Talmud - Shabbat 147b שבת קמ״ז ב׳

that rinsing one’s entire body by pouring water on it rather than bathing in the standard fashion may well be done even ab initio. The Gemara asks: According to whose opinion is our mishna? The Gemara answers: It is in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Shimon, as it was taught in a baraita: One may not rinse himself on Shabbat, neither with hot water nor with cold water; this is the statement of Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Shimon permits rinsing one’s body even with hot water. Rabbi Yehuda says that there is a distinction: With hot water it is prohibited and with cold water it is permitted.

The mishna addressed the permissibility of drying oneself with a towel after bathing on Shabbat, and added the phrase: And dried himself off even with ten towels. The Gemara comments on the formulation of the mishna: The first clause teaches us a novel concept, and the latter clause teaches us a novel concept. The Gemara explains: The first clause: One who…dried himself even with ten towels may not carry them, teaches us a novel concept, that the prohibition applies even to these towels, which do not have much water absorbed in them. The reason for this is that since he is one person, he may come to squeeze them. And the latter clause teaches us a novel concept, that even these ten people may carry the towel that they have all used, despite the fact that they have absorbed much water and the towel is very wet. The reason for this is that since they are many people, they remind each other not to wring the towel.

The Sages taught in a baraita: One may dry himself with a towel on Shabbat and leave it in the window of the bathhouse; and one may not give it to the bath attendants, because they are suspect in this matter of wringing out towels. Rabbi Shimon says: One may dry himself with a single towel and carry it in his hand into his home, and there is no concern lest he wring out the water.

Abaye said to Rav Yosef: What is the halakha with regard to carrying a towel home after using it to dry himself? Rav Yosef said to him: There is Rabbi Shimon, there is Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, there is Shmuel, and there is Rabbi Yoḥanan, all of whom permit it.

The Gemara elaborates: Rabbi Shimon rules leniently, as we have already stated that he permits bathing and drying oneself with a towel and then bringing it home. Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi agrees, as it was taught in a baraita that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said: When we would study Torah with Rabbi Shimon in Tekoa, we would carry oil and towels from the courtyard to the roof and from the roof into an enclosure similar to a courtyard until we reached the spring in which we would bathe, without passing through a public domain. In Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi’s opinion, it is permitted to carry a towel both before and after using it to dry oneself. Shmuel is also lenient, as Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said explicitly: One may dry himself with a towel and carry it in his hand into his home. Rabbi Yoḥanan is also lenient, as Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The halakha is that one may dry himself with a towel and carry it in his hand into his house.

The Gemara challenges this last point: And did Rabbi Yoḥanan really say that? Didn’t Rabbi Yoḥanan state a principle that the halakha is in accordance with an unattributed mishna, in which the name of the tanna who issued the rulings does not appear? And we learned explicitly in our mishna, which is unattributed, that if one bathed and dried himself even with ten towels, he may not carry them in his hand. The Gemara answers: Rabbi Yoḥanan’s version of the mishna does not teach this halakha unattributed; rather, it teaches it in accordance with the opinion of ben Ḥakhinai, which is the opinion of an individual Sage that is not the accepted halakha.

Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Bath attendants may bring women’s bathing garments [balarei] to the bathhouse on Shabbat as long as they cover their heads and the majority of their bodies with them, so that they are being worn rather than carried. With regard to the large scarf that is worn draped over one’s shoulders, one must tie its two ends together below so that it will not fall. Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: This means that one must tie it below the shoulders. In a similar vein, Rava said to the inhabitants of his city, Meḥoza: When you transport clothing for the soldiers who are staying in the city, extend them beneath your shoulders so that you will wear them like a garment and not simply carry them.

We learned in the mishna: One may smear oil and rub a person’s body by hand on Shabbat. The Sages taught in a baraita: One may smear oil on and rub his intestinal area on Shabbat, and it is not a prohibited form of healing, provided he does not do so in the manner in which he does during the week. The Gemara asks: How then does one do this on Shabbat? Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina said: One first smears oil and afterward rubs the body. And Rabbi Yoḥanan said: One smears oil and rubs simultaneously.

