Bava Kamma 82b — the Talmud in English

And he came

Ezra

instituted combing

specifically with a comb, because of distancing.

9.

And that spice merchants should circulate through the towns,

the reason is

because of women's ornaments

[women's cosmetics],

so that

they should be available to them, and

they should not become repulsive to their husbands.

10.

And he instituted immersion for those who experienced a seminal emission:

And we raise a difficulty: Is that to say that Ezra instituted this? But

is it not by Torah law?

As it is written:

“And when a man has a seminal emission issue from him, he shall wash his flesh in water”?

And we answer: Immersion

is by Torah law for teruma and consecrated things,

for it is forbidden to render them impure or to eat them in impurity, and one must immerse first—

and

he came,

Ezra came and

instituted it even for words of Torah,

that he should not study unless he had first immersed because of his emission.

It was taught in a beraita:

Ten things were said concerning Jerusalem,

and the reason for all of them is explained in the Gemara below:

1.

A house does not become permanently vested in its buyer there,

that is to say: Although the Torah said [Leviticus 25:29]: “And when a man sells a dwelling-house in a walled city [a house in a city surrounded by a wall from the days of Joshua], its redemption [by the seller from the buyer] shall be until the completion of the year of its sale; for a period of days [a year] shall be its redemption. But if it is not redeemed by the completion of a full year for it, the house that is in the city that has a wall shall be permanently vested in its buyer for his generations; it shall not go out in the Jubilee,” [and this is called permanent vesting for the buyer]—nevertheless, this law does not apply in Jerusalem. Even though it is a walled city, the seller may redeem the house forever, and when the Jubilee arrives it returns to the buyer, as is the law concerning one who sold a house in unwalled open towns.

2.

And it does not bring a beheaded heifer,

that is to say: Although the Torah said [Deuteronomy 21]: “When a slain man is found on the land that the Lord your God gives you to inherit, fallen in the field, it being unknown who struck him. And your elders and your judges shall go out, and they shall measure toward the cities that are around the slain man. And it shall be that the city nearest to the slain man, and the elders of that city shall take a heifer of cattle ... And the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down ... and they shall break the heifer’s neck in the valley ... And all the elders of that city who are nearest to the slain man ... shall answer and say: ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see. Atone for Your people Israel ...’”—nevertheless, if the slain man is found near Jerusalem, they set it aside and measure toward the other towns adjacent to it.

3.

And it does not become an apostate city,

that is to say: Although the Torah said [Deuteronomy 13:13]: “When you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God gives you to dwell there, saying: Men, sons of worthlessness, have gone out from among you and led astray the inhabitants of their city, saying: Let us go and serve other gods that you did not know ... You shall strike the inhabitants of that city by the edge of the sword; you shall utterly destroy it and all that is in it, and its animals by the edge of the sword. And all its spoil you shall gather into the midst of its open square, and you shall burn with fire the city and all its spoil completely for the Lord your God ...”—nevertheless, if this occurs in Jerusalem, it is not judged as an apostate city. Rather, the worshippers are judged as individuals who worshipped idolatry, and they are stoned, while their property goes to their heirs, like the other executed by the court.

4.

And it does not become impure through afflictions,

[afflictions of houses], that is to say: Although the Torah said [Leviticus 14:34]: “When you enter the land of Canaan, which I give you as a possession, and I place an affliction of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession ... And the kohen shall go out from the house to the entrance of the house, and he shall quarantine the house for seven days. And the kohen shall return on the seventh day and see, and behold, the affliction has spread in the walls of the house. And the kohen shall command, and they shall remove the stones in which the affliction is ... And the house he shall scrape from within, around ...”—nevertheless, if this occurs in Jerusalem, this law does not apply.

5.

And projections are not put out there

[beams that project from the walls]

and balconies

[balconies extending outward along the upper story].

6.

And refuse heaps are not made there.

7.

And kilns are not made there

[lime kilns for pottery].

8.

And gardens and orchards are not made there, except

for the rose garden

that were

that was

there

from the days of the early prophets.

[which] was there

9.

And chickens are not raised there.

10.

And the dead are not left overnight there,

for if a person dies there, he is buried immediately that same day.

And the Gemara explains the reason for these laws:

1.

