daf bit: Shabbat 99

[cellio]

The list of labors forbidden on Shabbat is derived from those required to build the mishkan (tabernacle). Today's (and yesterday's) daf talks about some of the construction details of the mishkan. The torah describes two types of curtains; the lower curtains were made of blue wool, purple wool, crimson thread, and fine linen, and the upper ones were of goats' hair. The g'mara says the upper involved greater wisdom, because of the lower it is said "and all the women that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands", while of the upper it says "and all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun the goats. It was taught in the name of R. Nechemiah: it was washed and spun directly on the goats. (99a)

I am not aware of a technique by which that would be possible, but I am not wise in the ways of spinning.

Comments

[talvinm.livejournal.com]

Sounds a bit hard on the goats.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Trying to do that is probably its own punishment

[cellio]

It does indeed. Velocity isn't specified, so there's still hope for the goats.

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

My local wool expert says:

If you've got a goat, you can shear it, wash the fleece, then spin it into thread.
But if you wash the goat you can pluck the long hairs and twist them together.
Goats have long curlyish "hair" if they're kept for wool.
You only need 2 twists per overlap to bind the hairs together.
Hand spinning will always give you less controlled amounts of twist.
So it's better for things that don't need strict precision.
By plucking individual 8 inch fibers off the goat you could get a thread that's less that 2 hairs wide (about 1.75).
But it's hard to get goats to stand still while you're yanking out hairs.
For the razor, use more shaving cream. Not the skimpy gel stuff actual foam.

and:

The lower said the hearts were filled with kind wisdom.
The upper said pure wisdom. Meaning there isn't any kindness involved.
Thus the upper curtain was super primo but there were probably a lot of mishandled goats.
When you wash a fleece it gets kind of matted. That's the problem with kindness.
But like washing your own hair, it's a lot easier to comb while its still attached.

[dragonazure.livejournal.com]

You've spoiled the image in my head of a bunch of dizzy goats.

[http://users.livejournal.com/merle_/]

I did think getting them drunk or hitting them with a large mallet first would be best. There does not, however, seem to be a stipulation that the goat is alive, and I do not know of any dietary restriction against goat stew.

[cellio]

Wow, thanks for that. And I agree with your later comment: this would probably be easier on the goats with the application of alcohol. (I inferred that the goats are alive so you can make more thread later. And goat is kosher.)

[fauxklore]

I have nothing to add but the discussion of this did give me a good laugh.