Pesachim 13a - May the messiah come soon, but not when it's inconvenient

"Said they to him, it has long been assured to Israel that Elijah will come neither on the eve of the Sabbath nor on the eve of Festivals, on account of the trouble."

Reading this line made me really happy, as something about it seems to sum up something of the essence of Judaism.

A practical kind of messianism, that we believe in but trust that it won't disrupt any of our ritual or halachic obligations; a powerful mythology brought into the human realm of the weekly and yearly cycles of the calendar; a practical kind of mysticism.

I can't get enough of it!

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.