Shabbos 38a

שבת ל״ח ע״א

Shabbat 38a

Learn Shabbos 38a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Food left on a כירה over שבת: שוגג versus מזיד, the גזרה against one who forgets, רבי מאיר and רבי יהודה, the penalty for one who wrongly leaves a pot, and the start of returning a pot (חזרה)

Overview

Someone asks רבי חייא בר אבא about a pot that was forgotten on a כירה and cooked on שבת. The next day he teaches publicly: one who cooks on שבת בשוגג may eat, במזיד may not, "and it is no different." רבה and רב יוסף read this leniently, so even במזיד the pot's food may be eaten. רב נחמן בר יצחק reads it strictly, so even בשוגג it is forbidden. A ברייתא that permits שוגג and forbids מזיד fits רב נחמן בר יצחק if it was taught before a גזרה. It stays a קשיא against רבה and רב יוסף. רב explains the גזרה: once people began leaving pots on purpose and claiming they forgot, חכמים penalized even the one who truly forgot. The גמרא resolves apparent contradictions in רבי מאיר (לכתחילה versus דיעבד) and רבי יהודה (a גרופה וקטומה stove versus one that is not). It then asks whether someone who wrongly left a pot is penalized. A proof from רבי יוסי in ציפורי is rejected, and a story confirms that shriveled eggs improve with more cooking. Finally the גמרא turns to בית הלל's ruling that one may even return a pot, and רב ששת's statement on this continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (23)

1. QuestionThe question: a pot forgotten on the stove that cooked on Shabbat
2. ResponseSilence, then a public teaching the next day
3. QuestionWhat does "it is no different" mean?
4. Responseרבה and רב יוסף: the lenient reading
5. Responseרב נחמן בר יצחק: the strict reading
6. ChallengeA baraita: the mistake versus on-purpose distinction, and רבי מאיר's limit
7. Statementרבי יהודה: does the food improve or get worse as it shrinks?
8. ChallengeFocusing on the ruling for food that was not fully cooked
9. ResolutionNo problem for רב נחמן בר יצחק: before and after the decree
10. ChallengeChallenge to רבה and רב יוסף from either time period
11. ConclusionThe challenge stands unanswered
12. QuestionWhat was the decree?
13. Responseרב's account: penalizing the one who forgets
14. ChallengeContradictions within רבי מאיר and within רבי יהודה
15. Resolutionרבי מאיר: before the fact versus after the fact
16. Resolutionרבי יהודה: a swept and covered stove versus one that is not
17. QuestionIf one left a pot against the rules, was he penalized?
18. ProofProof from רבי יוסי in ציפורי
19. RejectionNo, the ban was for the following Shabbat
20. QuestionDo shriveled eggs actually improve with more cooking?
21. ResponseYes — the story of רב חמא בר חנינא and רבי eating shriveled eggs
22. StatementQuoting the משנה: בית הלל allow even returning a pot
23. Statementרב ששת begins a statement about returning a pot