Daf Ditty Shabbes 109

Hamat Gader Today

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Rabbi Yosei says: All seas purify like a ritual bath. They actually purify even more than a ritual
bath, as they purify even when they are flowing. Immersion in a sea is purifying not only when
its waters are still, but even when they are flowing. That is not the case with a ritual bath, whose
waters only purify when still. And sea water is invalid for purifying zavim and lepers and for
sanctifying purification water to mix the ashes of the red heifer with it. Those cases require spring
water….

There are number of levels of purity that pertain to water. Natural water that has accumulated in
a ritual bath, which contains forty se’a, the minimum volume for purification, can be used for
immersion, provided it is still and not flowing. The waters of a river or a sea can purify even
though their water is flowing. In addition, spring water also purifies even when it flows, and it can
be utilized for the purification of zavim and lepers as well as the sanctification of the purification
waters.1

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Steinzaltz Shabbes 109

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Rashi

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Aderet Eliyahu

Rav Nachman bar Yitzĥak’s objection seems obvious: What is the connection between the dispute
of Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda with regard to impurity and the halakhot of taking medicine on
Shabbat?

Some commentaries explain that just as people are aware that the status of the Mediterranean Sea
is different from that of other seas and people immerse there for purification, they are also aware
that it is distinct from other bodies of water with regard to Shabbat.

ORACH CHAYIM 328:44

One may bathe on Shabbat in seawater that is suitable for bathing, even if one’s intention is
medicinal. However, it is prohibited to bathe in water that is not fit for bathing or in water in which
flax was soaked because it has a foul smell.

However, it is permitted to enter these waters if one does not remain in them because in this case
it appears that he is entering the water merely to cool off.

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Rambam (Hilchos Shabbos 21:29) writes that the Gemara lists specific bodies of water in which
it is prohibited to bathe on Shabbos.

These bodies of water each have a specific issue related to it which causes some ill-effect to a
person who immerses in it.

On the one hand, the overall effect of these pursuits is one of comfort, and there is even a
therapeutic benefit which results.

Yet Shabbos is defined by the concept of “‫ – עו לשבת וקראת ג‬we must indulge in aspects of physical
enjoyment”.

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The very fact that the means to achieve these goals is by experiencing some degree of pain, these
measures are inherently prohibited on Shabbos.

According to Rambam, the reason we cannot bathe in these waters is not necessarily due to the
rabbinic restrictions against using medicinal remedies, but it is the discomfort involved which
results in it being unlawful on Shabbos.

This is also why Rambam understands why it is only an extended period in the water that is
prohibited, while a momentary dip is allowed.

The rule, therefore, is that any activity which involves some degree of pain must be avoided on
Shabbos.

Rambam (Hilchos Shabbos 22:2):

Chachamim forbade entering a bathhouse on Shabbos due to bathhouse attendants who would heat
water on Shabbos, and say that it was heated from Erev Shabbos. They forbade entering a
bathhouse even to sweat. They decreed not to shower the entire body even in water heated from
Erev Shabbos, but the hands, feet and face are permitted.

This refers to water heated on a fire. We decree due to bathhouses. One may shower the entire
body in Chamei Tiverya and similar [hot springs]. One may not bathe in hot water in caves, for
there is hot air and one will come to sweat, so it is like a bathhouse.

Minchas Yitzchok (Vol. 5, #32) uses this concept as a factor in considering why sunbathing is
prohibited on Shabbos.

Among other factors, during the process of getting a tan a person subjects himself to the scorching
rays of the sun, often to the point where there is actual discomfort involved.

Although the person chooses to endure the ache and soreness associated with sitting in the sun for
an extended period (both during and after the exposure), this does not mean that Shabbos is willing
to overlook this imposition on its day.2

Bi’ur Halacha (O.C. 344:44 - ‫ לרפואה אלא ה"ד‬,

However, presents a Tosefta which clearly identifies the issue with submerging in these bodies of
water with the medicinal aspect they offer, and not with the issue of pain, as Rambam writes.

According to the Tosefta, it is only prohibited when a person intends to achieve the therapeutic
benefit involved, but if a person enters the water to purify himself from tum’ah, it would be
allowed.

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Daf Digest Shabbes 109

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TOSAFOS

‫נראה לריב''א דטעמא משום דכל שעה הולכים ושבים מכאן לכאן והוי כזוחלין הלכך יש להם לטהר בזוחלין כמו שאר‬
‫נהרות‬

Explanation (Riva): The reason is because they are constantly going back and forth, to here and
to here, so they are like Zochalim (moving water). Therefore, they are Metaher through Zochalim,
like other rivers;

‫אבל מים חיים אינם שהרי אינם נובעים הלכך מיסתבר טפי מה שהכתוב קראן מקוה היינו לפוסלן ממים חיים‬

However, they are not Mayim Chayim, for they do not flow, Therefore, it is more reasonable that
the Torah called them "Mikveh" to disqualify them from Mayim Chayim.

