Shabbat 103 - June 17 - 25 Sivan
Today's shiur is dedicated by Deborah Lewis in honor of Janet Lachais and by Sima Greenberg in memory of Paula Zaager z"l.
Why is one obligated for banging a sledgehammer on the anvil? What is the requisite amount for plowing, weeding, reaping, gathering wood, writing? It depends on what purpose one was doing it? Why is that important - if one weeds for the purposes of using what one weeded and not for benefitting the land, in any case the land benefits and therefore it is a case of a psik reisha (if will definitely happen) and even Rabbi Shimon agrees in this case that one would be obligated, even if one didn't intend (davar sheaino mitkaven)? The gemara's answer has important ramifications for understanding Rabbi Shimon's opinion. The gemara brings various opinions regarding writing on Shabbat. Does one need to write letters or is one also obligated for writing symbols and notations? What if one writes two of the same letter? If one intended to write a word and one stopped after two letters which also form a word, is one obligated? If in the Torah, one was supposed to write a mem in the middle of the word but wrote it as a mem used at the end of words, is that ok? Can one learn that from the sugya of writing on Shabbat?