Meilah

— He replied to him: The Divine Law compares them with reference to the prohibition of ‘you shall not make your souls detestable’,1 but not with regard to standard sizes.2 MISHNAH. THE BLOOD OF A REPTILE AND THE FLESH [THEREOF] CAN COMBINE WITH ONE ANOTHER.3 R. JOSHUA LAID DOWN THE GENERAL RULE: ALL THINGS THAT ARE ALIKE BOTH IN RESPECT OF [DURATION OF] UNCLEANNESS4 AND IN RESPECT OF THEIR STANDARD SIZE5 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:6 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,7 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!8 — Said R. Joseph, There is no contradiction. The one ruling9 refers to a whole creature10 the other to a part thereof. Wherefrom do you know [to make such distinction]? — From what has been taught:11 ‘If [the blood]12 was poured out on a pavement, which was a sloping place, and he overshadowed13 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]?14 But did not R. Hanina15 say in the name of Rabbi: ‘If one stirred16 the exact quantity of a fourth of a log of blood he remained clean’.17 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.18 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.19 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.20 For the Government21 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,22 and went and sat among them.23 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 them24 do no work on the Sabbath so that they grow poor. They said: ‘He speaketh rightly’,25 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’,25 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. by a corpse seven days. corrupt. holds good only if the flesh and the blood are from the same reptile. called ‘ohel’ (tent). Also a quarter of a log of blood from a corpse effects uncleanness by ‘ohel’. If a person overshadows, tentlike, a corpse or a quarter of a log of blood he himself forms the ‘ohel’, roofing, and is unclean. whole quantity. although it was scattered and disconnected, he is unclean. disconnected. We thus learn that the fourth of a log must be connected. temple’ (Jastrow). V. B.K. 83a; that Abtolomos son of Reuben was permitted to wear a coma because he mixed with Roman officials. Tosaf. identifies him with Reuben son of Istroboli, v. Jawitz v. p. 177 who suggests that these were father and son.