È consentito annullare i voti su Shabbat [un marito, i voti di sua moglie; un padre, di sua figlia], ed è consentito consultare [un saggio (per l'assoluzione dei voti)] per le cose che sono necessarie per Shabbath, [come quando giurò che non avrebbe mangiato quel giorno. Questo ("cose necessarie per Shabbath") si riferisce specificamente alla consultazione di un saggio; poiché un marito o un padre possono annullare sia i voti legati al bisogno del Sabbath sia quelli che non lo sono, poiché può annullarli solo nel giorno in cui li ascolta. E con i voti che sono legati al bisogno del Sabbath, anche se avesse avuto il tempo di consultare un saggio su di loro prima di Shabbath, gli è permesso di consultarlo su Shabbath.], E gli è permesso fermare il maor [la finestra vicino alla quale la luce entra, con una tavola o qualsiasi altra cosa usata a tale scopo], ed è permesso misurare un panno [Se è venuto in contatto con qualcosa di sporco e quindi con cose pulite, viene misurato per determinare se è tre o tre dita. Per un panno meno di tre per tre non acquisisce né trasmette impurità.] E (è permesso misurare) un mikveh [per determinare se è alto uno a uno e tre cubiti. Poiché queste sono misurazioni della mitzvah, per cui sono permesse su Shabbath.] E avvenne ai tempi del padre di R. Tzaddok, e ai tempi del padre di Abba Shaul b. Batnith che hanno fermato un maor [una finestra, chiamato "maor" perché la luce (orah) entra attraverso di essa] con un tafiach [una brocca di terracotta] e legato un mekeidah [una nave di terra] con gemi (canna-erba) [ "gemi", in particolare, poiché, essendo adatto al cibo per animali, non viene annullato (per la nave) come un nodo permanente] (lo legavano, ecc.) per determinare se vi fosse o meno una fessura di un soffio nella gigith (il bacino). [C'era un piccolo sentiero tra due case, che non era coperto, ma su cui era invertito un bacino. C'erano finestre che si aprivano dalle case al sentiero, e temevano che qualcuno non morisse in una delle case e il tumah (impurità del corpo morto) passasse dalla finestra al sentiero e dal sentiero all'altra casa attraverso la finestra aperta. Pertanto, si fermarono sulla finestra di fronte alla casa del Tuma con un tafiach con le spalle al percorso (una nave di terracotta che non acquisiva il Tuma dal retro e che quindi fungeva da spartiacque contro il Tuma). Poiché temevano che la fessura nel gigith potesse essere meno di un soffio, nel qual caso il gigith avrebbe "tenda" il percorso e l'impurità sarebbe arrivata attraverso il percorso da una casa all'altra. Successivamente, hanno dovuto aprire la finestra ed estrarre il tappo, e volevano determinare se la fessura nel gigith fosse un soffio (o più)— in tal caso non ci sarebbe una tenda in quel percorso per la conduzione del Tuma, poiché il Tuma lascerebbe il percorso verso l'alto attraverso la fessura nel gigith —o se fosse meno di un soffio, nel qual caso il percorso fungerebbe da "tenda" e condurrebbe il tuma da una casa all'altra. Pertanto, misero a punto un mekeidah, lo legarono con i gemi e lo estesero fino alla cima (del gigith) per vedere se la fessura fosse o meno un handbreadth.] E da ciò che prescrissero abbiamo appreso che ci fermiamo e misuriamo e legare a Shabbath [purché non si tratti di un nodo permanente e la misurazione sia per la mitzvah o fino alla fine di una sentenza halachica.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
מפירין – a husband to his wife and/or a a father to his daughter.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shabbat
Introduction
The final mishnah of Shabbat begins by discussing annulling and releasing vows and continues with a story about measuring things on Shabbat to see if they are pure or impure, fit or not fit.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
ונשאלין – to a Sage.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shabbat
They may annul vows on Shabbat, and they may be asked [to release vows] when these are necessary for Shabbat. It is permitted for a husband to annul his wife’s vows and for a father to annul his daughter’s vow on Shabbat, since these vows may only be annulled on the day upon which they are heard (Numbers 30: 6, 9). If they had to wait until after Shabbat was over to annul them, the vows could no longer be annulled. Similarly, sages may be asked to release a vow on Shabbat, but only if there is some reason to release the vow on Shabbat itself and not wait until Shabbat is over. Such would be the case if for instance the vow was not to eat on Shabbat. If the vow was not going to impact Shabbat, then they must wait until Shabbat is over. For more on how Sages release vows and how husbands and fathers annul vows see Nedarim 9-11.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
שהן לצורך השבת – such as that he vowed that he would not eat today and if made enquiry it specifically speaks of, for if it were a husband or a father annulling [a vow], whether they are for vows for the needs of the Sabbath, or whether they are for vows that are not for the needs of the Sabbath, for since he cannot to annual other than during the day of it being heard alone, and vows which are for the needs of the Sabbath, even if he had the free time to enquire about them before the [onset of] Shabbat, he enquires about them on Shabbat.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shabbat
One may close up a skylight, and measure a rag and a ritual bath. The issue of closing up a skylight/window was discussed above in 17:7. There we saw that the sages allowed one to put a board back into a window frame to close out the light. One is allowed to measure a rag on Shabbat to see if it is three handbreadths by three handbreadths, the minimum measurement required for it to be susceptible to impurity. It is also permissible to measure a ritual bath to see if it contains the required 40 seah of water. These two measurements are allowed because they are connected to mitzvot. Other measurements would be forbidden.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
