Shabbos 139a

שבת קל״ט ע״א

Shabbat 139a

Learn Shabbos 139a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Shabbos 139a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Corrupt judges and redemption; רבי מלאי's אגדות; רב מנשיא's answers to the people of בשכר

Overview

The amud opens with the last words of a teaching from the previous page: a time will come when no one finds a clear הלכה and a clear משנה in one place. A ברייתא of רבי יוסי בן אלישע then teaches that troubles come to the world because of corrupt judges, and that the שכינה will not return until they are removed. It proves this from פסוקים in מיכה and ישעיהו. עולא, רב פפא, and other אמוראים add teachings on the same theme: redemption comes through צדקה, fixing ourselves removes foreign oppressors, and everyone in a corrupt court shares the blame. A string of teachings by רבי מלאי follows: יוסף did not drink wine after leaving his brothers, the brothers' own drinking is discussed, and אהרן earned the חושן because he was glad at משה's greatness. The גמרא then returns to הלכה with three questions the people of בשכר sent to לוי. After לוי dies, רב מנשיא answers them strictly about a כילה on שבת and about hops in a vineyard, and he holds back real leniencies because the questioners were not learned. The amud ends with his strict ruling about burying a מת on יום טוב, and the start of a challenge from a story in מעון that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (37)

1. StatementEnd of the prediction that clear Torah knowledge will be hard to find
2. StatementWhen troubles come, examine the judges
3. ProofProof from מיכה about corrupt leaders
4. StatementWicked, yet trusting in ה׳
5. StatementThree punishments for three sins
6. StatementThe שכינה returns only when corrupt judges are gone
7. ProofProof from ישעיהו: purging the dross and restoring judges
8. StatementJerusalem will be redeemed only through righteousness
9. StatementWhen the arrogant and corrupt judges disappear, the oppressors disappear too
10. ProofProof that removing the arrogant removes the fire priests
11. ProofProof that removing corrupt judges removes the oppressive officers
12. StatementReading 'The staff of the wicked' as corrupt judges and their protectors
13. StatementMar Zutra's different reading of 'the rod of the rulers'
14. StatementFour body parts in the verse, four players in a corrupt court
15. Statementיוסף drank no wine after leaving his brothers
16. ProofProof from the word 'נזיר' in יעקב's blessing
17. StatementThe brothers also did not drink wine
18. ProofProof from 'they drank and became drunk with him'
19. RejectionHow רבי מלאי reads the same verse
20. Statementאהרן earned the breastplate because he was glad for משה
21. QuestionThe people of בשכר send three questions to לוי
22. Statementלוי dies, and שמואל tells רב מנשיא to answer
23. ResponseThere is no permitted way to set up a canopy
24. ChallengeWhy not send them the leniency of רמי בר יחזקאל?
25. ResolutionThey were not learned in Torah
26. ResponseHops in a vineyard are a forbidden mixture
27. ChallengeWhy not follow the lenient view of רבי טרפון?
28. ResolutionAgain: they were not learned in Torah
29. Statementרב announces that hops may be sown in a vineyard
30. Statementרב עמרם חסידא gives lashes for it
31. Statementרב משרשיא has a non-Jewish child sow hops
32. ChallengeWhy not a Jewish child?
33. ResolutionHe might keep the habit
34. ChallengeWhy not a non-Jewish adult?
35. ResolutionPeople might mistake him for a Jew
36. ResponseNo one may bury a person who died on a Festival
37. ChallengeA challenge from an incident in the shul of מעון