holymap
Reading hallThe Jerusalem Talmud
Rabbinic JudaismJerusalem Talmud Shabbat 16.1HOLYMAP · SACRED TEXTS
The Jerusalem TalmudJerusalem Talmud Shabbat 16.1

The Jerusalem Talmud

Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 16.1

1
English · Heinrich W. Guggenheimer

MISHNAH: One saves all holy Scriptures from a fire, whether they be used for reading or not used for reading; even though they be written in any language they have to be hidden. Why does one not read in them? Because of neglect of the House of Study.

2
English · Heinrich W. Guggenheimer

HALAKHAH: “All holy Scriptures,” etc. What means “whether they are used for reading or not used for reading”? Whether they contain errors or do not contain errors. Was it not stated: If a scroll contains two or three errors on every page, one corrects it and reads from it; with four one does not read from it. Since we have stated, “why does one not read in them? Because of neglect of the House of Study;” this implies that there is a difference between Torah and Prophets and Hagiographa.

3
English · Heinrich W. Guggenheimer

One does not save from a fire. For him who says, they render hands impure, one saves them from a fire; but for him who says, they do not render hands impure, one does not save them from a fire. They objected: Is there not a Hebrew book which was written in Aramaic; it will not render hands impure but one saves it from a fire, since we have stated: “even though they are written in any language they have to be hidden.” The Mishnah follows Rebbi Simeon, since Rebbi Simeon said, nothing forbidden only rabbinically stands in the way of Holy Scriptures. Do they disagree? There it is because of their degradation, but here everybody agrees that one saves them from a fire. For whom is it needed? For Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel. Even though Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel said, “also Hagiographa they permitted only that they could be written in Greek,” would he agree here that one saves them from a fire? “It happened that Rabban [Simeon ben] Gamliel was supervising builders on the the Temple Mount when he an Aramaic version of Job was brought to him. He told the builder to hide it under a row of stones.”

4
English · Heinrich W. Guggenheimer

Even though they said, one reads Hagiographa only after the afternoon prayers, nevertheless one studies and preaches about them. If he needs it, he takes and checks. An example: Rebbi, the Elder Rebbi Ḥiyya, and Rebbi Ismael ben Rebbi Yose were sitting and explaining the plain sense of a scroll of Lamentations on a Ninth of Av which fell on a Sabbath (after the afternoon prayers.) They left over one alphabetic poem. They said, we shall come tomorrow and finish it. When Rebbi was on the way home, he hurt his finger and recited about himself, many are the evildoer’s hurts. [The Elder] Rebbi Ḥiyya said to him, it is our fault that this happened to you, as it is written, our spirit, the Eternal’s anointed, was caught by their corruption. Rebbi Ismael ben Rebbi Yose told him, that could have been said about us if we had not occupied ourselves with it; so much more since we did occupy ourselves with it. He went home, put a dry sponge on it and tied it from the outside with bast. Rebbi Ismael ben Rebbi Yose said, from this we learned three things: A sponge does not heal but protects; bast is prepared, and one recites from Hagiographa only after afternoon prayers.

5
English · Heinrich W. Guggenheimer

Then at a place where there is a House of Study one should not read, at a place where there is no House of Study one should read? You only have what Rebbi Neḥemiah stated, as Rebbi Neḥemiah stated, why may one only read Hagiographa after afternoon prayers? Because of persons’ documents. Because if you were telling him that it is permitted, then he would say, there is nothing wrong if I would occupy myself with my documents. Since you are telling him that it is forbidden, then he will say, since Hagiographa are forbidden, so much more private documents. This implies that Mishnah has precedence over Bible. This supports what Rebbi Simeon ben Yoḥai stated, as Rebbi Simeon ben Yoḥai stated, he who studies the written Torah does himself good that is not so good; he who studies Mishnah is occupied in an endeavor which deserves reward; he who studies Talmud could not endeavor anything greater than this, always a person should pursue Mishnah more than Talmud. Rebbi Yose ben Rebbi Abun said, this was before Rebbi incorporated most of the Mishnah in the Talmud, but since Rebbi incorporated most of the Mishnah in the Talmud, a person should pursue Talmud more than Mishnah.

