Gemara Clarity

Shabbos 15b

שבת ט״ו ע״ב

Shabbat 15b

Learn Shabbos 15b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Shabbos 15b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The stages of the decrees on ארץ העמים, and why the Rabbis decreed טומאה on glass vessels

Overview

The גמרא works out how the decree of טומאה on ארץ העמים grew over time. It first suggests that יוסי בן יועזר ויוסי בן יוחנן already required burning תרומה that touched a clump of foreign earth. A statement of אילפא shows that only hands began at the level of burning, so the timeline is rebuilt to start with תלויה. Then a משנה listing six doubts for which תרומה is burned, together with עולא's statement that these were enacted at אושא, shows that the burning came much later. So the גמרא settles on three stages. First the clump causes תלויה. Next, רבנן דשמונים שנה make both the clump and the air cause תלויה. Finally, at אושא, the clump is raised to burning. The גמרא then turns to the decree on glass vessels. ריש לקיש explains that glass is treated like earthenware because it is made from sand. A משנה about immersing glass is answered as a case of lead-sealed glass, following רבי מאיר. The amud ends as a new challenge to the earthenware comparison begins, continuing on the next amud.

Opening lines

אֶלָּא: אֲתוֹ אִינְהוּ גְּזוּר

Rather: they came and decreed

אַגּוּשָּׁא לִשְׂרוֹף

on a clump of earth, to burn

וְאַאֲוִירָא וְלֹא כְלוּם,

and on the air space, nothing at all,

וַאֲתוֹ רַבָּנַן דִּשְׁמֹנִים שָׁנָה

and the Sages of the eighty years came

The steps (14)

  1. ResolutionA new proposal for the two stages of the decree
  2. ChallengeChallenge from אילפא: only hands started with burning
  3. ResolutionRevised timeline: each stage rises one level
  4. ChallengeStill a problem: the burning decree was made at אושא
  5. ProofThe משנה of six doubts for which תרומה is burned
  6. ProofEnd of the quoted משנה: uncertain contact
  7. Proofעולא dates the six doubts to אושא
  8. ResolutionA three-stage timeline for foreign earth and air
  9. QuestionWhy did the Rabbis decree impurity on glass?
  10. ResponseGlass is made of sand, so it is like earthenware
  11. ChallengeBut glass can be purified in a מקוה
  12. ResolutionA special case: glass sealed with lead
  13. ProofA ברייתא shows רבי מאיר's view on lead-sealed glass
  14. ChallengeOpening a new challenge to the earthenware comparison