Shabbat 97: The Road to Gossip

The suggestion that Rabbi Akiva's interpretation on Miriam and Aharon goes too far. Which leads into a discussion of "choshed be-kesherim" - speaking I'll of those who are blame-free, and the punishment is to the speaker's body... A la Miriam and Aharon. Moshe also is presented as one who failed to believe, even as Bnei Yisrael are represented as believers in God's promise of redemption. Moshe's lack of belief bring attributed to when he hit the rock, if course. Nobody wants to be spoken *about* with that lack of benefit of the doubt, but it's not so simple to keep ourselves from engaging in this kind of gossip or prelude to gossip. Also: recapping R. Yehudah HaNasi's position that there's a fixed number if melakhot (namely, 39). With implications for one who throws 4 amot into the public domain from the private domain... Does that incur a second korban (for the 4 amot themselves)? Not surprisingly, that's the crux of the dispute. Also, how this all relates to our conception of Shabbat - and the nature of a moment of sin, as compared to a time spectrum of ongoing capacity to sin.