If you called me “nice” in the Middle Ages, I probably would have to challenge you to a duel, or perhaps sucker punch you! “Nice” entered English in the late 1200’s to mean “stupid”, “foolish”, or “ignorant”. The Oxford English Dictionary says when reading manuscripts from the 16th and 17th Centuries, we cannot really discern what sense the writer intended to use. Not until the middle of the 19th Century did it really develop the meaning we ascribe to it today. We can also think of examples of words in our own lifetime and lifetimes of our parents that have changed meaning. Think of “queer” or “cell”. Language constantly evolves and the Rabbis of the Talmud were aware of this fact.

In today’s Daf we learn of words that changed meaning from the time of the Temple to the time of the Talmud (approximately 500 years). The words “Shofar” and “trumpet” actually exchanged meanings. Therefore, we need to decide the correct instrument we blow on Rosh Hashanah. Today, we only blow a ram’s horn (what we call a “Shofar“). Confusingly, in the Temple, both trumpets and Shofars were blown on Rosh Hashanah.

I find this discussion at the end of Chapter Two fascinating because of the point I made at the end of yesterday. Things change. Language changes, social structures change, economies change, technology changes, nations come and go . . . change is the one constant. In my own lifetime, I have felt the pace of change accelerate (maybe I am just getting old). With everything changing around us, how does Jewish law change to accommodate changes in the way we live. Jewish law used to change based on the way people live. We learned that yesterday when the law varied by custom. Even today, the laws of what is permissible to be eaten on Passover depend on whether one is of the Sephardic or Ashkenazi tradition.

At any rate, the discussion of changing meaning of words ends Chapter 2 and we begin Chapter Three. Chapter Three encompasses two topics – the laws of cooking on Shabbat and the laws of Muktzeh. Muktzeh are objects which in the normal course of events will not be used on Shabbat. For instance, a tractor has no real normal use on Shabbat. Perhaps I can find some Shabbat-permissible use, like as a picnic-table, but really I should just stay away from tractors on Shabbat.

Our first Mishnah of Chapter Three concerns cooking. We learn that we can leave items on a stove over Shabbat depending on the fuel. For instance, straw does not burn very hot. Therefore, we can leave already cooked food on top of it. If our stove is heated with wood, however, we cannot leave even cooked food on top unless prior to Shabbat we have moved the coals to the side or covered them with ash so they cool. We are not concerned that the food will continue to cook. Rather, we are concerned that we will forget that it is Shabbat and be tempted to rake the coals and heat them up (which would be a forbidden labor). Typically, Shammai and Hillel disagree on these matters. Shammai thinks we can only put hot water on a stove on Shabbat. Hillel says we can put cooked food on a stove on Shabbat. Shammai thinks we can remove something from the stove, but not return it. Hillel allows us to return it.