📖 SATURDAY PRAYER: HOCHMA-YESHIVAT HAVERIM יְשִׁיבָה חברים – BABYLONIAN TALMUD p147

READING: BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN OF SATURDAY

MISHNA II.: The prescribed quantity for rope is as much as suffices to make a handle for a
basket; for reeds, as much as suffices to hang a fine or coarse sieve thereon: R. Jehudah says: As
much as is sufficient to take the measure of a child’s shoe; for paper, as much as suffices to write
a toll-bill on–a toll-bill itself must not be carried out; the prescribed quantity for paper that has
been erased is as much as will wrap the top of a perfume bottle. The prescribed quantity for
vellum is as much as suffices for the covering of an amulet; for parchment, as much as suffices
for the writing of the smallest portion of the phylacteries, which is “Hear, O Israel for ink, as
much as is necessary for the writing of two letters (characters); for paint, as much as will paint
one eye. The prescribed quantity for (bird) lime is as much as will suffice to put on a lime twig;
for pitch or sulphur, as much as will cover a hole (in a quicksilver tube); for as much as will fill
up a small leakage (in a utensil); for loam, as much as suffices to make all orifice for a pair of
bellows used by goldsmiths; R. Jehudah says the prescribed quantity for loam is as much as will
make a stand for a goldsmith’s crucible; for clay, as much as will cover the mouth of a
goldsmith’s crucible; for lime, as much as will cover the little finger of a maiden; R. Jehudah
says for lime the prescribed quantity is as much as will cover the temple of a maiden; R.
Nehemiah says as much as will cover the back part of a maiden’s temple.
GEMARA: “For paper, as muck as suffices to write a toll-bill on.” There is a Boraitha: “The
legal size of a toll-bill is a piece of paper large enough to contain two letters.” Is this not
contradictory to the Boraitha which says that the carrying out of a piece of blank paper large
enough for two letters of ordinary size to be written on makes one liable? Answered R.
Shesheth: “The two letters referred to by the Mishna are the letters used by the toll-master
(usually extra large letters). Rabha, however, said that the piece of paper referred to is large
enough for two letters and has a margin by which it can be held.
The rabbis taught: If one carry out on the Sabbath an unpaid promissory note he is liable, but not
so for a paid one. But R. Jehudah said: The same is the case with a paid-up note, for its value
lies therein, that the owner may show it to a prospective creditor in order to prove promptness of
former payments. What is the point of their differing? Said R. Joseph: “They differ if it is allowed to preserve a paid note. According to the rabbis it is prohibited, and according to R. Jehudah it may be done. 1