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Shabbos 137a

שבת קל״ז ע״א

Shabbat 137a

Learn Shabbos 137a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Shabbos 137a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

רבי יהודה on the אנדרוגינוס, mistakenly circumcising the wrong baby on שבת, the days a ברית may be delayed, and an incomplete מילה

Overview

The גמרא finishes showing that רבי יהודה does not treat an אנדרוגינוס as a definite male in general. It proves this from an unattributed ספרא and from a משנה about the פרה אדומה waters, and explains that מילה is different because the פסוק says "כׇּל זָכָר". A new משנה then discusses a father who mixed up two babies and circumcised the wrong one on שבת. רב הונא and רב יהודה read the משנה differently, and three ברייתות report the dispute between רבי אליעזר and רבי יהושע in different ways. רבי אליעזר learns from עבודה זרה that any mistaken forbidden act requires a חטאת. רבי יהושע exempts someone who made the mistake while busy with a מצוה. A puzzle in רבי חייא's version is solved by asking whether שבת was actually set aside for this particular person. Next, a משנה explains why a ברית can be pushed from day 8 up to day 12, and that a sick baby waits until he is healthy, which שמואל defines as seven full days after the fever leaves. The amud ends with a משנה about leftover skin that makes a מילה incomplete, and about fixing a fleshy baby only because of מראית העין.

Opening lines

וּסְתָם סִפְרָא רַבִּי יְהוּדָה.

And an unattributed teaching in the Sifra is Rabbi Yehuda.

אָמַר רַב נַחְמָן בַּר יִצְחָק:

Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak said:

אַף אֲנַן נָמֵי תְּנֵינָא:

We too have also learned this in a mishnah:

הַכֹּל כְּשֵׁרִים לְקַדֵּשׁ,

Everyone is fit to sanctify the purification waters,

The steps (31)

  1. ProofAn unattributed ספרא follows רבי יהודה
  2. ProofSupport from the משנה about sanctifying the red heifer waters
  3. QuestionWhy is circumcision different?
  4. ResponseThe verse says every male
  5. Statementמשנה: circumcising the wrong baby on שבת
  6. StatementSecond case: circumcising the Friday baby on שבת
  7. StatementTwo versions of the משנה's first case
  8. Proofרב הונא's source: no dispute in the after-שבת case
  9. ProofWhere the two תנאים really argue
  10. StatementThe shared source in עבודה זרה and רבי אליעזר's reasoning
  11. Statementרבי יהושע's distinction: a mistake while doing a מצוה
  12. Proofרב יהודה's version: the ערב שבת baby case is exempt by everyone
  13. ProofIn רבי מאיר's version, the dispute is the 'after שבת' baby
  14. StatementIn this version too, רבי אליעזר learns from עבודה זרה
  15. Statementרבי יהושע: the person was busy with a מצוה
  16. Statementרבי חייא's report: everyone agrees he is liable in the ערב שבת case
  17. Statementרבי חייא's report: they argue about the after-שבת baby
  18. ChallengeWhy would רבי יהושע be stricter where a מצוה was done?
  19. ResolutionThe first case is where the שבת baby was already circumcised
  20. ChallengeBut שבת is set aside for babies in general
  21. ResolutionFor this particular person, שבת was not set aside
  22. StatementA baby is circumcised between day eight and day twelve
  23. StatementWhy the ברית moves to day 9 or day 10
  24. StatementHow the ברית can reach day 11 or day 12
  25. StatementA sick baby waits until he is healthy
  26. StatementAfter a fever leaves, wait a full seven days
  27. QuestionMust the seven recovery days be full 24-hour periods?
  28. ProofAttempted proof from לודא: recovery day is like birth day
  29. RejectionRejection: recovery day is stricter than birth day
  30. StatementNew משנה: leftover skin that makes the ברית incomplete
  31. StatementA fleshy baby is fixed so he does not look uncircumcised