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Shabbos 84b

שבת פ״ד ע״ב

Shabbat 84b

Learn Shabbos 84b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Shabbos 84b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Why a reed mat (מפץ) can get מדרס טומאה even though it cannot be purified in a מקוה; רבא's source that a כלי חרס cannot get מדרס; and the start of the משנה about planting five kinds of seeds in a small garden bed.

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a ברייתא that uses a קל וחומר to show that a מפץ (reed mat) becomes impure from a מת. The גמרא challenges a hidden assumption in that ברייתא. A זב's bed only gets מדרס if it can be purified in a מקוה, so how can a מפץ get זב impurity at all? רבי חנינא answers that it is enough if items of its kind can be purified in a מקוה. After a sharp exchange with another sage, this is proven from two verses. One verse compares the bed to the זב, and the other includes every bed. רבא then gives a different source for why a כלי חרס never gets מדרס: the verse about a sealed vessel in a tent with a מת. That verse calls the sealed vessel pure even if it was set aside for a נדה. A new משנה then asks for the hint that five kinds of seeds may be planted in a garden bed of six by six טפחים, and it points to the plural word זרועיה in ישעיהו. The גמרא explains how רב יהודה counts the growing-words in that verse to reach exactly five.

Opening lines

וְדִין הוּא:

And it is logical:

וּמָה פַּכִּין קְטַנִּים

Just as small pitchers

שֶׁטְּהוֹרִין בְּזָב —

which are pure with regard to a zav

טְמֵאִים בְּמֵת,

are impure from a corpse,

The steps (13)

  1. StatementThe ברייתא's logical argument that a reed mat becomes impure from a corpse
  2. ChallengeBut a mat cannot be purified in a מקוה
  3. Resolutionרבי חנינא: it is enough that its kind can be purified
  4. RejectionSharp rejection: may Heaven save us from this view
  5. Rejectionרבי חנינא turns it around: save us from YOUR view
  6. ProofTwo verses that seem to pull in opposite directions
  7. ConclusionReconciling the verses: its kind decides
  8. Statementרבא's different source: a sealed earthenware vessel stays pure
  9. ProofEven if set aside for a נדה, the sealed vessel is pure
  10. StatementNew משנה: five seed types in a six-by-six garden bed
  11. ProofThe verse says 'its seeds,' in the plural
  12. QuestionWhere does the verse show five kinds?
  13. ResponseCounting five from the words of the verse