Shabbos 37
“The Gemara rejects this proof.”
I had a difficult time with today’s reading; I reread the section several times in an effort to find something to grasp onto and this is the best I could come up with: I imagine a group of argumentative Rabbis huddled over a stove debating if it is allowable to cook food on an open burner during the Sabbath. I see them moving the pot back and forth, assessing what is permissible and what is not.
Shammai and Hillel disagree on every point as they stand over the pot, while surprisingly Rav and Shmuel find one point they can agree on. Everything that Shammai says, Hillel disputes. Hillel always takes what Shammai says and extends it just a bit more, so that what he advocates for is less restrictive. I envision him as a kind-hearted teacher who would sometimes bend the rules for his students.
Shammai says that a pot may be put on the flame on Shabbat if it contains only hot water but not cooked food. Hillel counters that both hot water and cooked food are acceptable. Shammai says that the pot may be not be returned once it is removed, while Hillel says “one may even return.” The other famous verbal sparring pair, Shmuel and Rav, enter the discussion with a rare agreement on the topic, and state food that shrivels and improves on the stove is not allowed to be placed on a burner on the Sabbath. (Perhaps if Shmuel and Rav can agree on something, the mayor of New York City and the Governor of New York State can put aside their differences and coordinate their response to the Covid-19 crisis?)
Among the topics the Rabbis tackle are the prohibition against placing food inside the stove because it will stoke the flame. The question is asked: “what is the difference to me whether it is inside the stove and what is the difference to me whether it is atop it?” The answer is that cooking with hot ashes in the stove is disallowed, while heating something on top does not require the fire to be stoked. (And to me personally, there is no difference.)
Today’s reading took me back to what I learned in Shabbos 18 about the custom of placing food on a hot plate or burner ahead of the Sabbath and the fire hazards that are inherent in the practice. Here is a link to my blog entry on Shabbos 18: