פסחים 50:2 — Soncino English Talmud

AND A MAN MUST NOT ACT DIFFERENTLY [FROM LOCAL CUSTOM] ON ACCOUNT OF THE QUARRELS [WHICH WOULD ENSUE]. SIMILARLY, HE WHO TRANSPORTS SABBATICAL YEAR PRODUCE FROM A PLACE WHERE IT HAS CEASED TO A PLACE WHERE IT HAS NOT CEASED OR FROM A PLACE WHERE IT HAS NOT CEASED TO A PLACE WHERE IT HAS CEASED, IS BOUND TO REMOVE IT. R. JUDAH SAID: ‘DO YOU TOO GO OUT AND BRING [PRODUCE] FOR YOURSELF. GEMARA. Why particularly THE EVE OF PASSOVER? Even on the eve of Sabbaths and Festivals too? For it was taught: He who does work on the eve of Sabbaths or Festivals from minhah and onwards will never see a sign of blessing? — There it is forbidden only from minhah and onwards, but not near to minhah; [whereas] here it is [forbidden] from midday. Alternatively, there he merely does not see a sign of blessing, yet we do not place him under the ban; [whereas] here we even place him under the ban. [To turn to] the main text: He who does work on the eve of the Sabbath and on the eve of Festivals from minhah and onwards, and at the termination of the Sabbath or at the termination of a Festival, or at the termination of the Day of Atonement, or wherever there is the [least] suspicion of sin, which is to include a public fast, will never see the sign of a blessing. Our Rabbis taught: Some are industrious and profit [thereby,] while others are industrious and suffer loss; some are indolent and profit [thereby], while others are indolent and suffer loss. An industrious man who profits, — he who works the whole week but does not work on the eve of the Sabbath. An industrious man who suffers loss, — he who works the whole week and works on the eve of the Sabbath. An indolent man who profits, — he who does not work the whole week and does not work on the eve of the Sabbath. An indolent man who suffers loss, — he who does not work the whole week but works on the eve of the Sabbath. Raba said: As to these women of Mahuza, though they do not work on the eve of the Sabbath, it is because they are used to indulgence [indolence], seeing that they do not work every day either. Yet even so, we call them, an indolent person who profits’. Raba opposed [two verses]. It is written, For thy mercy is great unto the heavens; whereas it is also written, For thy mercy is great above the heavens? How is this [to be explained]? Here it refers to those who perform [God's behest] for its own sake; there it refers to those who perform [it] with an ulterior motive. And [this is] in accordance with Rab Judah. For Rab Judah said in Rab's name: A man should always occupy himself with Torah and good deeds, though it is not for their own sake, for out of [doing good] with an ulterior motive there comes [doing good] for its own sake. Our Rabbis taught: He who looks to the earnings of his wife or of a mill will never see a sign of blessing. ‘The earnings of his wife’ means [when she goes around selling wool] by weight. ‘[The earnings of] a mill’ means its hire. But if she makes [e.g., woollen garments] and sells them, Scripture indeed praises her, for it is written, she maketh linen garments and selleth them. Our Rabbis taught: He who trades in cane and jars will never see a sign of blessing. What is the reason? Since their bulk is large, the [evil] eye has power over them. Our Rabbis taught: Traders in market-stands and those who breed small cattle, and those who cut down beautiful trees, and those who cast their eyes at the better portion, will never see a sign of blessing. What is the reason? Because people gaze at them. Our Rabbis taught: Four perutoth never contain a sign of blessing: the wages of clerks, the wages of interpreters, the profits of orphans, and money that came from oversea countries. As for the wages of interpreters, that is well, [the reason being] because it looks like wages for Sabbath [work]; orphans money too, because they are not capable of renunciation; money which comes from overseas, because a miracle does not occur every day. But what is the reason for the wages of writers? — Said R. Joshua b. Levi: The men of the Great Assembly observed twenty-four fasts so that those who write Scrolls, tefillin and mezuzoth should not become wealthy for if they became wealthy they would not write. Our Rabbis taught: Those who write Scrolls, tefillin, and mezuzoth, they, their traders and their traders’ traders, and all who engage [in trade] in sacred commodities, which includes the sellers of blue wool, never see a sign of blessing. But if they engage [therein] for its own sake, they do see [a sign of blessing]. The citizens of Beyshan were accustomed not to go from Tyre to Sidon on the eve of the Sabbath. Their children went to R. Johanan and said to him, For our fathers this was possible; for us it is impossible. Said he to them, Your fathers have already taken it upon themselves, as it is said, Hear my son, the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the teaching of thy mother. The inhabitants of Hozai were accustomed to separate hallah on rice. [When] they went and told it to R. Joseph he said to them, Let a lay Israelite eat it in their presence: Abaye raised an objection against him: Things which are permitted, yet others treat them as forbidden, 43^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ^ˡ^ᵐ^ⁿ^ᵒ^ᵖ^ᵠ^ʳ^ˢ^ᵗ^ᵘ^ᵛ^ʷ^ˣ^ʸ^ᶻ^ᵃᵃ^ᵃᵇ^ᵃᶜ^ᵃᵈ^ᵃᵉ^ᵃᶠ^ᵃᵍ^ᵃʰ^ᵃⁱ^ᵃʲ^ᵃᵏ^ᵃˡ^ᵃᵐ^ᵃⁿ^ᵃᵒ^ᵃᵖ^ᵃᵠ

^ᵃnote:The law concerning produce of the Sabbatical year is this: as long as there is produce in the field available for animals, a man may keep produce at home as his private property; but when the produce in the field has ceased, — the animals having consumed it, he must carry out the produce from his home and declare it free for all. Having done this, he may then take back into the house whatever he needs for his private use (Tosaf. 52b, s.v. ihrgc,n).
