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מעילה 17
Soncino English Talmud · Berean Standard Bible
— He replied to him: The Divine Law compares them with reference to the prohibition of ‘you shall not make your souls detestable’, but not with regard to standard sizes. MISHNAH. THE BLOOD OF A REPTILE AND THE FLESH [THEREOF] CAN COMBINE WITH ONE ANOTHER. R. JOSHUA LAID DOWN THE GENERAL RULE: ALL THINGS THAT ARE ALIKE BOTH IN RESPECT OF [DURATION OF] UNCLEANNESS AND IN RESPECT OF THEIR STANDARD SIZE CAN COMBINE WITH ONE ANOTHER. THINGS, HOWEVER, THAT ARE ALIKE IN RESPECT [OF DURATION] OF UNCLEANNESS BUT NOT IN RESPECT OF SIZE, IN RESPECT OF SIZE BUT NOT IN RESPECT [OF DURATION] OF UNCLEANNESS, OR [IF THEY ARE ALIKE] NEITHER IN RESPECT [OF DURATION] OF UNCLEANNESS NOR IN RESPECT OF SIZE, CANNOT COMBINE WITH ONE ANOTHER. GEMARA. Said R. Hanin in the name of R. Zeira, and thus said also Rab Judah: Only the blood and the flesh of the same reptile [can combine with one another]. R. Jose son of R. Hanina demurred to this: The expression, they that are unclean, is to teach us that reptiles can combine one with the other: one reptile with another, reptile or [flesh of] reptile with blood, whether they are of one denomination or two denominations! — Said R. Joseph, There is no contradiction. The one ruling refers to a whole creature the other to a part thereof. Wherefrom do you know [to make such distinction]? — From what has been taught: ‘If [the blood] was poured out on a pavement, which was a sloping place, and he overshadowed a portion he remains clean, if he overshadowed the whole thereof he is unclean’. Now, what does ‘a portion’ mean? Shall I say, a portion [of the standard quality of blood]? But did not R. Hanina say in the name of Rabbi: ‘If one stirred the exact quantity of a fourth of a log of blood he remained clean’. You must therefore conclude [that a distinction has to be made in the following manner]: In the one instance the blood came from a whole body, in the other from a portion thereof. This indeed proves it. R. Mathia b. Heresh once asked R. Simeon b. Yohai, in Rome: Wherefrom do we know that the blood of reptiles is unclean? — He replied: Because it is written: And these are they that are unclean. His disciples then said to him: The son of Yohai has grown wise. Said he to them: This is a teaching prepared in the mouth of R. Eleazar son of R. Jose. For the Government had once issued a decree that [Jews] might not keep the Sabbath, circumcise their children, and that they should have intercourse with menstruant women. Thereupon R. Reuben son of Istroboli cut his hair in the Roman fashion, and went and sat among them. He said to them: If a man has an enemy, what does he wish him, to be poor or rich? They said: That he be poor. He said to them: If so, let them do no work on the Sabbath so that they grow poor. They said: ‘He speaketh rightly’, let this decree be annulled. It was indeed annulled. Then he continued: If one has an enemy, what does he wish him, to be weak or healthy? They answered: Weak. He said to them: Then let their children be circumcised at the age of eight days and they will be weak. They said: ‘He speaketh rightly’, and it was annulled. Finally he said to them: If one has an enemy, what does he wish him, to multiply or to decrease? They said to him: That he decreases. If so, let them have no intercourse with menstruant women. They said: ‘He speaketh rightly’, and it was annulled. Later they came to know that he was a Jew, and [the decrees] were re-instituted. [The Jews] then conferred as to who should go [to Rome] to work for the annulment of the decrees.
