Shabbat 139: Leadership and Leniencies

Cause and effect: If there are troubles in your world, look to what's wrong with the judges of Israel. The rebuke here is explicit, even if we are less comfortable with ascribing blame that directly in this day and age. And so we ask, punishment, or a natural consequence of the messy messiness? Also: 3 questions asked if Levi: spreading a canopy on Shabbat, planting hops in a vineyard, and burial on yom tov. But another rav needed to answer: there were ways to pasken with leniency, but he didn't want to, because of who they were as people. And yet, another case of applying leniencies specifically because of who they are. Is that elitism? Plus: R. Mesharshya was careful to task a non-Jewish child when planting hops in his vineyard, to avoid miseducating a Jewish child and also the mar'it ayin of a non-Jewish adult. The themes of this daf are all of a piece, whether the approach is lenient and looking for loopholes, or restrictive - either way, the question is taking responsibility for effective leadership.