Shabbos 49a

שבת מ״ט ע״א

Shabbat 49a

Learn Shabbos 49a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Laws of insulating food for שבת (הטמנה): moist materials, permitted materials, the story of אלישע בעל כנפים, and moving hides and fleece.

Overview

This amud opens by finishing an earlier topic. רבנן made two strict rules about when a tool's parts count as connected, one for טומאה and one for הזאה. The גמרא then asks whether the משנה's ban on insulating in 'moist' materials means only naturally moist materials, or also materials that got wet. Two proofs are tried, and both are pushed off with wool plucked from between an animal's thighs, which is naturally damp, so the question stays unresolved. A new משנה lists materials that may be used for הטמנה, including doves' wings. That mention leads to the story of אלישע בעל כנפים, whose תפילין miraculously turned into doves' wings, because ישראל is like a dove protected by its wings, the מצוות. A ברייתא then proves that רבי יהודה's fine-versus-coarse ruling is about flax chaff. Another משנה teaches that hides may be moved on שבת but wool fleece may not, and it records a dispute about taking a pot out of a basket of fleece. The גמרא asks whether a craftsman's hides may also be moved. רבי יונתן בן אלעזר answers from logic, and רבי חנינא בר חמא begins quoting רבי ישמעאל ברבי יוסי, whose words continue on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (25)

1. Statementרבנן's two stricter decrees about connection
2. QuestionWhat kind of moistness does the משנה mean?
3. ProofProof from soft wool in the משנה's list
4. RejectionRejected: wool from between the thighs
5. ProofSecond proof from רבי אושעיא's moist garment
6. RejectionSame rejection: cloth from thigh wool
7. StatementNew משנה: Materials Allowed for Insulating
8. Statementתפילין Need a Clean Body Like אלישע
9. QuestionWhat Does 'Clean Body' Mean?
10. Responseאביי and רבא Define a Clean Body
11. QuestionWhy Was אלישע Called Man of Wings?
12. ResponseThe Story of the Roman Decree and the Miracle
13. ConclusionTherefore He Is Called אלישע, Man of Wings
14. QuestionWhy Doves' Wings and Not Other Birds?
15. Responseישראל Is Like a Dove: מצוות Protect Them
16. QuestionWhich material was רבי יהודה talking about?
17. ProofA ברייתא shows רבי יהודה meant flax
18. ConclusionConclusion: רבי יהודה was talking about flax
19. StatementNew משנה: hides may be moved, wool fleece may not
20. StatementHow to get the pot out of the fleece
21. Statementרבי אלעזר בן עזריה: tilt the basket
22. StatementThe חכמים: take it out and put it back
23. QuestionWhich hides did the משנה allow moving?
24. ResponseLogic says only a homeowner's hides
25. Responseרבי חנינא introduces a quoted tradition