Shabbos 1:2 - 1:3

לא ישב אדם לפני הספר – and even on weekdays, and since it (i.e., the Mishnah) had to teach (in Tractate Shabbat, Chapter 1, Mishnah 3) that a tailor must not go out with his needle, etc., lest he forget and leave, which is similar to the decree that a person should not sit before the barber close to [the time] for the afternoon prayer, lest he forget and not pray, because of this, it [the Mishnah] teaches this here, and since their words are small/short, he makes a decision and teaches it in the first part of the Mishnah, and then explains the matters of Shabbat and expands upon them.

סמוך למנחה – the “Great Minha”, from six-and-one-half [Halakhic] hours and beyond, and סמוך למנחה – close to the afternoon prayer , that is from the beginning of the seventh hour, and even though its time period is great, a decree was made lest the bell/body of the bell of the barbers breaks after he began to cut the hair, and the time of the prayer will pass over prior to his repairing it and he will complete the haircut.

ולא יכנס למרחץ – near the time for the afternoon prayer lest his swoon [in the vapor bath – see Tractate Shabbat 9b].

ולא לבורסקי – a place where hides are made, perhaps he would see a loss and ruin of the hides if he did not move them from their place and repair them, and he would continue in his work until the time for the [Minha/afternoon] prayer had passed.

ולא לאכול – even a small repast, lest the meal continue on.

ולא לדין – even at the close of legal proceedings, when they already had heard the claims of the litigants and there does not remain anything upon them other than only to decide the law, perhaps they see a reason and they will contradict what they want to decide and return to be the beginning of judgment.

ואם התחילו – in one of all of these, we state, that we don’t interrupt, but rather he should finish and afterwards prayer, and this is the case when there is a delay during the day to complete it prior to the time for prayer passing. But the beginning of a haircut is from when he places the apron/garment for the protection of the clothing of the barber between his knees, and this is the scarf that the person who has his hair cut upon his knees in order that the hair doesn’t fall on his clothing. And the beginning of the bath is from when he removes/undresses the clothing that is closest to his skin. And there are those who explain that the scarf that is upon him which is the first to be removed when he gets undressed. And the beginning of the tannery is when he girds himself between his shoulders the coverings of his arms in order to engage with the hides, and the beginning of eating is when he washes his hands. The beginning of judgment is when the judges cover themselves with their shawls to sit in judgment with terror and fear, and if they were covered and sitting in judgment and another case came before them near the time for Minhah, it would be the beginning of that case when the litigants would open with their pleas/claims.

מפסיקין לק"ש – he took another matter, and this is how it should be read: colleagues engaged in the study of Torah interrupt their Torah study for the recitation of the Shema for its time is fixed, as it is written (Deuteronomy 6:9): “when you lie down and when you rise up.”

ואין מפסיקין לתפילה – which has no fixed time according to the Torah. But we are not teaching other than in the case of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and his colleagues where their study of Torah is their craft, but for us, since we interrupt our Torah [study] for our craft/professions, all the more so we interrupt for our recitation of the Amidah.

לא יצא חייט במחטו – even if it is inserted in his clothing, lest he forget and go out, and for an artisan, it is the manner of his craft, he liable for it is way of artisans to insert them in their clothing when they go out to the market.

שמא ישכח ויצא – when it gets dark.

הלבלר – the scribe.

בקולמוסו – which is inserted at the back of their ears like the manner of scribes.

ולא יפלה את כליו – to remove vermin from his clothing. The Aramaic translation/Targum of “I have cleared out the consecrated portion” (Deuteronomy 26:13) “I searched my garment for vermin.”

ולא יקרא לאור הנר – in a book, lest he tilt the candle to bring the oil in front of the lick in order that it will kindle well and is found that he is starting a fire on Shabbat, and even if the candle was the height of two or three men, it is always forbidden to read by the light of a candle unless there is another person with him to watch him, or if he is an important individual who is never accustomed to fix the candle.

החזן – one who teaches young children.

מהיכן התינוקות קורין – from where should they begin to read, for with a bit of investigation such as this, we do not make a decree lest he tilt it, and the young children read before their teacher by the light of the candle since their fear of their teacher is upon them.

אבל הוא לא יקרא – the entire portion, because his fear of them is not upon him, and their guarding is not considered guarding, and for this reason also, there is an opinion that a woman who guards for her husband, her guarding is not [considered] guarding, for fear of her is not upon him.

כיוצא בו – to make a distance from transgression, they said that a person with a flux should not eat with his wife who has a flux, and even though both of them are ritually impure.

מפני הרגל עבירה – for since they engaged in sexual intercourse, he will go to engage in sex with a woman with a flux which is punishable by extirpation, and the man with a flux and a woman with a flux are taken as something remarkable, for sexual relations is hard for them, and it is possible to say that they definitely will not lead to transgression, and even so, they should not eat one with the other.