Pt2 From Donkey Drivers to Doctors, Bloodletters to Tanners: Rabbinic Insights and Guidance on Professions (Mishnah Kiddushin 4:14; Talmud ibid., 82a-b)
This is the second part of a three-part series. The first part is here, the outline can be found there.
Talmud (Kiddushin 82a-b)
Ten Disqualifying Professions: Ethical Concerns and Leadership Eligibility
A baraita states that individuals whose professions primarily involve interactions with women have bad basic character,1 and they should not be appointed as kings or High Priests.
The following examples of such professions are listed:
Metalsmiths (צורפים)
Peddlers4
Weavers5
Barbers (ספרים)
Launderers6
Bloodletter7
Bathhouse attendant8
Tanner9
תנו רבנן:
כל שעסקיו עם הנשים –
סורו רע,
כגון
הצורפים,
והסריקים,
והנקורות,
והרוכלין,
והגרדיים,
והספרים
והכובסים,
והגרע,
והבלן,
והבורסקי –
אין מעמידים מהם
לא מלך
ולא כהן גדול.
[...]
The Sages taught:
With regard to anyone who has professional dealings primarily with women,
his practice and company are bad, and it is best to keep away from him.
This category includes, for example,
the smiths,
and the carders,
and the fixers of hand mills of women,
and the peddlers of jewelry and perfume to women,
and the weavers [gardiyyim],
and the barbers,
and the launderers,
and the bloodletter,
and the bathhouse attendant [ballan],
and the tanner [burseki].
One may not appoint from among those who have these professions
neither a king
nor a High Priest.
[...]
The Ten Characteristics of Bloodletters, All Negative
Bloodletters are characterized negatively with ten attributes:10 arrogance,11 a haughty walk,12 an ostentatious way of sitting (נתלה ויושב), stinginess,13 envy,14 excessive eating with minimal defecation,15 and suspicion of theft, illicit sex (עריות), and murder.
תנו רבנן:
עשרה דברים נאמרו בגרע:
מהלך על צידו,
ורוחו גסה,
ונתלה ויושב,
ועינו צרה,
ועינו רעה,
אוכל הרבה
ומוציא קימעא,
וחשוד על העריות
ועל הגזל
ועל שפיכות דמים.
The Sages taught:
Ten things were stated with regard to a bloodletter:
He walks on his side, i.e., in a haughty manner;
and his spirit is arrogant;
and he leans and sits, i.e., he does not sit down like others do but leans on an object in a conceited fashion;
and he is stingy;
and he is envious;
and he eats much
and discharges only a little;
and he is suspected of engaging in intercourse with those with whom relations are forbidden,
and of stealing,
and of bloodshed in the course of his work.
סורו. Jastrow: “original nature, character“. And see Hebrew Wiktionary, my translation: “foundation, root, essence. Often mentioned in a negative context.“
Hence, Steinsaltz’s translation “practice” is incorrect.
סריקים - i.e. comber of wool.
Compare Shabbat.11b.7, with adjustments of Steinsaltz’s translation:
דתניא:
לא יצא החייט במחטו התחובה לו בבגדו,
ולא נגר בקיסם שבאזנו,
ולא סורק במשיחה שבאזנו
ולא גרדי באירא שבאזנו,
ולא צבע בדוגמא שבצוארו,
ולא שולחני בדינר שבאזנו.
ואם יצא — פטור, אבל אסור,
דברי רבי מאיר.
רבי יהודה אומר:
אומן דרך אומנתו — חייב,
ושאר כל אדם — פטור.
As it was taught in a baraita:
The tailor (חַיָּט) may not go out [on Shabbat] with his needle that is stuck (תחובה) in his clothing,
and a carpenter (נַגָּר) may not go out with the wood chip (קיסם) that is behind his ear for use as a measuring stick,
and a carder (סורק) of wool may not go out with a cord (משיחה) with which he ties bundles of wool and which is usually placed that is on his ear,
and a weaver (גרדי) may not go out with a bit of wool (אירא) that is on his ear which he uses for the purpose of his work,
and the dyer (צַבָּע - not “painter”, as Steinsaltz translates) may not go out with the sample (דוגמא - from Greek deîgma) of dyed wool that is on his neck,
and a money changer (שולחני) may not go out with the dinar that is in his ear.
