New from Talmudic Books: Soncino Babylonian Talmud Shabbath [Kindle Edition] Shabbath is the first treatise of Mo‘ed, the second Order of the Talmud. It contains 157 folios divided into 24 chapters, and is the second longest Tractate of the Talmud, being exceeded only by Baba Bathra, which runs to 176 folios.
As its name implies, the Tractate deals with the laws and regulations of the Sabbath. It is obvious that an institution of such far-reaching importance, which is indeed one of the foundations of Judaism and for the violation of which Scripture prescribes the supreme penalty, had to be carefully defined, and its observance precisely determined. To this task the Rabbis devoted themselves in the present treatise.
The Biblical data are furnished by the following passages: Gen. II, 2-3; Ex. XVI, 22 seq.; XX, 8-11 (the Fourth Commandment); XXIII, 12; XXXIV, 21; XXXV, 2-3; Num. XV, 32 seq.; Deut. V, 12-15 (the Fourth Commandment in the Deuteronomic revision); Jer. XVII, 21 seq.; Amos VIII, 5: Neh. X, 32 and XIII, 15 seq. From an analysis and examination of these we learn that the following labors are forbidden: baking and seething; gathering manna and bringing it in; harvesting and plowing (and perhaps the labors associated with these); kindling; bearing burdens and carrying into a town (Jerusalem) or out from a private house; buying and selling; treading winepresses, and lading asses. But of course, mere chance references, as many of these are, could not be regarded as exhausting the labors forbidden on the Sabbath, and a scientific investigation was necessary for the full understanding of its observance.
It will help to an understanding of the Tractate to know the principles upon which the Rabbis based their definition of labor, and the various categories of forbidden work which they distinguished. The locus classicus for determining the meaning of 'work' was found by them in Ex. XXXV. There the instructions to build the Tabernacle are preceded by a short passage dealing with the prohibition of labor on the Sabbath which is apparently superfluous. The Rabbis accordingly interpreted it as intimating that whatever work was required in the building of the Tabernacle constituted 'work' which is forbidden on the Sabbath. Acting on this principle they drew up a list of thirty-nine 'principal' labors, which they extended by adding 'derivatives', i.e., such as partook of the nature of the 'principal' labors.
A considerable portion of the Tractate consists of Aggadah. It is difficult to make a selection from the rich store of Rabbinic legend, sentence, apologue and aphorism in which the Tractate abounds, but perhaps special attention might be drawn to the following: Prayer must be preceded by preparation; the judge who judges truthfully becomes a partner with God in the Creation; the Sabbath is God's gift to Israel; the story of Hanukkah (the Feast of Lights); the attempt to exclude Ecclesiastes and Ezekiel from the Canon; the heathens who wished to embrace Judaism on certain conditions and Hillel's famous epitome of Judaism — 'What is hateful to thee do not do to thy neighbour'; R. Simeon b. Yohai's criticism of the Roman Government and his flight; 'truth' is God's seal; Rome was founded when Solomon married Pharaoh's daughter; God's stipulation that the world was to return to chaos unless Israel accepted the Torah; Israel's joy in accepting it and Moses' fight to obtain it — an appreciation of the fact that God's kingdom on earth can be established only after struggle; the Torah is the cause of the nations' hatred of Israel; why Jerusalem was destroyed; schoolchildren are God's anointed; and finally, 'Repent one day before thy death' and the necessity to be ready at all times to appear before God illustrated by the parable of the wise and the foolish men invited to the king's feast. In that desire to be at harmony with God, which is the core and essence of Judaism, the Rabbis found the spiritual significance of the sacredness of the Sabbath.
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