Siman - Shabbos Daf 66
- Amputee’s wooden shoe
The Mishnah stated regarding a wooden shoe worn by amputees, אם יש לו בית קיבול כתיתין טמא – if it has a receptacle for rags [for him to put his leg on top of] then it can be mekabel tumah. There is a machlokes Amoraim if it is mekabel tumas midras, a tumah acquired by an object used with the intention to support one’s weight, whether through sitting, lying, standing or leaning. Tumah is only transmitted this way from someone who became tamei as a result of a bodily emission, such as a zav, zavah, or Niddah.
• Abaye holds that it is not mekabel tumas midras since its primary purpose is to disguise the fact that the person is missing a foot, not to support his weight. He brings a proof from a Baraisa that states that a walking stick is not mekabel tumah, even though it is sometimes used to support one’s weight.
• Rava holds that the wooden shoe is mekabel tumas midras even though its primary purpose is not to support one’s weight. He brings a proof from a child’s wagon that can be mekabel tumas midras even though it is only used occasionally to bear the child’s weight.
- Knots for son yearning for father
The Mishnah on amud beis states הבנים יוצאין בקשרים – young boys may go out on Shabbos with knots. The Gemara explains that these knots are the ones that Avin bar Huna spoke about in the name of Rav Chama bar Gurya. He said, that to comfort a son who yearns after his father who is parting from him, the father should take a strap from his own right shoe and tie it around the boy’s left arm.
The Gemara adds that it would be dangerous, and potentially plunge the son into melancholy, if the father were to do the opposite and take the strap from his left shoe and tie it around his son’s right arm.
- Incantation rules
Abaye shares a few rules his adopted mother taught him about incantations .
• All incantations are recited with the name of the person’s mother.
• Any incantations that are clearly stated to be repeated a set number of times, should be repeated according to that number.
• Any incantation that is not stated about how many times it should be repeated, should be repeated forty one times.
