Pt1 Anecdotes in Shabbat and Eruvin: A Selected Anthology
This is the first part of a two-part series. The outline of the series is below.1
This collection assembles a sequence of brief Talmudic anecdotes embedded within halakhic discussions in tractates Shabbat and Eruvin. Although heterogeneous in subject matter, the stories share a common literary function: they concretize abstract legal principles through narrated incidents involving named sages, unnamed individuals, local communities, and occasional marginal figures (non-Jews, heretics, demons).2 The anecdotes are not presented as independent narratives but as illustrative material, typically introduced with formulae such as ma‘aseh (“there was an incident”) or embedded as explanatory glosses to legal statements.
A dominant thematic axis is the lived experience of Shabbat and its legal boundaries. Several stories explore economic preparation for Shabbat (Yosef “who cherishes Shabbat” and the fish with the pearl), physical well-being and medical intervention on or around Shabbat (the asafoetida remedy), and spatial limits (teḥumin) and their practical consequences (boats traveling beyond limits, teachings transmitted impossibly fast between cities, charity distributions coordinated at boundary lines).
In these narratives, halakhic categories are tested against concrete situations involving urgency, uncertainty, or competing values. The stories often preserve ambiguity—whether about chronology, responsibility, or interpretation—rather than resolving every tension explicitly.
Another recurring theme is authority and transmission of knowledge. Several anecdotes focus on who may decide or recall halakha, and under what circumstances: a sage remembering a ruling only later during study; a disciple punished for ruling in his teacher’s presence; differing personal stringencies among leading rabbis confronted with the same situation. These stories frame legal knowledge as situational, socially mediated, and bound to hierarchies of learning. Memory, presence, and context emerge as structurally significant elements in the formation of halakhic discourse.
The anecdotes also juxtapose human agency with forces beyond ordinary control. Prophecy, astrology, miracle, illness, and supernatural intermediaries (Elijah, demons) appear alongside mundane acts such as buying fish, fencing fields, or soaking medicinal plants.
Literarily, the anecdotes are concise and economical. Characterization is minimal and functional: individuals are defined by a single trait (pious, wealthy, defiant, forgetful) relevant to the legal point at issue. Dialogue is often schematic, serving to foreground a dilemma or a ruling rather than psychological depth. Closure varies: some stories end with a proverb-like maxim, others with death, survival, or unresolved tension.
Outline
Intro
Anecdotes in Shabbat and Eruvin: A Selected Anthology
Yosef “Who Cherishes Shabbat”; unnamed non-Jew; astrologers - A wealthy neighbor sells all his assets to avoid a prophecy that Yosef will inherit them; a pearl hidden in a fish is bought by Yosef on Friday and yields immense wealth - Shabbat 119a
Rav Ḥisda’s daughter immersed shortly after childbirth while her husband Rava was absent, caught cold, and died - Shabbat 129a
Elisha “Man of Wings” - Elisha defiantly wore tefillin under Roman persecution and was miraculously saved - Shabbat 130a
R’ Oshaya; R’ Zeira; R’ Yehuda the Cutter (=Circumcisor) - forgot a ruling and later recalled it during study - Shabbat 130b
R’ Yoḥanan; town of Maon - A death occurred on a Festival adjacent to Shabbat - Shabbat 139a
Rav Aḥa bar Yosef; Mar Ukva; Rav Huna - Heart ailment treated with asafoetida; question of Shabbat preparation - Shabbat 140a
Sub-Anecdote - Rav Ḥiyya bar Avin said to them: There was an incident that happened with me, and I came and asked that question to Rav Adda bar Ahava
Part 2
A pious man (‘hasid’) - Refrained from fixing a fence breach on Shabbat; miracle plant grew - Shabbat 150b
Rabba bar Avuh; Exilarch - Constructed multiple eruvin in Meḥoza - Eruvin 26a
R’ Ḥanina - Ate toxic onion portion; nearly died; prayed for - Eruvin 29b
Rabban Gamliel; R’ Elazar b. Azariah; R’ Yehoshua; R’ Akiva - Boat traveled beyond Shabbat limits - Eruvin 41b
Rav Ḥisda; Rava; Elijah (proposed); Yosef the Demon - Teachings transmitted impossibly fast over Shabbat between cities - Eruvin 43a
Memel & Guryon families - Charity distribution coordinated around Shabbat limits - Eruvin 51b
Rabban Gamliel; Sadducee neighbor - Securing alleyway usage before Sadducee could retract - Eruvin 61b
R’ Eliezer; his disciple - Disciple ruled law in teacher’s presence and died - Eruvin 63a
R’ Yehoshua b. Ḥananya; heretic - Verse used polemically against Israel; reinterpreted - Eruvin 101a
Yosef “Who Cherishes Shabbat”; unnamed non-Jew; astrologers - A wealthy neighbor sells all his assets to avoid a prophecy that Yosef will inherit them; a pearl hidden in a fish is bought by Yosef on Friday and yields immense wealth - Shabbat 119a
יוסף מוקר שבי,
הוה ההוא גוי בשבבותיה דהוה נפישי נכסיה טובא.
