meal, or to begin to act as judge in a Law Court. He must first of all
perform his devotions. But supposing that one has commenced any one of
these acts, then let them be finished.

_G_. A man begins the act of haircutting when the barber's cloth is
spread over him. Bathing has begun if the outer coat has been pulled
off. A man has commenced to tan if his working apron has been tied
around him. A meal begins when the hands are washed or (as some say)
when the girdle has been removed. The process of judging has begun when
the judges have donned their professional robes, or (as some have it)
directly the litigants begin pleading.

The Jew and a non-Jew.

_M_. The school of Shammai forbids a Jew to sell anything to a non-Jew
on the Sabbath eve, or to help him with a load unless the Jew can reach
some neighbouring village before the Sabbath fully sets in. The School
of Hillel, however, allows it.

Miscellaneous prohibitions.

_M_. A tailor must not go out on the Sabbath eve with his needle, lest
he forget it and carry it during the Sabbath. Nor must the professional
writer (scribe) go out with his writing reed on the Sabbath eve.
According to the School of Shammai it is unlawful on the Sabbath eve to
deliver skins to a heathen tanner, or clothes to be washed to a
non-Jewish laundress, unless there be time enough for them to be got
quite ready before the Sabbath begins. But the School of Hillel allowed
perfect freedom in the matter. Rabbi Simeon ben Gemaliel says, "it was
the custom in my parental home to hand over to the non-Jewish laundress
things to be washed, three days before the Sabbath." It is forbidden to
fry meat, onions, or eggs, on the Sabbath eve, unless they can be
completely cooked before the Sabbath begins. Bread must not be put into
the oven, nor cakes on the coal, unless there is time before the Sabbath
comes in for the surface to become encrusted.

Concerning the Sabbath lamp.[34].

_M_. Wherewith may one light the Sabbath lamp? Not with wicks made with
cedar moss, or raw flax, or silk fibre, or weeds growing in water, or
ship moss. Nor shall pitch, wax, cottonseed oil, or oil of rejected
offerings, or oil from sheeptail fat, be used for these lamps.

_G_. The Rabbis allowed the aforementioned ingredients to be used for
the Sabbath fires, though not for the Sabbath lamps. Why are wicks made
of the above materials prohibited? Because they give but a flickering
light. The oily substances ment