The mishna taught: However, one may not exert himself on Shabbat. Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: It is prohibited to stand on the floor of the therapeutic bathhouse of Deyomset on Shabbat, because it warms and heals even if one is not bathing or exerting himself. Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: The entire period that bathing in Deyomset is therapeutic is twenty-one days; and Shavuot is included. The Gemara raises a dilemma: Is Shavuot on this side, at the beginning, of the twenty-one-day period, or on this side, at the end, of the twenty-one days? Come and hear a resolution to this dilemma from that which Shmuel said: All medicinal drinks are effective from Passover to Shavuot; apparently, the waters of the Deyomset are therapeutic in the time period leading up to Shavuot. The Gemara rejects this proof: Perhaps there, with regard to medicinal drinks, it is so, because the cooler the world, the better these drinks heal; however, here, with regard to bathing, the therapeutic effect is due to the heat, and therefore the warmer the world, the better. The time period during which bathing is effective would only begin with Shavuot.

Apropos Deyomset, the Gemara cites that Rabbi Ḥelbo said: The wine of Phrygia [Perugaita] and the water of the Deyomset deprived Israel of the ten lost tribes. Because the members of these tribes were attracted to the pleasures of wine and bathing and did not occupy themselves with Torah, they were lost to the Jewish people.

The Gemara relates that once Rabbi Elazar ben Arakh happened to come there, to Phrygia and Deyomset, and he was drawn after them, and his Torah learning was forgotten. When he returned, he stood to read from a Torah scroll and was supposed to read the verse: “This month shall be for you [haḥodesh hazeh lakhem]” (Exodus 12:2), but he had forgotten so much that he could barely remember how to read the Hebrew letters, and instead he read: Have their hearts become deaf [haḥeresh haya libbam], interchanging the similar letters reish for dalet, yod for zayin, and beit for khaf. The Sages prayed and asked for God to have mercy on him, and his learning was restored.

And that is what we learned in a mishna that Rabbi Nehorai says: Exile yourself to a place of Torah and do not say that it will follow you, as if you are in a place of Torah, your colleagues will establish it in your hands, and do not rely on your understanding alone. It was taught: Rabbi Nehorai was not his name, but rather Rabbi Neḥemya was his name; and some say that Rabbi Elazar ben Arakh was his name and his statement was based on the personal experience of forgetting his Torah due to his failure to exile himself to a place of Torah. And why was he called Rabbi Nehorai? It was because he would illuminate [manhir] the eyes of the Sages in halakha.

The mishna taught: However, one may not scrape off the oil on Shabbat. The Sages taught in a baraita: One may not scrape his body with a scraper on Shabbat. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: If one’s feet were dirty with mortar and excrement he may scrape them in the usual manner with a scraper and need not be concerned about violating a prohibition. Rav Shmuel bar Yehuda’s mother made him a silver scraper to use on Shabbat to distinguish it from a weekday.

The mishna also taught that one may not enter a swampy river full of mud on Shabbat. The Gemara explains: What is the reason for this? Due to the mud, as it is likely that one will slip and fall and come to violate the prohibitions of bathing and wringing out his clothes.

We also learned in the mishna that one may not make a drug to induce vomiting on Shabbat. Rabba bar bar Ḥana said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: They only taught that this is prohibited with a drug, which is considered a medicine; however, inducing vomiting by hand is permitted. It was taught in a baraita that Rabbi Neḥemya says: Even during the week, if one need not vomit for medical reasons, it is prohibited to induce vomiting because it causes loss of food.

And we learned in the mishna that one may not align a young infant’s bones in order to straighten them on Shabbat. Rabba bar bar Ḥana said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: With regard to swaddling an infant on Shabbat, one may well do so. The Gemara challenges this statement: Didn’t we learn in the mishna that one may not align an infant’s bones? The Gemara answers: There, the mishna is referring to the bones, vertebrae, of the spine, because straightening them appears like the prohibited labor of building.

We also learned in the mishna that one may not reset a break in a bone on Shabbat. Rav Ḥana of Baghdad said that Shmuel said:

Traduction : The William Davidson digital edition of the Koren Noé Talmud, with commentary by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz.

Shabbat 147b explores rules for rinsing with hot or cold water and handling towels after bathing without wringing them on Shabbat.