אמרי ליה כלדאי:
כולהו נכסי —
יוסף מוקר שבי אכיל להו.
The Talmud relates with regard to Yosef who cherishes Shabbat:
There was a non-Jew in his neighborhood whose property was extremely plentiful.
The astrologers4 said to the non-Jew
with regard to all his property:
Yosef who cherishes Shabbat will consume it.
אזל זבנינהו לכולהו ניכסי,
זבן בהו מרגניתא,
אותבה בסייניה.
בהדי דקא עבר מברא —
אפרחיה זיקא,
שדייה במיא,
בלעיה כוורא.
The non-Jew went and sold all of his property,
and with the money he received he bought a pearl,5
and he placed it in his hat (סייניה).
When he was crossing a river in a ferry (מברא),
the wind blew his hat
and cast it into the water,
and a fish swallowed it.
אסקוה,
אייתוה אפניא דמעלי שבתא.
אמרי: מאן זבין כי השתא?
אמרי להו:
זילו אמטיוה לגבי יוסף מוקר שבי
דרגיל דזבין.
אמטיוה ניהליה,
זבניה
The fish was caught and removed from the water
and it was brought to shore adjacent to nightfall on Friday.
The fishermen said: Who buys fish at a time like this?
The townspeople said to the fishermen:
Go bring it to Yosef who cherishes Shabbat,
as he regularly purchases delicacies in deference to Shabbat.
They brought it to him
and he purchased it.
קרעיה
אשכח ביה מרגניתא.
זבניה בתליסר עיליתא דדינרי דדהבא
He ripped the fish open
and found a pearl inside it.
He sold it for 13 vessels (עיליתא) filled with golden dinars (Tosafot).
פגע ביה ההוא סבא,
אמר:
מאן דיזיף שבתא —
פרעיה שבתא.
This elderly man encountered him
and said:
One who lends to Shabbat,
Shabbat repays him.
Rav Ḥisda’s daughter immersed shortly after childbirth while her husband Rava was absent, caught cold, and died - Shabbat 129a
אמר רבא:
לא אמרן אלא שאין בעלה עמה,
אבל בעלה עמה —
בעלה מחממה.
Rava said:
We say that the ruling that she does not immerse during that period applies only when her husband is not with her.
However, if her husband is with her --
her husband warms her by having sex with her, and she is not susceptible to catching cold,
כי הא דברתיה דרב חסדא
טבלה בגו תלתין יומין שלא בפני בעלה
ואצטניאת,
ואמטיוהא לערסה בתריה דרבא לפומבדיתא.
as is illustrated in this incident involving the daughter of Rav Ḥisda, Rava’s wife.
She immersed within thirty days of giving birth, not in the presence of her husband,
and caught cold,
and afterward they brought her funeral bier (ערסה) after Rava to Pumbedita.
Elisha “Man of Wings” - Elisha defiantly wore tefillin under Roman persecution and was miraculously saved - Shabbat 130a
דאמר רבי ינאי: תפילין צריכין גוף נקי כאלישע בעל כנפים.
מאי היא?
אמר אביי: שלא יפיח בהם,
רבא אמר: שלא יישן בהם.
The Talmud cites proof that the mitzva of tefillin was not fulfilled properly at the time of the decrees, based upon an incident related to the following halakha.
As R’ Yannai said: Donning tefillin requires a clean body like that of Elisha, Man of Wings.
What is included in the requirement to have a clean body?
Abaye said: That one may not pass wind (יפיח) in them.
Rava said: That one may not sleep in them.
ואמאי קרו ליה ״אלישע בעל כנפים״?
שפעם אחת גזרה מלכות הרשעה גזרה על ישראל
שכל המניח תפילין על ראשו —
יקרו את מוחו,
The Talmud asks: And why did they call him “Elisha, Man of Wings”?
Because on one occasion the wicked empire of Rome issued a decree against the Jewish people
that anyone who dons tefillin on his head --
as punishment, they would pierce his brain
והיה אלישע מניח תפילין
ויצא לשוק,
וראהו קסדור אחד.
