Siman - Shabbos Daf 107
- 3 cases when completely patur
Shmuel said כל פטורי דשבת פטור אבל אסור לבר מהני תלת – Any place where the halacha states פטור, it means that one is not liable medoraysa , however it is still forbidden mediRabbonon, except for the following three cases, where the word patur, means patur even mediRrabbanon:
•If one person sat in a doorway and blocked it completely, (trapping an animal) and then a second person came and sat down beside him, even though the first person got up and went away and the doorway is now being blocked by the second person, the first person is liable and the second is patur.
•המפיס מורסא בשבת, if one punctures a boil to remove the puss, he is patur. Rashi explains that he is not liable medoraysa ince nothing has been rectified, and no deRabbonon was enacted in this case either, because the person is in pain.
•One who traps a snake on Shabbos so that it will not bite him, is patur. Tosfos Daf 3a, explains that the case is where the snake bite is not life threatening. If it was, then it would be permitted to kill it on a doraysah level.
- Trapping or bruising sheratzim
The opening Mishnah of the fourteenth perek states that one who traps or bruises one of the eight sheratzim that are mentioned in the Torah, is chayav. One is not chayav for bruising all other shekatzim and remasim (vermin and crawling things ) since they do not have hides (Rashi) but one is chayav for trapping them. This is provided he needs them for some positive reason (e.g. an ingredient for medicine).
Rashi explains that the reason one is chayav for trapping these eight sheratzim is that they are typically hunted. He provides two possible reasons why bruising them is forbidden. Bruising is either a toldah of shechitah, since one is taking the “life” from that part of the animal , or it is the melacha of tzoveah (dyeing) since the animal’s skin is discolored by the bruise .
- Killing a louse
Rav Yosef explained the machlokes between Rebbe Eliezer and the Rabbonon whether one is chayav for killing a louse on Shabbos, is based on their understanding of the rams whose hides were used for the construction of the Mishkan.
•Rebbe Eliezer learns that just as killing the rams involved the taking of a life, so too the prohibition applies to anything whose killing involves the taking of a life, which would include a louse.
•The Rabbonon hold that just as rams reproduce, so too the prohibition applies to anything that reproduces. Therefore, one is not liable for killing lice since they do not reproduce. Rashi on Daf 12a says that they grow spontaneously from a person’s skin. The Aruch Hashulchan explains that they do reproduce, but since their eggs are too small to be seen by the naked eye, they are regarded as halachically non-existent.
