SHABBOS - 009b – יציאות השבת – פרק ראשון – שבת, ט ע”ב

Mishnah

A person should not sit down before the barber close to Minchah^[1] until he has prayed.

מתני' לא ישב אדם לפני הספר - to have his hair cut.

סמוך למנחה - before Minchah.

עד שיתפלל - lest he forget and not pray. This applies even on a weekday; it is taught here because it resembles what is taught alongside it, A tailor should not go out with his needle on Erev Shabbos close to dark,^[2] lest he forget and go out after dark.

A person should not enter the bathhouse, nor a tannery,^[3] nor [sit down] to eat, nor to judge.

ולא יכנס - close to Minchah.

לא למרחץ כו' - the reason for all of them is lest he be drawn out until the time of prayer has passed.

But if they began, they do not stop.

ואם התחילו - any one of these.

אין מפסיקין - rather he finishes and afterwards prays. In the Gemara (10a) it explains that this is where there is time to finish before the time passes.

They stop for [the recital of] Shema, but they do not stop for prayer.

מפסיקין לק"ש - since it is a Torah obligation.

ואין מפסיקין לתפלה - in the Gemara (11a) it asks: but the first clause already taught this!

Gemara

Which “close to Minchah” is meant?

If you say close to Minchah gedolah, why not?

גמ' מנחה גדולה - the start of the time of the afternoon tamid, from when the day begins to turn toward evening, that is, from half of the seventh hour onward. For from half of the sixth hour to half of the seventh the sun stands over everyone’s head, its shadow falls directly beneath it, and it leans to no side; from half of the seventh hour onward it leans in the sky toward the west. “Close to Minchah” is from the start of the seventh hour.

There is still plenty of time left in the day!

Rather, close to Minchah ketanah.

מנחה קטנה - at nine and a half hours, for they were accustomed not to delay it later than that, as we say in Tamid Nishchat; “close to” it is from the start of the tenth hour.

If they began, they do not stop^[4] –

אם התחילו אין מפסיקין - asked in surprise: and let the time pass?! Shall we say this is a refutation etc. – since here it teaches that they finish their meal.

shall we say this is a refutation of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, for Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Once the time of the Minchah prayer has arrived, a person may not taste anything before he prays the Minchah prayer?

No: really it means close to Minchah gedolah, and with the haircut of Ben Elasa.

בן אלעשה - he was Rebbi’s son-in-law, and he spent money to learn the haircut of the Kohen Gadol^[5] [Nedarim 51a]: he would cut all of his hair, but not entirely; he left all the hairs a little, so that the head (tip) of one lay beside the root of the next. This is they shall surely trim [their heads] (Yechezkel 44:20). And it takes a very long time.

Nor the bathhouse – for the whole bathing process.

לכולא מילתא דמרחץ - to wash his head, rinse in hot and cold water, and sweat.

Nor a tannery – a large tannery.

בורסקי גדולה - many hides, at the start of their processing.

Nor to eat – a large meal.

Nor to judge – at the start of a case.

Rav Acha bar Yaakov said: Really it means with our ordinary haircut.

Why may he not sit down from the outset?

It is a decree, lest the scissors break.

שמא ישבר הזוג - of scissors, and he will have to look for another pair.

Nor the bathhouse – merely to sweat.

למרחץ - here too, do not say for the whole bathing process, but merely to sweat.

Why not from the outset?

It is a decree, lest he faint.

יתעלפה - pasmer in Old French (to faint).

Nor a tannery – merely to inspect it.

לעיוני בעלמא - this is not the start of the work; even so, from the outset he should not enter it close to Minchah gedolah.

Why not from the outset?

Perhaps he will see a loss in his goods and be distressed.

דילמא חזי פסידא בזביניה - perhaps the hides inside it have spoiled.

ומטריד - he will be upset, preoccupied with his distress, and not pray.

Nor to eat – a small meal.

Why not from the outset?

Perhaps he will come to draw it out.

Nor to judge – at the conclusion of the case.

Why not from the outset?

Perhaps he will see a reason and overturn the ruling.

וסתרו דינא - they will overturn what they decided and retract, and it becomes the start of the judgment again.

From when is the start of a haircut?

