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מצילין מזון ג' סעודות – and even in many utensils, for if it was In one utensil, they said in the chapter [sixteen of Tractate Shabbat, Mishnah two] “all the [holy] writings,” that as many as is necessary, one saves.

Introduction The first section of this mishnah deals with a cask of wine which broke on Shabbat and the owner wishes to save as much wine as possible. The remainder of the mishnah discusses the prohibition of squeezing juice or other liquids out of something.

לכם – food for everyone for three [Sabbath] meals.

A cask [of wine] which was broken, one may save from it the requirements for three meals. And he [the owner] may say to others, “come and save for yourselves”, provided that it is not sponged up. Above in 16:2 the mishnah taught that one can rescue from a fire food sufficient for three meals, the standard number of meals eaten on Shabbat. In our explanation there we explained that the reason that a person was not allowed to rescue more than that was lest she come to extinguish the fire. However, here it is less clear what the concern is. The commentators explain that if they let her rescue more than three meals she may carry them in the public domain. Alternatively, she may come to fix the casket. An alternative explanation which I would suggest is that more than three meals is muktzeh since it won’t be eaten on Shabbat. As above, she is allowed to say to other people, “come save the wine for yourselves.” However, no one is allowed to rescue the wine by sponging it up. The fear is that if they sponge it up they may squeeze the sponge out afterwards, and as we have already learned and will continue to learn below, squeezing liquids out of something is prohibited.

ובלבד שלא יספוג – that he should not place a sponge to absorb the wine and to go back and to cause it to drip and even though one must sponge the handle, for there is no fear of a wringing/squeezing out they were brought iin, even to take in his hand oil or honey which are thick and are affixed and clean his hand on the rim of the utensil, it is prohibited that he do so in the manner that he does it on weekdays.

One may not squeeze fruit in order to get out their juices, and if they exude of their own accord they are prohibited. Rabbi Judah says: if [the fruit is meant] to be food, that which exudes from it is permitted, but if [is meant to be] juice, that which exudes from it is prohibited. Squeezing juice out of fruit is considered to be a prohibited labor derived from the prohibited labor of “threshing”. Just as “threshing” separates the desirable wheat from the undesirable chaff, so too squeezing separates the juice from the fruit. The mishnah teaches that even if the juice exudes without being squeezed by a person. The fear is that if this juice is allowed people will become confused and think it is permitted to actually squeeze the juice out. Rabbi Judah distinguishes between fruit that is intended to be eaten and fruit that is intended to be used for juice. If the juice exudes from fruit which is intended to be eaten, then it is permitted because a person doesn’t want the juice to come out of this fruit. A person won’t come to squeeze such a fruit. However, if the fruit is intended for juice then Rabbi Judah too is strict and rules that even the juice that exudes is forbidden.

אין סוחטין את הפירות – for he is taking it apart/severing it which is a derivative of threshing.

Honeycombs which crushed on the eve of Shabbat and it [the honey] exudes on its own, it is forbidden; But Rabbi Eleazar permits it. In this section a person has crushed honeycombs before Shabbat in order to start the process of extracting the honey from them. If honey exudes from them on Shabbat, such honey may not be eaten. Again the fear is that if they permit such honey people will think that the honeycombs may be squeezed on Shabbat itself. Rabbi Elazar is not concerned with such a possibility and hence he allows this honey to be eaten on Shabbat.

אסורין – a decree lest he squeeze it out/wring it ab initio.

ר"י אומר אם לאוכלין – those same fruits were collected that which comes out from them is permitted, for it is not satisfactory for him with what flowed out and we cannot make a decree lest he wring them out/squeeze them.

ואם למשקין – they were collected for it was satisfactory for him what came out from them – that which comes out from them is prohibited as a decree lest he squeeze them, and with olives and grapes, Rabbi Yehuda agrees with the Sages that even though he brought them in to eat, that which comes out from them is prohibited since they exist for squeezing when they come to a drink, he would give his attention to this, but in regard to the rest of the kinds of fruits, the Sages agree with Rabbi Yehuda, since it was not the manner for squeezing, they didn’t dispute other than with mulberries and pomegranates, for Rabbi Yehuda compares them to the rest of the priests and the Sages compare them to olives and grapes, and the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yehuda.

