Shabbos 138a

שבת קל״ח ע״א

Shabbat 138a

Learn Shabbos 138a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Shabbos 138a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Straining wine on שבת (its seriousness and its מלאכה) and the rules for setting up tents, canopies, beds and curtains on שבת

Overview

The amud opens with אביי's new reason why חכמים forbid hanging a wine strainer on שבת: it is a rabbinic rule against acting the way one does on a weekday. אביי then sums up the rules for tent-like objects in three levels: some are פטור אבל אסור, permanent tents bring a חטאת, and items already prepared before שבת are מותר לכתחילה. Next the גמרא asks what happens if someone actually strained wine. רב כהנא says he brings a חטאת. רב ששת objects that a dispute cannot stretch from חטאת to רבי אליעזר's full permission. רב יוסף offers the עיר של זהב case as a precedent, but אביי shows that there רבי אליעזר was answering the middle view of the חכמים. The גמרא then asks which מלאכה straining falls under: רבה says בורר and רבי זירא says מרקד, and each explains his reasoning. The amud returns to temporary tents with רמי בר יחזקאל's ruling on a doubled cloak, followed by רב's three answers about a כילה and a מטה, which the גמרא reconciles as three different cases. It ends with רב יוסף's report about רב הונא's canopies and רבי חייא's ruling that a curtain may be put up and taken down, and a second teaching of רבי חייא begins that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (20)

1. Resolutionאביי's new reason: a rabbinic rule against weekday behavior
2. Statementאביי's three-level summary of setting up tent-like objects
3. QuestionWhat if someone actually strained wine on Shabbat?
4. Responseרב כהנא: straining brings a sin-offering
5. Challengeרב ששת: the gap between the opinions is too big
6. Challengeרב יוסף points to a case with the same wide gap
7. ProofThe ברייתא behind the city of gold dispute
8. Rejectionאביי: רבי אליעזר was answering the middle view
9. QuestionWhich מלאכה is involved in straining?
10. ResponseSelecting or sifting
11. Proofרבה explains why straining is like selecting
12. Proofרבי זירא explains why straining is like sifting
13. StatementA doubled cloak as a temporary tent
14. Questionרב כהנא asks about a canopy
15. Questionרב כהנא asks about a bed
16. Questionרב כהנא asks about a canopy and a bed together
17. Resolutionרב's three answers were about three different cases
18. Proofרב יוסף saw רב הונא's canopies spread and taken down
19. StatementA curtain may be spread and taken down
20. Statementשמואל's teaching in the name of רבי חייא begins