RISHONIM

Rif and Rosh (18b and 3:6,7): The Halachah is, one may not bathe in hot water heated on a fire,
in Kelim or in the ground. One may bathe in Chamei Tiverya. One may wash his face, hands and
feet in water heated before Shabbos, but not the entire body, (even) one limb at a time, and all the
more not in water heated on Shabbos.

Ran (DH Aval): R. Yehonason asked, since the Rif rules like Shmuel, why did he need to forbid
the entire body in hot water? He answered that he rules like R. Yehudah to permit in cold water. I
say that he needed to forbid [hot water] even in the ground.

Ran (DH Amar Rebbi): The Yerushalmi says that they left water over a fire to get hot on Shabbos.
Yisraelim are not suspected of transgressing Shabbos mid'Oraisa

Rif and Rosh (62b and 22:12): permit bathing only b'Di'eved. Above, we permitted in Mei Geder
and Chamei Tiverya. Just Zei'ah is forbidden! Rather, the Mishnah says 'one who bathed'
(b'Di'eved) due to cave water. Chamei Tiverya was taught with it to teach that the cave water is
hot, just like Chamei Tiverya.

Mordechai (303): One may shower (pour water on the limbs) in cold water, but not bathe, even
in the ground. The Ri says that this refers to ground like a Kli, e.g. a pond, which is cut off from

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the river, just like a Kli is. All permit in the river. We permit Chamei Tiverya, and [all the more
so] one may enter cold water to cool off, without rubbing [to clean himself].

Tosfos (39b DH v'Ha): R. Meir forbids showering the entire body even in cold water, even in the
ground. Yet our Daf permits bathing in water of Tiverya or Yam ha'Gadol, and we establish it like
R. Meir! Perhaps here we forbid in the ground like a Kli, and there he permits in a river. In a river,
it looks like he entered to cool off. Even in Chamei Tiverya, he does not look like one who bathes
in hot water.

Tosfos (109a DH Rochtzin): On 147a, we say that it is b'Di'eved to bathe in Chamei Tiverya. There
we discuss bathing in the hole (the source), similar to a bathhouse. We permit in a river
l'Chatchilah.

POSKIM

Shulchan Aruch (OC 326:1): One may not bathe the entire body, even each limb individually,
even in water heated from before Shabbos, whether in a Kli or in the ground. One may not even
pour the water on himself.

Mishnah Berurah: Also the majority of the body is forbidden. The majority is like the entire
body.

Kaf ha'Chayim: Women who immerse in the river and afterwards pour hot water on themselves
may pour only on half the body. The Ran says that people used to pour water on themselves after
Zei'ah. Therefore, there is concern lest people suspect that the water was heated on Shabbos.

Bi'ur Halachah (DH b'Mayim): R. Akiva Eiger permits one in pain to bathe in water heated from
Erev Shabbos, even if the entire body is not sick.

Beis Yosef (DH Asur): Rashi explains that "Lehishtatef" is pouring on the body. This is unlike
bathing, which is entering his body or limbs into water.

Beis Yosef (DH v'Havah): It seems that we permit not only the hands, feet and face. The same
applies to other limbs, as long as he does not bathe the entire body. However, Rashi explains that
the Isur to put a kettle on the stomach is lest it spill, and he will bathe in hot water on Shabbos,
even though it is only part of his body. However, the Rosh (Hilchos Mikva'os 37) permits heating
a flask to rinse Beis ha'Setarim (covered places, e.g. the underarms), like Beis Hillel, who permit
heating water on Yom Tov to wash the feet, but not the entire body. This implies that the Heter is
not limited to the hands, feet and face. Even though there he discusses Yom Tov and here we
discuss Shabbos, this is not a difference between Shabbos and Yom Tov.

Taz (1): The Beraisa permits the hands, feet and face, but not the entire body one limb at a time.

Magen Avraham: Mas'as Binyamin (5) says that the custom is that women do not begin to wear
white [to count seven clean days] on Shabbos or Yom Tov. Perhaps this is because they do not

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know to be careful about bathing. (They wash the area first.) Where there is no custom we permit,
but she may not wash with a cloth, lest she come to squeeze.

Shach YD 199:12, brought in Machatzis ha'Shekel: This is a flimsy reason. Our custom is that
women begin on Yom Tov, but not on Shabbos. According to Mas'as Binyamin, there is no reason
to distinguish! Rather, if she begins counting on Shabbos, (since seven full days are required) she
will immerse on Motza'ei Shabbos. Chachamim tried to avoid this, for then she immerses a long
time after shampooing [on Erev Shabbos].

Shulchan Aruch (ibid.): This refers to water heated through fire. One may bathe even the entire
body at once in hot [spring] water of Tiverya. We need not say that it is permitted with cold water.