ופוקקי את המאור – [he plugs/stops up] the window that from which the light enters he closes it up with a board or with the rest of anything that it is customary to stop it up with.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shabbat
And it once happened in the days of Rabbi Zadok’s father and the days of Abba Shaul ben Botnit that they closed up the window with a small clay vessel and tied a [clay] pot to a string to ascertain whether there was the opening of a handbreadth or not in the barrel. And from their words we learn that we may close [a skylight] and measure and tie on Shabbat. The Talmud explains what exactly happened in this story. There were two houses which shared a wall and there was a window in the wall. In the window was a cracked barrel with a large hole in it. On a certain Shabbat a person died in one of the houses and they wanted to know if there was a handbreadth’s gap in the pitcher, such that the impurity from one house would be transmitted to the other house. First they closed up the skylight with a small clay vessel so that the priests could go up to the roof without becoming impure. They then wanted to measure the crack in the barrel but couldn’t reach it from the roof. So they tied an earthenware pot the size of one handbreadth by one handbreadth to a string and lowered it to the hole of the barrel. From these actions (which were certainly creative) we learn that it is permitted to close up a gap, to measure things to know whether they are impure and to make certain types of knots on Shabbat. Congratulations! We have finished Shabbat. It is a tradition at this point to thank God for helping us to finish learning the tractate and to commit ourselves to going back and relearning it, so that we may not forget it and so that its lessons will stay with us for all of our lives. Shabbat was the longest tractate we have covered so far, so an extra “yasher koah” to all who stuck it through. Admittedly, many of the details were quite difficult and the halakhot truly dictated exactly what is and is not permitted on Shabbat. I hope that learning this tractate will enrich your own Shabbat experience, and that you will find in the details of halakhah a system which forces a person to examine each and everyone one of her actions and to withdraw somewhat from the hustle bustle of the world for one day a week. Shabbat is a day dedicated to holy activities, worship of God, study, reflection, eating and drinking and non-creativity. The halakhot of Shabbat are meant to ensure that these lofty ideals can be achieved. May you have the strength and time to keep on learning more Mishnah! Tomorrow we begin Eruvin, a tractate which is actually quite connected to Shabbat.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
ומודדין את המטלית – it if was ritually impure and came into contact with something ritually pure, we measure it [to see] if it has three fingers by three fingers to know if it the ritually pure things were defiled or not for a strip/patch that is less than three by three does not defile nor becomes defiled.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
ואת המקוה – to know if it has a cubit by a cubit at a depth of thee cubits, for it they are measurements of a Mitzvah, therefore, it is permissible to measure them on Shabbat.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
שפקקו את המאור – the window and it is called – "מאור" – for through it the light enters.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
בטפיח – an earthenware pitcher.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
מקדה – an earthenware utensil.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
בגמי – for this reason, it (i.e., the Mishnah) took גמי/bulrush or reed-grass which is appropriate for the food of cattle and is not eliminated from being a permanent knot.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
לידע אם יש בגיגית פותח טפח – a sort of small passageway that was between two houses so was not natural but rather that the barrel was placed on top of it, and their windows were open from the houses to the passageway, and they were worried lest someone die in one house and that the ritual impurity would come from the window to the passageway and from the passageway to the other house via the open window, therefore, they stopped up the open window to the house where the ritual defilement was inside with an earthenware pitcher and its back was to the side of the passageway for the earthenware utensil does not become defiled from its back and leaves a space between the two partitions, but they were concerned lest there wasn’t in the slit of the barrel an opening of a handbreadth, and it would be found that the barrel overshadows on the passageway and the ritual defilement comes through the passageway from one house to the other house. After that, it is was necessary to open the window and ot take that stopped up pitcher in the window and they came to know if there was in that slit of the barrel an opening of a handbreadth, and if there wasn’t a tent in that passageway to bring in the ritual defilement. For the ritual defilement goes out from the passageway via the slit in the barrel towards above, or if the slit in the barrel is not open one handbreadth, and it was found that the passageway itself was like a tent and brought the ritual defilement from one house to the other. And they measured the earthenware fire pot/potsherd for carrying fire and tied it with bulrushes and stretched it towards above to see if there was in the slit of the barrel opened a handbreadth or not.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shabbat
ומדבריהם למדנו שפוקקין וקושרין ומודדין בשבת – as long as it was not a permanent knot, for the measurement would be for a Mitzvah or to practice on what is a decision/instruction.