In all of these cases the halakha is that if he went out, he is exempt by Torah law, but it is prohibited for him to do so by rabbinic decree.
This is the statement of R’ Meir.
R’ Yehuda says:
A craftsman (אומן) who carries out an object in the manner common to his craft (אומנתו) on Shabbat is liable by Torah law;
any other person who carries it out in that manner is exempt, but it is prohibited for him to do so.
נקורות. Jastrow: “those sharpening the millstones, chisellers”
Compare the story in the Jerusalem Talmud in my piece here of the person who became a peddler in order to meet the infant messiah in the post-Destruction, and his interaction with the baby’s mother:
אזל זבין תורוי, וזבין קנקנוי, ואיתעביד זבין לבדין למיינוקי
והוא עייל קרייה, ונפקא קרייה.
עד דעל לההוא קרתא,
והויין כל־נשייא זבנן, ואימה דמנחם לא זבנה.
He went and sold his ox and plow, and made himself a vendor (זבין - literally: “seller”) of baby linens.
He went to towns and left towns
until he came to that town.
All the women bought from him, but the mother of Menaḥem did not buy.
This is the Mishnaic term, compare also Mishnah_Kelim.12.4-5:
מסמר הגרע, טמא.
[...]
מסמר הגרדי, טמא.
וארון של גרוסות, רבי צדוק מטמא, וחכמים מטהרין.
[...]
מסמר של שלחני, טהור. ורבי צדוק מטמא
A blood-letters’ (גרע) nail is susceptible to impurity.
[...]
A weaver's (גרדי) nail is susceptible to impurity.
The chest of a grist-dealer (גרוסות): R' Zadok says: it is susceptible to impurity, But the sages say that it is clean.
[...]
A money-changer's (שלחני) nail is clean, But Rabbi Zadok says: it is susceptible to impurity.
Tn the Talmud, this profession is typically referred to as uman (אומן), which also has the broader meaning of “surgeon”, for example, see my piece here on Abba the Uman.
בלן - from Greek balaneus; the related word for bathhouse, banei (בני), is also mentioned in the afore-mentioned sugya of Haman (cited in Part 1):
אמר ליה: קום לבוש הני מאני ורכוב האי סוסיא, דבעי לך מלכא.
אמר ליה: לא יכילנא, עד דעיילנא לבי בני, ואשקול למזייא, דלאו אורח ארעא לאשתמושי במאני דמלכא הכי.
שדרה אסתר, ואסרתינהו לכולהו בי בני, ולכולהו אומני.
עייליה איהו לבי בני,
Haman said to him: Stand up, put on these garments and ride on this horse, for the king wants you to do so.
Mordecai said to him: I cannot do so until I enter the bathhouse (בי בני) and trim my hair, for it is not proper conduct to use the king’s garments in this state that I am in now.
In the meantime, Esther sent messengers and closed all the bathhouses and all the shops of the craftsmen (אומני [E.B. bettter translation: “surgeon, bloodletter”), including the bloodletters and barbers.
When Haman saw that there was nobody else to do the work, he himself took Mordecai into the bathhouse
Many of the terms used are idiomatic, I note the literal translations in footnotes.
מהלך על צידו, literally: “he walks on his side”.
A phrase said also about the horse, in Pesachim.113b.13, items #5-6 in the list:
ששה דברים נאמרים בסוס:
אוהב את הזנות,
ואוהב את המלחמה,
ורוחו גסה,
ומואס את השינה,
ואוכל הרבה
ומוציא קמעה.
ויש אומרים: אף מבקש להרוג בעליו במלחמה.
Six matters are said with regard to a horse:
It loves promiscuity,
it loves war,
its demeanor is arrogant,
it despises sleep,
it eats much,
and it excretes little.
And some say: Just as a horse always rushes straight into the heat of a battle, it also attempts to kill its master in war.