Shabbos 151b

שבת קנ״א ע״ב

Shabbat 151b

Learn Shabbos 151b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Shabbos 151b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Caring for a מת on שבת, closing the eyes of the dying, and aggadic teachings on life versus death, poverty as a turning wheel, compassion, and tears and eyesight in old age.

Overview

This amud begins with the end of the משנה: on שבת you may tie a dead person's jaw or prop up a cracked beam, but only to stop things from getting worse, not to fix them. The גמרא explains why you may rinse and oil a מת even though רבי מאיר forbade rinsing a floor: a floor can be confused with a dirt floor, but a body cannot. The word ״כל״ in the משנה adds cooling the stomach and sealing the body's openings, and verses from קהלת and מלאכי describe the stomach bursting after death. A new משנה forbids closing the eyes of the dead on שבת, and on any day while the person is dying, because that is like snuffing out a flickering candle. Then a series of teachings contrasts the living and the dead. We break שבת for a living baby but not for the dead דוד המלך, and animals fear a living baby but not the dead עוג. The גמרא urges doing מצוות while you still can and teaches that poverty is a turning wheel, so you should give to the poor and show compassion. It closes by returning to קהלת's images of old age, the effect of tears on eyesight after forty, and the story of רבי חנינא, who did not cry for his daughter so as not to lose his sight. The list of six kinds of tears continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (44)

1. StatementTying the jaw of the dead, only to stop it from opening further
2. StatementPropping up a cracked roof beam, only to stop it from falling more
3. ChallengeChallenge: רבי מאיר forbade rinsing and oiling a floor
4. ResolutionAnswer: a floor can be confused with a dirt floor, but a body cannot
5. QuestionWhat does the word 'all' add?
6. Response'All' includes cooling the stomach and sealing the body's openings
7. Proofשלמה המלך's verse describing the body breaking down
8. ProofA second verse about the stomach after death
9. StatementWho the verse in מלאכי is talking about
10. StatementThe stomach bursts three days after death
11. StatementThe משנה: Do not close the eyes of the dying
12. StatementThe candle parable
13. StatementHow to close the eyes without touching them
14. StatementA living baby versus a dead king
15. StatementWhy the baby comes before the king
16. Proofרבי יוחנן: the dead are free from מצוות
17. StatementAnimals fear a living baby but not a dead giant
18. ProofThe verse showing animals fear only the living
19. StatementA lion does not attack two people
20. ChallengeBut we see lions do attack two
21. ResolutionAnimals attack only people who seem like animals
22. StatementDo not sleep alone in a house
23. StatementDo מצוות while you still can
24. Proofשלמה's verse about remembering God in youth
25. Statementשמואל sees the days of משיח differently
26. StatementAlways pray not to become poor
27. ProofThe פסוק 'because of this thing'
28. StatementPoverty is a wheel that turns
29. StatementA Torah scholar does not become poor
30. ChallengeBut we see scholars who are poor
31. ResolutionHe will not have to beg at doors
32. Statementרבי חייא tells his wife to feed the poor quickly
33. ChallengeHis wife objects: Are you cursing them?
34. ResolutionIt is not a curse; it is a פסוק
35. StatementWhoever shows compassion receives compassion
36. StatementReading the images of old age as parts of the face
37. StatementTears harm eyesight only after forty
38. StatementEye shadow improves sight only until forty
39. QuestionWhat does the weaver's pin detail teach?
40. ResponseThe more ointment, the better
41. Statementרבי חנינא did not cry when his daughter died
42. ChallengeHis wife questions his lack of grief
43. Resolutionרבי חנינא explains: crying would be a double loss
44. StatementSix kinds of tears: three good and three bad