Shabbos 4

“All those who sin unwittingly and are therefore liable to bring sin-offerings are only liable if the beginning of their action was unwitting and the end of their action was unwitting.”

One of the major lessons I have learned from this journey through the Talmud is the importance of intention. Today, it is driven home in the discussion of baking bread on the Sabbath. If someone - let’s call him Schlemiel -- places a loaf of bread in the oven on the Sabbath and has forgotten what day it is, and remains unaware throughout the bread baking process, he is not held liable and is not required to remove the bread. The crucial point is that there was no intention on the part of our forgetful friend to violate the Sabbath. (Although I half expect some rabbi to call him an ignoramus.)

But what if our poor Schlemiel is famished on the Sabbath and he forgot to plan ahead and really craves a nice warm loaf of bread? He knows it’s the Sabbath, but he says to himself, “just this once, in order to taste the sweet slice of bread and abate my hunger, I will fire up the oven and bake a loaf.” He pulls up a chair, sits next to the oven and takes in the warm smell of baking yeast. But then he has a moment of regret and perhaps fear for what will happen if he is found out. Afterall, the scent of baking yeast can whiff through the air of a closely-knit neighborhood and could alert the rabbis of a transgression. The punishment is quite severe for violating the Sabbath intentionally: the text says Schlemiel could be subjected to stoning. (Although an article that I found online from My Jewish Learning states that this was rarely carried out.)

Before Schlemiel can figure out how to extricate himself from this serious offense, he is joined by his friend Schlimazel who is staying with him for the weekend. Schlimazel often rescues his friend from potential mishaps, and they have a sort of co-dependent relationship. Schlimazel finds his friend sitting by the oven absorbing the essence of the baking bread. He removes the bread from the oven and disposes of it before anyone else can find out. He has saved his dear friend from a stoning, but has he himself now conducted a sin? Has he committed even a greater sin because in addition to violating Sabbath law he put his own life at risk?

Rav Sheshet says that Schlimazel has indeed committed a sin and should not have removed the bread from the oven: “Permitting one to violate a prohibition, even one prohibited by rabbinic law, in order to help another perform a mitzva is inconceivable. The same is true with regard to preventing another from violating a more severe prohibition.” Is Schlimazel now exposed to being punished for helping his friend? Has he put himself inappropriately in harm's way?

The punishment of stoning for baking bread on the Sabbath seems disproportionate to the crime. The article on the topic in My Jewish Learning states that “The Torah prescribes death as punishment for a number of serious sins — among them murder, idol worship and desecrating the Sabbath.” I am against the death penalty, but can understand the proportionality of capital punishment for murder, but sentencing someone to stoning and presumably death for baking bread on the Sabbath seems quite harsh. This article says that it was relatively rare to actually carry out such sentences. But still, the fear of being sentenced to death by stoning must have been terrifying.

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-death-penalty-in-jewish-tradition/