Rabbinic Discussions of Prohibited Activities

1:3. A tailor should not go out with his needle close to dark [on the eve of the Sabbath], lest he forget it and go out [carrying it]. Nor should a scribe [go out] with his quill [close to dark]. One should not delouse one’s garments nor read by candlelight [on the Sabbath evening]. In truth they said: The overseer may observe where the children are reading but should not himself read. [ . . . ]

2:5. One who extinguishes a flame because he is afraid of gentiles, or because of bandits, or because of an evil spirit, or for a sick person is exempt [from bringing a purification offering]. [If he extinguished it] to spare the lamp, or to spare the oil, or to spare the wick, he is liable. R. Yosi exempts [him] in all of these cases except for the wick because [extinguishing a flame to spare the wick] creates charcoal.

6. For three sins women die in childbirth: Because they are not careful about menstrual purity, [because they are not careful about separating] the dough offering,¹ and because [they are not careful about] lighting a lamp [for the Sabbath].

7. Here are three things that a person should say in his household on the eve of the Sabbath at dusk: Have you tithed? Have you made an eruv?² Light the lamp! If it is uncertain whether it is dark out or not, one should not tithe produce that is untithed, nor should one immerse vessels, nor should one light lamps. But one may tithe doubtfully tithed produce, and one may make an eruv, and one may bury hot food. [ . . . ]

6:10. People may go out [on the Sabbath] with a locust’s egg, with a fox’s tooth, and with a nail from a person who was hung, for medicinal purposes—these are the words of R. Meir.³ The sages say: Even during the week it is forbidden [to go out with these objects] because of the [prohibition against following in] the ways of the Amorites. [ . . . ]

7:1. They articulated a general principle regarding [violation of] the Sabbath: Whoever forgets the basic principle of the Sabbath and performs many acts of work on many Sabbaths is only liable for a single purification offering. One who knows the fundamental principle of the Sabbath and performed many acts of work on many Sabbaths is liable for each and every Sabbath. One who knows that it is the Sabbath and performs many acts of work on many Sabbaths is liable for each and every primary category of [forbidden] work. One who performs many acts of work that are similar to one [primary category of forbidden] work is only liable for one purification offering.

2. The primary categories of acts of work are forty less one: Sowing, plowing, reaping, gathering, threshing, winnowing, sorting, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking.⁴ Shearing wool, bleaching, combing, dyeing, spinning, weaving, making two loops, weaving two threads, separating two threads, tying a knot, untying a knot, making two stitches, tearing for the purpose of making two stitches.⁵ Trapping a deer, slaughtering, removing the skin, salting, working the hide, smoothing, cutting, writing two letters, erasing for the purpose of writing two letters.⁶ Building, demolishing, extinguishing a fire, lighting a fire, hitting with a hammer [i.e., the final step in creating something], carrying from one domain to another. These are the primary categories of acts of work, forty less one [in number]. [ . . . ]

12:4. One who writes two letters during one period of unawareness is liable. [If] he wrote in black ink, or paint, or red ink, or resin, or vitriol, or with any substance that leaves a mark, on two adjoining walls, or on two tablets that align, he is liable. One who writes on his skin is liable. One who scratches his skin, R. Eliezer declares him liable for a purification offering and R. Joshua declares him exempt. [ . . . ]

16:6. A non-Jew who came to extinguish [a flame]—do not say to him, “Extinguish” or “Do not extinguish,” [but let him do as he pleases,] because his rest is not incumbent on us. But a [Jewish] minor who comes to extinguish, do not listen to him, because his rest is incumbent on us. [ . . . ]

18:3. They may not assist an animal giving birth on a festival day, but one may support [the animal]. They may assist a woman to give birth on the Sabbath, and they may call a midwife [to come] from place to place, and they may violate the Sabbath for her, and they may tie the umbilical cord. R. Yosi says: They may even cut [the umbilical cord]. Everything that is necessary for circumcision may be performed on the Sabbath. [ . . . ]

23:4. They may wait for nightfall by the Sabbath boundary to take care of the needs of a bride or a corpse, to bring the coffin or shrouds. A gentile who brought flutes on the Sabbath—a Jew should not use them for eulogizing unless they came from nearby. If they made a coffin for [a non-Jew] and dug a grave, a Jew may bury the body. But if it was done for a Jew, they may never bury him in it.

5. They may do whatever is necessary for a corpse [on the Sabbath]: They may anoint and wash it as long as they do not move a limb. They may remove the pillow from under it and place it on sand to prevent it from decomposing. They may tie its jaw—not in order to move it up but to prevent it from [opening] further. And similarly, if a beam is broken, they may lean it against a bench or the poles of a bed—not in order to move it up but to prevent it from [falling] further. They may not close the eyes of a corpse on Shabbat, nor during the week at the time when his soul is departing. One who closes the eyes of a person whose soul is departing, this is bloodshed.