פירוש על שבת 1:2

לא ישב אדם לפני הספר – and even on weekdays, and since it (i.e., the Mishnah) had to teach (in Tractate Shabbat, Chapter 1, Mishnah 3) that a tailor must not go out with his needle, etc., lest he forget and leave, which is similar to the decree that a person should not sit before the barber close to [the time] for the afternoon prayer, lest he forget and not pray, because of this, it [the Mishnah] teaches this here, and since their words are small/short, he makes a decision and teaches it in the first part of the Mishnah, and then explains the matters of Shabbat and expands upon them.

Introduction After an introductory mishnah, the Mishnah continues with laws relevant to the day before Shabbat. Our mishnah deals with things that one shouldn’t do once the time for the afternoon prayer, minhah, has arrived. The problem is that if one becomes engaged with one of these activities, he may become swept away and forget to pray minhah. These laws apply not only to the day before Shabbat, but to any day of the week. The minhah referred to here is from the time of 9 1/2 hours, the day being divided into 12 daylight hours. So on a day where daylight begins at 6 AM and ends at 6 PM, minhah is from 3:30 in the afternoon. In the Northern Hemisphere the hours will be longer in the summer months and shorter during the winter. We should note that one can also pray minhah at an earlier time of day, from 6 1/2 hours.

סמוך למנחה – the “Great Minha”, from six-and-one-half [Halakhic] hours and beyond, and סמוך למנחה – close to the afternoon prayer , that is from the beginning of the seventh hour, and even though its time period is great, a decree was made lest the bell/body of the bell of the barbers breaks after he began to cut the hair, and the time of the prayer will pass over prior to his repairing it and he will complete the haircut.

One may not sit down before a barber near Minhah until he has prayed. One shouldn’t begin to get a hair cut right before Minhah, lest the hair cut take a long time and he forget that he must pray his minhah prayers. After the sun has set, he will not be able to pray minhah.

ולא יכנס למרחץ – near the time for the afternoon prayer lest his swoon [in the vapor bath – see Tractate Shabbat 9b].

One may not enter the baths or a tannery, or [sit down] to eat or [begin] a court case. Similarly, a person shouldn’t begin any of these activities close to minhah time, lest he forget to pray. A tannery is an example of any type of work which is somewhat complicated and may cause him to forget that the time to pray has arrived.

ולא לבורסקי – a place where hides are made, perhaps he would see a loss and ruin of the hides if he did not move them from their place and repair them, and he would continue in his work until the time for the [Minha/afternoon] prayer had passed.

But if they began, they need not break off. However, if he began one of these things, then he need not stop in order to pray. Rather he may complete his haircut, etc. and then pray afterwards.

ולא לאכול – even a small repast, lest the meal continue on.

One must break off for the reading of the Shema, but not for prayer. This section explains that one must stop what he is doing to recite the Shema but one doesn’t have to stop for “prayer”, otherwise known as the Shmoneh Esreh, or the Amidah. The reason is that the obligation to say Shema is from the Torah whereas the obligation to recite the Shmoneh Esreh is only derabbanan, of rabbinic origin.

ולא לדין – even at the close of legal proceedings, when they already had heard the claims of the litigants and there does not remain anything upon them other than only to decide the law, perhaps they see a reason and they will contradict what they want to decide and return to be the beginning of judgment.

ואם התחילו – in one of all of these, we state, that we don’t interrupt, but rather he should finish and afterwards prayer, and this is the case when there is a delay during the day to complete it prior to the time for prayer passing. But the beginning of a haircut is from when he places the apron/garment for the protection of the clothing of the barber between his knees, and this is the scarf that the person who has his hair cut upon his knees in order that the hair doesn’t fall on his clothing. And the beginning of the bath is from when he removes/undresses the clothing that is closest to his skin. And there are those who explain that the scarf that is upon him which is the first to be removed when he gets undressed. And the beginning of the tannery is when he girds himself between his shoulders the coverings of his arms in order to engage with the hides, and the beginning of eating is when he washes his hands. The beginning of judgment is when the judges cover themselves with their shawls to sit in judgment with terror and fear, and if they were covered and sitting in judgment and another case came before them near the time for Minhah, it would be the beginning of that case when the litigants would open with their pleas/claims.

מפסיקין לק"ש – he took another matter, and this is how it should be read: colleagues engaged in the study of Torah interrupt their Torah study for the recitation of the Shema for its time is fixed, as it is written (Deuteronomy 6:9): “when you lie down and when you rise up.”

ואין מפסיקין לתפילה – which has no fixed time according to the Torah. But we are not teaching other than in the case of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his colleagues where their study of Torah is their craft, but for us, since we interrupt our Torah [study] for our craft/professions, all the more so we interrupt for our recitation of the Amidah.