חלות דבש – when they are crushed/chopped, the honey flows on its own from the midst of the wax and it is not the manner to squeeze/wring it; therefore, Rabbi Eliezer permits it and the Sages forbid it, as a decree lest they are chopped/crushed; but the Halakha is according to Rabbi Eliezer.

כל הבא בחמין – that was boiled.

Introduction This mishnah deals with soaking food in hot water on Shabbat.

מדיחין – since rinsing it is not its cooking/preparation, but we don’t steep them.

Whatever was put into hot water before Shabbat, may be soaked in hot water on Shabbat; Things that are already cooked cannot be again “cooked”, since the definition of “cooking” is using heat to turn something raw into something not raw. Therefore, if something was already cooked before Shabbat, it can be put back in hot water on Shabbat without this being considered “cooking.” In other words, “there is no cooking something that has already been cooked.”

חוץ מן המליח הישן – a salty fish that passed a year since it had been salted.

But whatever was not put into hot water before Shabbat may [only] be rinsed with hot water on Shabbat, except old salted fish, small salted fish, and Spanish colius, because their rinsing completes their preparation. If it was not cooked in hot water before Shabbat, then it may not be soaked in hot water on Shabbat, because that would be cooking. However, it still may be rinsed in hot water because rinsing is generally not considered to be cooking. The mishnah lists a few exceptions to this rule. These are all small fish which have thin skins and can be cooked by merely rinsing them in hot water. Since “their rinsing completes their preparation” they may not even be rinsed in hot water.

וקוליס האספנין – a fish whose shell is thin and rinsing it in hot waters is the completion of its cooking.

שובר אדם את החבית – because it is damaged.

Introduction This mishnah teaches that one may break open a container to get food out of it, but one may not break open the container in such a way that the container becomes a vessel. Making a vessel is prohibited on Shabbat but ruining vessels is permitted, so long as there is a purpose to ruining them, like getting the food out.

ובלבד שלא יתכוין לעשותה כלי – to make for it a nice spout.

A man may break open a cask in order to eat dried figs from it, provided that he does not intend to make the cask into a vessel. Since breaking the ceramic cask ruins it, she may break it open in order to get out the figs (or whatever else may be inside). However, she may not break it open and leave a nice opening in such a way that the cask becomes a vessel.

אין נוקבים מגופה – that is attached to the mouth of the barrel, for if he were to pierce it, he would he is repairing the opening.

And one may not perforate the stopper of a cask, the words of Rabbi Judah. But the sages permit it. Rabbi Judah holds that one may not perforate the ceramic stopper which is on the top of a cask because that is considered making a vessel. What she should do is remove the stopper altogether. The sages allow it because this is not a normal way of making a vessel.

ר' יוסי מתיר – for it is not the manner for the opening of the barrel with this, and the Halakha is according to Rabbi Yosi.

And one may not pierce it at its side; All agree that one cannot pierce it at its side. In the Talmud there is a debate whether this refers to the side of the cask or the side of the stopper.

ולא יקבנה מצדה – that is to say, that which Rabbi Yosi permits to pierce the bung/stopper, is nor permitted other than above at the top of the stopper, for it is not the manner to make an opening there, but rather, he takes the entire bung/stopper, but from its side, as sometimes when he makes a perforation in the side of the bung, because he does not want to open it above so that stones or dirt will not fall into the wine.

And if it is already perforated one may not place wax upon it, because he smoothes it out. Rabbi Judah said: a case came before Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai in Arav and he said, “I fear [that he may be liable] to a sin-offering.” If the cask/stopper is already perforated she may not spread wax upon it in order to close it up. The problem is that when she pours wax she will also need to smooth it out. The rabbis thought that smoothing out wax was like “erasing” which is prohibited. Rabbi Judah relates a case where a person who perforated a cask/stopper at its side came in front of R. Yohanan ben Zakai and R. Yohanan said that he might be obligated to bring a sin-offering for having unwittingly transgressed Shabbat.

ממרח – and there is here because of erasing/blotting out.

בערב – the name of a place.

חוששני לו מחטאת – if the wax is smoothed over to cleave to the walls of the utensil around the perforation/hole.

