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פסחים 94
Soncino English Talmud · Berean Standard Bible
On Rab Judah's view there is no difficulty: When one is unclean through a reptile, the Divine Law relegated him [to the second Passover], for it is written, ‘If any man shall be unclean by reason of a dead body’: does this not refer [even] to one whose seventh day falls on the eve of Passover, yet even so the Divine Law said: Let him be relegated [to the second]. Our Rabbis taught: If he was standing beyond Modi'im and is able to enter by horses and mules, you might think that he is culpable. Therefore it is stated: ‘and is not in a journey,’ whereas this man was in a journey. If he was standing on the hither side of Modi'im, but could not enter on account of the camels and wagons which held him up, you might think that he is not culpable. Therefore It is stated, ‘and is not in a journey,’ and lo, he was not in a journey. Raba said: The world is six thousand parasangs, and the thickness of the heaven [rakia’] is one thousand parasangs the first one [of these statements] is a tradition, while the other is [based on] reason. [Thus:] he agrees with Rabbah b. Bar Hanah's dictum in R. Johanan's name: What is an average man's journey in a day? Ten parasangs: from daybreak until the first sparklings of the rising sun five mils, and from sunset until the stars appear five mils: hence the thickness of the heaven is one sixth of the day[‘s journey]. An objection is raised: Rab Judah said: The thickness of the sky is one tenth of the day's journey. The proof is this: what is an [average] man's journey in a day? Ten parasangs, and from daybreak until the rising sun four mils, [and] from sunset until the stars appear four mils,: hence the thickness of the sky is one tenth of the day[‘s journey]. This is a refutation of Raba, and a refutation of ‘Ulla! It is a refutation. Shall we say that this is [also] a refutation of R. Johanan?-He can answer you: I spoke only of [an average man's journey] in a [complete] day, and it was the Rabbis who erred by calculating [the distance for] pre-dawn and after nightfall. Shall we say that this is a refutation of R. Hanina? — No: ‘and [the angels] hastened’ is different — Come and hear: Egypt was four hundred parasangs square. Now Egypt is one sixtieth of Ethiopia [Cush], Ethiopia one sixtieth of the world, the world one sixtieth of the Garden, the Garden one sixtieth of Eden, Eden one sixtieth of the Gehenna: thus the whole world is like a pot lid [in relation] to Gehenna. This is [indeed] a refutation . Come and hear: Tanna debe Eliyahu [taught]: R. Nathan said: The whole of the inhabited world is situate under one star. The proof is that a man looks at a star, [and] when he goes eastward it is opposites [and when he goes] to the four corners of the world it is opposite him. This proves that the whole of the inhabited world is situate under one star. This is indeed a refutation. Come and hear: The Wain [‘Waggon’] is in the north and Scorpio is in the south, the whole of the inhabited world lies between the Wain and Scorpio, and the whole of the inhabited world represents but one hour of the day, for the sun enters [the space above] the inhabited world only for one hour in the day. The proof is that at the fifth [hour] the sun is in the east while at the seventh the sun is in the west: [during] half of the sixth and half of the seventh the sun stands overhead all people. This is [indeed] a refutation. Come and hear: For R. Johanan b. Zakkai said: What answer did the Bath Kol give that wicked man [Nebuchadnezzar] when he asserted, ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High’? A Bath Kol came forth and rebuked him: ‘Thou wicked man, son of a wicked man,
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descendant of the wicked Nimrod, who incited the whole world to rebel [himrid] against Me during his reign! How many are the years of man? Seventy years; and if by reason of strength, eighty years, for it is said, The days of our years are threescore years and ten, or even by reason of strength fourscore years. Now from earth to heaven is a five hundred years journey, the thickness of heaven Is a five hundred years’ journey, and between the first heaven and the next lies a five hundred years’ journey, and similarly between each heaven, ‘Yet thou shalt be brought down to the nether-world, to the uttermost parts of the pit’ — This is [indeed] a refutation. Our Rabbis taught: The Sages of Israel maintain: The Galgal is stationary [fixed], while the mazzaloth revolve; while the Sages of the nations of the world maintain: The Galgal revolves and the mazzaloth are stationary. Rabbi observed: This disproves their view [viz.,] we never find the Wain in the south or Scorpio in the north. To this R. Aha b. Jacob demurred: Perhaps it is like the pivot of a millstone, or like the door socket? The Sages of Israel maintain: The sun travels beneath the sky by day and above the sky at night; while the Sages of the nations of the world maintain: It travels beneath the sky by day and below the earth at night. Said Rabbi: And their view is preferable to ours, for the wells are cold by day but warm at night. It was taught, R. Nathan said: In summer the sun travels in the heights of the heaven, therefore the whole world is hot while the wells [springs] are cold; in winter the sun travels at the lower ends of the sky, therefore the whole world is cold while the wells are hot. Our Rabbis taught: The sun travels over four courses: [during] Nisan, Iyar and Sivan, it travels over the mountains, in order to melt the snows; [in] Tammuz, Ab and Elul, over the inhabited world, to ripen the fruits; [in] Tishri, Marheshwan and Kislev, over seas, to dry up the rivers; in Tebeth, Shebat and Adar, through the wilderness, so as not to dry up the seeds [in the ground]. R. ELIEZER SAID: FROM THE THRESHOLD etc. Even though he can enter, and we do not say to him, ‘Arise and enter’? but it surely was taught: An uncircumcised Jew who did not circumcise himself is punished by kareth: this is the opinion of R. Eliezer? — Said Abaye: ‘A journey afar off’ [is stated] in respect of a clean person, but ‘a journey afar off’ is not [stated] in respect of an unclean person. Raba said: It is [a controversy of] Tannaim. For it was taught, R.Eliezer said: Distance of place is stated in connection with the Passover, and distance of place is stated in connection with tithe: just as there [it means] without [the boundaries of] its eating, so here too it means outside [the place of] its eating. R. Jose son of R. Judah said on R. Eliezer's authority: [It means] outside [the place] where it is sacrificed . With whom does the following dictum of R. Isaac son of R. Joseph agree. [viz.:] In respect of those who are unclean, decide by the majority who are standing in the Temple Court. With whom [does it agree]? With R. Jose son of R. Judah, as he stated [the law] on R. Eliezer's authority. SAID R. JOSE TO HIM, THEREFORE etc. It was taught, R. Jose the Galilean said: [BY] ‘a journey afar off’ I may understand a distance of two or three days: but when it is said, and is not in a journey, it teaches that from the threshold of the Temple Court and without is designated a journey . MISHNAH
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