Yoma

They raised the following objection:1 A lay Israelite, an onen,2 one inebriate or one with a blemish are invalidated for the receiving, the carrying, and the sprinkling of the blood, and so is one seated, and the left hand. This is a refutation. — But R. Shesheth himself has asked this question in refutation!3 For R. Shesheth said to the Amora4 of R. Hisda who asked of R. Hisda: May the blood be carried by a lay Israelite? He answered: It is proper and a scriptural verse supports me: And they killed the passover lamb, and the priests dashed5 of their hand, and the Levites flayed them.6 And R. Shesheth raised this question: A lay Israelite, a mourner, an inebriate, or one blemished are invalidated for the receiving, the carrying, or the sprinkling of the blood, and so is one seated and the left hand!7 -After having heard it, he raised it in objection [against R. Hisda]. But R. Hisda had cited a scriptural passage [in support]? — They served only the purpose of a portico. 8 R. Papa asked: If another9 [priest] took his hands full and put it into his [the high priest's] hands — how then? Is what we require that it be ‘his hands full’ which we have here, or is it required that he both ‘take [his hands full] and bring it in’, which was not the case here? — The question remains unsolved. R. Joshua b. Levi asked: If he had taken his hands full and then died, what about someone else entering [within the Holy of Holies] with his [the first one's] handfuls? — Said R. Hanina: This is a question of the older generation!10 Shall we say that R. Joshua b. Levi was older?11 But R. Joshua b. Levi had said: R. Hanina permitted me to drink a cress-dish12 on the Sabbath? [You say] to drink? That is self-evident, for we have learnt:13 One may eat all kinds of food for a remedy, and one may drink every kind of drink as a medicine? — Rather to grind and to drink cress-dish on the Sabbath. What case do you mean? If it be a case of danger, surely it is allowed;14 and if the case be without danger, it surely is forbidden?15 -In truth the case referred to is one dangerous and this is how the question ran: Does it cure so that one may for this purpose desecrate the Sabbath, or does it not effect a cure so that one may not desecrate the Sabbath in connection with it? And why was it R. Hanina?16 — Because he was familiar with medicine, for R. Hanina said:17 Never did a man consult me concerning a wound inflicted by a white mule and recover. But we see that people recover?-Say: And it was cured.18 -But we see them cured?-The reference here is to red mules, the end of whose feet is white. — At any rate we learn from here that R. Hanina was the older one?19 -Rather, this is what he said: Our question is like one of the former generation.20 But did R. Hanina express such a view?21 Did not R. Hanina say: With a bullock,22 i.e., but not with the blood of a bullock;23 and, furthermore, was it not R. Hanina who said: If he took the hands full of the incense before the slaying of the of the bullock, he has done nothing?24 — This is what he [R. Hanina] said: Since he25 asks the question, the inference is justified that he holds ‘With a bullock’ includes also ‘with the bullock's blood’; now, according to [this] his view, his question is like the question of an older generation. — What about that?26 — R. Papa said: If [we say that] he takes the handful first and then must take it again,27 then his fellow may enter with his hafinah,28 because the hafinah is still the same; but if [we say] that he takes the handfuls once but does not take them again, then your question arises. Said R. Huna son of R. Joshua to R. Papa: On the contrary! If [we say that he] performs the hafinah twice, none else should enter with his hafinah, because it is impossible that the second take not either a bit less [than the handfuls of the first]29 or a bit more; but [if we say that] he performs only one hafinah, does your question arise. For the question had been raised: Must he perform the hafinah twice?- Come and hear: AND SUCH WAS ITS MEASURE. Now does not that mean that as the measure in the outside hafinah, so was it in the hafinah within the Holy of Holies? — No, perhaps the meaning here is that if he wanted to make a measure he could do so, or, that he must not take either more or less in the one case than in the other. 30 Come and hear: fit for slaughtering sacrifices, v. Supra 43a. solve the question put to him contrariwise. compliment to our learning; R. Joshua b. Levi being of the older generation. case he would have called him by his first name, Instead of saying ‘R. Hanina etc.’ Levi, and it remained unsolved. had been taken by someone else. the possibility of one's entering with the blood of a bullock slain by someone else. must not be performed before, but after the slaying of the bullock, the first high priest must have slain his bullock and the one who takes his place must slay another bullock, it is evident that he cannot use the handfuls taken by the first high priest, which took place before the slaying of the second bullock. Hence it seems impossible that R. Hanina could have asked the question attributed to him here. were his view, the taking of the handful of the incense before the slaying of the bullock would have been invalidated. Hence the apposite remark that others of an earlier generation who, in opposition to him hold that ‘with a bullock’ includes even ‘with the blood of his bullock’ have already asked the question. his ‘handfuls’?