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Shevuos 20a

שבועות כ׳ ע״א

Shevuot 20a

Learn Shevuos 20a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Shevuos 20a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The meaning of 'שבועה שאוכל' in two משניות, and the מחלוקת of אביי and רבא about מבטא, איסר and מתפיס בשבועה

Overview

The גמרא finishes resolving a contradiction about the oath 'שבועה שאוכל'. Our משנה reads it as 'I will eat,' but the משנה in נדרים reads it as 'I will not eat of yours.' The first answer is that in נדרים people were pressing him to eat, so his words mean 'I won't eat.' רב אשי instead reads the words in נדרים as 'שאי אוכל'. That case is listed to teach that we don't call it a slip of the tongue. Next comes a ברייתא saying that the words מבטא and איסר mean a שבועה, though its wording seems to contradict itself. אביי explains that איסר means attaching to an existing שבועה, and the גמרא tests his sources from the פסוקים. רבא explains instead that איסר is a middle word, which becomes a נדר or a שבועה depending on the wording used. The גמרא shows that each view fits their known מחלוקת about מתפיס בשבועה. It then brings a ברייתא and a comment of שמואל about איסר as attaching to a vow, which fits אביי, and begins a challenge against רבא that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

מְסָרְבִין בּוֹ לֶאֱכוֹל.

...pressing him to eat.

מַתְנִיתִין – בְּשֶׁאֵין מְסָרְבִין בּוֹ לֶאֱכוֹל;

Our משנה is where they are not pressing him to eat;

בָּרַיְיתָא – בִּמְסָרְבִין בּוֹ לֶאֱכוֹל,

the outside משנה is where they are pressing him to eat,

וְקָאָמַר ״לָא אָכֵילְנָא״ וְ״לָא אָכֵילְנָא״,

and he is saying 'I won't eat' and 'I won't eat,'

The steps (20)

  1. ResolutionContext explains the oath: were they pressing him to eat?
  2. Resolutionרב אשי changes the wording in נדרים
  3. ChallengeWhy say the same oath twice?
  4. ResolutionIt teaches that we don't call it a slip of the tongue
  5. Statementברייתא: מבטא and איסר are words of oath
  6. ChallengeThe ברייתא seems to contradict itself
  7. Resolutionאביי explains what the ברייתא really means
  8. QuestionWhere do we learn that מבטא is a שבועה
  9. ResponseThe פסוק links מבטא to swearing
  10. ChallengeBut איסר is also called a שבועה in a פסוק
  11. QuestionThe real question: where do we learn איסר means attaching
  12. Responseאיסר 'with a שבועה' shows attaching
  13. ChallengeBut מבטא is also written 'with a שבועה'
  14. Resolutionאביי brings a new source that 'utterance' means an oath
  15. Resolutionרבא reads the teaching differently: 'bond' can also be an oath
  16. QuestionWhere does the verse put 'bond' between vow and oath?
  17. ResponseThe verse: vowed, or bound a bond, with an oath
  18. Conclusionאביי and רבא follow their known dispute about attaching to an oath
  19. ChallengeA ברייתא defines איסר as attaching to an existing vow
  20. ChallengeThe ברייתא fits אביי's view