Gemara Clarity

Nedarim 41b

נדרים מ״א ע״ב

Learn Nedarim 41b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Remarks on illness and healing, then what a person who is מודר הנאה may do with the other person: healing, bathing, sleeping, eating, and working together

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a statement that a fever once a month protects the body, and רב נחמן בר יצחק says he would rather have neither the fever nor its benefit. It then explains ערסן, a cooked barley dish that helps the sick. רבי יוחנן says a person with בורדם is not visited and the illness is not named. The גמרא returns to the earlier משנה about a person who is מודר הנאה. It concludes that 'רפואת הנפש' means healing his body, which is allowed, and 'רפואת ממון' means healing his animal, which is forbidden, though advice about the animal is allowed. A new משנה lists shared activities: bathing, sleeping in one bed, reclining, and eating together. A ברייתא shows רבי מאיר forbidding these and רבי יהודה permitting whatever gives no real benefit. A last משנה and גמרא explain that working close to him is forbidden by all, and the argument is only whether to forbid working at a distance as a גזירה.

Opening lines

כְּחִיזְרָא לְדִיקְלֵי,

like thorns for palm trees,

חַד לִתְלָתִין יוֹמִין,

once in thirty days,

וְכִי תִּירְיָיקִי לְגוּפָא.

and it is like an antidote for the body.

רַב נַחְמָן בַּר יִצְחָק אָמַר:

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said:

The steps (23)

  1. StatementFever is protective, like thorns around a palm tree
  2. StatementBetter to have no fever at all
  3. Statementערסן is good for a sick person
  4. QuestionWhat is ערסן?
  5. ResponseFirst answer: old hulled barley, cooked a long time
  6. ResponseSecond answer: fine flour of old barley
  7. StatementDo not visit or name the illness בורדם
  8. QuestionWhy not visit him?
  9. ResponseHe is like a flowing spring
  10. StatementWhy the illness is called בורדם
  11. QuestionHow should we read the משנה's 'healing of the נפש'?
  12. ChallengeIt cannot mean free versus paid
  13. Responseנפש means his body, ממון means his animal
  14. StatementHe may still give advice about the animal
  15. StatementBathing and sleeping together
  16. Statementרבי יהודה limits sharing a bed to summer
  17. StatementReclining and eating at the same table
  18. Statementרבי מאיר forbids bathing and sleeping together
  19. Statementרבי יהודה's fuller view in the ברייתא
  20. StatementWhat a 'returning platter' means
  21. StatementEating and working near hired laborers
  22. StatementBoth sides agree that working close by is forbidden
  23. StatementThe argument is only about working at a distance