It is due to calculations performed on Shabbat to prepare for the wedding. He would thereby engage in weekday matters on Shabbat.

Abaye said to him: And are calculations for a mitzva prohibited on Shabbat? But wasn’t it Rav Ḥisda and Rav Hamnuna who both said: With regard to calculations for a mitzva, it is permitted to reckon them on Shabbat? And Rabbi Elazar said: One may allocate charity to the poor on Shabbat. And Rabbi Ya’akov said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: One goes to synagogues and study halls to supervise matters affecting the multitudes on Shabbat. And Rabbi Ya’akov bar Idi said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: One supervises matters of saving a life on Shabbat.

And Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: One goes to theaters [tartiyyaot] and circuses [karkiyyaot] to supervise matters affecting the multitudes on Shabbat, because the fate of the Jewish people or of individual Jews is often decided there and one’s presence could prevent calamity. And the Sage of the school of Menashya taught: One makes matches [meshadkhin] among the families concerned for a young girl to be betrothed on Shabbat, and similarly one may make arrangements for a young boy to teach him Torah and to teach him a craft. Apparently, calculations for a mitzva may be reckoned on Shabbat, including calculations for a wedding. Therefore, this cannot be the reason for the prohibition against marrying at the conclusion of Shabbat.

Rather, Rabbi Zeira said: It is a decree lest one slaughter a young fowl on Shabbat, due to his preoccupation with the preparations for that night’s wedding feast. Abaye said to him: If that is so, Yom Kippur that occurs on Monday should be postponed when fixing the calendar, due to a decree lest one slaughter a young fowl on Shabbat for the meal on Yom Kippur eve, which is a mitzva. The Gemara distinguishes between the cases. There, with regard to Yom Kippur eve, when one is preparing a meal for himself, he is not preoccupied, and he will not overlook the fact that it is Shabbat. Here, in the case of a wedding, one is preparing a meal for others and is preoccupied. Alternatively, there, on Yom Kippur eve, he has an interval of time during which he can slaughter the bird, as the mitzva is to eat the meal on Yom Kippur eve the next day. Here, he does not have an interval of time, because the wedding and the feast take place at night at the conclusion of Shabbat.

The Gemara says: Now that we have come to this understanding of the prohibition against marrying at the conclusion of Shabbat, the prohibition not to engage in sexual intercourse on Shabbat evening, too, is not due to the intercourse. Rather, it is a decree lest one slaughter a young fowl for the wedding feast.

§ The Gemara raises a dilemma: Is a virgin married on Wednesday and does she engage in intercourse on that Wednesday, and we are not concerned lest his resolve to take his bride to court upon discovering that she was not a virgin cool overnight? Rather, he will certainly go to court the next morning. Or perhaps, a virgin is married on Wednesday but engages in intercourse on Thursday, as we are concerned that his resolve will cool.

Come and hear proof, as bar Kappara taught: A virgin is married on Wednesday and engages in intercourse on Thursday, since the blessing to the fish: Be fruitful and multiply, was stated on the fifth day of Creation. A widow is married on Thursday and engages in intercourse on Friday, since the blessing of procreation was stated to man on the sixth day of Creation. It may be inferred that the reason is due to the blessing, but with regard to the possibility lest his resolve cool, we are not concerned.

The Gemara asks: If so, a widow should also engage in intercourse on Thursday, since the blessing to the fish was stated then. The Gemara answers: Since there is the option to postpone engaging in relations to the day on which the blessing of man was stated, doing so is preferable for him.

Alternatively, that day was established as the day for a widow to engage in sexual relations due to the fact that the Sages were assiduous in seeing to the well-being of Jewish women, as it is taught in a baraita: Why did the Sages say that a widow is married on Thursday and engages in intercourse on Friday? It is because if you say that she should engage in intercourse on Thursday, on the next day the groom will go to ply his craft early and leave his wife alone. When a man marries a widow, there is no observance of the seven days of rejoicing, whose legal status is like that of a Festival, during which he does not go to work. Therefore, the Sages were assiduous in seeing to the well-being of Jewish women and ensured that the groom rejoice with her for three days: Thursday, the day of the wedding; and Shabbat eve, the day when they engage in sexual relations; and Shabbat.

What practical difference is there between the two reasons given to engage in relations on Friday, i.e., the blessing of procreation for man and the fact that the Sages were assiduous? The Gemara answers: There is a practical difference between them in the case of an idle person, who has no job, in which case the reason of blessing applies and the reason that the Sages were assiduous does not, as no matter what he will not go to work early. Alternatively, there is a practical difference in the case of a Festival that occurs on Shabbat eve. There too, the reason of blessing applies but the Sages’ assiduousness does not apply, as one does not work on a Festival.

§ The Gemara cites additional aggadic statements of bar Kappara. Bar Kappara taught: The handiwork of the righteous is greater than the creation of heaven and earth, as with regard to the creation of heaven and earth it is written: “My hand also has laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand has spanned the heavens” (Isaiah 48:13). There, hand is written in the singular. Whereas with regard to the handiwork of the righteous it is written: “The place which You have made for Yourself to dwell in, Lord, the Sanctuary, Lord, which your hands have established” (Exodus 15:17). The reference is to the Temple, which is the handiwork of man, and hand is written in the plural.

A certain Babylonian, and his name is Rabbi Ḥiyya, responded with a challenge. It is written with regard to creation of the earth: “And His hands formed the dry land” (Psalms 95:5). The Gemara answers: “His hand” is the way it is written. Although the word is vocalized in the plural, it is written in the singular, without the letter yod. But isn’t it written: “Formed,” in the plural? Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: The plural is referring to His fingers, as it is written: “When I see Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and stars, which You have established” (Psalms 8:4).

The Gemara raises an objection: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of His hands” (Psalms 19:2). The heavens were created by His hands. The Gemara answers that this is what the verse is saying: Who attests to the handiwork of the righteous, that they are performing the will of God? It is the heavens. And what is the avenue through which the heavens do so? It is by means of rain that falls due to the prayers of the righteous.

Bar Kappara taught: What is the meaning of that which is written: And you shall have a peg among your weapons [azenekha]” (Deuteronomy 23:14)? Do not read it as: Your weapons [azenekha]. Rather, read it: On your ear [oznekha], meaning that if a person hears an inappropriate matter,