Pesachim

in the case of terumah [only], which is merely Rabbinical;1 but do we say thus in the case of leaven, which is Scriptural?2 — Is then the searching for leaven Scriptural; surely it is [only] Rabbinical, for by Scriptural law mere annulment is sufficient.3 If there is one package of leaven, and in front of it are two houses which have been searched, and there came a mouse and seized it, and we do not know whether it entered this [house] or that, that is [similar to] the case of two paths. For we learned: If there are two paths, one clean and the other unclean,4 and a person went through one of them and then touched5 clean [food], and then his neighbour came and went through the other and he touched clean [food], — R. Judah said: If they each enquire separately. they are clean;6 if both together, they are unclean. R. Jose said: In both cases they are unclean. Raba — others say. R. Johanan — said: If they came together, all agree that they are unclean; if consecutively, all agree that they are clean. They differ only where one comes to enquire about himself and his neighbour: R. Jose compares it to [both coming] together.7 while R. Judah likens it to each coming separately.8 If it is doubtful whether it [the mouse] entered or not,9 that is [similar to] the case of a plain, and [there we are involved] in the controversy of R. Eleazar and the Rabbis.10 For we learned: If a man enters a plain11 in winter,12 and there is uncleanness13 in a particular field,14 and he states: I walked in that place, but do not know whether I entered that field or not, — R. Eleazar declares him clean, while the Sages declare him unclean. For R. Eleazar ruled: If there is a doubt about entering, he is clean: if there is a doubt of contact with uncleanness, he is unclean. 15 If it [the mouse] entered [with the leaven], and he [the master] searched but did not find it, [in like case] there is a controversy of R. Meir and the Rabbis. For we learned: R. Meir used to say: Everything which is in the presumption of uncleanness always [remains] in its uncleanness until it is known to you whether its uncleanness is gone; while the Sages rule: one searches until he reaches a rock or virgin soil.16 If it [the mouse] entered [with leaven] and he searched and found [leaven].17 — [in like case] there is a controversy of Rabbi and R. Simeon b. Gamaliel. For it was taught: If a grave was lost in a field,18 he who enters therein is unclean. If a grave is [subsequently] found in it, he who enters therein is clean, for I assume: the grave which was lost is the same grave which was found: this is Rabbi's view. R. Simeon b. Gamaliel said: The whole field must be examined.19 If a man left nine [pieces of leaven] and found ten, there is a controversy of Rabbi and the Rabbis. For it was taught: If he left a maneh20 and found two-hundred [zuz],21 hullin and second tithe are intermingled,22 this is Rabbi's view. But the Sages maintain: It is all hullin.23 If he left ten and found nine, that is [analogous to] the second clause. For it was taught: If he deposited two hundred and found one maneh, [he assumes], one maneh was left lying and one maneh was taken away:24 this is Rabbi's view. But the Sages maintain: It is all hullin. clean; if in private ground, it is unclean. Here the paths are public ground; hence when they come separately each is declared clean. But we cannot rule thus when they come together. since one is certainly unclean. The same principles apply mutatis mutandis to the searched houses. searched. did enter, whether he passed over the grave. — In our problem, however, even the Rabbis agree that a re-search is not necessary; since the search is only Rabbinical, we make the more lenient assumption (Rashi). [Apparently Rashi did not read’, ‘and in the controversy. . . Rabbis’, cf. p. 42, n. 10.] not know now which is which; if one is examined and found to be clean, that is clean, while the others are treated as unclean; if two are found to be clean, they are clean and the third is unclean; but if the three are examined and found to be clean, they are all unclean in R. Meir's opinion, unless we know definitely whither the defilement has disappeared. But the Sages maintain that he examines the ground until he reaches a rock or virgin soil which has obviously never been touched, and if it is not found we assume that a bird has flown off with it. — But in the present problem even R. Meir agrees that we are lenient, since the search is only a Rabbinical requirement (Rashi). V. however Tosaf. redeem one maneh by exchanging it for another. the house must be searched for the nine pieces.