The Mishnah on 101a presents an argument as to where a particular story took place. Was the key that was kept in the window used to open a lock in the butcher's market or the woolworker's market?
What difference does it make in which market the key was used? In either case the market was in Yerushalayim and was a Karmelis!
Thank you!
Tuvya Marcus, Har Nof, Jerusalem, Israel
It could be that Rebbi Yosi wanted the story, which is Halachically relevant, to be irrefutable. If a reliable person would tell Rebbi Meir that he knew all of the butcher's markets in Yerushalayim backwards and forwards and knew that no such story ever occurred, Rebbi Meir could safely say that this story never happened.
In order to maintain the story's Halachic relevance, Rebbi Yosi wanted to set the record straight that this happened not in the butcher's market, but in the woolworker's market. This shows the importance of getting a story straight when being used as Halachic proof.
All the best,
Yaakov Montrose
Dear Rabbi Montrose:
What were those butcher shops doing open on Shabbos?
Did people eat raw meat back then? Or did they sell cooked meat? Or what?
Yehuda
The Gemara does not say that business dealings were conducted at the store on Shabbos, but rather that people entered the store. There are many possiblities as to what they were doing there. Being that it was not infrequent that people lived in a house which doubled as a store, it is very possible that they were just going back to their house. It is also possible that they were getting some good salted meat for Oneg Shabbos, or getting some raw meat (which they did in fact eat back then, though it was not their first choice).
All the best,
Yaakov Montrose