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B"H
QUESTION: Why was the man stoned (Bamidbar 15: 32-36) who gathered sticks and firewood on the Sabbath day? Afterall, gathering firewood is not listed as one of the thirty-nine pro-types of forbidden labour in Mishnah Shabbos, chapter 7. ANSWER: The Law of Moses gives us no set-definition of "work" which would warrant the death penalty for someone who did so, wantonly, on the Sabbath day. If it were wrong for the man to simply gather firewood and kindling for his use in a fire, without actually lighting the fire, by the same token would it be wrong for a mother to gather together her child's play toys on the Sabbath day. Yet, there is no such prohibition. This, then, is not one of the forms of labour which is forbidden to do on the Sabbath. A man can actually carry a sofa on his shoulders and go with it in circles within his own house all Sabbath long without doing anything which would be considered as "work" to be punished thereby. On the other hand, if he willfully takes a needle through his doorway and goes out with it four cubits into the public domain, he becomes culpable thereby to the death penalty. There is nothing tiring or tedious about carrying a needle on the Sabbath day, yet is it punishable by the death penalty. Without an oral tradition, it would be virtually impossible for someone to know the answer to this question. The Rabbis have taught us that there are ONLY 39 forms of labour, all of which we learn from the tent or tabernacle of testimony that was pitched in the wilderness. Only those types of work that were done to make the tabernacle were the same types of work to be prohibited on the Sabbath day. (Sewing, Dyeing, Writing, Hammering, etc.) One of the works prohibited is to carry anything from one domain to another, or to go with it four cubits in the public domain. So the act with which he was guilty for gathering sticks was not his actual gathering of the sticks, but of his going with them more than four cubits in the public domain! |
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GY Teacher |
In Shabbos 96b there are 3 possible answers as paraphrased by Kollel Iyun hadaf.
4) THE "MEKOSHESH" (a) (Rav Yehudah): The [man executed for] Mekoshesh (gathering wood, Bamidbar 15:32) carried four Amos in Reshus ha'Rabim;(b) (Beraisa): He detached wood [from trees].(c) (Rav Acha b'Rebbi Yakov): He made piles. ____________ http://limudtorah.jewishweb.org Please help the Global Yeshiva to continue spreading high quality Torah by sponsoring a Shiur in the "Understanding Mishna Brurah" forum. All sponsorships are tax deductible. |
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B"H
Thanks, Rav Chaim, for further clarifying the picture here. Actually, I had heard the other two explanations before, and should have made mention of them as well. Any of the three actions would have warranted the death penalty. David |
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