Shabbos 14:3-4

Shabbos 14:3

Greek hyssop may not be eaten on Shabbos because it is only eaten as a remedy but one may eat maidenhair (walking fern, adiantum) and one may drink liverwort (marchantiophyta, a small, spore-producing plant) because healthy people also ingest these things. A person may eat any food and drink as a remedy except for palm water and a beverage of roots because these are treatments for jaundice (so it would be obvious from the person’s complexion that he’s taking them as a remedy). One may drink palm water for his thirst and one may anoint with root oil not as part of a medical treatment.

Shabbos 14:4

If a person has pain in his teeth, he may not rinse with vinegar (as a form of pain relief) but he may dip his bread in it in the usual manner. If he enjoys any remedy as an incidental benefit to this, that’s fine. If a person has pain in his lumbar, he may not anoint with wine or vinegar but he may anoint with oil, except for rose oil (because it would be obvious that he is only doing so for medicinal purposes). Royalty were permitted to anoint with rose oil on Shabbos because they would use this expensive oil regularly, even on weekdays. Rabbi Shimon says that all Jews are like royalty (so whatever literal royalty could do is permitted to everyone).