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שואל. ובלבד שלא יאמר הלוני – for it implies a loan for a long time and we hold that an undefined loan is for thirty days; therefore the lender comes to write on his writing tablet/merchant’s account book that I have loaned such-and-such to so-and-so in order that he would not forget it.

Introduction This mishnah discusses borrowing food items on Shabbat with the intent of paying the person back after Shabbat.

מניח טליתו אצלו – if he (i.e., the lender) doesn’t believe him (i.e., the borrower) and he takes it and dedicates it as Temple property on the Sabbath for [loan[ obligations that have a fixed time [for return] one can dedicate [them] on the Sabbath (though we learn in Tractate Arakhin, Chapter 7, Mishnah 5, that one does not dedicate to the Temple something that is not his).

A man may borrow pitchers of wine and pitchers of oil from his neighbor, provided he does not say to him, “lend [them] to me”; It is permitted for a person to borrow things from another person on Shabbat as long as he doesn’t say “lend to me.” There are actually two words in Hebrew for “lend” one which implies money or something that will be paid back, and the other which implies returning the object itself. Using the first verb sounds too much like doing business and it is therefore prohibited on Shabbat. This is the verb in our mishnah. However, the second verb is not problematic. For instance, if the borrowed object was a book which itself will be returned, there is no problem.

And similarly a woman [may borrow] loaves from her neighbor. Just as a man may ask his neighbor to borrow pitchers of wine and oil, so too a woman may ask her neighbor to borrow loaves of bread.

If he does not trust him he may leave his cloak with him [as a pledge] and squares up with him after Shabbat. The mishnah now provides a means by which the lender may guarantee that he receives compensation for his loan. The borrower cannot merely pay the lender, nor can they write down an amount or even state how much is owed. What they can do is have the borrower leave his cloak with the lender as a pledge. After Shabbat they can square up and the borrower can pay the lender back.

Similarly, if the eve of Passover in Jerusalem falls on Shabbat, he may leave his cloak with him [the vendor] and take his paschal lamb and squares up with him after the festival. This section deals with a situation where a person had not bought his pesach sacrifice (the paschal lamb) before Shabbat which fell the day before Pesach. He may do what the person in section one did to buy wine and oil he leaves his cloak with the merchant selling lambs, buys his lamb and then on Monday he can settle up how much he owes.

פרפרותיו – kinds of dainties/sweets.

Introduction This mishnah has to do with reckoning certain types of accounts on Shabbat.

אבל לא מן הכתב – if he wrote it from the Eve of the Sabbath (i.e., Friday): “so-and-so are guests” so that he would not forget, he should not read from the same document on the Sabbath, as a preventive measure lest he erase it; alternatively, lest he read private (not Hebrew) documents for it is prohibited to read anything on Shabbat other than the Written Torah and the Oral Torah, but other things or works of scholars that are not from the words of the prophets or their commentaries are forbidden (see Tractate Shabbat 149a).

A man may count his guests and his appetizers/desserts by word, but not from writing. A host may want to count his guests or his food before or while the meal is being served. He may do so but he may not count them from a written list. The Tosefta explains that this is forbidden because it is acting on Shabbat the way one acts during the week. In the Talmud they explain that if he reads from a written list and sees that someone is not there or hears that they are not coming, he may erase their name from the list, a prohibited activity on Shabbat. Alternatively, he may grow accustomed to reading bills, lists and other types of business documents that a person should not read on Shabbat.

A man may cast lots with his sons and the members of his household on the table, provided that he does not make a large portion against a small one, because of gambling. This section deals with casting lots for who will get to choose his portion of meat first and who will get the largest portion. We should note that this was an important issue in eating customs at the time and we hear a lot from contemporary sources about people complaining that they didn’t get a good portion. The head of the household or any other person may cast lots on Shabbat for who gets what portion, but he should not make the portions a disparate size to begin with, hoping that he will get the bigger portion, because this is a type of gambling. Gambling is always problematic according to Jewish law, but it certainly shouldn’t be done on Shabbat.

עם בניו ועם בני ביתו – for they are dependent upon his table for there is no legal objection, but with others one cannot [do so], for members of the group that are strict with each other for they do not pardon and do not renounce each other, violate this because of the measurement and the weight and the number because they loan and collect and the Rabbis decreed on this lest they write it down.

