Rif Shabbat 34a

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34a

{Shabbat 80b continues}
BUT THE SAGES MAINTAIN: FOR FERTILIZING ONE LEEK PLANT.

THICK SAND, AS MUCH AS IS REQUIRED FOR PUTTING ON A FULL PLASTER TROWEL.

A REED, AS MUCH AS IS REQUIRED FOR MAKING A PEN.

BUT IF IT IS THICK OR CRUSHED {and thus unfit for a pen}, [THE STANDARD IS] AS MUCH AS IS REQUIRED FOR BOILING THE LIGHTEST OF EGGS BEATEN UP AND PLACED IN A STEW POT.

{Shabbat 81a}
[IF ONE CARRIES OUT] BONE, [THE STANDARD IS AS MUCH AS IS REQUIRED FOR MAKING A SPOON. {Jastrow: pointed on top and curved at the end}

R. JUDAH MAINTAINED: FOR MAKING OF A CHAF.

{The remainder of the Mishna is missing, but the Rif refers to it in pesiktas, so a gloss adds the following back in:}

GLASS, LARGE ENOUGH FOR SCRAPING THE TOP OF THE WHORL [OF A SPINDLE];

A CHIP OR A STONE, LARGE ENOUGH TO THROW AT A BIRD;
R. ELEAZAR B. JACOB SAID: LARGE ENOUGH TO THROW AT AN ANIMAL

Gemara:
{Defining chaf, mentioned in Rabbi Yehuda's opinion in the Mishna:}
Ulla said: [It means] the wards of a lock.

{A ward of a lock = The projecting ridge of a lock or keyhole that prevents the turning of a key other than the proper one}

"GLASS, LARGE ENOUGH FOR SCRAPING THE TOP OF THE WHORL [OF A SPINDLE]":
A Tanna taught: large enough to break across two threads simultaneously.

"A CHIP OR A STONE, LARGE ENOUGH TO THROW AT A BIRD.
R. ELEAZAR B. JACOB SAID: LARGE ENOUGH TO THROW AT AN ANIMAL":
Rabbi Yaakov said {our gemara has him citing Rabbi Yochanan}: Providing that it can feel it.

And what size is that?
It was taught {in a brayta}: Rabbi Eliezer {our gemara: ben Yaakov} says: Ten zuz in weight.
{One zuz = 3.585 grammes}

Zonin entered the Beth Hamidrash [and] said to them [the students]: My masters, what is the standard of the stones of a privy {used for wiping}?
They said to him: [One] the size of an olive, [a second] the size of a nut, and [a third] the size of an egg.
He said to them: Shall one take [them] in a [gold] balance!? {to weigh them accurately?}
[Thereupon] they voted and decided: A handful {of stones, no matter what their number}

The Sages learnt {in a brayta}: One may carry three mekurzalot {=fit for cleansing} stones into a privy. And what is their size? R. Meir said: As [large as] a nut; R. Judah maintained: As [large as] an egg.

And the halacha is that they voted and decided: A handful.

Rav Yehuda said: But not brittle stone [payas].
{This being unsuited for this purpose, it may not be handled on Shabbat}
What is payas?
Rabbi Zera said: karshinei Bavlayta {Babylonian pebbles -- which are cloddy and brittle}.

By way of explanation, earth which will readily come apart.

Rabbi Yannai said: If there is a fixed place for the privy {in the field}, [one may carry in] a handful [of stones]. if not, כהכרע מדוכה קטנה של בשמים {=[only] the size of the leg of a small spice mortar [is permitted].}

By way of explanation, this is the head of the pestle that they use to crush spices.

And they explain it in the Yerushalmi as the leg of a small spice mortar.

Rav Sheshet said: If there is evidence upon it, it is permitted.

The Rabbis explained "evidence" as rags {samartutin}, as we learn in there {in Niddah 12b}: "she must also use testing rags - they render her 'fit', and they render her 'unfit.'"

Abaye said to Rav Yosef: What if rain fell on it and it was washed away?

That is to say, if rain fell on the mekurzalot stones, and they sank into the earth, what? Do we fear lest it is like demolishing or like grinding, or not?

He said to him: If the mark thereof is perceptible it is permitted.

Rabba the son of Rav Shela asked Rav Chisda:
{Shabbat 81b}
to carry them up [the stones] after one to the roof {is it permissible}?
{Since, as Tosafot notes, he could have carried them up there on erev Shabbat.}

He said to him: Human dignity is very important and it supersedes a negative injunction of the Torah. {and so it is permitted}

Rav Huna said: One may not obey the call of nature on a ploughed field on Shabbat.
Because of the statement of Rabba, for Rabba said: If one has a depression and fills it up, — if in the house, he is culpable on account of building; if in the field, he is culpable on account of ploughing.

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: One may cleanse himself with a pebble whereon 'grass has sprouted; but if one detaches [the grass] thereof on Shabbat, he incurs a sin-offering.

Rabbi Yochanan said: One must not cleanse oneself with a clay shard, because of danger, and some say because of witchcraft.
What witchcraft? Like this - that Rav Chisda and Rabba bar Rav Huna were travelling by ship. A certain {gentile} matron said to them: 'Seat me near you,' but they did not seat her. Thereupon she uttered something [a charm] and bound the boat {such that it did not move}; they uttered something, and freed it.
She said to them: 'What shall I do to you,

{Shabbat 82a}
seeing that you do not cleanse yourselves with a shard, nor kill vermin on your garments, and you do not pull out and eat a vegetable from a bunch which the gardener has tied together'?

If a pebble and a shard lie before one -