Shabbat 24

מִי שֶׁהֶחְשִׁיךְ בַּדֶּרֶךְ, נוֹתֵן כִּיסוֹ לְנָכְרִי, וְאִם אֵין עִמּוֹ נָכְרִי, מְנִיחוֹ עַל הַחֲמוֹר. הִגִּיעַ לֶחָצֵר הַחִיצוֹנָה, נוֹטֵל אֶת הַכֵּלִים הַנִּטָּלִין בְּשַׁבָּת, וְשֶׁאֵינָן נִטָּלִין בְּשַׁבָּת, מַתִּיר אֶת הַחֲבָלִים, וְהַשַּׂקִּין נוֹפְלִין מֵאֲלֵיהֶם:

If it were getting dark for one on the road (on Sabbath eve), he gives his purse to a gentile [while it is still day. And even though he becomes the Jew's messenger to carry his purse on Shabbath, it is axiomatic with the rabbis that a man will not contain himself when his money is at stake, and if this (the above) were not permitted, he would come to carry it four cubits in the public domain.] And if there is no gentile with him, he places it on an ass. [But if there is a gentile with him, he gives it to the gentile. Why so? For one is commanded vis-à-vis the resting of an ass, but not vis-à-vis the resting of a gentile. And when he places his purse on the ass when it gets dark, he does so while it is walking; that is, after it lifted its legs to walk, so that it does not perform akirah. And when the animal is going to stop, he removes it from her. And when she again lifts her legs to walk, he again places it upon her — this, so that the animal not perform akirah and hanachah. For if he is allowed to perform akirah and hanachah with him driving and leading it, he is "mechamer" (driving a laden beast) on Shabbath, which is forbidden whatever the beast is carrying, viz. (Exodus 20:10): "You shall not perform any labor, you … and your beast." Which labor is it that is performed jointly between a man and his beast? Mechamer.] When he reaches the outer courtyard [of the city, the first guarded place — When he comes to unload the ass] he takes [from it with his hand] vessels which may be moved on Shabbath. And (to release) those which may not be moved on Shabbath, he frees the [saddle] ropes, and the sacks fall of themselves.

מַתִּירִין פְּקִיעֵי עָמִיר לִפְנֵי בְהֵמָה, וּמְפַסְפְּסִים אֶת הַכֵּפִין, אֲבָל לֹא אֶת הַזֵּרִין. אֵין מְרַסְּקִין לֹא אֶת הַשַּׁחַת וְלֹא אֶת הֶחָרוּבִין לִפְנֵי בְהֵמָה, בֵּין דַּקָּה בֵּין גַּסָּה. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה מַתִּיר בֶּחָרוּבִין לַדַּקָּה:

It is permitted to untie bundles of sheaves before a beast (on Shabbath). [For so long as they are tied, they are not (ready) food, and they are untied to render them food. But to scatter them, as grass is scattered before animals, so that they smell them and find them appetizing — this is forbidden with bundles of sheaves. For since they are rendered food with the untying of the bundles, the scattering only provides for greater enjoyment, and it is forbidden to exert oneself (on Shabbath) for something which is already food.] It is permitted to scatter kifin [moist rice leaves. It is permitted to scatter and spread them out before the beast to smell. For without such scattering it is not food], but not zirin. [They are the same as "pekiei amir" ("bundles of sheaves," above) but whereas peki'in have two ties, one on either end, zirin have three ties. And even though they are tightly compressed and generate heat, so that the animal shuns them, still, he is permitted only to free the three ties, rendering them "food," as peki'in.] It is forbidden to cut up both grain-grass or carobs as fodder for a beast, either large or small, [this being (regarded as) unnecessary exertion]. R. Yehudah permits it with carobs for a small animal, [it being hard for a small animal to chew carobs with its thin teeth. The halachah is not in accordance with R. Yehudah.]

אֵין אוֹבְסִין אֶת הַגָּמָל, וְלֹא דוֹרְסִין, אֲבָל מַלְעִיטִין. וְאֵין מַמְרִים אֶת הָעֲגָלִים, אֲבָל מַלְעִיטִין. וּמְהַלְקְטִין לַתַּרְנְגוֹלִין. וְנוֹתְנִין מַיִם לַמֻּרְסָן, אֲבָל לֹא גוֹבְלִים. וְאֵין נוֹתְנִין מַיִם לִפְנֵי דְבוֹרִים וְלִפְנֵי יוֹנִים שֶׁבַּשֹּׁבָךְ, אֲבָל נוֹתְנִין לִפְנֵי אֲוָזִים וְתַרְנְגוֹלִים וְלִפְנֵי יוֹנֵי הָרְדְּסִיּוֹת:

It is not permitted to gorge (ein ovsin) a camel ["ovsin" — to make an avus (a manger) in its stomach] (on Shabbath), and it is not permitted to stuff it [to stuff the food into its throat — less than "ovsin"], but it is permitted to put food into its mouth [in a spot whence it can give it back]. And it is not permitted to fatten (ein mamrim) calves ["mamrim," as in (Isaiah 1:11): "vechelev meri'im" ("and the fat of fatted beasts"), sticking the food behind the throat, in a spot where the animal cannot give it back], but it is permitted to put food into their mouths. And it is permitted to stick food into the mouths of hens [in a spot whence they can give it back.] And it is permitted to place water in their hash, but it is not permitted to knead it [in the water]. And it is not permitted to place water before bees, [it not being incumbent upon him to feed them, for they go out and eat in the field, and water is available for them in swamps], nor before pigeons in the cote. But it is permitted to place it before geese and hens and before hard'sioth doves, [which are domesticated in houses, so called after King Hordos (Herod), who raised them in his palace.]

