Eight Not-So-Deadly-Sins
By Susan Glass
The first and the last paragraphs of this diary entry indicate that the writer has violated some kind of moral code; the trick is to realize that the code being transgressed is the Jewish Sabbath laws. The date on the top, 7/2/2005, is a Saturday, and therefore "last night" is a Friday evening and is the Sabbath.
There are 39 categories of activities that are forbidden on the Sabbath as outlined in the Mishnah Shabbat section 7:2; every paragraph in this diary entry, except the first and the last, contains a single action that falls into one of these categories, using generally accepted (or at least generally google-able) modern interpretations. If you take the number of the category in order in the text, and convert the number to a letter using an nth-letter-of-the-alphabet algorithm (all numbers are less than 26), you spell out the 8-letter word that is the answer.
The transgressions are as follows:
Violation | # in M.S. | Letter |
---|---|---|
Washing – Includes removing a stain from clothing |
13 |
M |
Sowing/Planting – Includes putting cut flowers in water. |
1 |
A |
Beating/ Combing – The principle is to prohibit creating usable fibers from a mass of tangled fibers. Includes untangling a completely tangled-up necklace. |
14 |
N |
Grinding – Includes grinding coffee. A hand-cranked grinder was specified so as not to violate a separate prohibition. |
8 |
H |
Dyeing – Includes application of cosmetics. |
15 |
O |
Shearing– Includes eyebrow plucking. |
12 |
L |
Threshing – The principle is to prohibit separating food from its natural container. Includes squeezing a fruit for its juice. |
5 |
E |
Weaving Two Threads – Includes flattening out a loose thread in a woven sweater or garment by pulling it. |
19 |
S |
And the final answer is MANHOLES.