¿Con qué encendemos [la lámpara del sábado? ¿Con qué hacemos que las mechas y los aceites se enciendan?] No encendemos: ni con lechesh [un tipo de sustancia lanosa que se encuentra en un cedro entre la corteza y el tronco], ni con el elegido [lino invicto], ni con chalach [el residuo de seda], ni con una mecha de iddan [un tipo de lana que se encuentra en un sauce entre la superficie exterior e interior], ni con una mecha de barra media [una hierba larga que se cultiva para encender], ni con yerokah en la superficie del agua [una especie de sustancia lanuda que crece en las paredes de un bote que ha estado mucho tiempo en el agua. Hasta este punto, mechas inadecuadas; a partir de este momento, aceites inadecuados.] ni con alquitrán ni con cera [El alquitrán o la cera derretidos no se deben poner en la lámpara para encenderlos en lugar de aceite; pero hacer una especie de mecha larga de cera, como solían hacer, está permitido.], ni con el aceite de kik [aceite de semilla de algodón. Otros lo entienden como kikayon deyonah, una especie de hierba de hojas grandes, cuyo aceite es especialmente espeso. Las mechas invalidadas por los sabios—¿Por qué? Porque la llama queda atrapada en ellos; es decir, la llama no entra en la mecha, sino que permanece en el exterior. Y los aceites invalidados por los sabios—porque no son "arrastrados" después de la mecha. Y debido a que la lámpara no arde bien, tememos que incline el aceite hacia ella y, por lo tanto, transgreda el encendido. O, él podría dejar la lámpara y salir, y nosotros dictaminamos que la lámpara del sábado es obligatoria.], Ni con aceite para quemar [aceite de terumah que se volvió impuro. ¿Por qué se llama "aceite para quemar"? Debido a que está programado para quemarse, ya que no se puede comer. Y estamos hablando de un festival que se celebra en la víspera del sábado, de modo que cuando enciende la lámpara cuando aún es de día, se descubre que está quemando aceite de terumah impuro en un festival; y dictaminamos que no está permitido quemar alimentos consagrados en un festival, a saber. (Éxodo 12:10): "Y lo que queda de ella (la ofrenda pascual) hasta la mañana, en el fuego la quemarás", que se expone: "Y lo que queda de ella hasta la primera mañana, hasta el segunda mañana (la decimosexta de Nissan) levántate y quémalo "—porque lo que sobra no se quemará en el festival. Y lo mismo es válido para todos los otros alimentos consagrados que requieren quemarse.], Ni con (aceite de la) cola, ni con grasas. Nachum Hamadi dice: Uno puede encender con grasas cocidas (es decir, derretidas). y los sabios dicen: ya sea cocinado o sin cocinar, uno no puede encenderlo. [La primera tanna también dice: "ni con grasas", implicando todas las grasas. La diferencia entre el primer tanna y los sabios es que uno de ellos sostiene que está permitido encenderlo con grasas cocidas cuando se mezcla una pequeña cantidad de aceite con él, y el otro prohíbe incluso esto. Para los sabios del Talmud no estaba claro quién prohíbe y quién lo permite. La halajá está de acuerdo con los sabios.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
במה מדליקין – the Shabbat candle – from what does not make the wicks and oils to kindle [them].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shabbat
Introduction
This chapter deals with candle lighting on Friday eve before Shabbat. Candle lighting is part of the joy that we are commanded to experience on Shabbat. Today, with electric lights in abundance we no longer appreciate the function of a simple candle on Friday eve. In the time of the Mishnah, on most nights people would have gone to sleep at nightfall. It was just too expensive to use up oil for light on normal occasions. On Friday night they lit candles, stayed up late, ate a festive meal and studied Torah.
Most of the chapter deals with the technical details of lighting wicks, oils, lamps, etc.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
לא בלכש – a kind of wool that is in cedar, whether he scraped the tree and it is called the wooly substance of cedar twigs [used for wicks].
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shabbat
With what may they kindle [the Shabbat light] and with what may they not kindle them? They may not kindle with cedar fiber, uncarded flax, a raw silk, a desert wick, or seaweed, The list in this section is of material which may not be used for wicks in lighting the Sabbath candles. The reason that we do not light with these types of wicks is that they don’t absorb the oil well, and someone might tilt the lamp on Shabbat to try to get more oil on the wick. Such tilting is prohibited because it is like lighting a fire. Also, since they are not good wicks they might go out, forcing the family to sit in the dark.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
בחוסן – flax which is not beaten.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shabbat
And not with pitch, wax, castor oil, [terumah] oil [which must be] burnt, tail fat, or tallow. Nahum the Mede says: they may kindle with melted tallow. And the sages say: whether melted or not, they may not kindle with it. The same reason that the above-mentioned wicks were prohibited is why most of these types of oil are also prohibited. The exception is terumah oil which must be burned. This refers to terumah oil which has been made impure and therefore has to be burned. It is prohibited to burn unclean sacrifices or terumah on Shabbat and on holidays. The final debate is on whether all types of tallow are prohibited or just tallow that has not been melted.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
בכלך – the refuse of silk.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
בפתילת האידן – a kind of wool that is [in the willow-branch] between the peeling/husk and the wood.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
בפתילת המדבר – the leaves of long grass that grow them and kindle them.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
בירוקה שעל פני המים – a kind of wool that grows on the walls of the ship when it is delayed a long time in the water. Until here are the wicks that are forbidden; from here onwards are the oils that are forbidden.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
לא בזפת ולא בשעוה – he should not give melted pitch or smelted wax in a candle in the place of oil and kindle it but to a sort of long wick which is made from wax is permitted.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
ולא בשמן קיק – oil that comes out from seeds that are within the wool of the vine which is called “cotton.” And there are those who explain (Tractate Shabbat 21a) the oil of Jonah’s Ricinus tree (Kikayon), and it is a grass whose leaves are large and is called in Arabic “Kru’ah” and the oil that comes out from it is the thickest. And those wicks which the Sages stated that we don’t kindle with them, what is the reason? Because the flame nibbles at them (producing sputtering sparks), that is to say - that the flame does not enter into the wick [other than] from around it from the outside. And those wicks that the Sages we should not kindle with them because they are not drawn after the wick and because the candle is not kindled properly lest he tilt the oil onto the candle in which he would be found to be starting a fire. Alternatively, he should not set the candle down and leave. But we hold that the Shabbat candle is obligatory.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
ולא בשמן שריפה – oil of Terumah/priest’s due that became defiled. And why do we call it defiled heave-offering deemed to be burned? For since it stands to be burned and is prohibited to be consumed. And we are dealing with a Jewish holy day that occurs on a Friday, for we kindle the candle while it is still daylight, we find that it burns impure oil from Terumah on the Jewish holy day and we hold that we may not kindle holy things on the Jewish holy day, as it is written (Exodus 12:10): “And any of it that is left until morning you shall burn in the fire.” And we explain this Biblical verse as such: And that which is left from it until the first morning until the second morning, stand and burn it for we don’t burn that which is left over on the Jewish holy days. And the same law applies for all other Holy things that require burning.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
וחכמים אומרים אחד מבושל ואחד שאינו מבושל אין מדליקין בו – and the first teacher [of the Mishnah] also said and no it tallow – which implies all tallow/fat. But there is a dispute between the Sages and the first teacher [of the Mishnah] as one of them thought that it is permitted to kindle with cooked fat that is mixed with oil and the other forbids it even through a mixture with oil. But it is not clear to the Sages in the Talmud which of the two prohibits and which is the one that permits it, but the Halakha is according to the Sages.