6
English · Heinrich W. Guggenheimer

“One does not save benedictions which contain pentateuchal materials from a fire. Because of this, they said: Writers of benedictions are burners of the Torah. It happened that there was a writer of benedictions; Rebbi Ismael went to check him out. When he noticed Rebbi Ismael’s steps, he took a bundle of benedictions and threw them into a bowl of water. In the following formulation he spoke to him: The punishment for the later deed is worse than the one for the earlier.” Rebbi Joshua ben Levi said, one who writes down sermons has no part, one who preaches them is going to be singed, one who listens to him is not rewarded.

7
English · Heinrich W. Guggenheimer

Rebbi Joshua ben Levi said, I never looked into a book of sermon concepts, except that once I looked, and I found written there: The 175 paragraphs where in the Torah is written speech, saying, commandment, correspond to the years of our father Abraham, as it is written, you took gifts from Man, and it is written, the great Man among giants. The 147 songs written in Psalms correspond to the years of our father Jacob. This teaches that all praises by which Israel praise the Holy One, praise to Him, correspond to the years of Jacob, as it is said, You are Holy, throning over the praises of Israel. The 123 times Israel answer “halleluiah” correspond to the years of Aaron, Halleluiah, praise God by His holy one, Aaron his holy one, for Aaron, the Eternal’s holy one. Nevertheless I was frightened in the night.

8
English · Heinrich W. Guggenheimer

Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba saw a book of agadah. He said, even if what is written in there is good, the hand who wrote it should be amputated. A person told him, it was written by X’s father. He said, I was saying, the hand who wrote it should be amputated. That happened to him, as an error which is coming out from the ruler’s mouth.

9
English · Heinrich W. Guggenheimer

“Gospels and books of heretics, some Tannaim say, one tears out the Names and burns them; some Tannaim say, one burns them with their Names. Rebbi Tarphon said, I would hit my sons; if they came into my house I would burn them together with their Names. For if a persecutor would persecute me I would seek asylum in a pagan temple but would not seek asylum in heretics’ houses, for the worshippers of idolatry do not know about Him, how could they disavow Him? But the heretics know Him and disavow Him; about them David said, Your haters,o Eternal, I shall hate, etc. This homily they preached: If in order to bring peace between a man and his wife the verse commands that the Name written in holiness be erased, it is only logical that the books of heretics which propagate ill will and quarrel between Israel and their Father in Heaven should be burned with their Names.”

1
Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 16.1English
2
Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 16.10%

The Jerusalem Talmud

Find your chapter.

2204 chapters

Make yourself comfortable.

PAGE COLOUR

TEXT SIZE

100%

Your preferences stay with you on this device.

ORIGINALS & TRANSLATIONS

Choose your edition.

Select one edition for quiet reading, or several to compare the words.

The Jerusalem Talmud, edition, translation and commentary by Heinrich W. Guggenheimer (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1999–2015). CC BY. Text from Sefaria (sefaria.org); commentary notes omitted. · Source ↗

Hebrew/Aramaic text: The Jerusalem Talmud, edition by Heinrich W. Guggenheimer (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1999–2015), via Sefaria (sefaria.org). Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Changes: footnotes and HTML formatting removed.

The Jerusalem Talmud, edition, translation and commentary by Heinrich W. Guggenheimer (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1999–2015). CC BY. Text from Sefaria (sefaria.org); commentary notes omitted. · Source ↗

English translation: The Jerusalem Talmud, translation and commentary by Heinrich W. Guggenheimer (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1999–2015); commentary notes omitted, via Sefaria (sefaria.org). Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). Changes: footnotes and HTML formatting removed.

↑
Explore the atlas
↑ ↓ to explore   ·   Enter to open   ·   Esc to close