מאימתי התחלת תספורת - such that we say he no longer stops, as we learned, If they began etc.

Rav Avin said: From when he places the barber’s cloth on his knees.

מעפורת - a cloth he places on his knees so that the hair does not fall on his clothes.

And from when is the start of bathing?

Rav Avin said: From when he takes off his cloak.

משיערה מעפרתו הימנו - his cloak, the first of his garments to come off.

And from when is the start of tanning?

From when he ties [his sleeves] between his shoulders.

משיקשור בין כתפיו - his sleeves, which are called bracier [in Old French].

And from when is the start of eating?

Rav said: From when he washes his hands.

And Rabbi Chanina said: From when he loosens his belt.

And they do not disagree: this is for us, and that is for them.

הא לן והא להו - the people of Bavel would gird themselves tightly, and when they ate they had to loosen their belts; the people of Eretz Yisrael did not have this practice of loosening the belt before washing the hands.

Abaye said: These Babylonian scholars! According to the one who says the evening prayer is optional,^[6] once he has loosened his belt we do not trouble him [to stop], and according to the one who says it is obligatory we do trouble him?!

למאן דאמר תפלת ערבית רשות - in Tractate Berachos (27b), because it corresponds to the burning of the fats and sacrificial parts,^[7] which do not hold back their atonement.

לא מטרחינן ליה - to stop; rather he finishes and afterwards prays.

ולמאן דאמר חובה כו' - asked in surprise.

But the Minchah prayer is obligatory according to everyone, and we learned: If they began, they do not stop, and Rabbi Chanina said: From when he loosens his belt!^[8]

מתני' לא ישב אדם לפני הספר סמוך למנחה עד שיתפלל - As for what is said in Arvei Pesachim (99b), on the eves of Shabbos and the eves of Yom Tov one should not eat until dark,^[9] that means even if he has prayed he should not eat, as it explains there, so that he enters Shabbos with an appetite; but if he has not prayed, it is forbidden even on other days, as it says here.

ואם התחילו אין מפסיקין - even if they began in a forbidden way,^[10] as is evident in Sukkah (38a) regarding one who came on the road with no lulav in his hand: he takes it at his table. The Gemara there asks, Is that to say that we stop? But we learned: if they began, they do not stop!, and it does not answer that here they began permissibly while with lulav they began forbiddenly, since its time is from the morning. The Gemara here implies the same, when it says, since he has loosened his belt, we do not trouble him. This also settles the difficulty in the Gemara at Shall we say this is a refutation of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi.

אין מפסיקין - and only where there is time left in the day to pray, as is implied in the Gemara, which says that at Minchah drunkenness is not common, implying that he must not lose the Minchah prayer. And in Sukkah (ibid.) it explicitly sets our Mishnah where there is time, answering the passage I brought above: this is where there is time, and that is where there is no time.

לימא תהוי תיובתא דר' יהושע בן לוי - the Gemara understands that even if he began he stops, since he says it is forbidden to taste. And if you ask: let it set our Mishnah where he began permissibly, for we find regarding havdalah (Pesachim 100a) the same language, a person may not taste anything before he makes havdalah, and even so it implies that if they began permissibly they do not stop, for it says there, Thus said Rav: havdalah does not fix [a break]; that applies where they had already settled down and were eating, but we do not begin from the outset. One can answer that it understands “if they began, they do not stop” to mean even if they began forbiddenly, as explained on the Mishnah.

בתספורת של בן אלעשה כו' - it seems that this is the halachah: a small meal is permitted at Minchah gedolah until the time of prayer, and only a large meal, such as a betrothal, wedding or bris meal, is forbidden – not like Rav Acha bar Yaakov, who forbids even a small meal close to Minchah gedolah. For the halachah follows the first version, which the Gemara gives us anonymously; and Rav Ashi, the later authority, arranged the Talmud, and the halachah follows him against Rav Acha bar Yaakov. And from what it says below, “from when is the start of judgment,” one cannot prove that the Mishnah speaks of the start of judgment, unlike Rav Acha, for one can say that it refers to “if they began, they do not stop.” However, close to Minchah ketanah even a small meal is forbidden, and if they began they stop. And although the Gemara, were it not for Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, would have set it as a small meal close to Minchah ketanah, with “if they began, they do not stop,” and we do not hold like Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, as it says in Perek Tefillas HaShachar (Berachos 28b) – nevertheless, since the anonymous Gemara concludes this way, it implies that on this point, that if they began they stop, we hold like him; only in what he said, that one may not taste even fruit, do we not hold like him.

