Rif Shabbat 51b {Shabbat 128b continues ... 129a}

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51b

{Shabbat 128b continues}
"CALVES AND FOALS MAY BE MADE TO WALK, AND A WOMAN MAY MAKE HER SON WALK. R. JUDAH SAID: WHEN IS THAT? {IF HE LIFTS ONE [FOOT] AND PLACES [ANOTHER] DOWN; BUT IF HE DRAGS THEM IT IS FORBIDDEN}":
And so is the halacha, for we have established that in every instance that Rabbi Yehuda uses the phrase "when is that," he comes to explain the words of the Sages {and thus there is no dispute in the Mishna but rather an elaboration}.

MISHNA:
ONE MAY NOT DELIVER AN ANIMAL [IN GIVING BIRTH] ON A FESTIVAL, BUT ONE MAY ASSIST IT.
WE MAY DELIVER A WOMAN ON THE SABBATH, SUMMON A MIDWIFE FOR HER FROM PLACE TO PLACE, DESECRATE THE SABBATH ON HER ACCOUNT, AND TIE UP THE NAVEL-STRING.
R. JOSE SAID: ONE MAY CUT [IT] TOO.
AND ALL THE REQUIREMENTS OF CIRCUMCISION MAY BE DONE ON THE SABBATH.

Gemara:
How may we assist?
Rav Yehuda says: The new-born [calf, lamb, etc.] is held so that it should not fall on the earth.

There is a brayta in accordance with Rav Yehuda: How do we assist? We may hold the young so that it should not fall on the ground, blow into its nostrils, and put the teat into its mouth that it should suck.
Rabbi Yehuda {our gemara: Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel} said: We stimulate pity {arouse the maternal instinct} to a kosher animal on a Yom Tov.
How should he do?
Abaye: A lump of salt was brought and placed in its womb so that it [the mother] might remember its travails and have pity upon it; and we sprinkle the water of the after-birth upon the newly-born [animal] so that its mother might smell it and have pity upon it.
And specifically a kosher animal, but a non-kosher animal, no.
For an unclean {non-kosher} animal does not spurn its young, and if it does spurn it, it does not take it back.

"ONE MAY DELIVER A WOMAN":
The Sages learnt {in a brayta}: If she needs a lamp, her neighbour may kindle a lamp for her. And if she needs oil, her neighbour brings her oil in her hand; but if that in her hand is insufficient, she brings it in her hair; and if that in her hair is insufficient, she brings it to her in a vessel via the public domain. {our gemara lacks "via the public domain".}

The Master said {immediately above}: 'If she needs a lamp, her neighbour may kindle a lamp for her.'
That is obvious?!
Rav Ashi {our gemara has this as anonymous} said: This is necessary [to be taught] only in the case of a blind [woman]: you might argue, Since she cannot see it, it is forbidden; hence he informs us that we tranquillize her mind, [as] she reasons, if there is anything [required] my friend will see it and do it for me.

And if she needs oil, her neighbour brings her oil in her hand; but if that in her hand is insufficient, she brings it in her hair {and it continues: and if that in her hair is insufficient, she brings it to her in a vessel via the public domain}
[But] deduce it on the grounds of wringing out?
{I.e., if she brings it in her hair she must then wring it out, which is just as much forbidden as carrying it in a vessel. Since this is so, why not carry it ordinarily?}
Rav Ashi said: You may even say that wringing out does apply to hair:
Rabba and Rav Yosef both say: [The interdict of] wringing out does not apply to hair.
And Rav Ashi said: You may even say that wringing out does apply to hair: she brings it to her in a vessel by means of her hair, [because] as much as we can vary it we do so.

Rav Yehuda cited Shmuel: If a woman is in confinement {giving birth}, as long as the uterus is open, whether she states, 'I need it,' or 'I do not need it,' we must desecrate Shabbat on her account. If the uterus is closed,

{Shabbat 129a}
if she says, 'I need it,' we desecrate Shabbat for her; if she does not say, 'I need it,' we do not desecrate Shabbat. Rav Ashi learnt it thusly.

Mar Zutra learned as follows: Rav Yehuda cited Shmuel: If a woman is in confinement, as long as the uterus is open, whether she says, 'I need it' or 'I do not need it,' we desecrate Shabbat for her. If the uterus is closed, if she says, 'I do not need it,' we do not desecrate Shabbat for her; if she does not say, 'I do not need it,' we desecrate Shabbat for her.

{In our gemara, what Rif attributes to Rav Ashi is the position of Mar Zutra. Meanwhile, Rav Ashi had an even stricter position, that if the uterus is closed, we do not desecrate Shabbat regardless of what she says.}

Ravina said to Mereimar: Mar Zutra recited it in the direction of leniency, [while] R. Ashi recited it in the direction of stringency; which is the law?
He said to him: The law is as Mar Zutra: where [a matter of] life is in doubt we are lenient.

From when is the opening of the uterus?
Abaye said: From when she sits on the seat of travail {mashbeir}.
Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua said: From when the blood slowly flows down. others state, From when her friends carry her by her arms.

And the {post-Talmudic} Sages are medayek and say that since Rav Huna did not say until the blood slowly flows down {but rather, from the time}, we may deduce that this is before sitting on the seat of trevail.
And we practice like Abaye, and do not desecrate the Shabbat for her until the blood slowly flows down and she sits on the seat of travail.

For how long is the opening of the uterus?
We conclude that the scholars of Nehardea said: A lying-in woman [has three periods: from] three [days after confinement], seven [days], and thirty [days].
From three [days], whether she says, 'I need it' or she says, 'I do not need it,' we desecrate Shabbat for her.
[From] seven [days], if she says 'I need it,' we desecrate the Shabbat for her; if she says, 'I do not need it,' we do not desecrate the Shabbat for her. -- this implies that if she says nothing, we desecrate Shabbat for her.
From] thirty days, even if she says, 'I need it,' we may not desecrate the Shabbat for her, but rather we may do so by means of a gentile, like Rav Ulla the son of Rabbi Illai, who said: All the requirements of a sick person may be done by means of a gentile on Shabat, and as Rav Hamnuna, who said: In a matter entailing no danger [to life] {for a sick person}, one bids a gentile and he does it.

Rav Yehuda cited Shmuel: For a woman in confinement [the period is] thirty days. In respect of what law? The scholars of Nehardea said: In respect of a ritual bath {which she must not take until thirty days for fear of a cold}.