Day Yomi - Yoma 84 - Highlights

Highlights


1. Five things were said regarding a mad dog. Its mouth is open, its saliva drips, its ears droop, its tail rest on its legs, and it walks on the side of the road, Some say that it also barks but its voice is not heard. There is a debate as to how the dog becomes mad. Rav maintains says that female sorcerers play with the dog and Shmuel maintains that an evil spirit rests on it. According to Shmuel the mad dog must be killed by throwing something at it, for if one gets too close to the dog, the evil spirit will attach itself to him. One who is rubbed by the mad dog will be in grave danger. The Gemara discusses the remedies if one is rubbed by the mad dog or if one was bitten by the mad dog.
2. Rabbi Yochanan suffered from a condition known as tzefidna, which begins in the teeth and gums and spreads to the intestines. A certain noblewoman provided Rabbi Yochanan with a remedy for his condition for Thursday and also for Friday. When Rabbi Yochanan pressed her to reveal to him the remedy for Shabbos, she revealed the remedy to Rabbi Yochanan but she made him swear that he would not divulge the secret. Rabbi Yochanan took the oath and immediately explained to her that the oath he had taken was not valid. This disclaimer allowed Rabbi Yochanan to teach the remedy in public. Had Rabbi Yochanan not explained to the noblewoman immediately that he had not made a binding oath, there would have been a desecration of HaShem’s Name.
3. The Gemara discusses different ailments and which remedies are allowed to be administered on Shabbos as these particular remedies have therapeutic value
4. One can desecrate Shabbos if it is possible to save one’s life. This is true even if we are convinced that he will survive through Shabbos even without the medicine. The rationale for this ruling is that we are concerned that if we do not heal him today, he may not live until the next Shabbos.
5. When it is necessary to administer medicine on Shabbos to one who is sick, we do not allow a gentile to administer the medicine. The reason for this ruling is that we are concerned that the gentile will procrastinate and this will cause the Jew to be in danger. For this reason we have the medicine administered by Jewish adults.
6. We do not listen to a woman or a Cuthean (converts to Judaism after an outbreak of wild animals in Eretz Yisroel and their conversion was debated as to its validity) if they assess that a patient requires a procedure that constitutes a desecration of Shabbos. However, if there is a situation where two Jewish males maintain that it is necessary to desecrate the Shabbos for this person and three people maintain that it is not needed, the woman or the Cuthean can combine with the opinion of the two Jewish males to make the two sides equal. Then we can apply the rule that when there is a doubt whether we should override the Shabbos prohibitions to provide for the patient, we are lenient regarding life and death matters and we treat the patient.
7. In a situation where there are nine gentiles and one Jew and one of the ten people departed and he is now in a life threatening situation, we do not maintain that the person in danger is a gentile because of the majority. Rather, we are lenient and we assume that the individual may be the Jew and we desecrate the Shabbos on his behalf.