לתוך הבור – where there is no water in it.

Introduction The first half of this mishnah deals with preserving the coolness or heat of cooked dishes or water. The second half deals with someone whose clothes got wet and how she may dry them without transgressing the prohibition of squeezing out the water.

שיהא שמור – that it will not smell badly on account of the heat, and this comes to teach us that we don’t worry perhaps that he will make indentations in the bottom of the well in order that it will it will be even to place there the pot.

One may place a cooked dish in a pit for it to be guarded; One can put a cooked dish into the ground in order to protect it from the heat (the ground will keep the dish cool). The Talmud explains that the point of the mishnah is to teach us that we are not concerned lest she come to fill a hole in the ground, an activity which would be prohibited on Shabbat.

ואת המים היפים – that is fit for drinking.

And good water into foul water for it to be cooled; or cold water in the sun for it to be heated. If one has a pitcher of good warm water and a larger container (tub, perhaps) of warm foul water, one may place the pitcher in the tub so that the good water will cool off. It is obvious that this is permitted since this isn’t in any way cooking. The mishnah teaches the first section to introduce the next clause in which we learn that one can place a pitcher of cool water in the sun in order for the water to warm up. Other versions of the mishnah read that one may place a pitcher of cold water into a larger container of hot water. The point of the mishnah is to teach that we are not concerned lest this leads a person to think that it is permitted to cook on Shabbat.

ברעים – within the collection of bad waters which are not fit for drinking, and this is a simple matter, for on account the of the end of the Mishnah, he (i.e., the teacher of the Mishnah) took it, as it is taught in the Mishnah: “and cold water into hot water in order that it should become warm” for you might have thought that we would have made a decree lest we come to hide it in hot ashes; hence it comes to tell you that this is not the case.

One whose clothes fell into water on the road may walk in them without concern. When he reaches the outer courtyard he may spread them out in the sun, but not in sight of the people. If a person’s clothes become wet while walking on the road on Shabbat, she may not just squeeze the water out of them because squeezing water out of something is prohibited on Shabbat. The mishnah teaches that she may continue to wear the clothes and if by walking or sitting she causes the water to be squeezed out then it is a by-product of normal activity and it is not forbidden. Others explain that the mishnah teaches that she need not be concerned lest others think she laundered her clothes on Shabbat. However, once she reaches the outer courtyard of the city, meaning the first courtyard she finds, she should take off her wet clothes (obviously not if this will leave her naked in public) and she may spread them out so that they may dry. She shouldn’t spread them out so that others see what she is doing lest others think that she did her laundry on Shabbat.

מי שנשרו [כליו] – that fell in the water on the Sabbath.

מהלך עמהן ואינו חושש – lest they should suspect hm that he laundered them.

הגיע לחצר החיצונה – that is near the entrance of the sit which is a guarded place.

שוטחן בחמה – to dry them.

אבל לא כנגד העם – for they would suspect him that he laundered them, but this Mishnah is superseded/made inoperative, since the Halakha in our hands is that anything that the Sages forbade because of avoiding the semblance of wrong-doing (i.e., for appearance sake – see Talmud Betzah 9a), even in the strictest privacy, it is forbidden; therefore, it is forbidden to spread them out even not in the view of other people.

ונסתפג – to wipe off/cleanse.

Introduction This mishnah discusses drying oneself off with a towel after bathing and the potential problem involved in wringing the towel.

אלונטיות – sheets that we cleanse with them and dry off with them one after another even though there is not a lot of water on them, nevertheless, he should not he should not bring them in his hand into his house, even through an Eruv, for there is no prohibition of taking it out here but rather a decree lest he wring it out/squeeze it since they are many.

One who bathes in the water of a pit or in the waters of Tiberias and dries himself even with ten towels, he must not bring them [back] in his hand. After the bather has dried herself, she may not bring the towel back to her home, lest in doing so she wrings it in order to squeeze out the water. This is true even if she uses ten towels to dry herself and the last one has almost no water in it and doesn’t need to be wrung out. It too may not be carried back to her home.