^ᵇnote:I.e., place it at everybody's disposal.
^ᶜnote:This is explained in the Gemara.
^ᵈnote:The afternoon service, and the time for same — beginning generally two and a half hours before nightfall.
^ᵉnote:I.e., the money earned then will not be profitable.
^ᶠnote:I.e., before.
^ᵍnote:I.e., it is inadvisable.
^ʰnote:As he may continue work after the Sabbath or Festival has actually commenced; or begin before they have quite terminated.
^ⁱnote:Proclaimed on account of rain, when work was forbidden, Ta'an. 12b. On other fast-days work is permitted.
^ʲnote:Lit., ‘low’.
^ᵏnote:Though his abstention then is due to indolence, not to respect for the Sabbath, he is nevertheless rewarded, since in fact he does abstain.
^ˡnote:V. p. 20, n. 5.
^ᵐnote:[Var. lec. (v. Rashi); These women of Mahuza, although the reason they do no work. . . Sabbath is that they are used . . ,yet even so are called etc.]
^ⁿnote:Ps. LVII, 11.
^ᵒnote:Ibid. CVIII, 5.
^ᵖnote:Lit., ‘name’. To them, His mercy is great above the heavens.
^ᵠnote:Lit., ‘not for its own name’.
^ʳnote:Jast.; i.e., trading in wool, but not making it up; this realizes very little profit and is not a dignified occupation for a woman.
^ˢnote:But trading in mills, buying and selling them, is profitable.
^ᵗnote:Prov. XXXI, 24. This occurs in the description of the ‘woman of valour’.
^ᵘnote:[Heb. Simta. Tosef. Bek. II has Shemittah, the Sabbatical year when trading with produce is forbidden.]
^ᵛnote:Sheep, goats, etc.
^ʷnote:To sell for their timber.
^ˣnote:When sharing with their neighbour.
^ʸnote:Market traders are exposed to the public gaze, and so to the evil eye, which is a potent source of misfortune. The other three incur the ill-will of people, the first because breeding small animals was generally frowned upon.
^ᶻnote:Perutah was the smallest coin. I.e., the monies earned by the four things enumerated.
^ᵃᵃnote:Officials who spoke the Sabbath lectures of the Sages to the congregation; the Sage whispered his statements to the interpreter, and he explained them to the people. Also, those who publicly interpreted and translated the weekly readings of the Law on the Sabbath.
^ᵃᵇnote:Orphans’ money was sometimes entrusted to people to trade with, and they kept half the profit for themselves for their labour.
^ᵃᶜnote:He may take more than his due, and a minor cannot legally renounce it in his favour.
^ᵃᵈnote:Considerable danger attended the transport of freights at sea, and one might very easily suffer loss.
^ᵃᵉnote:A body of one hundred and twenty men founded by Ezra, regarded as the bearers of Jewish teaching and tradition after the Prophets; v. Ab. I, 1.
^ᵃᶠnote:V. Glos.
^ᵃᵍnote:All who trade in these, whether directly or indirectly.
^ᵃʰnote:Lit., ‘work’.
^ᵃⁱnote:Wool dyed blue for insertion in garments as fringes; v. Num. XV, 38.
^ᵃʲnote:To benefit the community, profit being a secondary consideration.
^ᵃᵏnote:Beyshan (Scythopolis) in Galilee (Jast.). [Beyshan was, however, far too distant from Tyre to enable its inhabitants to go there and back in one day. It must therefore be located in the neighbourhood of Tyre and it is identified with the village at Abasiya, N.E. of Tyre (Hurwitz, Palestine, p. 112).]
^ᵃˡnote:On the coast of Palestine. Friday was market day at Sidon (Rashi).
^ᵃᵐnote:Prov. I, 8.
^ᵃⁿnote:Known to-day as Khuzistan, in S. W. Persia; Obermeyer, pp. 204ff.
^ᵃᵒnote:Which is necessary by law.
^ᵃᵖnote:Hallah may be eaten by a priest only. Thus he intimated that this was not hallah.
^ᵃᵠnote:Lit., ‘practise a prohibition in connection with them’.