Mishnah Berurah: In a place where they heat the Mikveh, one must ensure that it is only
lukewarm. If not, one may not immerse in it.

Shulchan Aruch (ibid.): Chamei Tiverya are permitted only in the ground, but not in a Kli, lest it
be confused with water heated on a fire.

Mishnah Berurah : Even hot springs are forbidden where this is done for Refu'ah.

Mishnah Berurah : The custom is not to bathe in a river.3

Zodiac mosaic floor, synagogue in Hamat Tiberias

3
https://dafyomi.co.il/shabbos/halachah/sh-hl-109.htm

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The 17 springs of Hamat Tiberias have been known since antiquity for their curative properties.
According to the Jerusalem Talmud, a village once rested upon the site and was distinct from
Tiberias. The site was rediscovered in 1920 when the Tiberias-Samakh road was being constructed.

The Hamei Tveriya natural hot springs are located on the grounds of the park.
According to the sages of the Talmud, the springs were heated when they streamed
past the entrance of Hell4.

Archaeologists have concluded it was built on the ruins of the biblical city of Hammath.

,‫לד ְוָשׁב ַהְגּבוּל ָיָמּה ַאְזנוֹת ָתּבוֹר‬ 34 And the border turned westward to Aznoth-tabor, and
‫ְוָיָצא ִמָשּׁם חוֹּקָקה; וָּפַגע ִבְּזֻבלוּן‬ went out from thence to Hukok; and it reached to
,‫ וִּביהוָּדה‬,‫ וְּבָאֵשׁר ָפַּגע ִמָיּם‬,‫ִמֶנֶּגב‬ Zebulun on the south, and reached to Asher on the west,
.‫ַהַיּ ְרֵדּן ִמְזַרח ַהָשֶּׁמשׁ‬ and to Judah at the Jordan toward the sun rising.

,‫ַהִצִּדּים ֵצר‬--‫ ִמְבָצר‬,‫לה ְוָﬠֵרי‬ 35 And the fortified cities were Ziddim-zer, and
.‫ְוַחַמּת ַרַקּת ְוִכָנֶּרת‬ Hammath, and Rakkath, and Chinnereth;

Joshua 19:35

However the finds of the excavations are limited to the 1st-8th centuries CE.5 The small
town eventually merged with Tiberias.

4
Zev Vilnay (June 1978). Legends of Galilee, Jordan, and Sinai. Jewish Publication Society of America. p. 168. ISBN 978-0-
8276-0106-2. Retrieved 17 October 2010.
5
Gordon, Douglas L (1997). "HAMMATH TIBERIAS". The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East.
p. 470. ISBN 0195112156.

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The Hammat Tiberias Synagogue is an ancient synagogue on the outskirts of Tiberias, located
near the hot springs just south of the city.

The synagogue dates to 286 and 337 CE, when Tiberias was the seat of the Sanhedrin.

Two synagogue sites have been excavated at Hammat Tiberias.

The first, uncovered in 1921 by Nachum Slouschz who was working under the sponsorship of
the Jewish Palestine Exploration Society, was a watershed event in the history of Israeli
archaeology as the first archaeological dig conducted under Jewish auspices. A
limestone menorah was uncovered there which is now on display at the Israel Museum. The
mosaic floor is made up of three panels featuring: inscriptions and dedications; the zodiac panel,
including Helios the sun god and four women symbolizing the four seasons of nature; while the
upper panel depicts the Temple of Jerusalem plus the primary symbols of Judaism, the menorah
candelabra, shofar horn, arbaa-minim plants, and a mahta shovel.

The second synagogue site, excavated by Moshe Dothan, is noted for its elaborate mosaic floor.

The synagogue, dated to the last half of the fourth century C.E., was named after an inscription
that reads, in Greek, "Severus the pupil of the most illustrious patriarchs," an apparent reference
to the leaders of the Jewish community.

In the center of one large mosaic is the Sun god, Helios, sitting in his chariot holding the celestial
sphere and a whip. Nine of the 12 signs of the zodiac survived intact.

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Another panel shows a Torah ark flanked by two the seven-branched menorahs and other Jewish
ritual objects.

The Abulafia Synagogue today, Tiberias

The “Etz Chaim” /Abulafia Synagogue was established in 1742 in Tiberias by Rabbi Chaim
Abulafia.

It underwent reconstructions after the earth quakes of 1759 and 1837, and again after the great
flood of 1934.

In the synagogue’s basement a unique Ritual Bath (“Mikveh”) operates by water filling it from
the Sea of Galilee.

Being so it is usually dry in recent years.

Last time It filled up was in 2003. I am sure it filled this last year!!

Near to it are the Karlin-Stolin shul, the Chabad minyan and the “Senior” Synagogue.

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