One may anoint himself [with oil on Shabbath] and pass his hand [over his entire body for pleasure], but he may not rub himself vigorously, and he may not scratch himself [with a "scratcher," viz. (Job 2:8): "And he took himself a scraper to scrape himself with," this giving the appearance of a weekday activity.] It is forbidden to go down to a polima [a valley full of water with sticky mud on the bottom, with places where one sinks into it so deeply that he cannot get out until some men get together and pull him out with great exertion. Another interpretation: a valley whose soil is so slippery that one who washes there falls and gets his clothes wet, so that he might come to wring them out.], and it is forbidden to make an afiktveizin (an emetic) [in order to vomit. "afik," "tzvei," "zin," literally, "to expel food from the place of its cooking," i.e., the stomach. "afik" — expel; "tvei" — cook (The targum of Exodus 12:8) "tzli esh" - "roasted on the fire" is "tvei nur"); "zin" — "mazon" (food). And it is only to drink something which induces throwing up that is forbidden on Shabbath, but to insert a finger in one's mouth in order to do so is permitted. And if one is in distress and will be healed by vomiting, it is permitted even to drink an emetic.], and it is forbidden to manipulate (the body of) a child ("ein me'atzvin"), [to adjust his bones and vertebrae; for it gives the appearance of boneh ("building"). And this is so only later, but on the day of his birth, it is permitted. "me'atzvin," as in (Job 10:8): "Your hands fashioned me (itzvuni) and made me."], and a break (i.e., a broken bone) is not returned (to its place.) [The halachah is not in accordance with this Mishnah. The halachah is that a broken bone may be returned on Shabbath.] If one's arm or leg were dislocated, he may not douse them ("lo yitrefem") with cold water. ["yitrefem," as in "beitzim t'rufoth beka'arah" ("eggs beaten in a dish"). He may not douse the side of the dislocation with cold water, for it is apparent that he does so for healing purposes.], but he washes in the usual manner, and if it heals, it heals.
Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
סכין – oil on the Sabbath.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Shabbat
Introduction
This mishnah deals with acts that are similar to healing in that they manipulate the body in some way. As we have learned above in 14:3, healing is prohibited on Shabbat.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
וממשמשין – by hand on the entire body for pleasure.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Shabbat
One may oil and [lightly] massage [the body] but not step on [the body] or scrape [the skin]. One may lightly rub oil or massage one’s body (or another person’s body) on Shabbat, but not do so vigorously by stepping on a person or roughly scraping off skin. Most commentators say that this is too much like an act of healing and it is forbidden to heal a person on Shabbat. Furthermore, all of these things were done in the bathhouse and the rabbis may have wanted to keep people from fully engaging in bathhouse activities on Shabbat.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
אבל לא מתעמלין – to rub with strength/power.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Shabbat
One may not go down to a piloma, I have adopted a reading of this section in accordance with manuscripts and Albeck’s suggestion. A piloma is a place where a person takes a mud bath. There are a host of different explanations for this section. Albeck’s seems most convincing. At a piloma one would engage in the activities prohibited in section one. Hence one shouldn’t even go into a piloma.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
ולא מתגררין – with a strigil and similar to it (Job 2:8): “He took a potsherd to scratch himself [as he sat in ashes],” because it is like a deed of the weekday.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Shabbat
And one may not drink an epiktvizin [to induce vomiting]; An epiktvizin was a potion used to induce vomiting. This was forbidden because it was like healing.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
אין יורדין לפולימא – a valley filled with water and under it plaster/mud like glue and there are places where the bather will sink in that mud and become attached to it and he is unable to go up until a group of people gather together and take him up with great difficulty and in an emergency. Another interpretation: a valley where its mud is smooth and he who bathes there falls and whose clothing fall off in the water and he comes to squeezing/wringing.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Shabbat
And one may not straighten an infant[‘s limbs]. If an infant’s limbs were crooked, they would manipulate them in order to straighten them out. This may not be done on Shabbat because it is similar to the prohibited labor of “building.”
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
אפקטויזין – to vomit; and its explanation (see Talmud Shabbat 123a-b) is to cause to bring up roast to nourish, that is to say, to take out the food from the place it is cooked which is the stomach, it emits [and] removes roasted that is cooked, roasted by fire, which we translate as roasted by fire food and specifically to drink a liquid that he brings into him to vomit – which is prohibited on the Sabbath, but to place one’s finger into his mouth in order to vomit is permitted and where he has pain and if he vomits, he will recover, it is permissible even through liquids.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Shabbat
And one may not set a broken bone. Similarly, one may not set the broken bone of an adult.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
ואין מעצבין את הקטן – to repair him and to settle his bones and vertebra of his spinal column because it appears like “building,” (i.e., one of the prohibited forms of work on the Sabbath), and we don’t say so other than after the time, but it is permitted on the day of birth. מעצבין – from the language (Job 10:8): “Your hands have shaped and fashioned me.”
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
English Explanation of Mishnah Shabbat
If one's hand or foot is dislocated, he must not agitate it violently in cold water but he may bathe it in the usual way, and if it heals, it heals. If one separated a limb, such as a hand or foot and it needs to be put back into its place, one shouldn’t vigorously shake it in cold water because everyone will see that this is an act of healing. However, if one wishes to wash in a more normal manner, one may do so and if by doing so the separated limb is healed, then nothing wrong has been done.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
ואין מחזירין את השבר – the bone that was broken, but the Halakha is not according to this Mishnah but the Halakha is that we do set a fractured bone.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
שנפרקה ידו – that the bone went out from its joint.
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
לא יטרפם – like the language of scrambled eggs in a bowl, and they wash them in [cold] water on the place of the break and it appears like healing.