And [priests] may cast lots for sacrifices on festivals, but not for the portions. The priests could cast lots over who would get which sacrifice of the sacrifices offered on a festival. However, they may not cast lots on the festival over the sacrifices offered the day before, since they could have cast the lots then. As we have learned many times, anything that could be done before the holiday may not be done on the holiday itself.

ובלבד שלא יתכוין וכו' – Our Mishnah is deficient, and should be read as follows: a person may conduct a lottery with his children and with the members of his household [dependent] upon his table and even a large portion corresponding to a small portion and specifically with his children and the members of his household, but not with others, provided that he does not intend to make a large portion correspond with a small portion, which is forbidden even on weekdays because dice-playing is theft and collateral security with the condition of forfeiture beyond the amount to be secured does not purchase/gives no title and this is a collateral security with the condition of forfeiture beyond the amount to be secured that is dependent upon the lottery if the lottery will fall to him on the large portion, he will be worthy of it, and therefore, he has left himself in doubt even for a lottery for a small portion through doubt , for had he known from the outset that this would be the case, he would not have accepted it.

חלשים – lotteries such as (Isaiah 14:12): “A vanquisher of nations.”

על הקדשים ביום טוב – that were slaughtered on Yom Tov/the Festival Day to distribute/divide them among the Kohanim.

אבל לא על המנות – on yesterday’s Holy Things.

לא ישכור אדם פועלים – as it is written (Isaiah 58:13): “Nor look to your affairs, nor strike bargains.”

Introduction The first section of the mishnah deals with hiring laborers on Shabbat. The remaining portions of the mishnah deal with going out to the Shabbat border in order to perform an activity after Shabbat that may not be performed on Shabbat itself. The “Shabbat border” is the limit which a person is allowed to walk out of town on Shabbat. This border is two thousand cubits outside of the city. The commonality between these two subjects (hiring workers and going out to the border) is that both are connected to Isaiah 58:13, “If you honor [the Sabbath] and do not do your business, nor look to your affairs, nor make statements [then you can seek the favor of the Lord]”. This translation tries to capture the spirit of how the rabbis understand the verse. Isaiah speaks of activities that are not necessarily forbidden by the Torah but nevertheless are activities which turn Shabbat into an ordinary day. As an aside, I should mention my belief that preserving the spirit of Shabbat is as important as observing the halakhic details. Shabbat must be a day set aside from work and from many normal daily activities, even if the performance of such work is not a technical violation of Shabbat.

ולא יאמר אדם לחבירו וכו' – it was taken for an implied opinion/deduction that he should not say to his fellow: “hire for us workers,” but he says to him: “that it appears that you will stand with me this eening, that is to say, now it appears that if you come to me when it gets dark, and even though that both of them know that on the condition of hiring him for his work he warns him, since he does not spell out his salary explicitly, it is permitted, for we hold that loud recitation is prohibited, but thinking/fantasizing is permitted (on the Sabbath).

One may not hire laborers on Shabbat, nor say to his fellow to hire laborers for him. Hiring laborers on Shabbat to do work after Shabbat is not technically a violation of one of the 39 prohibited labors. However, it is clearly against the “spirit of Shabbat” as is described in the verse from Isaiah above. One shouldn’t even say to one’s friend to hire laborers.

אין מחשיכין על התחם – to draw himself close on the Sabbath to the place within which is it is permitted to move (i.e., the Sabbath limits) until the end of the limit and to make preparations to be ready for work on the exit of the Sabbath there that he will be close to the place of the workers or to the orchard to bring fruit, for everything that is prohibited to do on the Sabbath, it is prohibited to make preparations to be ready for work on the exit of the Sabbath but he can make preparations to be close to go out and guard his fruits for this is something that is permitted to do on the Sabbath to guard/watch his fruits.

