Shabbos 95b

שבת צ״ה ע״ב

Shabbat 95b

Learn Shabbos 95b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Shabbos 95b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

רבי שמעון's view of a perforated pot (עציץ נקוב), and the hole sizes that end a כלי חרס's status, including a vessel sealed with a צמיד פתיל

Overview

This amud opens with the end of a challenge. רבי שמעון said a perforated pot differs from an unperforated one regarding הכשר זרעים, which suggests he sees it as attached to the ground. The answer is that for all matters he treats it as detached, and טומאה of seeds is a special exception based on a פסוק. Next, an elder asks רבי זירא about a root lined up with the hole. רבי זירא stays silent, and later says something the elder finds obvious, so אביי offers a corrected version: a hole below the level of a רביעית. רבא then lists five hole sizes in a כלי חרס, each removing a different legal status. He adds that a vessel sealed with a צמיד פתיל keeps its status until most of it breaks. רב אסי reports a pomegranate-sized hole, and רבא limits that to a sealed vessel. The גמרא objects that this contradicts רבא's own rule, and begins an answer that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (12)

1. ChallengeThe challenge ends: was רבי שמעון's rule only about preparing seeds?
2. ResolutionGenerally detached; טומאה of seeds is a special exception
3. QuestionAn elder asks about a root lined up with the hole
4. Statementרבי זירא later states what רבי שמעון agrees to
5. ChallengeThe elder objects: you could not answer my question, yet you decide a harder case?
6. Resolutionאביי's corrected version: a hole below a רביעית
7. Statementרבא's five levels of holes in a clay vessel
8. StatementException: a vessel sealed with a צמיד פתיל
9. Statementרב אסי's tradition: a pomegranate-sized hole
10. Rejectionרבא limits the tradition to a sealed vessel
11. ChallengeBut רבא himself said a sealed vessel needs most of it broken
12. ResolutionOpening of the answer: this is not difficult