After discussing circumcision by non-Jews, a mishnah on yesterday’s daf explores whether and under what circumstances a Jew may receive medical treatment from a gentile practitioner, leading to this statement:
Rabba bar bar Hana says that Rabbi Yohanan says: With regard to any injury for which Shabbat is desecrated, one may not be treated by gentiles.
In other words, seeking medical care from a non-Jew in order to prevent a Jewish doctor from violating Shabbat is not permitted. Rather, the Jewish doctor should violate Shabbat and treat the injury. This is a familiar talmudic position, usually grounded in Leviticus 18:5: “You shall keep My statutes and My ordinances, which a person shall do and live by them.” (Leviticus 18:5) The rabbis add: and not die by them. Fulfilling mitzvot should not be life-threatening.
On today’s daf, the Gemara discusses a number of maladies and their remedies in order to determine which are so severe that they could become life-threatening, meaning that the afflicted person can be treated in a manner that violates Shabbat, and cannot be treated by a pagan practitioner. The daf is not for the squeamish, as the rabbis discuss grotesque hand and foot injuries, dental problems, lacerations, boils, hemorrhoids, ear pain and, finally, serious eye infections.
Rav Zutra bar Toviyya says that Rav says: With regard to an eye that rebelled (i.e., which is apt to pop out of its socket) it is permitted to apply blue eye shadow to it on Shabbat. The sages initially concluded from this that this statement applies only where one had already ground the ingredients yesterday (i.e., before Shabbat) but if he planned to grind them on Shabbat, or to bring them through a public domain, it would not be permitted, as this would constitute a desecration of Shabbat by Torah law. To dispel this notion, one of the sages, named Rabbi Ya’akov, said to them: This matter was explained to me by Rav Yehuda, who said that even if he plans to grind the ingredients on Shabbat and bring it through a public domain, it is permitted.
For most of us, eyeshadow is purely cosmetic. But in ancient times (and, currently, in Ayurvedic medicine and elsewhere), eyeshadow was compounded with ingredients that had medicinal benefit. Therefore, there is no debate about whether the blue shadow can be applied to the infected eye on Shabbat. However, there is a dispute regarding whether one can grind the powder on Shabbat, since grinding is one of the 39 prohibited categories of work, and whether one can go beyond the Shabbat boundary to deliver it to the patient. The sages initially said no, but Rabbi Ya’akov, relying on an opinion by Rabbi Yehuda, reversed their view. Here is the story behind that change:
There was a certain maidservant who was in the house of Mar Shmuel whose eye became infected on Shabbat. She screamed in pain, but no one attended to her. Eventually, her eye popped out of its socket. The next day, Mar Shmuel went out and taught: With regard to an eye that rebelled, it is permitted to apply blue eyeshadow to it on Shabbat.
What is the reason for this leniency, seeing as one may desecrate Shabbat only to treat life-threatening afflictions? The reason is that the tendons of the eye are dependent upon the valves of the heart.
In this terrible story, a female servant suffering from this eye condition was literally screaming in pain, but no one came to her aid on Shabbat, dismissing her suffering as insignificant (either because eye pain was not necessarily indicative of life-threatening illness or due to her low status, and probably a combination of the two). With no treatment, her eye ruptured. The next day, Mar Shmuel ruled that eye injuries should be treated on Shabbat by any means necessary because they can be life-threatening. Fascinatingly, modern medical authorities from the University of Chicago Medical School to the American Academy of Ophthalmology agree.
The way the Gemara relates this story underscores the importance of Mar Shmuel’s literal change of heart. With his heart opened (tragically, belatedly), his lenient ruling on the matter of medical treatment on Shabbat has the potential to ensure better health outcomes for everyone else. These days, however, if your eye hurts, best to call your doctor (whatever their faith) rather than rely on Maybelline.
Read all of Avodah Zarah 28 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on July 16, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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