Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Shabbath
Folio 38a
What1 if one forgot a pot on the stove and [thus] cooked it on the Sabbath? He was silent and said nothing to them [his questioners]. On the morrow he went out and lectured to them: If one cooks [food] on the Sabbath unwittingly, he may eat [it]; if deliberately, he may not eat [it];2 and there is no difference. What is meant by, 'and there is no difference'? — Rabbah and R. Joseph both explain it permissively: only he who cooked it, thus performing an action, may not eat if it was deliberate; but this one3 who did no action may eat even if it was deliberate. R. Nahman b. Isaac explained it restrictively: only one who cooks may eat if it was done unwittingly, because he will not [thereby] come to dissemble;4 but this one, who may come to dissemble,5 may not even eat if it was unwitting.
An objection is raised: if one forgot a pot on the stove and [thus] cooked it on the Sabbath: unwittingly, he may eat [thereof]; if deliberately, he may not eat. When is that said? In the case of hot water insufficiently heated or a dish insufficiently cooked; but as for hot water sufficiently heated or a dish sufficiently cooked, whether unwitting or deliberate, he may eat [thereof]: thus said R. Meir. R. Judah said: Hot water sufficiently heated is permitted, because it boils away6 and is thus harmed;7 a dish sufficiently cooked is forbidden, because it shrinks and is thereby improved, and whatever shrinks and is thereby improved, e.g., cabbage, beans, and mincemeat, is forbidden; but whatever shrinks and thereby deteriorates, is permitted. At all events, a dish insufficiently cooked is mentioned.8 As for R. Nahman b. Isaac, it is well, there is no difficulty: here9 it is before [the enactment of] the preventive measure;10 there11 it is after the preventive measure.12 But [on the view of] Rabbah and R. Joseph who explain it permissively, if before the preventive measure,13 'deliberate' is a difficulty;14 if after the preventive measure, even unwitting' too is a difficulty.15 That is [indeed] a difficulty.
What was the preventive measure? — For R. Judah b. Samuel said in the name of R. Abba in the name of R. Kahana in Rab's name: At first it was ruled: One who cooks [food] on the Sabbath unwittingly, he may eat [thereof], if deliberately, he may not eat; and the same applies to one who forgets.16 But when those who intentionally left [it there] grew numerous, and they pleaded, We had forgotten [it on the stove], they [the Sages] retraced their steps and penalized him who forgot.
Now, R. Meir is self-contradictory, and R. Judah is [likewise] self-contradictory?17 — R. Meir is not self-contradictory: the one means at the outset; the other, if done.18 R. Judah too is not self-contradictory: there it means that it [the stove] was swept or covered with ashes;19 here, that it was not swept or covered with ashes.
The scholars propounded: What if one transgressed and deliberately left it? Did the Rabbis penalize him or not? — Come and hear: For Samuel b. Nathan said in R. Hanina's name: When R. Jose went to Sepphoris, he found hot water which had been left on the stove, and did not forbid it to them; [he also found] shrunken eggs,20 and forbade them to them. Surely it means for that Sabbath?21 — No: for the following Sabbath.22
Now, this implies that shrunken eggs go on shrinking and are thereby improved? — Yes. For R. Hama b. Hanina said: My Master and I were once guests in a certain place, and eggs shrunk to the size of crab-apples were brought before us, and we ate many of them.
BETH HILLEL RULE: ONE MAY REPLACE [IT] TOO. R. Shesheth said: On the view of him who maintains
To Part b
On the view that it is forbidden to keep food on an unswept stove.
This is a Mishnah. 'And there is no difference' is R. Hiyya b. Abba's addition in answer to the question. Sc. who left the pot on the stove. 'If one cooks' means by placing it on the stove. I.e., cook deliberately and pretend that it was unwitting. Since cooking is Biblically forbidden, one is not suspected of evading the prohibition.
If it may be eaten when it is inadvertently left on the stove and cooked, he may leave it there deliberately and pretend forgetfulness, for the prohibition of leaving a pot on the stove is only Rabbinical.
― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Wednesday, 9 March 2005 07:37 (twenty-one years ago)
two years pass...