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Shabbos 93b

שבת צ״ג ע״ב

Shabbat 93b

Learn Shabbos 93b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Shabbos 93b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

מסייע אין בו ממש; whether two partners need one שיעור or two; and the משנה about a vessel being secondary (טפל) to its contents

Overview

This amud has three parts. First, the גמרא brings three sources to prove that a helper (מסייע) has no legal weight: רבי יוסי's horse and donkey, רבי אליעזר's כהן standing partly on a vessel, and the left hand helping the right in קבלת הדם. It concludes 'שמע מינה'. Next, it returns to רבי מאיר's ruling that when each of two people could do a מלאכה alone, both are חייב. It asks whether each person needs his own full שיעור or whether one שיעור covers both, and רב חסדא and רב המנונא disagree. Three proofs (the זב on a bed, the deer, and partners who stole and slaughtered) support 'one שיעור for all'. רב אשי's fourth proof, from a weaver's reed, is rejected, and רב נחמן corrects a reversed version of that ברייתא. Then a new משנה teaches that a vessel or bed is secondary to what it holds, and that carrying a corpse or impure items makes one liable, while רבי שמעון exempts. The גמרא begins discussing when the vessel itself creates liability, and רב ששת's answer continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

רַבִּי יוֹסֵי אוֹמֵר:

Rabbi Yosei says:

הַסּוּס מְטַמֵּא עַל יָדָיו,

The horse renders impure through its front legs,

הַחֲמוֹר — עַל רַגְלָיו,

the donkey — through its hind legs,

שֶׁמִּשְׁעֶנֶת הַסּוּס עַל יָדָיו,

because the horse leans on its front legs,

The steps (21)

  1. ProofHorse and donkey: only the main legs count
  2. Proofכהן standing with one foot on a vessel
  3. ProofReceiving blood with the right hand while the left helps
  4. ConclusionConclusion: a helper has no substance
  5. StatementQuoting רבי מאיר: both capable, both liable
  6. QuestionSeparate measure for each, or one measure for all?
  7. Statementרב חסדא and רב המנונא disagree
  8. Proofזב on a bed over four garments
  9. ProofTwo people trapping a deer
  10. ProofPartners who stole and slaughtered
  11. Proofרב אשי brings a proof from two people carrying a weaver's reed
  12. RejectionMaybe the reed was big enough for two cooking amounts
  13. ResolutionWhy mention a weaver's reed in particular?
  14. RejectionMaybe the reed was big enough to weave two cloths
  15. ConclusionNo proof can be brought from this ברייתא
  16. StatementA תנא recites the reed ברייתא with the opinions reversed
  17. Resolutionרב נחמן flips the opinions back
  18. StatementThe משנה: a vessel or bed is secondary, and the corpse cases
  19. Statementברייתא: liable for food, and for the vessel too if it was needed
  20. ChallengeDoes this mean two חטאות for one act?
  21. Resolutionרב ששת begins to explain the case