Shabbos 110b

שבת ק״י ע״ב

Shabbat 110b

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

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Topic

Remedies for a זבה and for ירקון, and whether a ירקון drink that causes sterility violates the איסור of סירוס

Overview

This amud continues the גמרא's long list of folk remedies, which grows out of the משנה allowing a כוס של עיקרין on שבת to cure ירקון. First the גמרא finishes its cures for a זבה, a woman with an abnormal flow of blood. Each cure is linked by וְאִי לָא ('and if not, try the next one'), and she is often told קוּם מִזּוֹבִיךְ ('Stop your flow!'). Then the גמרא turns to ירקון: two ingredients drunk in beer cure it but cause sterility, and a second chain of backup cures follows. Along the way come a tip from רבי יוחנן, the story of רב כהנא healing רב אחא בר יוסף, and a story about a טייעא cured by leeks and heavy sweating. Then the גמרא asks whether the sterility-causing drink is even allowed, since רבי חנינא learns from 'ובארצכם לא תעשו' that סירוס of a person is forbidden. A first answer, that the sterility happens on its own, is backed by רבי יוחנן's rooster case, but רב אשי knocks out that proof. So the גמרא answers instead that the drink is for a סריס. At the end of the amud, a new challenge from רבי חייא בר אבא in the name of רבי יוחנן begins, and it continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (23)

1. StatementPersian onions boiled in wine
2. StatementSeating her at a crossroads and startling her
3. StatementCumin, saffron and fenugreek in wine
4. StatementSpreading on barrel seals and boiled grass
5. StatementBurnt thistle ashes in seasonal rags
6. StatementMoving her between seven pits
7. StatementFine flour and ostrich egg ashes
8. StatementA wine barrel, and the barley grain that ends the list
9. StatementTurning to jaundice: two ingredients in beer, then a salted fish head
10. StatementBrine, the bathhouse, and sweating by the oven
11. Statementרבי יוחנן: wrap him in his sheet to warm him
12. Proofרב כהנא heals רב אחא בר יוסף
13. StatementDates, wax and aloe boiled in beer
14. StatementBlood from a donkey foal placed on the head
15. StatementPickled ram's head, a striped pig, and sharp leeks
16. ProofThe Arab who cured his jaundice with leeks and a borrowed cloak
17. StatementReturning to the jaundice drink that causes sterility
18. ChallengeIs it allowed? Castrating a person is forbidden
19. ResolutionThe prohibition applies only when one intends to sterilize
20. ProofProof from the rooster whose comb is removed
21. Rejectionרב אשי: the rooster is not truly castrated
22. ResolutionRather, the drink is for someone already a castrate
23. ChallengeA new challenge opens, quoting רבי יוחנן