But ten men may dry their faces, hands, and feet on one towel and they may bring it [back] in their hands. However, a towel which has been shared by a large group of people, and has therefore become very wet, may nevertheless be carried by the group. Since there are many people together, they will remind each other that it is forbidden to wring a towel on Shabbat and they won’t come to transgress. Note how the mishnah purposely exaggerates each section. In the first section the tenth towel is barely wet, and nevertheless, it may not be carried. In the second section the towel is soaked and nevertheless it may be carried.

פניהם ידיהם ורגליהם – it the manner of the thing that the Mishnah took [in using these terms] and the same law applies for their entire body. But, the Halakha is not according to this Mishnah but rather, even if one brings a wrapping cloth/sheet in his hand that he dried off with, and we don’t suspect lest he will wring it out/squeeze it.

סכין – oil on the Sabbath.

Introduction This mishnah deals with acts that are similar to healing in that they manipulate the body in some way. As we have learned above in 14:3, healing is prohibited on Shabbat.

וממשמשין – by hand on the entire body for pleasure.

One may oil and [lightly] massage [the body] but not step on [the body] or scrape [the skin]. One may lightly rub oil or massage one’s body (or another person’s body) on Shabbat, but not do so vigorously by stepping on a person or roughly scraping off skin. Most commentators say that this is too much like an act of healing and it is forbidden to heal a person on Shabbat. Furthermore, all of these things were done in the bathhouse and the rabbis may have wanted to keep people from fully engaging in bathhouse activities on Shabbat.

אבל לא מתעמלין – to rub with strength/power.

One may not go down to a piloma, I have adopted a reading of this section in accordance with manuscripts and Albeck’s suggestion. A piloma is a place where a person takes a mud bath. There are a host of different explanations for this section. Albeck’s seems most convincing. At a piloma one would engage in the activities prohibited in section one. Hence one shouldn’t even go into a piloma.

ולא מתגררין – with a strigil and similar to it (Job 2:8): “He took a potsherd to scratch himself [as he sat in ashes],” because it is like a deed of the weekday.

And one may not drink an epiktvizin [to induce vomiting]; An epiktvizin was a potion used to induce vomiting. This was forbidden because it was like healing.

אין יורדין לפולימא – a valley filled with water and under it plaster/mud like glue and there are places where the bather will sink in that mud and become attached to it and he is unable to go up until a group of people gather together and take him up with great difficulty and in an emergency. Another interpretation: a valley where its mud is smooth and he who bathes there falls and whose clothing fall off in the water and he comes to squeezing/wringing.

And one may not straighten an infant[‘s limbs]. If an infant’s limbs were crooked, they would manipulate them in order to straighten them out. This may not be done on Shabbat because it is similar to the prohibited labor of “building.”

אפקטויזין – to vomit; and its explanation (see Talmud Shabbat 123a-b) is to cause to bring up roast to nourish, that is to say, to take out the food from the place it is cooked which is the stomach, it emits [and] removes roasted that is cooked, roasted by fire, which we translate as roasted by fire food and specifically to drink a liquid that he brings into him to vomit – which is prohibited on the Sabbath, but to place one’s finger into his mouth in order to vomit is permitted and where he has pain and if he vomits, he will recover, it is permissible even through liquids.

And one may not set a broken bone. Similarly, one may not set the broken bone of an adult.

ואין מעצבין את הקטן – to repair him and to settle his bones and vertebra of his spinal column because it appears like “building,” (i.e., one of the prohibited forms of work on the Sabbath), and we don’t say so other than after the time, but it is permitted on the day of birth. מעצבין – from the language (Job 10:8): “Your hands have shaped and fashioned me.”

If one's hand or foot is dislocated, he must not agitate it violently in cold water but he may bathe it in the usual way, and if it heals, it heals. If one separated a limb, such as a hand or foot and it needs to be put back into its place, one shouldn’t vigorously shake it in cold water because everyone will see that this is an act of healing. However, if one wishes to wash in a more normal manner, one may do so and if by doing so the separated limb is healed, then nothing wrong has been done.

ואין מחזירין את השבר – the bone that was broken, but the Halakha is not according to this Mishnah but the Halakha is that we do set a fractured bone.

שנפרקה ידו – that the bone went out from its joint.

לא יטרפם – like the language of scrambled eggs in a bowl, and they wash them in [cold] water on the place of the break and it appears like healing.