Topics covered:
Chapter 10, Mishna 8
A journey from the law of trees on Shabbos to the marital bed! May we carry under a tree? May we use the bottom 3 handbreadths of a tree? What if it’s a tree that sticks up through a hole in a roof? We may not climb a tree on Shabbos, but what if someone did? May he climb down? Climbing down is a prohibited action, but so is sitting up there in the tree. Which is worse? May we walk on grass on Shabbos? Concern is that we’ll come to pull grass from the ground, which is prohibited. Our source verse for a Rabbinic decree on this question can also be interpreted to apply to wives, husbands and conjugal relations. He may not demand if she’s unwilling. She may demand, and then he is obligated! But she should do so non-verbally…