Shabbos - Daf 40

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Bathing on Shabbos

There is a machlokes between Rav and Shmuel regarding the prohibition of bathing the entire body on Shabbos from water that was heated erev Shabbos:

•Rav holds, למחר רוחץ בהן כל גופו אבר אבר – On the following day, meaning Shabbos, that one can wash his entire body with it, one limb at a time.

•Rabbah taught that Rav held that one may bathe his entire body but must leave one limb unwashed.

•Shmuel holds לא התירו לרחוץ אלא פניו ידיו ורגליו – they permitted washing only one’s face, hands and feet.

•Rav’s opinion was refuted.

Background behind decrees regarding bathing on Shabbos

It was said in the name of Bar Kappara that originally people would bathe on Shabbos in hot water that was heated before Shabbos. But then bath attendants (הבלנין) began heating the baths on Shabbos claiming that they were heated before Shabbos. The Rabbis then forbade bathing in hot water on Shabbos but they still allowed steam-bathing.

People violated the Rabbonim’s decree and still bathed in the bathhouses on Shabbos in water heated before the Shabbos, claiming that they were merely steam-bathing. The Rabbis then forbid steam-bathing on Shabbos but allowed bathing in the Tiberian hot-springs.

People would still bathe in water that was heated before Shabbos claiming there were bathing in hot water from חמי טבריה. The Rabbonim then forbid bathing in the חמי טבריה and allowed only bathing in cold water.

When the Rabbonim saw that people were unable to abide by the ruling forbidding bathing in waters heated from the חמי טבריה, they once again allowed it but kept the injunction against steam-bathing in place.

יד סולדת בו

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel that with regards to oil and water it is prohibited to heat them up on Shabbos to the degree of יד סולדת בו - where the hand recoils from it.

Rachva said that יד סולדת בו is defined by anything so hot שכריסו של תינוק נכוית – that an infant’s tender belly would be scalded by it.

Siman - Swimming Pool. The community swimming pool, where people liked to wash themselves one limb at a time, was run by the local bath attendants who gave up trying to trick the Rabbis and who kept the temperature below יד סולדת בו.

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Rabbi Avraham Goldhar

Rabbi Avraham Goldhar has been designing and teaching Jewish literacy courses for over thirty years. His knowledge frameworks for Biblical mastery, Jewish History, Talmudic Law & Jewish Holidays enable students of all backgrounds to better integrate Jewish concepts and learn systematically. After serving as the Educational Director of Aish HaTorah New York, Avraham launched GoldharSchool.com, Home of Big Picture Jewish Education, featuring Jewish literacy content for schools and individuals. He is the developer of the Goldhar Method, a revolutionary learning system that integrates memory into the learning process and has trained over 80,000 students, teachers and professionals. He lectures internationally on the topic of academic mastery and the solutions required to raise the bar in education. Avraham learned in Aish HaTorah, Mir, and Chaim Berlin and received his ordination under the tutelage of Rabbi Yitzchok Berkovits in Jerusalem.