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Shabbos 33a

שבת ל״ג ע״א

Shabbat 33a

Learn Shabbos 33a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Shabbos 33a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Sins and their punishments: the ברייתא from גזל through גלות and נבלות פה, הדרוקן as a sign of sin, and the four signs

Overview

This amud continues a long ברייתא that matches sins with the national punishments they bring, and it proves each punishment from פסוקים. It opens with the last proofs for גזל: locusts, famine, and, through an אל תקרי reading, people eating their own children. Corrupt judging and ביטול תורה bring sword, plague, and famine. False and empty oaths, חילול השם, and חילול שבת bring wild beasts and empty roads, and a גזירה שוה on the word חילול links them together. שפיכות דמים destroys the בית המקדש and drives away the שכינה. גילוי עריות, עבודה זרה, and neglecting שמיטה and יובל bring גלות. נבלות פה brings harsh troubles, and the אמוראים add that it reverses good decrees and deepens גיהנם, even for a silent listener. The גמרא then discusses הדרוקן as a sign of sin, shows that it has other causes too, and tells how שמואל הקטן, אביי, and רבא got it without sinning. The amud ends with four signs of four sins and the opening of a new ברייתא about אסכרה, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

דְּאׇכְלָן וְלָא עָבְדָן.

who eat and do not work.

וּכְתִיב: ״הִכֵּיתִי אֶתְכֶם בַּשִּׁדָּפוֹן וּבַיֵּרָקוֹן

And it is written: 'I struck you with blight and mildew;'

הַרְבּוֹת גַּנּוֹתֵיכֶם וְכַרְמֵיכֶם

the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards,

וּתְאֵנֵיכֶם וְזֵיתֵיכֶם יֹאכַל הַגָּזָם״,

your fig trees and your olive trees, the gazam-locust devoured.'

The steps (30)

  1. ProofProofs that theft brings blight and locusts
  2. ProofHunger without being full, and eating one's own children
  3. StatementCorrupt justice and neglect of Torah bring sword, plague, and famine
  4. ProofThe sword comes for breaking the covenant, and the covenant is Torah
  5. ProofBread by weight, and the link to rejecting justice
  6. StatementFalse oaths and desecration bring wild beasts and empty roads
  7. ProofReading 'these' as 'an oath' to link oaths to wild beasts
  8. ProofLinking all forms of desecration through the word חילול
  9. StatementBloodshed destroys the Temple and drives away the Divine Presence
  10. ProofIf you defile the land, you will not live there and I will not dwell there
  11. StatementThree sins that bring exile
  12. ProofProof that forbidden relations bring exile
  13. ProofProof that idol worship brings exile
  14. ProofProof that neglecting שמיטה and יובל brings exile
  15. StatementVulgar speech brings troubles and unanswered cries
  16. ProofProof from ישעיה for the punishment of vulgar speech
  17. QuestionWhat does 'His hand is stretched out still' mean?
  18. ResponseVulgar talk can reverse a good decree
  19. Statementגיהנם is deepened for vulgar speakers
  20. StatementEven the silent listener is punished
  21. StatementPreparing oneself for sin brings wounds
  22. StatementHe is also punished with הדרוקן
  23. Statementהדרוקן is a sign of sin
  24. StatementThree types of הדרוקן
  25. Statementשמואל הקטן's illness and cure
  26. Statementאביי's illness came from hunger
  27. ChallengeWhy would רבא get sick?
  28. ResolutionThe Rabbis held רבא in place during his lecture
  29. StatementFour signs: each trouble points to a specific sin
  30. StatementA new teaching begins about why אסכרה comes to the world