Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Rif Shabbat 43a {Shabbat 115a continues ... Shabbat 116a}



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43a

{Shabbat 115a continues}
we do not save them from a fire.
And Rav Chisda said: we do save them from a fire.

And the halacha is like Rav Huna, for Rav Chisda is a student before Rav Huna, and the halacha is not like the student before the teacher.

(However) If they were written with paint [dye], sikra {a red paint}, gum ink, or calcanthum {Jastrow: Vitriol used as an ingredient of shoe-black and of ink} we do not save them from a fire. {the gloss records the girsa that we do save}

{Shabbat 115b}
The Sages learnt {in a brayta}: Benedictions and amulets, though they contain letters of the [Divine] Name and many passages of the Torah, must not be rescued from a fire but must be burnt where they lie.

Hence it was said, They who write down Benedictions are as though they burnt a Torah.
{Rashi: for if a fire breaks out on Shabbat they may not be saved}

It happened that one was once writing Benedictions in Sidon, and they came and informed Rabbi Yishmael, and Rabbi Yishmael went to question him about it, As he was ascending the ladder, he [the writer] became aware of him, [so] he took a sheaf of benedictions and plunged them into a bowl of water. In these words did Rabbi Yishmael speak to him: The punishment for the latter [deed] is greater than for the former.

A sefer Torah from which you can rescue 85 letters from whole words, and even if among them are {Bereishit 31:47}:

מז וַיִּקְרָא-לוֹ לָבָן, יְגַר שָׂהֲדוּתָא; וְיַעֲקֹב, קָרָא לוֹ גַּלְעֵד. 47 And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha; but Jacob called it Galeed.
or else a parsha which does not contain 85 letters but has Divine names, such as {Bemidbar 10:35}:

לה וַיְהִי בִּנְסֹעַ הָאָרֹן, וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה: קוּמָה ה, וְיָפֻצוּ אֹיְבֶיךָ, וְיָנֻסוּ מְשַׂנְאֶיךָ, מִפָּנֶיךָ. 35 And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said: 'Rise up, O LORD, and let Thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee.'
we save them from a fire.

{Shabbat 116a}
The blank spaces and the Books of the Minim, we may not save them from a fire. Rabbi Yossi says: even during the week, one must cut out the Divine Names which they contain, hide them, and burn the rest. Rabbi Tarfon said: May I bury my son if I would not burn them together with their Divine Names if they came to my hand. For even if one pursued him to slay him, or a snake pursued him to bite him, he would enter a heathen Temple [for refuge], but not the houses of these [people], for the latter know (of God] yet deny [Him], whereas the former are ignorant and deny [Him]. And upon them the Scriptures states {Yeshaya 57:8}

ח וְאַחַר הַדֶּלֶת וְהַמְּזוּזָה, שַׂמְתְּ זִכְרוֹנֵךְ: כִּי מֵאִתִּי גִּלִּית וַתַּעֲלִי, הִרְחַבְתְּ מִשְׁכָּבֵךְ וַתִּכְרָת-לָךְ מֵהֶם--אָהַבְתְּ מִשְׁכָּבָם, יָד חָזִית. 8 And behind the doors and the posts hast thou set up thy symbol; for thou hast uncovered, and art gone up from Me, thou hast enlarged thy bed, and chosen thee of them whose bed thou lovedst, whose hand thou sawest.
Rabbi Yishmael said: [One can reason] a minori {kal vachomer}: If in order to make peace between man and wife the Torah decreed, Let my Name, written in sanctity, be blotted out in water {in the case of a suspected adulteress}, these, who stir up jealousy, enmity, and wrath between Israel and their Father in Heaven, how much more so.
And upon them David said {Tehillim 139:21}:

כא הֲלוֹא-מְשַׂנְאֶיךָ ה אֶשְׂנָא; וּבִתְקוֹמְמֶיךָ, אֶתְקוֹטָט. 21 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate Thee? And do not I strive with those that rise up against Thee?
And just as we do not save these {writings} from a fire, so do we not save them from a collapse {of debris} or from water or from anything that might destroy them.

{Shabbat 116b}
"AND WHY DO WE NOT READ [CERTAIN OF THE SACRED WRITINGS]? BECAUSE OF THE NEGLECT OF THE BETH HAMIDRASH":
Rav said: They learnt this only for the time of the Beth Hamidrash, but we may read [them] when it is not the time of the Beth Hamidrash.
And Shmuel said:

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