Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 12a
Rabbi Shimon B. Elazar would say: “According to Beit Shamai, [on Shabbat] we do not make arranged marriages for our children, nor apprentice them to [a master] for Torah study or to learn a trade, nor do we comfort the mourner or visit the sick. But Beit Hillel permits [all of these.]”
讛讬讛 专砖讘”讗 讗讜诪专 诪砖讜诐 专砖讘”讙 讗讬谉 诪砖讚讻讬谉 讗转 讛转讬谞讜拽讜转 诇讗专住 讜诇讗 讗转 讛转讬谞讜拽 诇诇诪讚讜 住驻专 讜诇诇诪讚讜 讗讜诪谞讜转 讜讗讬谉 诪谞讞诪讬谉 讗讘诇讬诐 讜讗讬谉 诪讘拽专讬谉 讞讜诇讬谉 讘砖讘转 讚讘专讬 讘讬转 砖诪讗讬 讜讘”讛 诪转讬专讬谉
The two first-century schools of Rabbinic thought, Beit Shamai and Beit Hillel, crop up quite often in the Talmud. Here Rabbi Shimon b. Elazar, an early third-century Sage, quotes their positions. This dispute between the two schools goes to the heart of what the experience of Shabbat should encompass. On the one hand, as I mentioned last week, there is the principle that Shabbat is a time that should be free from worry. It is a day to focus on the transcendent rather than the mundane worries of our workaday existence. To that end, Beit Shamai attempts to remove a range of stressful stimuli from the Shabbat experience. Making arrangements for a child’s future is fraught with all sorts of stress and, Beit Shamaicontends, is best left for a weekday. The same thing applies to visiting the mourner or the sick.
But Beit Hillel, along with all of the latter halakhic tradition, disagrees. The communal character of Shabbat trumps these concerns. So long as one does not do any prohibited labor to make these arrangements or make these visits on Shabbat, they are permitted. These activities improve the quality of communal life, and this itself is one of the benefits we accrue from keeping Shabbat.
Questions
- What are some ways in which Shabbat is an individual spiritual discipline?
- What are some ways in which Shabbat is a communal practice?
