Pesachim

Whereon Rab said: The priests erred?1 — Is this view [propounded] against any but Rab? Rab learned, ‘the liquids of the slaughter-house’; but the liquids of the altar2 can be defiled.3 [To turn to] the main text: ‘Rab said: The priests erred; but Samuel maintained, The priests did not err’. ‘Rab said, The priests erred’; he asked them about a fourth degree in respect of holy foodstuffs, and they answered him that it was clean. ‘But Samuel maintained, The priests did not err’; he asked them about a fifth degree in respect of holy foodstuffs, and they answered him, It is clean. As for Rab, it is well: hence four are written, ‘bread, pottage, wine, and oil’; but according to Samuel, whence does he know five? — Is it then written, ‘and his skirt4 touch [the bread]’? Surely it is written, and touch with [that] [by] his skirt,5 [meaning that it touched] that which was touched by his skirt.6 Come and hear: Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.7 As for Samuel, it is well: since they did not err here, they did not err there [either]; but according to Rab, why did they err here yet did not err there? — Said R. Nahman in Rabbah b. Abbuha's name: They were well-versed in the uncleanness of a corpse, but not well-versed in the uncleanness of a sherez.8 Rabina said: There it was a fourth degree; here it was a third.9 Come and hear: Then answered Haggai and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the Lord: and so is every work of their hands: and that which they offer there is unclean.10 As for Rab, it is well: hence ‘unclean’ is written.11 But according to Samuel, why was it unclean? — He indeed wondered.12 But it is written, and so is every work of their hands?13 — Said Mar Zutra, others state, R. Ashi: Because they perverted their actions the Writ stigmatizes them as though they offered up [sacrifices] in uncleanness. [To turn to] the main text: ‘Rab learned, The liquids of the slaughter-house;14 while Levi learned: The liquids of the altar’. Now according to Levi, it is well if he holds as Samuel, who said, They are clean [only] in so far that they cannot defile other [objects]. but nevertheless they are unclean in themselves: then it is possible where they all touched the first.15 But if he holds as Rab, who maintained [that] they are literally unclean, how is it conceivable?16 — You are compelled [to say that] he holds as Samuel. And according to Samuel, it is well if he holds as Rab who learned, ‘The liquids of the slaughter-house’, but the liquids of the altar can even defile others: [hence] it is only a fourth degree which cannot make a fifth, but a third can make a fourth.17 But if he holds as Levi who learned, ‘The liquids of the altar’, why particularly [ask about] a fourth, which cannot make a fifth; they cannot even make a second or a third?18 — You are compelled [to say that] he holds as Rab. It was taught in accordance with Rab; it was taught in accordance with Levi. It was taught in accordance with Rab: Blood, wine, oil and water, the liquids of the altar, which were defiled within19 and carried without,20 are clean.21 If they were defiled without22 and [then] brought within, they are unclean.23 But that is not so? for R. Joshua b. Levi said: ‘They did not rule that the liquids of the altar are clean save in their place’: is that not to exclude [the case where] they were defiled within and carried without! — No: it is to exclude [where] they were defiled without and [then] taken within. But he states, ‘in their place’?24 — This is what he states: They did not rule [that these liquids] are clean save when they were defiled in their place [sc. within]. It was taught as Rab: Blood and water, the liquids of the slaughter-house, which were defiled, whether in vessels or in the ground, are clean; examining the priests in the knowledge of the laws of uncleanness. The exact point of his question is disputed infra, but according to Rab it was this: the unclean flesh was a sherez (‘creeping thing’). which bears a principal degree of uncleanness; this sherez, (being held in the skirt of the garment is now designated by the term ‘skirt’, the mention of which would otherwise be pointless) touched the bread, the bread touched the pottage, the pottage touched the wine, and the wine touched the oil or any other foodstuff and the question was whether this last would be unclean, i.e. , whether there is a ‘fourth’ degree in the case of holy food, to which this refers. So Rashi. R. Tam: the sherez touched the skirt, which became a first, the skirt touched the bread or the pottage, which became a second, then one of these touched wine or oil, which became a third, and the wine or oil touched some other eatable. Actually there is a fourth degree and since the priests replied in the negative. they erred (v. p. 62, n. 2). Thus we see that wine and oil are unclean, though they are the liquids of the Temple, which contradicts Rab. Now, if the uncleanness of liquids is Rabbinical, it has been stated that the Rabbinical decree did not apply to the Temple. And even if Haggai was examining them on points of Rabbinical law, this still contradicts Rab, who states that they are literally clean. The previous answer that Rabbinical uncleanness only is discussed here, while this does not agree with R. Joseph b. Jo'ezer of Zeredah, is impossible in the present instance, for he obviously cannot disagree with Scripture. hence the oil would be a fifth (v. Rashi). translating thus: If the uncleanness of a dead body touch etc. Since a corpse is a super principal (father of fathers) of uncleanness, the oil would be a third, and of this they knew. clean, since it touched the wine, which as a liquid of the altar can be defiled (i.e.. made unfit) but cannot contaminate. But in the second question each touched the first mentioned, viz., ‘one that is unclean by a dead body’, and they rightly answered that they are unclean. liquids of the slaughter-house, i.e., blood and water, but not wine and oil. degree of uncleanness, and they rightly gave a negative reply. altar’, and as such could not contaminate others. defilement which contaminates others.