Our Daf yesterday ended in the middle of a Mishnah that listed a series of activities that Shammai ruled could not be started on Shabbat if the process would not be completed (even though the activity was) prior to the end of Shabbat. For instance, Shammai said we could not give our clothes to a gentile cleaner on Friday afternoon if the cleaner would not be done washing prior to Shabbat. Similarly, Shammai ruled that we could not soak an item in dye on Friday afternoon and leave it to soak over Shabbat. In all of these cases, Hillel disagrees and say we can do the activity prior to Shabbat and let the process continue throughout Shabbat. Importantly, Hillel does not believe the action could be performed on Shabbat (e.g., giving the clothes to the cleaner or soaking the item in dye), but he does believe the process started pre-Shabbat can continue.

Today, the Mishnah continues with an area of agreement. Both Hillel and Shammai agree that we can put presses on crushed olives and crushed grapes before Shabbat and let them continue to express juice during Shabbat. This ruling seems entirely consistent with Hillel’s position and equally entirely inconsistent with Shammai’s position. Apparently (and I have never made wine or olive oil), most of the liquid is expressed when we crush the fruit. Placing the crushed fruit under a heavy object merely increases the flow. The forbidden labor is separating the juice and the solid. Increasing the flow is not forbidden – Slicing the baloney ever thinner!

Shammai believes we should have an “idleness of utensils”. His positions are consistent with this principle. We spend much of the Daf trying to find how we can justify Hillel’s position with the concept of “idleness of tools”. In the end, we simply conclude (I think) that Hillel does not believe in the idleness of tools. I believe this debate is very relevant to observant Jews today as it establishes the principles on which operatorless ovens, lights, elevators, etc. work for observant Jews. I am not certain that is the case, I am just speculating.

We also talk a lot about what we can do and what we cannot do with ovens on Shabbat. Pre-electricity we are talking about coal-fired ovens. Everyone agrees we cannot stir the coals to stoke the fire. That is clearly forbidden. Can we put meat into an already hot oven and let it cook? Apparently we can in circumstances where we are not likely to stoke the coals. We can put meat in a sealed oven or we can cook meat that will be ruined if we open the oven to stoke the coals.

We end with selling to gentiles on Friday afternoon. Shammai is concerned that if we sell to a non-Jew on Friday afternoon and the non-Jew is transporting the goods on Shabbat, people will think that we commissioned the non-Jew to move the goods for us. Hillel believes there is no problem. We begin by looking at another dispute of selling to non-Jews that is very relevant to this time of year. The Passover holiday begins April 8 this year (I am sick that we will not have our friends and family to our house for our traditional Seder!). Just prior to Passover, observant Jews remove any trace of Chametz (products of leavened grain) from their house and frequently sell the loaves of bread, beer, etc. to a non-Jewish neighbor. Hillel and Shammai debate when this has to be completed. Shammai says we must know that our non-Jewish neighbor will consume the Chametz before Passover. Hillel says that is nonsense. And then our Daf ends.