Related%20passage for Shabbat 1:2

לֹא יֵשֵׁב אָדָם לִפְנֵי הַסַּפָּר סָמוּךְ לַמִּנְחָה, עַד שֶׁיִּתְפַּלֵּל. לֹא יִכָּנֵס אָדָם לַמֶּרְחָץ וְלֹא לַבֻּרְסְקִי וְלֹא לֶאֱכֹל וְלֹא לָדִין. וְאִם הִתְחִילוּ, אֵין מַפְסִיקִין. מַפְסִיקִים לִקְרוֹת קְרִיאַת שְׁמַע, וְאֵין מַפְסִיקִים לַתְּפִלָּה:

A man should not sit before the barber close to (the time of) the Minchah prayer before praying. [He should not do so even in the weekdays. This is stated here because of what is to follow (1:3): "A tailor should not go out with his needle … lest he forget and carry," akin to "A man should not sit before the barber close to Minchah lest he forget and not pray." Since there are only a few things to be stated in this regard, they are mentioned first, after which those things pertaining to the Sabbath are expatiated upon. ("close to Minchah":) Minchah Gedolah, from six and a half hours on. "close to Minchah" is from the beginning of the seventh hour. And though there is ample time (for Minchah Gedolah), this (sitting before the barber) was decreed against, lest the barber's scissors break after he begins cutting and the time for the prayer pass before they are repaired and the haircut is completed.] A man may not enter the bathhouse [close to Minchah, lest he faint], nor the tannery [lest he find that the hides will spoil if he does not move them from their place and tend to them, doing which, he might miss the time for prayer], nor may he eat [even a small meal, lest he tarry over it], nor may judges sit in judgment [even at its conclusion, when the claims of the litigants have already been heard and nothing more remains to be done than to pronounce judgment, (still, they may not do so close to Minchah) lest they find a reason to countermand their intended ruling and return to the beginning of the deliberation.] But if they have begun, [in any of the aforementioned instances], they do not break off, but finish and then pray — [this, on condition that there is enough time to finish the activity before the time for prayer passes. The beginning of hair-cutting is the placing of the barber's sheet on his knees so that hair not fall on his garment. The beginning of the bath — taking off his innermost garment. Others say: taking off his scarf, the first article of clothing to be removed. The beginning of tanning — tying the apron around his shoulders to begin tanning. The beginning of eating — washing the hands. The beginning of judgment — donning the robes to sit in judgment in fear and awe. And if they were already robed and sitting in judgment and another case came before them close to Minchah, the beginning of that judgment is when the litigants begin their presentation.] They break off for the recital of the Shema, but they do not break off for prayer (the Amidah). [This is an independent statement, viz.: Scholars occupied in Torah study break off their study for the recital of the Shema, which has a fixed time, viz. (Deuteronomy 6:7): "when you lie down and when you arise." But they do not break off for prayer, which has no Torah-ordained fixed time. And this applies only to such as R. Shimon b. Yochai and his colleagues, whose Torah was their "trade." But we — since we break off our Torah (study) for our trade, how much more so do we break it off for prayer.]

Explore related%20passage for Shabbat 1:2. In-depth commentary and analysis from classical Jewish sources.