I am fascinated by what we can learn about the relations of Jews and non-Jews from reading the Talmud. 21st Century American Jews by and large take for granted that we are integrated into a larger non-Jewish world with touchpoints throughout the day with non-Jewish friends, family, associates, partners, etc. For the vast majority of Jewish history, the level of two-way interaction we see in America today was not the norm. Indeed, Jews lived in insular communities with structures either imposed by the non-Jewish world or defensively adopted by Jews to minimize contact between Jewish and non-Jewish communities. Sometimes non-Jewish ruling authorities wanted Jews to live in a ghetto and/or wear identifying clothing. Sometimes Jews just naturally settled together and built their own Jewish institutions.

We learn much about Jewish attitudes of Sixth Century Babylonian Jews to their non-Jewish neighbors in today’s Daf. In particular we read much about using possessions of non-Jews in Jewish rituals. Our Daf opens with the question of whether we can say the Havdallah blessing ending Shabbat over a “flame that has not rested”. Remember, Havdallah is the brief ceremony that marks the end of Shabbat. We are discerning the difference between the sacred and the secular and Havdallah means “distinguish”. A flame that has not rested is a flame that was lit for a prohibited purpose on Shabbat. We are allowed to light certain flames. The Talmud considers lamps lit for a woman in childbirth or for the well-being of a dangerously sick person. These flames are permitted, so we can use them for the Havdallah blessing. The Talmud allows a Jew to use a candle lit from the candle of a non-Jew or the candle of a non-Jew lit from a Jew, because the Jew will know whether these candles were lit for a prohibited purpose or not on Shabbat. The same Jew cannot use a candle of a non-Jew lit from the candle of another non-Jew.

For the moment, I only want to focus on the fact that today’s Daf asks the question of when it is appropriate to use the candle of a non-Jew for Havdallah purposes. There was enough interaction with non-Jews in the period of the Talmud to make the question relevant and within the imagination of our Rabbis. The Rabbis of the Talmud considered themselves as an alien nation living in Babylonia temporarily until they could return to Israel. The Babylonians also considered the Jewish community to be separate with its own semi-autonomous leader (the Exilarch) who was the intermediary between the Jewish community and the Babylonian government. Still, there was enough interaction with non-Jews for the Rabbis to wonder if we can use a candle lit by a non-Jew for purposes of Havdallah. We read similarly about using the spices of non-Jews for Havdallah and from the reading we learn that Jews must have shopped for spices in non-Jewish markets.

Despite the obvious interactions with non-Jews, we also learn of mistrust of non-Jews in our Daf. We cannot merely ask a non-Jew if they lit their candle from another non-Jew if the first candle was lit before or after the end of Shabbat. We just assume that we need to prohibit the action. In fairness, this is not much different than the assumptions Rabbis make about the possessions of unlearned Jews. Indeed, the Rabbis conclude that if we are walking outside of a city that is majority Jewish and we smell spices, we can bless those spices, but not if we smell spices emanating from a city that is majority non-Jewish. We don’t care about where the smell actually originated and for what purpose, we just assume based on the demographics of the town. Similarly, if we can respond “amen” to the blessing of a Jew, even if we do not hear the whole blessing, but know what is being blessed. We cannot answer “amen” to a Cuthean, unless we hear the whole blessing and know it is correct. Cutheans were residents of Israel who quasi-converted.

Today’s Daf is the last of Chapter Eight and the Daf ends with the end of Chapter Eight. Chapter Eight discusses the disputes between the houses of Hillel and Shammai relating to matters of dining. We begin with our discussion over whether we can use a flame that did not rest on Shabbat for Havdallah and the corollary discussion of what does it mean for a flame to not rest on Shabbat. We also learn that we can only use a flame for purposes of light, not one lit for another purpose (e.g., cooking) because the purpose of Havdallah is to distinguish. Light helps us distinguish.

A further dispute between the houses of Hillel and Shammai concerns whether we each recite the Havdallah blessing or does a leader recite it for the group with the group responding “amen”. The School of Hillel concludes that we should have a leader, rather than each individual member recite the blessing because, according to the footnotes, we glorify the Lord more when we do a commandment together than when we do it individually. The proof text is Proverbs 14:28 (“A numerous people is the glory of a king; Without a nation a ruler is ruined.”) Shammai is worried that a group recitation would disturb people studying Torah at the study house. Shammai notes that we do not say “health” in the study house when someone sneezes. There is a fascinating footnote in Schottenstein Edition of the Talmud about this custom. Apparently, before Jacob, from the beginning of creation, people did not take ill. Instead people just died unexpectedly when they sneezed and their souls exited their bodies. Jacob was worried about an unexpected death before he finished instructing his children, so he begged the Lord to give him warning. From then on, people became sick before they died. We then started saying “health” when someone sneezes because a sneeze is no longer a sign of death.

We conclude today’s Daf, and Chapter Eight, with a discussion about differences of opinion if we leave the table before reciting the grace after meals. Both Hillel and Shammai agree that if we intentionally left without saying Bircas HaMazon, then we need to return to the place we ate and recite it. The debate concerns whether we unintentionally left without saying Bircas HaMazon. Do we have to return or can we recite it when we remember? We get several stories of Rabbis who left their dining places intentionally and unintentionally without saying Bircas HaMazon. We also learn that we can recite Bircas HaMazon if we forgot up until the time digestion is completed. Predictably, we get a multitude of opinions about when digestion has ended.