Song to be sung on the bus at camp after Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer: A translation of Yoma 84b
You should save a life on Shabbat, and the faster you do so, the better. And you need not ask permission from the Bet Din first. Yes, you need not ask permission from the Bet Din first.
If a man sees a baby fall into the ocean, he should cast out a fishing net and catch the baby. And the faster one does so, the better; and it is not necessary to obtain permission from the Bet Din to save the baby in this manner, even though fishing is prohibited on Shabbat.
If a man sees a baby fall into a pit, he should dig a step out of sand and lift out the baby. And the faster one does so, the better; and it is not necessary to obtain permission from the Bet Din to save the baby in this manner, even though building a step is prohibited on Shabbat.
If a man sees a door slam on a baby, he should break open the door and release the baby. And the faster one does so, the better; and it is not necessary to obtain permission from the Bet Din to save the baby in this manner, even though breaking open a door is prohibited on Shabbat.
You should save a life on Shabbat, and the faster you do so, the better. And you need not ask permission from the Bet Din first. Yes, you need not ask permission from the Bet Din first.
If a man sees a baby fall into the ocean, he should cast out a fishing net and catch the baby. And the faster one does so, the better; and it is not necessary to obtain permission from the Bet Din to save the baby in this manner, even though fishing is prohibited on Shabbat.
If a man sees a baby fall into a pit, he should dig a step out of sand and lift out the baby. And the faster one does so, the better; and it is not necessary to obtain permission from the Bet Din to save the baby in this manner, even though building a step is prohibited on Shabbat.
If a man sees a door slam on a baby, he should break open the door and release the baby. And the faster one does so, the better; and it is not necessary to obtain permission from the Bet Din to save the baby in this manner, even though breaking open a door is prohibited on Shabbat.
You should save a life on Shabbat, and the faster you do so, the better. And you need not ask permission from the Bet Din first. Yes, you need not ask permission from the Bet Din first.
posted by Chavatzelet Herzliya at 6:32 PM
4 Comments:
Thank you for this very kind message, which means a lot to me.
The passage you cite is from Oscar Wilde's "The Ballad of Reading Gaol":
I never saw a man who looked
With such a wistful eye
Upon that little tent of blue
Which prisoners call the sky,
And at every drifting cloud that went
With sails of silver by.
"Song to be sung on the bus at camp after Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer: A translation of Yoma 84b
"You should save a life on Shabbat, and the faster you do so, the better. And you need not ask permission from the Bet Din first. Yes, you need not ask permission from the Bet Din first.
"If a person sees a baby fall into the ocean, he should cast out a fishing net and catch the baby. And the faster one does so, the better; and it is not necessary to obtain permission from the Bet Din to save the baby in this manner, even though fishing is prohibited on Shabbat."
If a person...he...
?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
Is it a person or a man? If it is a man, then say that. If it is a person, then you should either write "she or he," or you should switch off between female and male pronouns! Or you should find a way to not need the pronoun. Or you should just write "she" in order to balance the overwhelming use of male pronouns for the last 3,000 years.
And if you say, "I'm just translating the Gemara, which would not have used a female pronoun" then I will follow your absurd logic and respond, "then you, as a woman, should not be translating the Gemara to begin with."
ASK - I think it was just a slip. I empathize, but our Chavatzelet really does share this concern and would not intentionally write that way...
JRL,
Do you mean a slip into sexism?
I, too, believe that Chavatzelet did not mean to use a male generic, which is why I posted my comments and ASKed her. I am still waiting for a response.
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