רץ מלפניו
ורץ אחריו.
Nevertheless, Elisha would don them
and defiantly go out to the marketplace.
One day, an official7 who was appointed to enforce the Roman decree saw him.
Elisha ran away from him,
and the official ran after him.
כיון שהגיע אצלו,
נטלן מראשו ואחזן בידו.
אמר לו: מה בידך?
אמר לו: כנפי יונה.
פשט את ידו
ונמצאו בה כנפי יונה.
לפיכך היו קוראין אותו ״בעל כנפים״.
When the official reached him,
Elisha removed the tefillin from his head and held them in his hand.
The officer asked him: What is in your hand?
Elisha said to him: It is merely a dove’s wings.
A miracle took place: He opened his hand,
And, indeed, it was found to be a dove’s wings.8
Therefore, in commemoration of this miracle, they would call him Elisha, Man of Wings.
R’ Oshaya; R’ Zeira; R’ Yehuda the Cutter (=Circumcisor) - forgot a ruling and later recalled it during study - Shabbat 130b
ואמר רבי אושעיא:
שאילית את רבי יהודה הגוזר
ואמר לי:
[...]
And R’ Oshaya said:
I asked R’ Yehuda the Cutter, i.e., the circumcisor,
and he told me that this incident occurred
[...]
אמר ליה:
והא זימנין בעאי מינך ולא אמרת לי הכי!
דילמא אגב שיטפך רהיט לך גמרך?
אמר ליה:
אין,
אגב שיטפא רהיט לי גמרי.
R’ Zeira said to him:
But on a different occasion I raised a dilemma on this matter before you and you did not say so to me.
Perhaps in the course of your studies your knowledge (גמרך) was restored to you?
He said to him:
Yes,
in the course of my studies my knowledge was restored to me, and I remembered this halakha.
R’ Yoḥanan; town of Maon - A death occurred on a Festival adjacent to Shabbat - Shabbat 139a
אמר רבי יהודה בר שילת, אמר רבי אסי:
עובדא הוה בבי כנישתא דמעון ביום טוב הסמוך לשבת,
ולא ידענא אי מלפניה אי מלאחריה,
ואתו לקמיה דרבי יוחנן,
ואמר להו:
יתעסקון ביה עממין.
R’ Yehuda bar Sheilat says that R’ Asi said:
There was an incident in the synagogue of the settlement of Maon on a Festival adjacent to Shabbat
A person died, and I do not know whether the Festival occurred before Shabbat or after Shabbat
And they came before R’ Yoḥanan,
and he said to them:
Let non-Jews (עממין) attend (יתעסקון) to his burial.
Rav Aḥa bar Yosef; Mar Ukva; Rav Huna - Heart ailment treated with asafoetida; question of Shabbat preparation - Shabbat 140a
למאי עבדי ליה?
ליוקרא דליבא.
The Talmud asks: For what purpose is soaked asafoetida prepared?9
The Talmud answers: As a cure for heaviness of the heart.10
One who feels a pain in his heart drinks asafoetida.
רב אחא בר יוסף חש ביוקרא דליבא.
אתא לקמיה דמר עוקבא.
אמר ליה: זיל שתי תלתא תיקלי חילתיתא בתלתא יומי.
The Talmud relates: Rav Aḥa bar Yosef felt heaviness in his heart.
He came before Mar Ukva to ask his advice.
Mar Ukva said to him: Go drink the weight of three shekels of asafoetida in three days.
אזל אישתי חמשא בשבתא ומעלי שבתא.
לצפרא
אזל שאל בי מדרשא.
אמרו ליה:
תנא דבי רב אדא,
ואמרי לה תנא דבי מר בר רב אדא:
שותה אדם קב או קביים
ואינו חושש.
He went and drank on Thursday and Friday.
In the morning,
he went and asked in the study hall if he could drink it on Shabbat
They said to him:
The Sage from the school of Rav Adda taught,
and others say, that the Sage from the school of Mar bar Rav Adda taught:
A person may drink asafoetida on Shabbat, even a kav or two kav,
and he need not be concerned about the decree prohibiting medicine, because asafoetida is drunk by healthy people as well.
אמר להו:
לשתות —
לא קמיבעיא לי,
כי קא מיבעיא לי —
לשרות,
מאי?
Rav Aḥa bar Yosef said to them:
With regard to drinking,
I have no dilemma.
When I raised a dilemma,
it is with regard to soaking asafoetida;
what is the halakha?
