Shabbos 89b

שבת פ״ט ע״ב

Shabbat 89b

Learn Shabbos 89b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Shabbos 89b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The names of הר סיני, the verse behind the scarlet strip and the אגדה of the אבות, and a new משנה on the amounts for carrying wood, spices, dyes and cleaners on שבת

Overview

This amud opens at the end of a list explaining the names of the desert around סיני. It closes that list with a מחלוקת over whether the mountain's real name is חורב or סיני. The גמרא then returns to the משנה about the scarlet strip and explains the verse ״אם יהיו חטאיכם כשנים״. רבי יצחק reads ״כשנים״ as 'like the years', and רבא tells how in the future ישראל find no defender among the אבות and turn to הקב״ה, who whitens their sins. A related אגדה follows: אברהם and יעקב do not defend ישראל, but יצחק argues for them, cuts down the count of their sins, and offers his own merit, and then points them to הקב״ה as their true Father. After a short statement that יעקב's merit spared him from going down to מצרים in chains, a new משנה returns to the minimum amounts for carrying on שבת. The גמרא explains why the amount for wood is not repeated, and then begins a contradiction about spices combining that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (23)

1. StatementWhy the deserts are called פארן and סיני
2. StatementThe mountain's real name is חורב
3. Statementרבי אבהו disagrees: the real name is סיני
4. StatementQuoting the משנה about the scarlet strip
5. ChallengeWhy the plural word ״כשנים״?
6. Resolutionרבי יצחק: sins as many as the years since Creation
7. Challengeרבא's questions on ״לכו נא״ and ״יאמר ה׳״
8. ResolutionIn the future: go to your fathers to be rebuked
9. Statementישראל reply: none of the אבות prayed for us
10. ConclusionBecause you relied on Me, your sins will be white as snow
11. QuestionWhat does ״כי אתה אבינו״ mean?
12. Responseאברהם answers: let them be wiped out
13. Statementיעקב also fails to defend them
14. Statementיצחק begins to defend: they are Your children too
15. Statementיצחק calculates how few years of sin are really left
16. Statementיצחק offers to share or carry the sins himself
17. Conclusionיצחק points the people to הקב״ה as their true Father
18. Statementיעקב's merit spared him from going down to מצרים in chains
19. StatementNew משנה on amounts for carrying wood, spices, dyes and cleaners
20. ChallengeDidn't we already learn the amount for wood?
21. ResolutionWood needed its own ruling because it could serve as a key tooth
22. StatementQuoting the משנה's Rule for Spices
23. ChallengeA Contradiction from the Law of Forbidden Spices