מְחַתְּכִין אֶת הַדְּלוּעִין לִפְנֵי הַבְּהֵמָה, וְאֶת הַנְּבֵלָה לִפְנֵי הַכְּלָבִים. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר, אִם לֹא הָיְתָה נְבֵלָה מֵעֶרֶב שַׁבָּת, אֲסוּרָה, לְפִי שֶׁאֵינָהּ מִן הַמּוּכָן:

It is permitted to cut [non-rooted] gourds before a beast, [even though they are generally not eaten by beasts but by men], and (it is permitted to cut) carrion [which became carrion on Shabbath] before dogs, [even though ben hashmashoth (twilight on Sabbath eve) it stood (to be eaten) by men and not by beasts.] R. Yehudah says: If it were not carrion from Sabbath eve, it is forbidden, not having been muchan "ready for use"). [For everything that is fit for human consumption is not set aside for beasts. And even if the animal were sick on Sabbath eve, it is felt that it will recover. The halachah is not in accordance with R. Yehudah.]

מְפִירִין נְדָרִים בְּשַׁבָּת, וְנִשְׁאָלִין לִדְבָרִים שֶׁהֵן לְצֹרֶךְ הַשַּׁבָּת. פּוֹקְקִין אֶת הַמָּאוֹר, וּמוֹדְדִין אֶת הַמַּטְלִית וְאֶת הַמִּקְוֶה. וּמַעֲשֶׂה בִימֵי אָבִיו שֶׁל רַבִּי צָדוֹק וּבִימֵי אַבָּא שָׁאוּל בֶּן בָּטְנִית, שֶׁפָּקְקוּ אֶת הַמָּאוֹר בְּטָפִיחַ, וְקָשְׁרוּ אֶת הַמְּקֵדָה בְגֶמִי, לֵידַע אִם יֵשׁ בַּגִּיגִית פּוֹתֵחַ טֶפַח אִם לָאו. וּמִדִּבְרֵיהֶן לָמַדְנוּ, שֶׁפּוֹקְקִין וּמוֹדְדִין וְקוֹשְׁרִין בְּשַׁבָּת:

It is permitted to annul vows on Shabbat [a husband, his wife's vows; a father, his daughter's], and it is permitted to consult [a sage (for absolution of vows)] for things which are needed for Shabbath, [as when he vowed that he would not eat that day. This ("things which are needed for Shabbath") refers specifically to consulting a sage; for a husband or a father may annul both vows which are Sabbath-need related and those which are not, for he can annul them only on the day that he hears them. And with vows which are Sabbath-need related, even if he had time to consult a sage about them before Shabbath, he is permitted to consult him on Shabbath.], and it is permitted to stop up the maor [the window by which light enters, with a board or anything else used for that purpose], and it is permitted to measure a cloth [If it came in contact with something unclean and then with clean things, it is measured to determine whether or not it is three by three fingers. For a cloth less than three by three neither acquires nor transmits uncleanliness.], and (it is permitted to measure) a mikveh [to determine whether it is one by one cubits and three cubits high. For these are measurements of mitzvah, for which reason they are permitted on Shabbath.] And it happened in the days of the father of R. Tzaddok, and in the days of the father of Abba Shaul b. Batnith that they stopped up a maor [a window, called a "maor" because light (orah) enters through it] with a tafiach [an earthenware pitcher] and tied a mekeidah [an earthen vessel] with gemi (reed-grass) ["gemi," specifically, for, being fit for animal food, it is not voided (to the vessel) as a permanent knot] (they tied it, etc.) to determine whether or not there was a cleft of a handbreadth in the gigith (the basin). [There was a small path between two houses, which was not roofed, but over which a basin was inverted. There were windows which opened from the houses to the path, and they feared lest someone die in one of the houses and the tumah (dead-body uncleanliness) go from the window to the path and from the path to the other house by way of the open window. They, therefore, stopped up the window facing the house of the tumah with a tafiach with its back to the path (an earthenware vessel not acquiring tumah from the back and thus serving as a partition against tumah). For they feared that the cleft in the gigith might be less than a handbreadth, in which instance the gigith would "tent" the path and the uncleanliness would come by way of the path from one house to the other. Afterwards, they had to open the window and take out the stopper, and they wanted to determine whether the cleft in the gigith were a handbreadth (or more) — in which instance there would not be a tent in that path for the conducting of the tumah, for the tumah would leave the path upwards by way of the cleft in the gigith — or whether it were less than a handbreadth, in which instance the path would act as a "tent" and conduct the tumah from house to house. They, therefore, measured a mekeidah, tied it with gemi, and extended it to the top (of the gigith) to see whether or not the cleft were a handbreadth.] And from what they prescribed we learned that we stop up, and measure, and tie on Shabbath [so long as it not be a permanent knot and the measurement be for mitzvah or to the end of a halachic ruling.]