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From: dk@browngr.UUCP (David Kantrowitz)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Interpretations
Message-ID: <1507@browngr.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 30-Oct-84 18:51:14 EST
Article-I.D.: browngr.1507
Posted: Tue Oct 30 18:51:14 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 2-Nov-84 05:17:43 EST
References: rocheste.2658, <1612@ucf-cs.UUCP>
Lines: 18


Furthermore, in addition to David Sher's evaluation of comparative difficulty
of kindling fire in old times, the Sabbath prohibition against carrying
objects, even of the slightest weight and bulk, from the public domain to
the private domain can scarcely be considered difficult.

Yet it was prohibited then as now.

Also, I claim that the understanding of work on Sabbath as creative activity
is not a new idea at all.  I believe the Talmud itself discusses how fire
is the only kind of 'work' that is destructive instead of creative.
In addition, the Talmud contains discussions of the arguments about whether
bruising yourself is 'work'; one opinion holds that it is not work because
it is not creative but rather destructive.

I would suggest that a lot of confusion about difficulty and ease of work is
due to the concentration on the word "work" (and its Hebrew equivalent) although
I am only guessing.