Shabbos 6
“This labor of carrying out from domain to domain, is among those prohibited labors with regard to which there is no uncertainty and it is clear that one is liable for karet and stoning for its violation.”
I am finding the protracted dialog on public and private domains and carrying forward and lifting and sliding and handbreadths difficult to wade through. The miniscule parsing of what constitutes a private vs public domain is exasperating. How can a ditch really be a private domain that is ten handbreadths deep and four handbreadths wide and a fence that is of the same dimension be considered “full-fledged private domains?” And who is going to crawl into that ditch to find out? And why bother defining an alleyway and plaza as public domains when they clearly are public spaces? We are also brought back to the time when we wandered the desert in the discussion of public domains: “it refers to the time when the Israelites were dwelling in the desert.” Today’s email from My Jewish Learning reminds us that the Rabbis are obsessed with obeying the Sabbath and there are another 150 pages to go of this discussion.
The punishment of stoning for transgressing Sabbath Law is revisited in today’s reading. I continue to find it disproportionate to the crime. The analysis in various online sources state that stoning or any form of capital punishment were rarely carried out, but the language in the Talmud is very specific. There is some parsing of when a person is subject to the most extreme punishment, which occurs when he is both forewarned and there are two witnesses to testify that the alleged transgression occurred. But still, it’s a chilling thought to live under such fear that a violation of law could result in the death penalty, even if it was never carried out. It seems like it was designed to function as a deterrent to straying from the strict codes of a religious life.
Today’s reading led me to wonder about the concept of Teshuvah and repentance and its treatment in the Talmud. If a religious person transgresses and violates a Sabbath Law, should the expectation be that they look within their heart and determine for themselves if they are guilty of something and decide how to best repent, rather than be subjected to the threat of stoning? Wouldn’t self-repentance be a more proportional punishment for a transgression like baking bread on the Sabbath?
Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is the Jewish holiday that holds the most meaning for me. I am not a light-hearted person who gets excited about Purim or Hanukkah. The liturgy - and especially the Kol Nidre - is incredibly moving poetry. It’s about the repetition and rhythm that encompasses one’s soul. And of course, it’s an opportunity to start again and try again not to transgress.
I found an article online from My Jewish Learning on repentance. The article states that there are two kinds of sins: sins against God, including Sabbath infractions, and sins against people. The article states that sins against God can be atoned for through prayer and a promise to not commit the infraction again; the sincerity of the repentance can be demonstrated when the opportunity arises and one does not commit the sin again, such as resisting the urge to bake bread on the Sabbath no matter how overwhelming the hunger.