Sub-Anecdote - Rav Ḥiyya bar Avin said to them: There was an incident that happened with me, and I came and asked that question to Rav Adda bar Ahava
אמר להו רב חייא בר אבין:
בדידי הוה עובדא,
ואתאי שאילתיה לרב אדא בר אהבה
ולא הוה בידיה.
אתאי שאילתיה לרב הונא,
ואמר:
הכי קאמר רב,
שורה בצונן ומניח בחמה.
Rav Ḥiyya bar Avin said to them:
There was an incident that happened with me,
and I came and asked that question to Rav Adda bar Ahava,
and he did not have an answer for it.
I came and asked Rav Huna,
and he said that
this is what Rav is saying:
One may soak asafoetida in cold water and place it in the sun to warm it so it will be fit to drink.
On marginal figures in the Talmud, compare my “Figures on the Fringes: Named Non-rabbis in the Talmudic Literature“.
On this famous story, see the Hebrew Wikipedia entry “יוסף מוקיר שבת“.
כלדאי - literally: “Chaldeans”.
On this term, see my note in “Stars, Serpents, and Salvation: Three Talmudic Tales of Astrological Fate and Divine Intervention (Shabbat 156b)“, on section “R’ Akiva’s Daughter: The Wedding Day Horoscope and a Dangerous Snake’s Demise“.
מרגניתא - from Greek.
On this story, see Hebrew Wikipedia, “אלישע בעל כנפיים“.
קסדור - from Latin.
See my extended footnote on this term in “ “Destined for the World-to-Come”: The Trial and Martyrdom of R’ Ḥanina ben Teradyon by Burning at the Stake (Avodah Zarah 18a)“, on section “The Roman Executioner (Quaestionarius) Mercifully Hastens R’ Ḥanina ben Teradyon’s Death, Takes His Own Life, and a Bat Kol Proclaims Their Entry to the World-to-Come“.
The Talmud adds a gloss, after the end of the story, Shabbat.130a.17:
מאי שנא כנפי יונה דאמר ליה,
ולא אמר ליה שאר עופות?
The Talmud asks: And what is different about a dove’s wings, that Elisha specifically told him that he was holding the wings of a dove
and he did not tell him he was holding the wings of other birds?
משום דדמיא כנסת ישראל ליונה,
שנאמר:
״כנפי יונה נחפה בכסף
ואברותיה בירקרק חרוץ״
מה יונה זו
כנפיה מגינות עליה,
אף ישראל
מצות מגינות עליהן.
The Talmud answers: Because the congregation of Israel is likened to a dove,
as it is stated:
“You shall shine as the wings of a dove covered with silver
and her pinions with yellow gold” (Psalms 68:14).
Just as a dove
has only its wings to protect it,
so too, the Jewish people
have only mitzvot to protect them.
The Talmudic sugya is discussing the following line in the Mishnah, Shabbat.140a.11, in the context of the permissibility of medicine and remedies on Shabbat:
אין שורין את החילתית בפושרין,
אבל נותן לתוך החומץ.
One may not soak asafoetida (חילתית) in lukewarm water (פושרין) to prepare a medicinal drink from it;
however, one may place it into vinegar like a standard spice.
On this plant, see Wikipedia, “Asafoetida“:
Asafoetida (/æsəˈfɛtɪdə/; also spelled asafetida) is the dried latex (gum oleoresin) exuded from the rhizome or tap root of several species of Ferula, perennial herbs of the carrot family.
It is produced in Iran, Afghanistan, India, Central Asia and Northwest China (Xinjiang). Different regions have different botanical sources.
Asafoetida has a pungent smell, as reflected in its name, lending it the common name of “stinking gum”.
The odour dissipates upon cooking; in cooked dishes, it delivers a smooth flavour reminiscent of leeks or other onion relatives.
And see ibid., section “History“:
Asafoetida was familiar in the early Mediterranean, having come by land across Iran […]
Asafoetida is also mentioned numerous times in Jewish literature, such as the Mishnah (E.B. our Mishnah under discussion).
Maimonides also writes in the Mishneh Torah: “In the rainy season, one should eat warm food with much spice, but a limited amount of mustard and asafoetida [חִלְתִּית chiltit].”
While it is generally forgotten now in Europe, it is widely used in India.
יוקרא דליבא.
This illness, and a remedy for it, is mentioned elsewhere in the Talmud as well, see my “Pt2 The Talmudic Sugya of Remedies (Gittin 69a-b)“, section “Remedy for Heart Heaviness (#4)“. I summarize the remedy there:
Ingredients: Three barley loaves soaked in kamka (כמכא - a milk and bread-crumb mixture) less than 40 days old.
Procedure: Eat the loaves and drink diluted wine afterward.