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Shabbos 63b

שבת ס״ג ע״ב

Shabbat 63b

Learn Shabbos 63b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Shabbos 63b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The vicious dog and קהלת 11:9, then which items can become טמא: the בירית, כבלים, and ornaments and woven cloth of any size

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a teaching that someone who keeps a vicious dog holds back kindness from his home. רב נחמן בר יצחק adds that he also throws off יראת שמים, and a story shows a dog's bark causing a miscarriage. רב הונא and ריש לקיש then give two readings of a verse in קהלת about youthful joy and future judgment. The גמרא returns to the משנה and explains that a בירית is a leg band that corresponds to the arm's אצעדה, so it stays טהורה. רבין and רב הונא debate how a בירית differs from כבלים. רב הונא shows that a chain joining two garters turns them into כבלים, because the chain has a real job: it keeps the wearer's steps short. רב דימי corrects his report of רבי יוחנן's teaching: the ציץ teaches that an ornament of any size can become טמא, and או בגד teaches the same for woven cloth. A ברייתא and רבא add the case of an item that is both woven and an ornament. When רבא's source from מדין is challenged, he begins to answer that the law is learned through a comparison, and that answer continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

מֵרֵעֵהוּ חָסֶד״ —

'...kindness from his friend' —

שֶׁכֵּן בְּלָשׁוֹן יְוָנִית

since in the Greek language

קוֹרִין לְכֶלֶב ״לַמָּס״.

they call a dog 'lamas'.

רַב נַחְמָן בַּר יִצְחָק אָמַר:

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said:

The steps (24)

  1. StatementWhy the verse's word למס means a dog
  2. StatementKeeping a vicious dog also throws off fear of Heaven
  3. StatementA dog's bark causes a woman to miscarry
  4. RejectionThe woman rejects the owner's reassurance
  5. Statementרב הונא: the verse is first the evil inclination, then the good inclination
  6. Statementריש לקיש: the verse is first Torah study, then good deeds
  7. Statementרב יהודה defines the garter as a bracelet
  8. Challengeרב יוסף objects: a bracelet can become impure
  9. ResolutionThe garter takes the place of a bracelet
  10. Statementרבין explains how a garter differs from ankle chains
  11. Statementרב הונא: Both are worn on two legs, and a chain makes them כבלים
  12. ChallengeHow can a chain turn the garters into a vessel?
  13. ResolutionSuggested answer: a metal object that makes noise counts as a vessel
  14. RejectionRejected: there the sound has a purpose, but here it does nothing
  15. ResolutionThe chain has a real purpose: it keeps the girls' steps short
  16. Conclusionרבי ירמיה wakes up and agrees with רב הונא
  17. StatementWoven cloth of any size can become טמא, learned from the ציץ
  18. Challengeאביי objects: the ציץ was a gold plate, not woven cloth
  19. Statementרבי אליעזר ברבי יוסי saw the ציץ in רומי with one line of writing
  20. Resolutionרב דימי admits his mistake and gives the correct version
  21. ProofA ברייתא teaches the same rules and adds more
  22. Statementרבא gives a source for each rule in the ברייתא
  23. ChallengeOne of the חכמים objects that רבא's verse is about מדין
  24. Resolutionרבא answers that the law is derived through a comparison