Bava Kamma

whereas Ezra came and ordained actual combing. 'That pedlars selling spicery be allowed to travel about in the towns' — for the purpose of providing toilet articles for the women so that they should not be repulsive in the eyes of their husbands. 'He also decreed that immersion was required for those to whom pollution had happened.' Is not this in the pentateuch, as it is written: And if the flow of seed go out front him, then he shall bathe all his flesh in water?  — The pentateuchal requirement referred to terumah and sacrifices and he came and decreed that even for [the study of] the words of the Torah [immersion is needed]. Ten special regulations were applied to Jerusalem:  That a house sold there should not be liable to become irredeemable;  that it should never bring a heifer whose neck is broken;  that it could never be made a condemned city;  that its houses would not become defiled through leprosy;  that neither beams nor balconies should be allowed to project there; that no dunghills should be made there; that no kilns should be kept there; that neither gardens nor orchards should be cultivated there, with the exception, however, of the garden of roses  which existed from the days of the former prophets;  that no fowls should be reared there, and that no dead person should be kept there over night. 'That a house sold there should not be liable to become irredeemable' — for it is written: Then the house that is in the walled city shall be made sure in perpetuity to him that bought it throughout his generations  and as it is maintained  that Jerusalem was not divided among the tribes. 'That it should never bring a heifer whose neck is broken' — as it is written: If one be found slain in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it,  and Jerusalem [could not be included as it] was not divided among the tribes. 'That it could never be made a condemned city' — for it is written, [One of] thy cities,  and Jerusalem was not divided among the tribes. 'That its houses could not become defiled through leprosy' — for it is written, And I put the plague of leprosy in the house of the land of your possession,  and Jerusalem was not divided among the tribes. 'That neither beams nor balconies should be allowed to project' — in order not to form a tent spreading defilement,  and not to cause harm to the pilgrims for the festivals. 'That no dunghills be made there' — on account of reptiles. 'That no kilns be kept there' — on account of the smoke. 'That neither gardens nor orchards be cultivated there' — on account of the bad odour [of withered grasses]. 'That no fowls be bred there' on account of the sacrifices. 'That no dead person be kept there overnight' — this is known by tradition. IT IS NOT RIGHT TO BREED PIGS IN ANY PLACE WHATEVER. Our Rabbis taught: When the members of the Hasmonean house were contending with one another, Hyrcanus was within and Aristobulus without [the city wall].  [Those who were within] used to let down to the other party every day a basket of denarii, and [in return] cattle were sent up for the regular sacrifices.  There was, however, an old man  [among the besiegers] who had some knowledge in Grecian Wisdom  and who said to them: 'So long as the other party [are allowed to] continue to perform the service of the sacrifices they will not be delivered into your hands.' On the next day when the basket of denarii was let down, a swine was sent up. When the swine reached the centre of the wall it stuck its claws into the wall, and Eretz Yisrael quaked over a distance of four hundred parasangs  by four hundred parasangs. It was proclaimed on that occasion: Cursed be the man who would breed swine and cursed be the man who would teach his son Grecian Wisdom. It was concerning this time that we have learnt  that the 'Omer  was once brought from the gardens of Zarifin and the two loaves  from the Valley of En Soker. But was Grecian Wisdom proscribed? Was it not taught that Rabbi stated: 'Why use the Syriac language in Eretz Yisrael