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When doing bris milah on Shabbos (שבת), should you carry the baby or the knife? Tosafot offers two contrasting approaches: carry the baby because you'll need to carry him back anyway as a choleh, or carry the knife as hechsher mitzvah (מצוה) to perform the bris earlier. The shiur resolves the contradiction by showing these address different questions entirely.
This shiur provides an intricate analysis of Tosafot on daf 130a of Masechta Shabbos (שבת) regarding the halachic question of carrying either the circumcision knife or the baby when performing bris milah on Shabbos. Rabbi Zweig examines two approaches (taratzim) offered by Tosafot to resolve this issue. The first approach of Tosafot argues that one should carry the baby rather than the knife because after the bris, the baby will have the status of a choleh (sick person) and will need to be carried back to the mother, creating an unavoidable Shabbos violation anyway. Therefore, it's preferable to carry the baby initially rather than create additional carrying violations with the knife.
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Shabbos 130a
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Why does the Gemara say one Shabbos protects from Amalek while two Shabboses bring redemption? The shiur applies a principle from Kiddushin about repetition changing psychology: the first time doing anything is experimental, but the second demonstrates genuine desire. True Shabbos connection with Hashem requires moving beyond spiritual curiosity to authentic internalization.
