Menachot

there is no prescribed maximum length but there is a prescribed minimum length.1 For if you will not say so, the ruling ‘And so, too, that there was no prescribed length for the lulab’ would also have to mean that there is no prescribed length at all for it, but we have learnt: A lulab which is three handbreadths in length, long enough to shake, is valid?2 We must therefore say that it means, there is no prescribed maximum length for it but there is a prescribed minimum length; so here too, [with regard to the zizith] it means, there is no prescribed maximum length for it but there is a prescribed minimum length. Our Rabbis taught: zizith: the word zizith means nothing else than something which hangs loose, for so it says, And took me by a lock [zizith] of mine head.3 Abaye said, One must keep [the threads] separate, like the forelock of the gentiles.4 Our Rabbis taught If one attached the fringes to the tip [of the corner] or to the selvedge [of the garment],5 it is valid; R. Eliezer b. Jacob declares it invalid in both cases. Whose view is adopted in the following statement of R. Giddal in the name of Rab: The fringes must hang over the corner,6 for it is written, Upon the corners of their garments? 7 It is the view of R. Eliezer b. Jacob. R. Jacob said in the name of R. Johanan, It8 must be removed from the corner the distance of the first joint of the thumb. Now both R. Papa's teaching9 and this teaching of R. Jacob are necessary. For from R. Papa's teaching I only know that it must be within three fingerbreadths’ distance from the corner and not farther away than that, but the nearer it is [to the corner] the better; therefore R. Jacob's teaching was necessary. And from R. Jacob's teaching I only know that it must be away from the corner the distance of the first joint of the thumb and not nearer than that, but the farther away it is [from the corner] the better; therefore [both teachings] are necessary. Rabina and R. Sama were once sitting before R. Ashi when R. Sama noticed that the [edges around the hole in the] corner of Rabina's garment had frayed and [the fringe] was now less than the distance of the first joint of the thumb away [from the corner], and he said to him, ‘Does not my Master accept R. Jacob's teaching?’ He replied, ‘That rule was intended to apply only at the time when it was first made’. [R. Sama] became embarrassed, whereupon R. Ashi said to him, ‘Do not be upset, for one of them10 is equal to two of us’. R. Aha b. Jacob used to take four threads, double them over, insert them through the garment, and then make them into a loop;11 he was of the opinion that there must be eight threads in the [hole of the] garment, the same number as the threads which hang loose.12 R. Jeremiah of Difti used to insert eight threads, which [when hanging down] made sixteen loose threads, but he did not make them into a loop. Mar the son of Rabina used to do it as we do now.13 R. Nahman once found R. Adda b. Ahabah inserting the threads [in a garment] and reciting the blessing ‘[Blessed art thou . . . and hast commanded us] to make the zizith’, whereupon he said, ‘What is this zizi that I hear?14 Thus said Rab: When making the zizith no blessing is to be pronounced’. After the death of R. Huna, R. Hisda came in [as head of the School] and pointed out the following contradictory teachings of Rab. Did Rab really say that when making the zizith no blessing was to be pronounced? Surely Rab Judah has stated in the name of Rab, Whence do we know that the zizith made by a gentile are invalid? Because it is said, Speak unto the children of Israel and bid them that they make them fringes;15 the children of Israel shall make [the fringes], but not gentiles! But where is the contradiction here? — R. Joseph said, R. Hisda is of the opinion that a precept which may be performed by a gentile does not require a blessing when performed by an Israelite,16 but a precept which may not be performed by a gentile requires a blessing when performed by an Israelite.17 Is this a general principle? But take the case of circumcision. This is permitted to be performed by a gentile, for it has been taught: In a town where there is no Israelite physician but there is a Cuthean18 physician as well as a gentile one, circumcision should be performed by the gentile but not by the Cuthean. This is the opinion of R. Meir. But R. Judah said, It should be performed by the Cuthean but not by the gentile.19 And yet when performed by an Israelite a blessing must be pronounced, for a Master has said,20 He that performs the circumcision must say, ‘Blessed . . . who hast sanctified us by thy commandments, and hast given us command concerning the circumcision!’ — This question [by R. Hisda] concerns Rab, does it not? Surely Rab declares it21 invalid! For it has been stated:22 Whence do we know that circumcision performed by a gentile is invalid? Daru b. Papa said in the name of Rab, From the verse, And as for thee, thou shalt keep my covenant.23 R. Johanan said, From the words, Must needs be circumcised,24 that is, he who is circumcised shall circumcise. The law concerning the sukkah25 adds support [to R. Hisda's principle] while that concerning the tefillin refutes it. Thus, the sukkah is valid when made by a gentile, for it has been taught: A booth of gentiles, women, cattle, or Cutheans, or any manner of booth, is valid [as a sukkah], provided it was roofed according to law.26 And when made by an Israelite no blessing is necessary, for it has been taught: When a man makes a sukkah for himself he must say, ‘Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who hast kept us in life, and hast preserved us, and enabled us to reach this season’; and when he enters to sit in it he must say, ‘Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who hast sanctified us by thy commandments, and hast commanded us to dwell in the sukkah’. But one never says, [Blessed . . . and hast commanded us] to make the sukkah. On the other hand, the law of tefillin is a refutation; for the tefillin are invalid when made by a gentile, for R. Hinena the son of Raba Suk. 29b. after the necessary windings the threads must hang loose in separate strands. is invalid if the fringes were attached to the actual corner, thus in agreement with R. Eliezer b. Jacob. then pass the ends of the threads through this loop and pull tight, and in this manner the threads hung from the garment. the number of threads that hang loose suggested by the terms ‘twisted cord’ and ‘twisted cords’ (v. supra p. 239). commandments and hast commanded us . . .’ does not apply since the commandment may be also performed by a gentile. pronounced; thus contradicting the former statement of Rab. exile of the ten tribes. They adopted certain Jewish practices, particularly those based upon the written word of the Torah; cf. 2 Kings XVII, 2ff. Later, however, they were found to be worshipping a dove on Mount Gerizim; v. Hul. 6a. may circumcise’, thus excluding gentiles.