פסחים 39:2 — Soncino English Talmud

A garden-bed which is six handbreadths square, may be sown with five species of seeds, four on the four sides of the bed and one in the middle! — You might say that this applies only to seeds [cereals]. but not to vegetables; therefore he informs us [otherwise]. Shall we [then] say that vegetables are stronger than seeds? But surely we learned: All Species of seeds may not be sown in one garden-bed [together]. [yet] all species of vegetables [herbs] may be sown in one seed-bed? You might say, This maror is a species of seed [cereal]; hence he informs us [that it is not so]. [You say]. ‘Seeds’! — Can you think so! But surely we learned, HERBS; and Bar Kappara [also] taught. ‘Herbs’; and the School of Samuel [also] taught ‘Herbs’? - He needs [to state it about] lettuce: I might argue. since it is destined to harden, we must allow it more space. [For] did not R. Jose b. R. Hanina say: If the cabbage stalk hardens, more room is given to it [up to] a beth roba’? This proves that since it is destined to harden, we allow it more space: so here too we should give it more space. Hence he informs us [otherwise]. THE LAW IS COMPLIED WITH BY [EATING THEM] BOTH MOIST [FRESH] OR DRY etc. R. Hisda said: They learned this only of the stalk; but in the case of the leaves, only moist [fresh] ones, but not dry ones. But since a later clause states, WITH THEIR STALK, it follows that the first clause [refers to] leaves? [That clause] indeed gives an explanation: when does he [the Tanna] teach, BOTH MOIST AND DRY? In reference to the stalk. An objection is raised: One can discharge [the obligation] with them and their stalks, both moist and dry: this is R. Meir's view. But the Sages maintain: One can discharge [the obligation] with moist [fresh] ones, but one cannot discharge [the obligation] with dry ones. And they agree that one can discharge [the obligation] with them [when] withered, but not [when] preserved. stewed or boiled. This is the general principle of the matter: Whatever has the taste of maror, one can discharge the obligation with it; but whatever does not possess the taste of maror, one cannot discharge the obligation with it! — Explain it [as referring] to the stalk. Our Rabbis taught: One cannot discharge [the obligation] with them [when] withered. In the name of R. Eleazar b. R. Zadok it was said: One can discharge [the obligation] with them [when] withered. Rami b. Hama asked: How about a man discharging his obligation with second tithe maror in Jerusalem? On R. Akiba's view, there is no question: seeing that he discharges his obligation [there with] in the case of unleavened bread, [the tithing of] which is [enjoined] by Scripture. need you ask about maror, which is [only] Rabbinical. The question arises on the view of R. Jose the Galilean. What then? Is it only with unleavened bread, which is [tithed] by Scriptural law, that he cannot discharge his obligation, but with maror, which is [tithed] by Rabbinical law [only], he discharges his obligation; or perhaps whatever [measure] the Rabbis enacted, they enacted it similar to a Scriptural law? Said Raba: It is logical [that] unleavened bread and maror [are assimilated]. MISHNAH. ONE MAY NOT SOAK BRAN FOR FOWLS, BUT ONE MAY SCALD IT. A WOMAN MAY NOT SOAK BRAN TO TAKE WITH HER TO THE BATHS, BUT SHE MAY RUB IT ON HER SKIN. AND A MAN MAY NOT CHEW WHEAT AND PLACE IT ON HIS WOUND, BECAUSE IT TURNS LEAVEN. G E M A R A. Our Rabbis taught: These are the things which cannot come to fermentation: That which is baked, boiled, and that which is scalded, having been scalded in boiling water. ‘That which is boiled’? But while it is being boiled it turns leaven! — Said R. Papa: He means: baked [mazzah] which was [then] boiled. It was taught. R. Jose b. R. Judah said: Flour into which there fell a dripping [of water]. even all day, does not come to fermentation. Said R. Papa: Provided that it acted drop after drop. The School of R. Shila said: Wattika is permitted. But it was taught: Wattika is forbidden? — There is no difficulty: here it is such as is prepared with oil and salt; there it is prepared with water and salt. Mar Zutra said: A man must not line a pot with flour of roast grain, lest it had not been properly baked and it comes to leaven. R. Joseph said: A man must not scald^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ^ˡ^ᵐ^ⁿ^ᵒ^ᵖ^ᵠ^ʳ^ˢ^ᵗ^ᵘ^ᵛ^ʷ^ˣ^ʸ^ᶻ^ᵃᵃ^ᵃᵇ^ᵃᶜ

^ᵃnote:V. Shab. 84b (Sonc. ed.) note a.l. Then what does Rab add?
^ᵇnote:Because they draw their sustenance more vigorously, hence from a wider area.
^ᶜnote:Rab.
^ᵈnote:In drawing from the ground.
^ᵉnote:Cereal seeds must not be sown within this area, and the statement that five species of seeds may be sown in a plot six handbreadths square applies to vegetables (herbs) only.
^ᶠnote:I.e., the species enumerated supra in our Mishnah and Gemara.
^ᵍnote:This answer abandons the previous answer. Seeds (cereals) in fact require more space, for their drawing power is greater, and Rab informs us that maror belongs to the species of herbs, not seeds, and therefore the more lenient law applies to them.
^ʰnote:All these authorities describe maror as herbs; how then could it be assumed that maror belongs to the class of cereals?
^ⁱnote:The last reply to the question, ‘What does Rab add’, being untenable, another answer is offered.
^ʲnote:Its stalk becomes hard and thick.
^ᵏnote:A piece of ground of the capacity of one roba’ (quarter of a kab) of seed.
^ˡnote:Rab.
^ᵐnote:This is not the same as dry.
^ⁿnote:Here too R. Meir seems to state that both the herbs themselves (i.e.. the leaves) and the stalks may be fresh or dry. And the Mishnah too evidently agrees with R. Meir, since the Rabbis maintain that dried herbs cannot be eaten.
^ᵒnote:The statement permitting its use dried.
^ᵖnote:v. supra 36a.
^ᵠnote:By scriptural law vegetables need not be tithed at all; hence Biblically speaking this maror is not second tithe.
^ʳnote:So that maror is the same as unleavened bread.
^ˢnote:v. supra p. 182, n. 6.
^ᵗnote:Lit., ‘in her hand’.
^ᵘnote:A bran paste was used as a depilatory or cosmetic.
^ᵛnote:Once unleavened bread is baked it can never turn leaven.
^ʷnote:The incessant dripping prevents fermentation.
^ˣnote:Without an appreciable interval between them.
^ʸnote:Name of a certain pastry or tart made of flour.
^ᶻnote:Oil does not cause fermentation.
^ᵃᵃnote:Then it is forbidden.
^ᵃᵇnote:Lit., ‘boiled’.
^ᵃᶜnote:Though roast grain is baked, and therefore can never become leaven, yet we fear that it may not have been fully baked, and when the dish is put into the pot with the water this flour will ferment.