Gemara Clarity

Shabbos 110a

שבת ק״י ע״א

Shabbat 110a

Learn Shabbos 110a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Shabbos 110a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Snake stories and remedies, and the משנה's rules on medicinal foods and drinks on שבת (מי דקלים, זיתום, כוס עקרין)

Overview

This amud continues the גמרא's long list of remedies (רפואות). It opens with the end of a story about an official in פומבדיתא who was bitten by a snake. Every cure failed, and אביי explained that this was a punishment for breaking a rabbinic decree, which has no cure. The גמרא then gives practical advice about snakes: what to do if one wraps around you, chases you, targets a woman, or enters a woman's body. Next it returns to the משנה about healing on שבת. The words 'all foods' and 'all drinks' include unusual foods and drinks taken for healing, but not urine, because people do not normally drink it. The גמרא then explains the משנה's exceptions. מי דקלים is a strong laxative water, and זיתום המצרי is another medicinal brew, with רב יוסף and רב פפא giving different recipes. Finally, רבי יוחנן gives the recipe for כוס עקרין and its uses, and a list of backup remedies begins that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

בַּר קַשָּׁא דְפוּמְבְּדִיתָא

An official of Pumbedita

דְּטַרְקֵיהּ חִיוְיָא,

whom a snake bit,

הֲוָה תְּלֵיסְרֵי חֲמָרֵי חִיוָּרָתָא

there were thirteen white donkeys

בְּפוּמְבְּדִיתָא,

in Pumbedita,

The steps (30)

  1. StatementThe official bitten by a snake and the failed cure
  2. Statementאביי explains: a snake of the רבנן
  3. ProofThey confirm: he broke רב יצחק בר ביסנא's decree
  4. StatementWhat to do if a snake wraps around you
  5. StatementEscaping a snake that is pursuing you
  6. StatementTesting whether a snake has set its desire on a woman
  7. QuestionWhat is her remedy?
  8. ResponseFirst answer: relations in front of the snake
  9. RejectionSome reject this: it would only increase the desire
  10. ResponseSecond answer: hair, nails, and 'I am a נדה'
  11. StatementDrawing out a snake that entered a woman
  12. QuestionWhat does 'all foods' come to include?
  13. ResponseIt includes spleen for teeth and vetch for the intestines
  14. QuestionWhat does 'all drinks' come to include?
  15. ResponseIt includes caper water with vinegar
  16. Questionרבינא asks whether one may drink urine on שבת
  17. ResponseUrine is not a normal drink, so it is not allowed
  18. Statementמשנה quote: except palm water, with a variant reading 'water that stabs'
  19. ResponseExplaining both names
  20. QuestionWhat exactly is palm water?
  21. ResponseA spring between two palms in ארץ ישראל that acts as a laxative
  22. Statementעולא: Babylonian beer works even better
  23. StatementOnly if he was not used to beer for forty days
  24. Statementרב יוסף: the recipe for זיתום המצרי
  25. Statementרב פפא: a wheat-based version, plus a memory aid
  26. StatementWhen to drink זיתום and how it works
  27. QuestionWhat is כוס עקרין?
  28. Responseרבי יוחנן's recipe: three ingredients ground together
  29. StatementUsing it for a זבה and for jaundice
  30. StatementRestating the זבה remedy to lead into backup remedies