One may not go to the Shabbat border to await nightfall in order to hire laborers or bring in produce; but one may do so in order to watch [his field] and [then] he can bring produce [back] with him. One is allowed to go on Shabbat up until the Shabbat border, 2000 cubits outside the city. However, one should not do so in order to get a jump start on performing an activity prohibited on Shabbat. This is again a violation of the spirit of Shabbat and it is using time on Shabbat to prepare for the performance of work after Shabbat. However, one may go out to the Shabbat border before Shabbat is over to perform an activity, such as guarding produce, which is permitted on Shabbat. In such a case, the only thing preventing her from guarding her fields is that they lie outside of the Shabbat border (as fields usually do). If she goes out to guard her fields (a permitted activity), she may also bring back produce with her when she returns (an activity permitted on Shabbat). What is prohibited is going to wait at the border specifically to perform a prohibited activity.

ומביא פירות בידו – since the essence of this thinking was not for this.

Abba Shaul stated a general principle: whatever I have a right to say [that it be done], I am permitted to go to await nightfall, for it [at the border]. Abba Shaul does not disagree with the previous opinion, but rather summarizes that opinion using a general principle. Anything that a person may ask another person to do on Shabbat, such as guard fruit, one may also go out to the Shabbat border in order to perform the activity at nightfall. This would include watching fruit and also those activities which will be listed in the following mishnah. Put in other words, if the activity is not prohibited on Shabbat, nor in violation of the spirit of Shabbat, one may go out to the border in order to perform the activity right after Shabbat.

כלל אמר אבא שאול – He disputes the First Teacher [of our Mishnah] that prohibited all preparations to be ready for work on the exit of the Sabbath, but he doesn’t make a distinction between preparations to be ready for work on the exit of the Sabbath of a commandment and something that is optional, and he comes and states that preparations to be ready for work on the exit of the Sabbath is permitted for just as it is permitted to tell his fellow on the Sabbath that he should be designated to go after dark to bring a coffin and shrouds for the dead person, so too, it is permitted to be make preparations to be ready for work on the exit of the Sabbath in order that he will be designated after dark to bring the coffin and shrouds – and at the end of the Mishnah as it is taught: we can make preparations to be ready for work on the exit of the Sabbath to watch over the affairs of a bride and on the affairs of the dead. This is the opinion of Abba Shaul and the Halakha is according to him.

לפקח על עסי כלה – to look out for and research the needs of he bride.

Introduction This mishnah discusses exceptions to the rule in the previous mishnah, that one should not go out on Shabbat to the Shabbat border in order to go beyond the border after Shabbat to perform an activity prohibited on Shabbat.

חלילין – a hollowed musical instrument whose sound gives rise to crying.

One may go to the Shabbat border before nightfall in order to attend to the affairs of a bride or of a corpse to bring him a coffin and shrouds. Arranging a marriage and arranging proper burial are two of the highest values in Judaism, competing perhaps only with the study of Torah. One may therefore say to a fellow Jew on Shabbat, “take care of this need for a bride or a dead person after Shabbat”, even though the performance of these activities is prohibited on Shabbat itself. Hence, if one needs to leave town after Shabbat to take care of the arrangements for a marriage or funeral/burial, one may do so. [Remember Abba Shaul’s rule: anything one can say, one can also go to the Shabbat border to do immediately after Shabbat.] This includes bringing a coffin or shrouds in which to bury the dead.

לא יספוד בהן ישראל – it is fine because he matter is proved that they were brought for Jews.

If a non-Jew brings reed-pipes on Shabbat, one must not bewail an Israelite with them, unless they came from a near place. In mishnaic times it was customary for pipes to be used at a funeral to bewail the dead. If a non-Jew brought them to a Jew for the Jew to use them on Saturday evening, the Jew may not use them because this is benefiting from the work a non-Jew did for a Jew on Shabbat. However, if the pipes came from a near place, within the Shabbat border, the Jew may use them immediately after Shabbat because even if the non-Jew had not brought them, the Jew would have been able to bring them for a funeral right after Shabbat. A Jew is prohibited from benefiting only if the non-Jew does something that the Jew was not allowed to do.

אלא א"כ באו ממקום קרוב – other than if it is known to us clearly that they came from a place within the Sabbath limit, and that they were not brought from outside the Sabbath limit.

If he made a coffin for himself or dug a grave for himself, an israelite may be buried in it. But if [he made it] for the sake of an Israelite, [the Israelite] may never be buried in it. If a non-Jew made a coffin or dug a grave for non-Jewish use on Shabbat, and then decided to sell the coffin or grave to a Jew, a Jew may use it. This is because the intent was not to do work for a Jew on Shabbat. However, if the non-Jew made the coffin or grave on Shabbat for a specific Jew, that Jew may never be buried in that coffin or grave. This is because the grave or coffin was made in violation of the Shabbat with that Jew in mind. On the other hand, the grave and coffin may be used for another Jew as long as they wait between the end of Shabbat and the burial the time it would take to build a coffin and dig a grave. This waiting period is to avoid deriving benefit from work that a non-Jew did on Shabbat.

ארון – for himself that he will bury in it an idolater or to sell it.

סכין – [anoint] with oil.

Introduction In the previous mishnah we learned that a person may go on Shabbat to the Shabbat border to get a head start on preparations for a funeral after Shabbat. This mishnah deals with things that may be done on Shabbat itself, in order to prepare the body for burial or to preserve it.

ומדיחין – with water, and they stop up his urinary organs. They close up his upper urinary organs and the bottom ones with a cloth or because of a matter in order that wind should not enter into him and become blown up/swelled.

The mishnah lists things which may be done for a dead person on Shabbat itself.

ובלבד שלא יזיזו בו אבר – that he should not carry and raise neither his hand nor his foot nor the eye lashes, for it is prohibited to carry the dead person or a limb from his limbs even though it is permitted to touch him and similarly, all things that are forbidden for use or handling on the Sabbath, it is permitted to touch it but it is prohibited to carry it and an egg that was laid on the Sabbath or on a Festival day it is prohibited even to touch it for since the well (which was in the shape of a ball), touching it is like carrying it.

One may perform all the needs of the dead:
One may anoint him with oil and wash him, provided that no limb of his is moved. One may anoint the body with oil (done for the purposes of cleansing) and wash the body. However, the body itself may not be moved because it is muktzeh. The reason it is muktzeh is that there is no use for the body on Shabbat, and all things which have no use may not be moved.

ושומטים את הכר מתחתו – and it is found lying on the sound but we don’t carry it to place it on the sand – for the Teacher of the first part [of the Mishnah] taught: as long as he does not move even a limb.

One may remove the pillow from under him, and [thereby] place him on sand, in order that he should be better preserved. One may remove the pillow/mattress upon which the dead body lies in order that it should be on the ground. This was considered a better means for preserving the body and preventing deterioration and the accompanying smell.

בשביל שימתין – so that it does not decay as a result of the heat of the sheets and pillows.

One may tie up the jaw, not in order that it should close but that it should not further [open]. One may tie the dead body’s jaw so that the mouth does not gape open further than it already is at the point of death. However, it is forbidden to close the jaw because it is forbidden to move even a limb of the body. One may preserve the state that the body is currently in, but not change that state.

קושרין את הלחי – of he dead person for his mouth would continue to open.

And likewise, if a beam is broken, one may support it with a bench or bed posts, not in order that it [the break] should close up, but that it should go [open] no further. This section is loosely connected to that in the previous section. If a beam supporting the ceiling breaks on Shabbat, one may put something beneath it to support it so that it does not break any more. However, one may not put something underneath it so that the break closes up.

ולא שיעלה – to close what was open, which is moving a limb, but rather, it should not continue to open.

One may not close [the eyes of] a corpse on Shabbat, nor on weekdays when he is about to die, and he who closes the eyes [of a dying person] at the point of death is a murderer. If a person dies with his/her eyes open, one may not close the eyes because it is forbidden to move a limb of the body. The mishnah adds that even during the week it is prohibited to close the eyes of a dying person because this may cause death to arrive more speedily. This is indeed a primary source used by halakhic authorities who wish to prohibit euthanasia. One may not do anything to make death come faster. However, we should remember that it is nearly impossible to learn what halakhah has to say on any given topic from one single source, especially one as sensitive and controversial as euthanasia.

סומכים אותה בספסל – for it has the status of a utensil.

ולא שתעלה – for it would be like “building.”

אין מעצמין – [they do not close] his eyes on the Sabbath, even after the soul has left, for it is like moving a limb.

שופך דמים – for in a small manner, he brings his death closer.