Pt2 Anecdotes in Shabbat and Eruvin: A Selected Anthology
This is the second and final part of a two-part series. Part 1 is here; the outline of the series can be found at Part 1.
Part 2
A pious man (‘hasid’) - Refrained from fixing a fence breach on Shabbat; miracle plant grew - Shabbat 150b
אין מחשיכין.
תנו רבנן:
מעשה בחסיד אחד
שנפרצה לו פרצה בתוך שדהו
ונמלך עליה לגודרה,
ונזכר ששבת הוא,
ונמנע אותו חסיד ולא גדרה,
ונעשה לו נס
ועלתה בו צלף,
וממנה היתה פרנסתו ופרנסת אנשי ביתו.
We learned in the Mishnah that one may not wait for nightfall at the edge of the Shabbat boundary in order to hire workers or bring produce from outside of the boundary immediately after Shabbat
A baraita states:
There was an incident with a pious man2 in which
a breach (פרצה) was made in the fence around his field,
and when he saw it he decided (נמלך) to fence it in (לגודרה).
And then he remembered that it was Shabbat
And that pious man refrained from fixing the fence forever because he had thought about fixing it on Shabbat
And a miracle was done for him,
and a caper bush (צלף) grew in the breach, thereby closing it up.
And from it and its produce he from then on received his livelihood and the livelihood of the members of his household.
Rabba bar Avuh; Exilarch - Constructed multiple eruvin in Meḥoza; Critiqued by the Exilarch - Eruvin 26a
דהא רבה בר אבוה
מערב לה לכולה מחוזא ערסייתא ערסייתא
משום פירא דבי תורי.
[...]
קרי עלייהו ריש גלותא:
״חכמים המה להרע
ולהיטיב לא ידעו״.
This is as Rabba bar Avuh did,
when he constructed an eiruv separately for each row of houses (ערסייתא ערסייתא) in the whole town of Meḥoza,
due to the ditches (פירא) from which the cattle would feed that separated the rows of houses from one another.
[...]
With regard to the resolution of this incident, the Exilarch recited the following verse about these Rabbis:
“They are wise to do evil,
but to do good they have no knowledge” (Jeremiah 4:22),
R’ Ḥanina - Ate toxic onion portion; nearly died; prayed for - Eruvin 29b
תנו רבנן:
לא יאכל אדם בצל,
מפני נחש שבו.
A baraita states:
A person should not eat onion
because of the toxins3 in it.
ומעשה ברבי חנינא
שאכל חצי בצל וחצי נחש שבו
וחלה ונטה למות,
ובקשו חביריו רחמים עליו
וחיה,
מפני שהשעה צריכה לו.
There was an incident with R’ Ḥanina,
who ate half an onion and thus half of its toxins,
and he fell deathly ill,
and his colleagues prayed for mercy for him,
and he survived.
He was rescued only because the time needed him,
as his generation was in need of his teaching, but otherwise he would not have recovered.
Rabban Gamliel; R’ Elazar b. Azariah; R’ Yehoshua; R’ Akiva - Boat traveled beyond Shabbat limits - Eruvin 41b (Mishnah 4:1)
Eruvin 41b.9 (= Mishnah_Eruvin.4.1)
מעשה שבאו מפלנדרסין,
והפליגה ספינתם בים.
רבן גמליאל
ורבי אלעזר בן עזריה
הלכו את כולה,
רבי יהושע
ורבי עקיבא
לא זזו מארבע אמות,
שרצו להחמיר על עצמן.
The Mishnah relates: There was an incident where all of these Sages were coming from Pelandarsin,4 an overseas location,
and their boat set sail (הפליגה) on the sea on Shabbat, taking them beyond their Shabbat limit.
Rabban Gamliel
and R’ Elazar ben Azarya
walked about the entire boat, as they hold that the entire boat is considered like four cubits,
while
R’ Yehoshua
and R’ Akiva
did not move beyond four cubits,
as they sought to be stringent with themselves.
Rav Ḥisda; Rava; Elijah (proposed); Yosef the Demon - Teachings transmitted impossibly fast over Shabbat between cities - Eruvin 43a
תא שמע:
הני שב שמעתא דאיתאמרן בצפרא בשבתא קמיה דרב חסדא בסורא,
בהדי פניא בשבתא קמיה דרבא בפומבדיתא.
