SHABBOS - 031b – במה מדליקין – פרק שני – שבת, לא ע”ב

Fear of Heaven is like a treasurer who was given the keys to the inner rooms but was not given the keys to the outer rooms: by what way can he enter?

יראת שמים דומה - to the outer doors, through which one enters the inner ones. So too, if he fears Heaven, he becomes anxious to guard and to do; and if not, he does not care about his Torah.

בהי עייל - through which door will he enter to open the inner ones?

Rabbi Yannai would proclaim: Woe to one who has no courtyard, yet makes a gate for the courtyard!^[1]

Rav Yehudah said: The Holy One, Blessed is He, created His world only so that people should fear Him, as it is said (Koheles 3:14): And G‑d has made it so that they should fear Him.

Rabbi Simon and Rabbi Elazar were sitting, and Rabbi Yaakov bar Acha passed by.

One said to the other: Let us stand before him, for he is a man who fears sin.

The other said to him: Let us stand before him, for he is a man of Torah learning.

He said to him: I tell you that he is a man who fears sin, and you tell me he is a man of Torah learning?!

(ואנא) אמינא לך - that is, you have diminished his praise.

Conclude that it was Rabbi Elazar who said he is a man who fears sin,

for Rabbi Yochanan said in the name of Rabbi Elazar: The Holy One, Blessed is He, has nothing in His world but the fear of Heaven alone, as it is said (Devarim 10:12): And now, Israel, what does Hashem your G‑d ask of you, but to fear etc.,

and it is written (Iyov 28:28): And He said to man: Behold (hen), the fear of Hashem, that is wisdom etc.,

הן יראת ה' - the fear of G‑d is the one and only thing in the world.

for in Greek they call one hen.^[2]

Conclude so.

Rav Ulla expounded: What is the meaning of that which is written (Koheles 7:17): Do not be very wicked etc.?

It is very that one should not be wicked, but a little one may be wicked?!

Rather: one who ate garlic and his breath smells — should he go back and eat more garlic so that his breath smells?

מי שאכל שום וריחו נודף כו' - this is the resolution. That is, the verse says: If you have sinned a little, do not add to your wickedness; for one who ate garlic and his breath already smells to his friends — should he go back and eat more, so that it smells even longer?

Rava bar Rav Ulla expounded: What is the meaning of that which is written (Tehillim 73:4): For there are no pangs (chartzubos) at their death, and their strength is firm?

The Holy One, Blessed is He, said: Is it not enough for the wicked that they do not tremble and grieve over the day of death, but their heart is as firm to them as a hall (ulam)?

חרדין ועצבין - an acronym of chartzubos.

כאולם - whose entrance is open and wide.

And this is what Rabbah said: What is the meaning of that which is written (Tehillim 49:14): This is their way, folly (kesel) is theirs?

זה דרכם - just before it is written their inward thought is that their houses are forever, which refers to the grave; and then it is written this is their way, folly is theirs. That is, they know that this is their way, but kesel is theirs — their kidneys are covered with their fat, which keeps their kidneys from considering their end. And lest you say that because of the fat they forgot, and they are unwitting — the verse says and after them: what will come to their souls after their destruction, they declare with their mouths and tell it always — and even so they do not repent.

The wicked know that their way leads to death, but they have fat on their loins (kislam).

Lest you say it is forgetfulness on their part — the verse says: and what comes after them, they declare with their mouths, Selah.

As one who spares the lamp etc.:^[3]

Whom does Rabbi Yosi follow?^[4]

If he follows Rabbi Yehudah, he should hold one liable even in those cases!

And if he follows Rabbi Shimon, he should exempt for the wick too!

אפי' בפתילה נמי ליפטר - for one who spares the wick, too, does not need the labor for its own sake: the labor is extinguishing, and he does not need the extinguishing itself, for had it never been lit he would have been happier. Even if it had been singed beforehand — since he wants to spare it, he would have preferred that more of it remain.

Ulla said: In truth he follows Rabbi Yehudah, and Rabbi Yosi holds: demolishing in order to rebuild in its place is demolishing; in order to rebuild not in its place, it is not demolishing.

לעולם כר' יהודה סבירא ליה - who does not exempt on account of a labor not needed for its own sake, since it is needed for something else — it is purposeful labor. And when he extinguishes it to spare the oil and the lamp, the reason he is exempt is that he holds that only demolishing in order to rebuild in its place is demolishing. Every destructive act on Shabbos is exempt, for it is not purposeful labor; and the demolishing taught among the principal labors, for which one is liable, is demolishing in order to build, where one cannot build unless he demolishes — and then it is not destruction. Rabbi Yosi holds that only if he rebuilds in its place is one liable for demolishing, and otherwise not. And extinguishing is like demolishing, and tearing too is like demolishing; therefore we learned one who tears in order to sew, and likewise erasing we learned in order to write, for they are all forms of demolishing. Therefore, with the wick, his sparing of it is only in order to light it; so he extinguishes in order to light — that is in its place. But when he spares the lamp or the oil, he does not spare the wick and does not care if he throws it away. Even if he needs the oil to light another wick in this lamp later, this is not demolishing in order to rebuild in its place, for the extinguishing and the kindling are not in the oil nor in the lamp but in the wick; so demolishing and building apply only to the wick, and since he does not intend to light this wick again, there is no building in the place of the demolishing. And what it teaches, because he makes charcoal, means: because they make charcoal from the start, and it stands to have fire caught on it again, and there is building in the place of demolishing. Our teachers explain that regarding the lamp and the oil one could say he needs them for something else and not for lighting. But it seems to me that we do not need this forced reading; for just because one could say so, we need not exempt him, since he knows why he spares them, and an ordinary lamp is only for lighting a wick in it.

Rabbah said to him: After all, we derive all the labors from the Mishkan, and there it was demolishing in order to rebuild not in its place!

ומשכן סותר על מנת לבנות שלא במקומו הוא - for they would take it down at this encampment, travel to another place, encamp, and set it up again.

He said to him: There it is different; since it is written (Bamidbar 9:18): By the word of Hashem they would encamp, it is like demolishing in order to rebuild in its place.^[5]

And Rabbi Yochanan said: In truth he follows Rabbi Shimon.

כר' שמעון - who exempts because it is not needed for its own sake. And the reason he is liable when he spares the wick is, for example, where he needs to singe it because it was not singed while it was still day; for this extinguishing is needed for its own sake, so that the flame catches it easily when he comes to light it.

And what is different about the wick?

As Rav Hamnuna said, and some say Rav Adda bar Ahavah: Here we are dealing with a wick that needs to be singed; in that case even Rabbi Shimon agrees, for he is improving a utensil.^[6]

Rava said: The wording is precise too, for it teaches: because he makes charcoal, and it does not teach: because it becomes charcoal.

שהוא עושה פחם - that he actually intends to make it into a kind of charcoal now. So it deals with extinguishing needed for its own sake; and it does not teach that it became charcoal at the start, having been singed, where we could say the reason is that it is fit for building, so that there is building in the place of demolishing — which is not so with the oil and the lamp, to which building and demolishing do not apply.

Conclude from it.

Mishnah

For three transgressions women die at the time of childbirth:

בשעת לידתן - the Gemara explains why specifically at the time of childbirth.

for not being careful with niddah, with challah, and with the kindling of the lamp.

Gemara

Niddah — what is the reason?

הכי גרסינן - Niddah — what is the reason?

Rabbi Yitzchak said: She sinned in the chambers of her womb; therefore she is struck in the chambers of her womb.

קלקלה - she rebelled.

בחדרי בטנה - the source of her blood.

That works for niddah; for challah and the kindling of the lamp, what is there to say?

As a certain Galilean expounded before Rav Chisda: The Holy One, Blessed is He, said: A revi'is of blood I placed in you; concerning blood I warned you^[7]

רביעית דם - a person's life depends on it.

Tosafos

וסותר על מנת לבנות במקומו - And Rabbi Shimon exempts even demolishing in order to rebuild in its place, except where, through the demolishing, there is an improvement (in the later building) beyond what there would be had the first building never been there — such as a wick that needs singeing, for which Rabbi Shimon holds one liable, as is said shortly. And if you ask: according to Rabbi Shimon, what of the Mishnah in the chapter Klal Gadol (Shabbos 73a), one who extinguishes and one who demolishes? Granted extinguishing — we find a case where he improves, as explained, for example to make charcoal. But demolishing — we cannot find that he improves through this demolishing beyond what there would be had it never been built there; so why is one liable according to Rabbi Shimon? One may answer: all of them are derived from the Mishkan, and there was no extinguishing in the Mishkan except to make charcoal, so Rabbi Shimon holds one liable only in such a case; but demolishing we find in the Mishkan where there was no improvement through this demolishing beyond what there would be had it never been built there, so there even Rabbi Shimon holds one liable. And if you ask: since for demolishing and extinguishing we require that it be in order to build and to kindle, then in the chapter Klal Gadol (there), where we learned one who extinguishes and one who demolishes, it should have taught: one who extinguishes in order to kindle, and one who demolishes in order to build — just as it teaches one who erases in order to write two letters and one who tears in order to sew two stitches. One may answer: there too it teaches it only because it needs to teach the measure of two letters and two stitches; but with extinguishing and demolishing in order to kindle and to build, one is liable for any amount, so there was no need to teach it.

Notes

1. 1. Torah without fear of Heaven is like making a gate for a courtyard one does not have — fear of Heaven is the entrance to Torah.
2. 2. Hen in Greek means one: fear of Heaven is the one thing Hashem asks.
3. 3. The Mishnah (Shabbos 29b): one who extinguishes the lamp because he wants to spare the lamp, the oil or the wick is liable; Rabbi Yosi exempts in all of them except the wick, because he makes charcoal.
4. 4. Rabbi Yehudah holds one liable for a labor not needed for its own sake; Rabbi Shimon exempts.
5. 5. The Mishkan traveled and encamped by Hashem's word, so it counts as if it were rebuilt in its place.
6. 6. Singeing — burning the tip of the wick a little so that it lights easily; the extinguishing improves it, so it is needed for its own sake.
7. 7. The derashah continues on 32a.