39 categories of activity

39 categories of activity, 39 melachot, or lamed tet avot melachot, that the Talmud prohibits Jews from engaging in on Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath which commences every Friday at dusk until about 24 hours later on Saturday after nightfall.) In Judaism, the day commences at dusk (evening) and ends when that day concludes with its own dusk.

Many religious scholars have pointed out that these labors have something in common -- they prohibit any activity that is creative, or that exercises control or dominion over one's environment.

Contents

1 Origins of the 39 categories from the Torah 2 The 39 activities 3 What are they? 4 External links

Origins of the 39 categories from the Torah

The concluding instructions for the Tabernacle's construction are stated at the end of the Book of Exodus, chapter 31 [1] (http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=31), and in that same chapter, immediately following the words about the Tabernacle, God reminds Moses about the importance of the Jewish Sabbath:

"God told Moses to speak to the Israelites and say to them: You must still keep my sabbaths. It is a sign between me and you for all generations, to make you realize that I, God, am making you holy. Keep the Sabbath as something sacred to you. Anyone doing work shall be cut off spiritually from his people, and therefore, anyone violating it shall be put to death. Do your work during the six week days, but keep Saturday as a Sabbath of sabbaths, holy to God. Whoever does any work on Saturday shall be put to death. The Israelites shall thus keep the Sabbath, making it a day of rest for all generations, as an eternal covenant. It is a sign between me and the Israelites that during the six weekdays God made heaven and earth, but on Saturday, he ceased working and rested." (Exodus: 31: 12-17). [2] (http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=31)

The rabbis of the Mishna derive from this juxtaposition of subject-matter, the fact that the commandment to rest on the Sabbath day, as stated in the Book of Genesis 2:1-3 "Heaven and earth, and all their components, were completed. With the seventh day, God finished all the work that He had done. He ceased on the seventh day from all the work that he had been doing. God blessed the seventh day, and he declared it to be holy, for it was on this day that God ceased from all the work that he had been creating to function." [3] (http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=1&CHAPTER=2) is not pushed aside by the commandments to construct the Tabernacle. Not only that, but the very definition of what constitutes "work" or "actvity" that must not done, on pain of death (when there was a Sanhedrin), is defined by the 39 categories of activity needed for the construction of the Tabernacle.

The 39 activities

The 39 actvities, also known as avot melachot ("primary" activities) as based on the Mishna Shabbat 7:2 in the Talmud:

1. Sowing;
2. Plowing;
3. Reaping;
4. Binding sheaves;
5. Threshing;
6. Winnowing;
7. Selecting;
8. Grinding;
9. Sifting;
10. Kneading;
11. Baking;
12. Shearing wool;
13. Washing wool;
14. Beating wool;
15. Dyeing wool;
16. Spinning;
17. Weaving;
18. Making two loops;
19. Weaving two threads;
20. Separating two threads;
21. Tying;
22. Untying;
23. Sewing stitches;
24. Tearing;
25. Trapping;
26. Slaughtering;
27. Flaying;
28. Salting meat;
29. Curing hide;
30. Scraping hide;
31. Cutting hide up;
32. Writing two or more letters;
33. Erasing two or more letters;
34. Building;
35. Tearing something down;
36. Extinguishing a fire;
37. Kindling a fire;
38. Putting the finishing touch on an object;
39. Transporting an object between a private domain and the public domain, or within the public domain;

What are they?

The 39 melachot are not so much activities as categories of activity. For example, while "winnowing" usually refers exclusively to the separation of chaff from grain, it refers in the Talmudic sense to any separation of intermixed materials which renders edible that which was inedible. Thus, filtering undrinkable water to make it drinkable falls under this category, as does picking small bones from fish. (Gefilte fish is a traditional Ashkenazi solution to this problem.)

External links

• What are the 39 melachot? (Introduction and categories) (http://www.askmoses.com/qa_detail.html?h=208&o=122)
• The Thirty-Nine Categories of Sabbath Work. (Detailed links for one) (http://www.ou.org/chagim/shabbat/thirtynine.htm)
• Summary (http://www.rjca.org/Articles/melachot.html)

Template:JewishLifeCycle