Topics covered:
Finishing Chapter 22, Mishnas 4,5
Rav Huna shares the counterintuitive teaching that people who are particular about their clothes may not dust them off on Shabbos, while people who are not particular may do so. We may not carry folded clothes on Shabbos (or any other item in the absence of an eiruv, which creates an extended private domain where people may carry on Shabbos), but of course we may wear clothes. The interesting question arises when we wear clothes and fold part of them. Are we doing so to dress nicely in honor of Shabbos (permitted) or to protect the clothing (prohibited)? In Mishna 5, we learn that one may not carry a wet towel home from bathing in a mikveh, even within an eiruv, lest he come to wring out the towel, a prohibited labor. This rabbinic decree was later overturned due to the rulings of many great Sages. We may smear and rub oil on our bodies on Shabbos, but not vigorously. Rabbi Elazar ben Arakh was the exception that proves the rule: men should listen to their wives, but in this case it led to him leaving his colleagues and losing his Torah learning.