The Rambam’s view of amulets

The mishnah on Shabbat 60a says that it is forbidden mide-rabbanan to wear “an amulet, if it is not by an expert” on Shabbat:

משנה. לא יצא האיש בסנדל המסומר, ולא ביחיד בזמן שאין ברגלו מכה. ולא בתפילין, ולא בקמיע בזמן שאינו מן המומחה. ולא בשריון, ולא בקסדא, ולא במגפיים, ואם יצא - אינו חייב חטאת.

On 61a–b, Rav Papa discusses which amulet writers qualify as experts:

Letting your animals rest

The fifth and sixth chapters of Shabbat discuss what items may be carried in public on the body of a person or animal, as clothing or as jewelry, and are thus excluded from the prohibition of hotsa'ah.

If you were to ask me how these laws should be organized, I would say that the Mishnah should start by discussing what items may be worn by people, followed by what items may be worn by an animal. But the fifth perek deals with animals, and the sixth perek deals with people. Why is that?

The Yalkut Bi'urim in the Mesivta offers a few answers from the aharonim. I suggest that the Mishnah begins with the more interesting, “haviva leih” topic.

The prohibition of hotsa'ah for animals is unique in its sources and in its application.

In and out and in and out... Continued

After the first four chapters of Massekhet Shabbat dealt with Friday evening, from getting haircuts to keeping food warm, we now have seven straight chapters primarily about hotsa'ah, transferring stuff between private and public domains. I've wondered before why hotsa'ah has such a prominent place in the Talmud.

Chapter 5 discusses hotsa'ah done by an animal. The prohibition of causing an animal to carry has its own aseh, in addition to being included in the lo ta'aseh of rest on Shabbat. I plan to write a post on that, God willing.

But for now, one more source on the nature of hotsa'ah.

Rav Shimshon Refael Hirsch discusses the uniqueness of hotsa'ah in his commentary to Exodus 35:1, the beginning of Parashat Vayyakhel.

A house for hobbits

The Gemara on Shabbat 7a quotes the following statement:

והאמר רב גידל אמר רב חייא בר יוסף אמר רב: בית שאין בתוכו עשרה, וקרויו משלימו לעשרה - על גגו מותר לטלטל בכולו, בתוכו אין מטלטלין בו אלא ארבע אמות.

Soncino translates:

R. Gidal said in the name of R. Hiyya b. Joseph in Rab's name: In the case of a house, the inside of which is not ten [hand breadths in height] but its covering makes it up to ten, it is permitted to carry on the roof over the whole [area]; but within, one may carry only four cubits.

A diagram might help:

Tractate Shabbat: In and out and in and out...

Massekhet Shabbat discusses, of course, the laws of Shabbat. The beginning of the massekhet is structured chronologically, starting with the laws of Friday afternoon, then candle lighting on Friday evening, then cooking and insulating Friday night. The basics of the 39 melakhot don't come up until the middle of the seventh perek. The rest of the 24 perakim then flow from topic to topic.

But amidst this structure, a surprising topic dominates the first half of the massekhet: hotsa'ah, the melakhah of carrying between a private and public domain. Eight out of the first eleven chapters of the massekhet contain mishnayot about hotsa'ah, and it is the sole topic of five of those chapters: 5, 6, 8, 9, and 11. And most strangely, the very first mishnah of the massekhet is a total non sequitur to the rest of the first perek—a mishnah about, you guessed it, hotsa'ah.

Adding to the surprise, when the Mishnah lists the 39 melakhot in the seventh perek, hotsa'ah is last on the list. And the first Tosafot on the first amud calls it a melakhah geru'ah, an "inferior" melakhah.

So why the focus on hotsa'ah? Why does it get so many chapters? Why is it tacked on to the beginning of the tractate?