Topics covered:
Chapter 24, Mishna 3, 4 “Shatit” dip may be mixed on Shabbos, but its method of prep should be altered. Related teachings brought down from the notebooks of Zeiri and Levi, who learned before Rabbi Chiyya and Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi respectively. Having mentioned notebooks, we digress to learn from Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi’s notebook regarding the influence of the day of the week on which one is born. Rabbi Chanina disagrees: what matters is not the day of the week but the hour of the day! And “yeish mazal l’Yisroel” – there IS a constellation for Israel. Rabbi Yochanan, Rav, Shmuel, Rabbi Akiva and Rav Nachman bar Yitzhak will all disagree and say “ain mazal l’Yisroel” – there is NOT a constellation for Israel! Meaning, the Jewish people are not ruled by the stars of our birth. Now, the incidents that prove we are not ruled by our stars actually show that we are indeed INFLUENCED by them. But we also have the power to overcome that influence by cleaving to God, Torah and the commandments, ESPECIALLY via lovingkindness. Why do Jewish men cover their heads? New mishna: we may cut pumpkins to feed an animal on Shabbos, so long as the pumpkin was already detached from the ground.