The Talmud cites another proof: Come and hear a resolution
from the incident involving the seven teachings (שמעתא) that were first said on Shabbat morning before Rav Ḥisda in Sura
and then repeated toward the conclusion of that Shabbat before Rava in Pumbedita,
despite the fact that the distance between them is too great for someone to have traversed it on Shabbat
מאן אמרינהו?
לאו אליהו אמרינהו?
אלמא אין תחומין למעלה מעשרה!
לא,
דלמא יוסף שידא אמרינהו.
Who said those teachings, and delivered them from one place to the other?
Was it not Elijah the Prophet, who traveled from Sura to Pumbedita by way of a miraculous leap through the air above ten handbreadths from the ground, who said them?
Apparently, the prohibition of Shabbat limits does not apply above ten5 handbreadths, for Elijah would not have transgressed this prohibition.
The Talmud rejects this argument: This is no proof;
perhaps Yosef the demon, who does not observe Shabbat, reported these teachings and brought them from Sura to Pumbedita.6
Memel & Guryon families; the poor people of K’far Shiḥin and K’far Ḥananya - Charity distribution coordinated around Shabbat limits - Eruvin 51b
אמר רבי יהודה:
מעשה
באנשי בית ממל
ובאנשי בית גוריון
בארומא
שהיו מחלקין גרוגרות וצימוקין לעניים בשני בצורת,
ובאין
עניי כפר שיחין
ועניי כפר חנניה
ומחשיכין על התחום,
למחרת משכימין ובאין.
The baraita continues.
R’ Yehuda said:
There was an incident involving
the members of the household of the Memel family
and members of the household of Guryon family
in the village of Aroma,
who were distributing dried figs (גרוגרות) and raisins to the paupers in years of famine (בצורת),
and
the paupers of the village of Shiḥin (כפר שיחין)
and the paupers of the village of Ḥananya (כפר חנניה)
would come to the edge of the Shabbat limit at nightfall, which was also within the Shabbat limit of Aroma, and then go home.
The following day they would rise early and go to receive their figs and raisins.
Rabban Gamliel; Sadducee neighbor - Securing alleyway usage before Sadducee could retract - Eruvin 61b (Mishnah 6:2)
Eruvin 61b.13 (= Mishnah_Eruvin.6.2)
אמר רבן גמליאל:
מעשה בצדוקי אחד שהיה דר עמנו במבוי בירושלים,
ואמר לנו אבא:
מהרו והוציאו את הכלים למבוי,
עד שלא יוציא
ויאסר עליכם.
Rabban Gamliel said:
There was an incident involving a certain Sadducee who lived with us in the same alleyway (מבוי) in Jerusalem (i.e., prior to the Destruction in year 70 CE), who renounced his rights to the alleyway before Shabbat
And Father7 said to us:
Hurry and take out your utensils to the alleyway to establish possession of it,
before he changes his mind and takes out his own utensils so as to reclaim his rights,
in which case he would render it prohibited for you to use the entire alleyway.
R’ Eliezer’s disciple ruled law in teacher’s presence and died - Eruvin 63a
ותלמיד אחד היה לו לרבי אליעזר,
שהורה הלכה בפניו.
אמר רבי אליעזר לאימא שלום אשתו:
תמיה אני אם יוציא זה שנתו.
ולא הוציא שנתו.
It was further related8 that R’ Eliezer had a certain disciple
who issued a halakhic ruling in his presence.
R’ Eliezer said to his wife, Imma Shalom:
I will be surprised if this one completes his year, i.e., if he lives until the end of the year.
And so it was, he did not complete his year.
R’ Yehoshua b. Ḥananya; heretic - Verse used polemically against Israel; reinterpreted - Eruvin 101a
אמר ליה ההוא מינא לרבי יהושע בן חנניה:
חדקאה!
דכתיב בכו:
״טובם כחדק״.
With regard to bundles of thorns used to seal a breach, the Talmud cites a related incident:
A certain heretic once said to R’ Yehoshua ben Ḥananya:
Man of thorns!9
For it says about you:
“The best of them is as a brier (חדק)” (Micah 7:4),
which indicates that even Israel’s best are merely thorns.