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Let R. Simeon b. Yohai go for he is experienced in miracles. And who should accompany him? — R. Eleazar son of R. Jose. Said R. Jose to them: And were my father Halafta still alive, would you have said to him to give his son for slaughter? Answered R. Simeon: Were Yohai my father still alive, would you have said to him to give his son for slaughter? Said R. Jose to them: I shall accompany him, for I fear R. Simeon may punish him. He [R. Simeon] undertook thereupon not to inflict any punishment on him. Notwithstanding this, he did punish him, for when they were proceeding on the way the following question was raised in their presence: Wherefrom do we know that the blood of a reptile is unclean? R. Eleazar son of R. Jose curved his mouth and said: It is written: And these are they that are unclean. Said R. Simeon to him: From the undertone of thy utterance one can see that thou art a scholar, yet the son shall not return to the father. Then Ben Temalion came to meet them. [He said]: Is it your wish that I accompany you? Thereupon R. Simeon wept and said: The handmaid of my ancestor's house was found worthy of meeting an angel thrice, and I not even to meet him once. However, let the miracle be performed, no matter how. Thereupon he advanced and entered into the Emperor's daughter. When [R. Simeon] arrived there, he called out: ‘Ben Temalion leave her, Ben Temalion leave her’,and as he proclaimed this he left her. He said to them: Request whatever you desire. They were led into the treasure house to take whatever they chose. They found that bill, took it and tore it to pieces. It was with reference to this visit that R. Eleazar son of R. Jose related: ‘I saw it in the city of Rome and there were on it several drops of blood’. MISHNAH. PIGGUL AND NOTHAR CANNOT COMBINE WITH ONE ANOTHER BECAUSE THEY ARE OF TWO DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS. REPTILE AND NEBELAH AS WELL AS NEBELAH AND THE FLESH OF A CORPSE CANNOT COMBINE WITH ONE ANOTHER TO EFFECT UNCLEANNESS, NOT EVEN IN RESPECT OF THE MORE LENIENT OF THE TWO [GRADES] OF DEFILEMENT. GEMARA. Said R. Judah in the name of Samuel: This has been taught only with reference to the uncleanness of the hands, which is only a Rabbinical enactment, but with regard to [the liability attached to] eating they can combine with one another. For we have learnt: R. Eliezer said: It says, it shall not be eaten for it is holy; with this the Writ comes to impose a negative command upon whatever among holy things has become disqualified. MISHNAH. FOOD CONTAMINATED THROUGH CONTACT WITH A PRIMARY DEFllement CAN COMBINE WITH THAT CONTAMINATED BY A SECONDARY DEFILEMENT TO EFFECT UNCLEANNESS ACCORDING TO THE LOWER DEGREE OF DEFllement OF THE TWO. ALL KINDS OF [UNCLEAN] FOOD CAN COMBINE WITH ONE ANOTHER TO MAKE UP THE QUAN TITY OF HALF A PERAS IN ORDER TO RENDER THE BODY UNFIT [OR TO MAKE UP THE FOOD] FOR TWO MEALS TO FORM AN ‘ERUB OR TO’ MAKE UP AN EGG'S BULK TO CONTAMINATE FOOD, OR TO MAKE UP A DRY FIG'S BULK IN RESPECT OF THE PROHIBITION TO CARRY FORTH ON THE SABBATH AND A DATE'S BULK WITH REGARD TO THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. ALL KINDS OF DRINKS CAN COMBINE WITH ONE ANOTHER TO MAKE UP THE FOURTH [OF A LOG] IN ORDER TO RENDER THE BODY UNFIT OR TO MAKE UP A MOUTHFUL WITH REGARD TO THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. GEMARA. It has been taught: R. Simeon said, What is the reason? Because things unclean in the second degree can become unclean in the first degree. But can indeed a thing unclean in the second degree become unclean in the first degree? Surely this is an impossibility? — Said Raba: This is what is meant: What caused the object to be rendered unclean in the second degree? Surely it was something unclean in the first degree! R. Ashi said: Things unclean in the first degree and those unclean in the second degree in relation to uncleanness of the third degree are considered as belonging to one category. [
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