הא לן והא לאו - the Kuntres (Rashi) explains that the people of Bavel would gird themselves tightly. This is implied just below, where it says, These Babylonian scholars! According to the one who says the evening prayer is optional, once he has loosened his belt we do not trouble him. Rabbi Chanina, who was in Eretz Yisrael, was speaking to his students who came from Bavel, and Rav, who was from Bavel, was speaking to his students who came from Eretz Yisrael – for their way was to go far off, since they could not devote themselves so much [to learning] at home. But this is difficult: at the end of Perek Keitzad Mevarchin (Berachos 44a) it says that Rav Chisda said for the land and for its fruits, and Rabbi Yochanan said for the land and for the fruits, and it says there that they do not disagree: this is for us, and that is for them. Rav Nachman objected to Rav Chisda: They eat and we bless?! What is his objection? Let him say that Rav Chisda was speaking to his students from Eretz Yisrael! One can answer that he knew that at that time there were no students from Eretz Yisrael before him.

למ"ד תפלת ערבית רשות לא מטרחינן ליה - and if you ask, let him stop for the sake of the Shema? One can answer: where he has already recited the Shema. And the Ri holds that even according to the one who says the evening prayer is optional, one may not neglect it for nothing, but only for some need, such as here, where he has loosened his belt; or if there is some mitzvah, even one that will not pass, he does the mitzvah and does not pray, although the mitzvah will not pass; but for nothing one may not neglect it. Know this, for Yaakov instituted it – why should it be neglected for nothing? Moreover, we say in Perek Tefillas HaShachar (ibid.) that it corresponds to the burning of the limbs, which goes on all night and does not hold back atonement but is a mitzvah; so too the evening prayer is a mitzvah. And there is no need to elaborate.

Notes

1. 1. Minchah, the afternoon prayer, corresponds to the afternoon tamid offering. Its earliest time, “Minchah gedolah,” is from six and a half hours into the day; “Minchah ketanah” is from nine and a half hours. The Gemara asks which of the two the Mishnah means.
2. 2. This is a Mishnah later in the perek (Shabbos 11a): a tailor should not go out with his needle close to dark on Friday, lest he forget it is with him and carry it out after Shabbos begins. Rashi’s point is that our rule is not about Shabbos at all; it is taught here only because of that resemblance.
3. 3. A tannery, where hides are processed. Like the haircut, the bath, the meal and the court case, work there can stretch on until the time of prayer has passed.
4. 4. That is, one who began one of these activities before the time of prayer came may finish it and pray afterwards, even though in the meantime the time of Minchah has arrived.
5. 5. The haircut of the Kohen Gadol, described in Nedarim 51a, was cut so that the tip of each hair lay beside the root of the next. Ben Elasa spent a fortune to learn it; such a haircut takes a very long time, which is why it may not be started close to Minchah.
6. 6. Whether the evening prayer (Maariv) is obligatory like the other prayers or optional is a dispute in Berachos 27b: Rabban Gamliel holds it is obligatory, Rabbi Yehoshua that it is optional.
7. 7. The fats and limbs of the offerings were burned on the altar, and this could go on all night. The atonement does not depend on it, since it is already achieved when the blood is applied; so the prayer that corresponds to it is optional.
8. 8. Abaye’s point: Minchah is obligatory according to all, yet once a meal has begun – which, according to Rabbi Chanina, is from loosening the belt – one does not stop for it. Why then should one stop for Maariv according to the view that it is obligatory? The Gemara answers on the next amud (10a).
9. 9. In Pesachim 99b a teaching says that on the eve of Shabbos or Yom Tov one should not eat from Minchah time on, so as to enter the holy day with an appetite. Tosfos explains that this applies even after praying, while our Mishnah forbids eating before praying on any day.
10. 10. “Began in a forbidden way” means that he began after the time of the obligation had already arrived, when he should not have begun. Tosfos proves from the lulav case in Sukkah 38a that even then he need not stop.