A house does not become permanently vested in its buyer there:

because

it is written:

“And the house

that is in the city

that has a wall shall be permanently vested in its buyer for his generations”—

and he holds,

the tanna of the beraita:

Jerusalem was not divided among the tribes,

as they divided the rest of the land, and I do not apply in Jerusalem “for his generations,” for who transferred it to him?

2.

And it does not bring a beheaded heifer:

because

it is written:

“When a slain man is found on the land that the

Lord your God gives you to inherit”,

and Jerusalem was not divided among the tribes.

3.

And it does not become an apostate city

because

it is written:

“your cities”,

and Jerusalem was not divided among the tribes.

it is written: “If a slain person is found on the land that the Lord your God gives you to inherit”, and Jerusalem was not divided among the tribes. 3.

Nor does it become an apostate city,

because

it is written:

“your cities”,

and Jerusalem was not divided among the tribes.

and Jerusalem was not apportioned among the tribes.

e.

5. And projections and balconies are not put out there,

the reason is:

Because of a tent of impurity,

lest an olive-sized portion of the dead be lying on the ground, and the balconies overhang it and many people, and it is found that they increase the impurity.

And

also

so that the pilgrims should not be injured

[so that pilgrims should not be injured] when they stumble on projections and balconies. 6.

And refuse heaps are not made there,

the reason is

because of creeping things,

which customarily grow in refuse, and increase impurity, because they die there and render the consecrated things in Jerusalem impure.

z.

And furnaces are not made in it,

the reason is

because of smoke [

smoke], which blackens the wall, and it is disgraceful, and we require Jerusalem to be a city “perfect in beauty”.

8.

And gardens and orchards are not made in it,

the reason is

because of foulness [

stench], from bad grasses that grow there, and they pull them out and throw them outside; and it is also customary to manure them, and there is stench.

9.

And chickens are not raised in it,

the reason is

because of sacred objects, since the chickens peck in refuse, and bring the flesh of dead creeping things in their mouths, and render the sacred objects impure.

chickens peck through refuse and bring pieces of the flesh of dead creeping creatures in their mouths, thereby rendering the consecrated items ritually impure.

10.

And they do not leave the dead overnight in it: Gemara:

it is a tradition in our hands, and there is no reason for the matter. We learned in the Mishna:

Pigs are not raised anywhere:

The Sages taught: When the

kings of

the Hasmonean House besieged one another,

for they were brothers of the Hasmonean House contending over the kingship,

Hyrcanus was [

one of the brothers]

inside, and Aristobulus [

a second brother]

outside, ,

for he was besieging Jerusalem and brought Roman troops with him —

And every day they would lower to them —

the people of Jerusalem, who were under siege, to those who were besieging them —

a basket of dinars [

from the chamber contribution] over the wall,

and they would raise up to them —

those who were besieging from outside —

daily offerings

for sacrifice upon the altar.

There was there —

inside, among the people of Jerusalem —

one elder who was knowledgeable in Greek wisdom,

and

he signaled to them —

to those outside —

in Greek wisdom: “

As long as

those inside

are engaged in the Temple service, they are not

they

delivered into your hands”!

On the next day they lowered dinars into the basket, and they raised up to them —

those outside —

a pig.

When

the pig

reached halfway up the wall, it thrust

the pig

its claws into the wall,

as is the manner of a pig when it is dragged,

and the Land of Israel quaked —

because of the anger of the King that burned over the profanation of His Name —

four hundred parasangs by four hundred parasangs.

At that time they said:

A.

Cursed is the man who raises pigs.

B.

And cursed is the man who teaches his son Greek wisdom.

And concerning that time —

when they besieged the city and destroyed the produce of the fields surrounding Jerusalem —

we learned

in the Mishna in Menahot 64b: “The mitzva of the Omer is to bring it from the nearest place [from a place near Jerusalem]], if the place nearest Jerusalem did not ripen, they bring it from any place,

an incident occurred in which the Omer came from the gardens of Tzerifin, [

which is the name of a place very far from Jerusalem],

and the two loaves from the valley of Ein Sokher”, [

the name of a place very far from Jerusalem].

It entered our mind that “Greek wisdom” means the Greek language, and therefore we raise an objection:

But is Greek wisdom forbidden [

is it actually forbidden]!?

But it was taught in a beraita: Rabbi said: