The Palestinian Talmud on Amulets on the Sabbath

y. Shabbat 6:2, 8b

220–400

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On the Sabbath, it is prohibited to carry objects (burdens) from one domain to another. One exception to this is one’s clothing. The Mishnah (m. Shabbat 6:2) considers whether other objects, including amulets, qualify as burdens with respect to this Sabbath regulation or rather are permitted for wearing. This passage from the Palestinian Talmud elaborates on when amulets may be worn on the Sabbath. See also The Babylonian Talmud on Amulets on the Sabbath. (For more about Sabbath regulations, see The Thirty-Nine Acts of Labor Prohibited on the Sabbath.)

Hebrew

What is an expert [or, proven] amulet?

Any [amulet] with which one has healed two or three [people].

R. Abahu [said] in the name of R. Yoḥanan: The physician is to be trusted who says: With this amulet I have healed once, [and I healed again] a second and a third [person].

R. Samuel [said] in the name of R. Zeira: If it [the amulet] healed one person, it is proven effective for one person; if [it healed] two, it is proven effective for two; if [it healed] three, it is proven effective for everyone.

Thus, one may go out with it whether it is written or [made] with herbs.

Translated by Markham J. Geller and Lennart Lehmhaus.
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Credits

y. Shabbat 6:2, 8b, trans. Markham J. Geller and Lennart Lehmhaus, publication forthcoming. Copyright Markham J. Geller and Lennart Lehmhaus. Used with permission of the translators.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.

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On the Sabbath, it is prohibited to carry objects (burdens) from one domain to another. One exception to this is one’s clothing. The Mishnah (m. Shabbat 6:2) considers whether other objects, including amulets, qualify as burdens with respect to this Sabbath regulation or rather are permitted for wearing. This passage from the Palestinian Talmud elaborates on when amulets may be worn on the Sabbath. See also The Babylonian Talmud on Amulets on the Sabbath. (For more about Sabbath regulations, see The Thirty-Nine Acts of Labor Prohibited on the Sabbath.)

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