zifta {=pitch}

"SHA'AVAH": kiruta {=wax}

A Tanna taught: Thus far the unfitness of wicks {is taught in the Mishna}; from here onwards it is the unfitness of oils.

This is obvious!
It was required for wax.
I would have said that we decree the unfitness of wicks {in the case of wax} because of its unfitness for oil. This teaches us that no. {That is, the decree for using wax for a wick stands on its own, and it is fit to be used for oil.}

{Shabbat 21a}
The Sages learnt {in a brayta}:

All those of which they ruled that you must not light [the Sabbath lamp] therewith on the Sabbath, yet a fire {medura} may be made of them, both for warming oneself and for using the light thereof, whether on the earth or on the lamp {=menora - our gemara's girsa: stove}; and they merely prohibited the making of a wick of them for a [Sabbath] lamp {ner}.

"NOR WITH KIK OIL":
What is kik oil?
Shmuel said: There is a certain bird in the sea towns called kik. {Jastrow: pelican}
Rav Acha the son of Rav Yitzchak the son of Rav Yehuda said {our gemara's attribution is simply to Rav Yitzchak the son of Rav Yehuda}: It is cotton-seed oil.
And Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: Oil from Yonah's kikayon. {Jastrow: ricinus tree, or the sprout bearing the castor-berry}

{See Yonah 4:6:

ו וַיְמַן יְהוָה-אֱלֹהִים קִיקָיוֹן וַיַּעַל מֵעַל לְיוֹנָה, לִהְיוֹת צֵל עַל-רֹאשׁוֹ, לְהַצִּיל לוֹ, מֵרָעָתוֹ; וַיִּשְׂמַח יוֹנָה עַל-הַקִּיקָיוֹן, שִׂמְחָה גְדוֹלָה.

6 And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his evil. So Jonah was exceeding glad because of the gourd.

}

Rabbah said: The wicks of which the Sages said that you must not kindle with, what is the reason? Because their flame burns unevenly. The oils which the Sages said you must not kindle with is because they do not flow [freely] to the wick.

Abaye inquired of Rabbah: As to the oils which the Sages said you must not kindle with for Shabbat, is it permissible to pour a little [good] oil into them and light [with]? Do we decree {and forbid them} lest he come to light with it {even in its unmixed state}, or no?
He {Rabbah} said to him: You may not light.
He {Abaye} said: What is the reason?
He {Rabbah} said: {As a decree} because we do not light with them {in their unmixed state}.

And if one wraps a material which may be used [as a wick] for lighting around a material which may not be lit,