אמר ליה:
שטיא!
שפיל לסיפיה דקרא,
דכתיב:
״ישר ממסוכה״.
He said to him:
Fool!
go down to the end of the verse:
“The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge,”
a derogatory expression meant as praise.
ואלא מאי ״טובם כחדק״?
כשם שחדקים הללו
מגינין על הפירצה,
כך טובים שבנו
מגינים עלינו.
Rather, what is the meaning of the best of them is as a brier?
It means that
just as these thorns
protect a breach,
so the best among us
protect us.
דבר אחר:
״טובם כחדק״,
שמהדקין את אומות העולם לגיהנם,
שנאמר:
״קומי ודושי
בת ציון
כי קרנך אשים ברזל
ופרסותיך אשים נחושה
והדיקות עמים רבים וגו׳״.
Alternatively:
“The best of them is as a brier [ḥedek]”
means that they grind [mehaddekin] the non-Jewish nations into Gehenna,
as it is stated:
“Arise and thresh,
O daughter of Zion,
for I will make your horn iron,
and I will make your hoofs brass,
and you shall beat in pieces [va-hadikot] many peoples;
and you shall devote their gain to God, and their substance to the God of the whole earth” (Micah 4:13).
Compare the other story cited in Part 1 of this series, also relating to a miracle saving from potential financial harm due to keeping Shabbat, in section “Yosef ben Simai Refuses Roman Soldiers’ Shabbat Firefighting; Rain Miraculously Extinguishes Flames - Shabbat 121a”.
נחש - literally: “snake”.
פלנדרסין.
On the identity of this place, see Jastrow (modernized):
בַּלְדַּרְסִין
(a corruption of Brundisii, Βρεντέσιον [=Brentesion]) Brundisium, a port in Calabria, Italy.
Mishnah Eruvin 4:1 (Eruvin 41a); 43ᵃ Manuscript Munich: (ed. פלנדרסין, Variant פלנדסין, פרנדסין, פלנדיסין, פרדיסין; see Rabbinowicz, ‘Dikdukei Sofrim’ there, notes).
Compare בַּרְדְּסִין
אין תחומין למעלה מעשרה.
For the context of this, see a few sections earlier, Eruvin.43a.9:
בעי רב חנניא:
יש תחומין למעלה מעשרה,
או אין תחומין למעלה מעשרה?
Rav Ḥananya raised a dilemma:
Does the prohibition of Shabbat limits (תחומין - techum) apply above ten handbreadths from the ground,
or perhaps does the prohibition of Shabbat limits not apply above ten handbreadths?
In other words, does the Shabbat limit apply only close to the ground, in which case walking more than ten handbreadths above the ground, would be permitted?
Notably, the name “Yosef the demon” (יוסף שידא), appears in the adjuration bowls from that time; see Avigail Manekin Bamberger, “The Aramaic Incantation Bowls and Talmudic Scholarship: Textual, Literary, and Historical Aspects (in Hebrew -קערות ההשבעה וחקר התלמוד הבבלי - היבטים טקסטואליים, ספרותיים והיסטוריים)”, Jewish Thought 6 (2025), p. 195, and the bibliography cited there in f. 25.
Assuming that Rabban Gamliel here is Gamliel II of Yavneh, his father was Shimon ben Gamliel the Elder.
He served as Nasi (president) of the Sanhedrin in the late Second Temple period and was executed by the Romans around the time of the Great Revolt (so, c. 70 CE). Gamliel II of Yavneh succeeded him in the patriarchal line after the destruction of the Temple.
For the context of this section, see the section immediately previous, Eruvin.63a.15:
תניא:
רבי אליעזר אומר:
לא מתו בני אהרן
עד שהורו הלכה בפני משה רבן
taught in a baraita:
R’ Eliezer says:
The sons of Aaron died only
because they issued a halakhic ruling before Moses, their teacher
See Jastrow (modernized):
חִדְקָאָה
(derisive denominative of חִדְקָא I)
descendant of a thorny race.
Eruvin 101a:10; Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 556:2 (with reference to Micah 7:4, see חֶדֶק; our word absent in Manuscript Munich:, see Rabbinowicz, ‘Dikdukei Sofrim’ there, note).