Sunday, December 30, 2012

Quick thoughts on chapter 6 of Shabbat

I've fallen, shall we say, a little behind in my daf yomi, but now that I'm on holiday I thought I would blitz it. Over several hours (with multiple breaks of course) I learned pages 60-67 today, and scribbled some notes on interesting passages in the margins.

In lieu of a longer post, here are the sections that caught my eye:

•61a - Amulets and charms - how do we know if they work?

•62a - Gender politics - are women 'a nation unto themselves'?


•62b - Swinging - the rabbis frown on partner-swapping.

63a - The relationship between weapons and the world to come. Decorations or aberrations?

63a - 'The simple meaning of the text' - but what is it?

63a - The value of torah study, Resh Lakish uses language of peace. Interesting considering his fall out with Rabbi Yochanan.

64b - Mar'it ayin - one must avoid doing something because it looks wrong. So can you do it if no one is looking?

66b - Magic! Abaye's mother must have been a seriously cool woman.

67a - Incantations against various demons seem to contain nonsense words. In magic (as prayer) it's sometimes better if you don't understand what you're saying.

67a - Is the magic forbidden? Not if done for the sake of healing.

No comments:

Post a Comment