I just learned a new baseball superstition this weekend. If a pitcher is in the midst of pitching a no hitter, it is a bad omen for anyone in the dugout to mention it is happening until the game is over!
There are three answers to this question and many different opinions and examples concerning each answer.
- Physical action: ex. bending one's body (bowing) before an idol (65a3)
- The act of speaking: ex. Muzzling an animal with one's voice alone (one can muzzle an animal by shouting at it). R Yochanan considers this "action" and therefore considers a person who does this liable to bring an offering and Reish Lakish does not. (65b)
- Ill thoughts/intentions: ex. According to Rava, Zomemin witnesses (witnesses who are proven false by other witnesses) are compared to a blasphemer because, like a blasphemer, their sin is not primarily in their voice, but rather their heart. (65b1 footnote 4 - Rashi)
Confusing stuff. Anyway, it is clear that speaking can be considered action when it comes to participating in sorcery. At the end of page 65 and beginning of 66 we learn some new examples of sorcery that one should avoid, including one who says:
- Today is Felicitous for departure
- The eve of the seventh year usually produces superior wheat
- One's bread fell from his mouth
- His son calls him from behind
- A deer crossed his path
- A snake approached him on his right or a fox approached him on his left
- Ulbaldo Jimenez has a nice no hitter going on here
okay, I added that last one.
I wonder what the sages would say about this superstition. On the one hand, you'd think they would have approved of it because mentioning the no hitter would be a form of sorcery by calculating time and hours (this is the actual prohibition 65b4). On the other hand, the players are still calculating time and hours; they are just making a conscious point of not saying anything about it. Still sorcery, right? Can we liken this to a blasphemer who has evil thoughts about God but doesn't say them out loud??
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