Yoma

which will bubble forth from under the threshold of the Sanctuary.1 From there onwards it becomes bigger, rising higher and higher, until it reaches the entrance to the House of David.2 As soon as it reaches the entrance to the house of David, it becomes even as a swiftly running brook, in which men and women afflicted with gonorrhoea, menstruating women, and women after childbirth bathe, as it is said: In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for purification and for sprinkling.3 Said R. Joseph: Hence there is an intimation that a menstruating woman [at her purification] must sit in water [that reaches in height] up to the neck. But the law is not in accord with him. (That will be right on the Day of Atonement, on which no sandal is worn). But what about the Sabbath on which sandals are worn?4 — R. Nehemiah, the son-in-law of the Prince,5 said: I saw R. Ammi and R. Assi who reached a pool of water and crossed it dressed.6 That is all right in shoes, but what can be said in the case of sandals?7 R. Rihumi said: I saw Rabina, who crossed it in sandals. R. Ashi said: One must not do so at the outset in sandals. The Exilarch once came to Hagronia to the house of R. Nathan. Rafram and all the Rabbis attended his lecture, Rabina did not. Next day Rafram wanted to remove Rabina from the mind of the Exilarch,8 so he said to him: ‘Why did you not come to the lecture, Sir’? He answered: ‘My foot hurt me’. ‘You should have put shoes on’! ‘It was the back of the foot’. ‘You should have put sandals on’. He answered: ‘A pool of water was in the way’. ‘You should have crossed it in them,’. He replied: ‘Don't you hold, Sir, the view of R. Ashi, that one must not at the outset do so in sandals’! Judah b. Gerogeroth taught: It is forbidden to sit on moist muddy ground on the Day of Atonement. R. Joshua b. Levi said: This refers to mud which makes wet [those sitting on it]. Abaye said: If it is moist enough to moisten other subjects. Rab Judah said: It is permitted to cool off [by sitting] on fruit on the Day of Atonement. Rab Judah would cool off through squash, Raba through fresh twigs, Rabbah through a silver cup. R. Papa said:9 On a silver vessel one may not cool oneself if it is full; it is permissible only when it is not full. On an earthen vessel it is forbidden in either case, because [the unglazed vessel] lets the moisture ooze through. R. Papa10 said: A silver vessel, if not full, is also forbidden for use as a cooler-off, because it may be upset.11 Ze'iri b. Hama was the host of R. Ammi and R. Assi, and R. Joshua b. Levi, and of all the Rabbis of Caesarea. He said to R. Joseph the son of R. Joshua b. Levi: O, son of a great man,12 come and let me tell you a fine custom that your father had. He had a towel from the eve of the Day of Atonement, which he soaked in water, made it into a kind of dry vessel, and on the morrow would wipe his face, hands and feet with it. On the eve of the ninth of Ab he would soak it in water and on the morrow he would stroke his eyes with it. Similarly13 when Rabbah b. Mari came he reported: On the eve of the ninth of Ab a towel was brought to him, he soaked it in water, and put it under his head. On the morrow he would therewith wipe his face, hands and feet. On the eve of the Day of Atonement one brought him a towel, which he soaked in water and made it into a kind of dry vessel, and on the morrow he stroked his eyes with it. Said R. Jacob to R. Jeremiah b. Tahlifa: You had told us the matter in just the opposite fashion and we refuted you by reference to prohibition of wringing out.14 R. Menashiah b. Tahlifa, in the name of R. Amram, on the authority of Rabbah b. Bar Hanah said: The following question was propounded to R. Eleazar: Must a scholar, who is a member of an Academy, obtain special permission to declare a firstborn animal allowed,15 or does he not need that special permission? What was it that appeared doubtful to them? — This is what they wanted to know: In accord with the statement of R. Iddi b. Abin that ‘this matter was left in the hands of the Prince as a special distinction for himself’, the question is: Must [the elder] receive permission, or, since he is an elder and a member of an Academy, he need not? R. Zadok b. Haloka thereupon stood up and said: I saw R. Jose b. Zimra who was both an elder and a member of an Academy, and indeed was superior to the grandfather of this our Prince,16 yet obtained permission to declare firstborn animals for profane use! — R. Abba replied to him: It was not like this, but rather, this was the fact: R. Jose b. Zimra was a priest, and this was his problem: Is the halachah in accord with R. Meir, who said: One who is suspected concerning a matter17 may neither judge nor offer testimony in connection therewith; or is the halachah in accord with R. Simeon b. Gamaliel who said: Such a one would be trustworthy in a case concerning his neighbour, but not in a case concerning himself? The answer given was: The halachah is in accord with the view of R. Simeon b. Gamaliel. Furthermore did they ask [R. Eleazar]: How about apart from the prohibition to wear shoes, which applies on the Day of Atonement as a form of affliction, on a Sabbath such crossing would be permissible, since the possibility of their falling off, and being carried, should involve a preventive prohibition of such crossing. They might slide off easily, and thus lead the wearer to carrying them. falling off is minimized. Therefore the Rabbis above were seen wearing shoes. But sandals which are but lightly attached, might slide off. his friend's part from the mind of the Exilarch. Atonement. Abba Mari was wrong and rejected this important detail, hence the version reported by R. Jeremiah b. Tahlifa. for profane use, unless he had received special authorization from the Prince in Palestine. The question here posed is whether a member of an Academy may be considered a privileged person in this respect or not. This problem is not germane to the present discussion and is introduced only because it leads to another (the next) question, touching the Day of Atonement, which was submitted at the same time. a blemish. To avoid such inconvenience many a priest felt tempted to discover a blemish before its actual appearance, hence the priests were suspected of undue laxity in this matter. V. Bek. 35a.