יומא 31:1 — Soncino English Talmud

render this immersion invalid or not? — He replied: ‘Whatever the Rabbis ordained, they endowed with the authority of a law of the Torah’. Said Abaye to R. Joseph: Is a partial entrance of the Sanctuary considered an entrance or not? — He answered: The thumb and toe will prove that, for there but a partial entrance is involved, and it was taught: A leper immerses himself and stands in the Nicanor Gate! — The question was asked: What about making for himself a long knife for slaughtering? This question is asked in accord with the view of both Ben Zoma and the Rabbis who oppose R. Judah. This question is asked on the view of Ben Zoma: Perhaps Ben Zoma does not consider the immersion obligatory except in the case of one who actually enters, but not for one who stands outside; or perhaps even for the latter, because he might gradually enter. The question is also asked according to the view of the Rabbis who oppose R. Judah: Perhaps the Rabbis hold their view only there because he does not perform a service, but where he officiates at a service they would agree, or do they make no difference? — The question remains unanswered. FIVE IMMERSIONS AND TEN SANCTIFICATIONS: Our Rabbis taught: The high priest underwent five immersions and ten sanctifications on that day, all of them on holy ground, in the Parwah Cell, with the exception of the first, which took place on profane ground, on top of the Water Gate, lying at the side of his [private] cell. Abaye said: We infer therefrom that the Etam well was [at least] twenty-three cubits above the ground of the Temple Court. For we have learnt: All the doorways there were twenty cubits in height, ten cubits in breadth, with the exception of that of the Hall and it was taught: And he shall bathe all his flesh in water, I.e., in the waters of a mikweh, in water which covers his whole body. What ‘is its quantity? One cubit square, three cubits high, and the Sages have calculated that the required quantity for [the contents of] a mikweh is forty se'ah. 13^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ^ˡ^ᵐ

^ᵃnote:An immersion, to be valid, requires utterly undisturbed touch of the water on the body of the person immersing himself, any intervening object rendering the immersion invalid. This, however, in the questioner's mind applies only to such immersion as is commanded by the Torah. R. Judah, who considers it only an immersion for the sake of uniformity, might hence hold that in this case an intervening object might not be considered sufficiently disturbing to render the immersion invalid.
^ᵇnote:Pes. 30b.
^ᶜnote:Lev. XIV, 14: And the priest shall take the blood of the guilt-offering and... shall put it upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot. Ibid. 17: And of the rest of the oil . . . the priest shall put . . . upon the thumb of his right hand and upon the great toe of his right foot. It is to receive of the blood and the oil that the leper stands at the Nicanor Gate and puts his hands and feet inside, v. 11 indicating that: And the priest that cleanseth him shall set the man that is to be cleansed . . . at the door of the tent of meeting.
^ᵈnote:To escape the obligation of an immersion, which is due on entering. With a knife long enough he might slay the sacrificial animal from without.
^ᵉnote:In the case of an ordinary man entering the Sanctuary.
^ᶠnote:Hence they free him from the obligations of an immersion.
^ᵍnote:That such is necessary.
^ʰnote:V. supra.
^ⁱnote:From the Etam well was the water supply for the pool on top of the Water Gate, v. Zeb. 55b.
^ʲnote:V. supra 15a.
^ᵏnote:[The reference is to Lev. XV, 16 and the text is to be corrected accordingly. The verse in cur. edd. is from Lev. XV, 13.]
^ˡnote:Lit., ‘gathering (of water)’ then the term. techn. for the pool for ritual immersion. The water therein must not be drawn, i.e,, through a vessel, but must come directly from spring, river, sea or rain.
^ᵐnote:‘Er. 4b. Forty se'ah correspond roughly to two hundred and sixty-four quarts of water. [The water in the pool on top of the Water Gate had thus to rise to a height of twenty-three cubits above the level of the Temple Court twenty cubits for the height of the doorway and three cubits for the height of the pool, which would have been impossible unless the Etam well was situated on at least a corresponding height.]