Yoma

He will tell you: This is to teach you that the girdle of the high priest was not the same [material] as that of the average priest.1 According to the opinion that Aaron was girded and afterwards his sons,2 does not Scripture say, ‘And thou shalt gird them with a girdle’?- He will tell you this3 informs us that the girdle of the high priest was of the same [material] as the average priest. Was it then necessary to state: ‘And he girded him with a girdle’ and [then] ‘And he girded them’? From that we infer that Aaron came first and then his sons. But how could it have been possible simultaneously?4 — This only means to indicate that [Aaron] came first.5 THE HIGH PRIEST WAS REMOVED. Why was he removed?[You ask] why was he removed!6 [Is it not] as you have said, either according to the derivation of R. Johanan, or to that of Resh Lakish? — No, this is7 the question: Why was he separated from his house? — It was taught: R. Judah b. Bathyra said: Let his wife be found under doubt of being a menstruant and he have congress with her.8 Do we speak of wicked people?9 — Rather, perhaps he will have congress with his wife and she will then be found to be doubtfully a menstruant.10 [The Rabbis] were discussing the decision before R. Hisda: According to whom was it made?-Obviously according to R. Akiba, who said: A menstruant makes him who had congress with her impure [retrospectively].11 For, according to the Rabbis, behold they say: A menstruant does not render impure him who had congress with her [retrospectively]. R. Hisda said to them: It may be in accord even with the Rabbis. For they conflict with R. Akiba only in the case in which [the blood stains are found] much later12 [than the congress], but, [if they be found] very soon afterwards,13 they agree with him. R. Zera said: Hence it is evident that to one who had congress with a menstruant do not apply the same restrictions as do to the menstruant herself and he may bathe [for purification] in day time.14 For, if you were to say that to one who had congress with a menstruant applied the same laws that apply to her, when could he bathe? Only at night. How could he, then, officiate on the morrow,15 since he would have to await sunset for becoming ritually pure? Hence it must be [clear] that one who had intercourse with a menstruant is not subject to the same restrictions as the menstruant herself. Said R. Shimi of Nehardea: You might even say [that the above decision is in accord with the view] that one who has intercourse with a menstruant is like the menstruant, yet [would the high priest be able to officiate at the service] for we would separate him from his house an hour before sunset.16 An objection was raised: All those who are obliged to take the ritual bath must take the bath at night.17 A menstruant and a woman after confinement immerse during the day. A menstruant, then, only, but not one who had intercourse with her?18 — [No, it means], A menstruant and all whom one may include in that term.19 Another objection was raised: One to whom pollution has happened is like one who touched an unclean [dead] reptile. One who had intercourse with a menstruating woman is like one who was made unclean through a corpse.20 Is it not concerning the bath?21 — No, it is concerning [the conditions of] their uncleanness.22 But [surely] concerning their uncleanness23 there are direct statements in Scripture! In the first case it is written that it lasts for seven days,24 and in the second case also the seven days’ duration is prescribed. 25 work of the weaver in colours. The separate mention made of Aaron's girdle and that of his sons serves to indicate that they were not alike and that this description referred to the girdle of the high priest alone: the girdle of other priests was made of lesser material. same girdle, no distinction being allowed between the girdles worn by high priest and ordinary priest respectively. simultaneously? to emphasize that he must come first-whether in the clothing of the garments or in the girding. was being sought. beyond doubt, how much less a high priest. Hence such contingency is unthinkable. Dealing with high priests, are we dealing with wicked men? before or after congress. Such a doubt would render her husband impure for seven days and ritually unfit to enter the sanctuary. for seven days, v. Nid. 14a.] (euphemistically).] sunset, the beginning of the eighth day. But he who had congress with her would be permitted to bathe during the seventh day, without having to await the sunset of the seventh day. Hence he needs to be separated for but seven days. And if on the day of the separation he had congress and the doubt of her being a menstruant arose, he would count from the day of the separation until the day before the Day of Atonement, when he would take the bath during the day, await the sunset, and then be fit to enter the sanctuary on the Day of Atonement (Rashi). the Day of Atonement when he was pure and he would be unfit to officiate on the following day; thus the whole separation would be futile. unimportant, hence the separation would still be called ‘one of seven days’. He could bathe on the evening before the eve of the Day of Atonement (the seventh day after having become ritually impure) and be fit to officiate on the Day of Atonement, having awaited the sunset on the day before his bath. purify him and bathe himself in water and be clean at even. — That a menstruant must not bathe before the night of the seventh day is inferred from Lev. XV,19: And if a woman have an issue, she shall be in her impurity seven days. A woman after confinement is compared to a menstruant in Lev. XII, 2: If a woman be delivered . . . , then she shall be unclean for seven days; as in the days of the impurity of her sickness shall she be unclean,; v. infra 88a purification would be identical. Hence the implicit statement is sufficient. evening, and are unclean in the first degree of uncleanness; and he who had intercourse with a menstruant is afflicted with uncleanness for seven days and is one of the original causes of uncleanness like him who was made unclean through a corpse.