Resources for Yevamos daf 46
1. The גמרא seems to pasken that in order to become a גר one needs מילה וטבילה. There is a fascinating תשובה by the בנין ציון in סימן צ"א where he discusses a case where someone in the גירות process had a מילה done before שבת and wanted to wait a few days for it to heal before going to the מקוה. Shabbos came and he was now a גר who had מילה but no טבילה. Was he allowed to keep שבת even though we have a principle ofגוי ששבת חייב מיתה? The רב he asked said that he must be מחלל שבת. Almost all the other Rabbonim in ירושלים vehemently disagreed. The בנין ציון paskened that he should have kept Shabbos. Even though our גמרא sounds like he isn’t a Jew at all until he has מילה וטבילה, the בנין ציון explained that once he has מילה he isn’t a גוי either and isn’t חייב in יום ולילה לא ישבותו. In the שו"ת בצל חכמה in חלק ד סימן קס"ז he points out that the תוספות ישנים on דף מ"ח ע"ב says explicitly that anyone who has intention to convert is allowed to keep שבת. It seems that the numerous poskim who discussed this issue and did not bring this תוספות ישנים must have held we don’t pasken that way.
2. The גמרא says that טבילת גר cannot be done on שבת because it is similar to תיקון מנא. תוספות in ד"ה כיון asks that one is typically allowed to go to the מקוה on שבת because it is נראה כמיקר (looks like he is just cooling off and not תיקון מנא) so why is this different? He answers that since there are תלמידי חכמים who are supposed to watch the גר being טובל it is obvious that it is only being done to make him a Yid and not for cooling off. The תוספות ישנים says that even though we normally allow טבילה on שבת because of נראה כמיקר, here it is a תיקון גדול and we cannot say that it just looks like he is cooling off. The רמב"ם in הלכות איסורי ביאה פּרק י"ג הל׳ ו says that that reason a גר can’t do טבילה in שבת is because it needs a בית דין. This sounds like it is against our גמרא which says the reason is because it looks like תיקון מנא. The ערוך לנר quotes his father as saying that the רמב"ם means to say exactly as תוספות said, that the reason we don’t say נראה כמיקר by the גר is because the ב"ד needs to witness it so it is obvious that it isn’t being done so he can cool off. The כסף משנה suggests that theרמב"ם felt that we don’t pasken like the reason our גמרא says since we always say נראה כמיקר. Rather, the only reason a גר can’t do טבילה בשבת is because it is considered like תחילת דין and אין דנים בשבת. There is a מגן אברהם in סימן שכ"ג who says that if one is able to be טובל a כלי on שבת in a way where it doesn’t look like a תיקון (such as if you have a jug which is normally filled up and you stick it in the מקוה and fill it up with water thus not making it obvious that you are toveling it), then you shouldn’t make a ברכה as that will make it obvious that it is for a מצוה. The ביאור הלכה there in ד"ה ימלאנו is surprised by this since we never heard that a נדה who is טובל בשבת shouldn’t make a ברכה. He answers that it is really תלוי in the מחלוקת we mentioned between the רמב"ם and תוספות. According to תוספות who says that the reason we can’t do טבילת הגר on שבת is because there are Rabbis watching the טבילה so the intent is obvious, then one would not be able to make a ברכה either. According to the רמב"ם who says that the issue is that it is a מעשה ב"ד but the fact that people are watching doesn’t change the fact that the act itself is נראה כמיקר, then one could make a ברכה.
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