Bekhorot 44b — the Talmud in English

Mishna:

Those whose testicles hang down,

so large that they appear to be hanging down

like those of a woman.

His belly is swollen,

so large that it protrudes

His navel protrudes,

so that his navel protrudes and does not recede as it does in other people .

One afflicted with seizures,

who falls to the ground because of an illness,

even once in many days,

as he does not fall frequently, but only once after a long interval.

Or

a short-breathed spirit comes upon him,

a demonic spirit .

One whose testicles are enlarged,

whose testicles are large.

And one with an enlarged organ,

whose organ is large.

Gemara:

Rabbi Abba, son of Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba, said: One urinates in the presence of many people,

for although it is characteristic of a Torah scholar to be modest, he should not be modest when urinating, lest he wait and endanger himself.

But one does not drink water in the presence of many people,

for it is characteristic of a Torah scholar to be modest when eating and drinking.

It was taught likewise in a beraita: One urinates in the presence of many people, but one does not drink water in the presence of many people. And there was an incident involving one who sought

who needed

to urinate but did not urinate, and his belly became swollen.

Shmuel needed

to urinate

on the Festival Sabbath,

when they would expound the laws of the Festival for thirty days before the Festival.

They spread a cloak around him,

spreading a sheet between him and the public.

He came before his father, who said to him: I will give you four hundred dinars; go and retract the incident!

You should expound publicly that it is forbidden to wait before urinating for the sake of modesty [so that people will not learn from the fact that they spread a cloak around you that one must wait for the sake of modesty.

You are one for whom it is possible,

to spread a sheet for the sake of modesty, since you are an important person. But one

for whom it is not possible,

and who must wait until the public leaves—should he

endanger himself?].

Mar bar Rav Ashi was walking along a bridge

over a bridge,

and he needed

to urinate.

He was urinating

there.

They said to him: Your mother-in-law,

your mother-in-law,

is coming! He said to them:

Even

into her ear

I would urinate if I had no other place, so as not to endanger myself.

We said above that there was an incident involving one who wished to urinate but did not urinate, and his belly became swollen.

And we raise an objection:

Let him be afflicted with this on account of a leech;

from where do we know that it was caused by waiting? Perhaps he swallowed a leech, and that is why his belly became swollen?

And we answer:

It was with dribbling,

as afterward he dribbled drops while urinating; clearly, this was caused by having held it in.

The Sages taught: A person has two openings, one that emits urine and one that emits semen, and there is no

distance

between them except the thickness of a garlic peel. When a person needs to urinate, if one opening becomes joined to the other

because of holding it in,

he is found to be sterile!

Reish Lakish said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “There shall be no one sterile or barren among you or among your livestock”?

When shall there be no one sterile among you? When it is among your livestock,

when you conduct yourself like an animal and do not hold yourself back from urinating for the sake of modesty.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said:

What is the meaning of that which is written:

“There shall be no one sterile among you”—that your household should not be sterile of students. “Or barren”—that your prayer should not be barren before the Omnipresent,

and when you pray for children, your prayer will be heard.

When

is your prayer not barren when you pray for children?

When you conduct yourself like an animal,

so that you do not wait before urinating and thereby become sterile, causing your prayer not to be heard .

Rav Pappa said: One should not urinate

in Babylonia

on

top of

earthenware

—and the same applies to other vessels—which are subsequently emptied into the river.

Nor on a hard surface,

a hard ground that does not absorb the urine, causing it to flow into the river.

For Rav said: These slopes of Babylonia,

the sloping places in Babylonia,

carry the water

they carry the urine into the river in Babylonia, and it reaches

to

the spring

Ein Eitam

in Eretz Yisrael, from which the water reaches the ritual bath of the High Priest .

Abaye said: This woman should not stand directly opposite children

when she urinates; she should not stand precisely opposite the children, as this is immodest .

To the side,

and if she turns to another side, so that she is not facing them,

there is no concern.

It was taught: Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel says: A returning stream,

when a person needs to relieve himself and delays attending to his bodily needs, causing them to return to his belly,

brings a person to dropsy,

an intestinal illness.

A returning channel,

when he needs to urinate but delays,

brings a person to jaundice,

an illness called jaundice.

Rav Ketina said in the name of Reish Lakish: One who has an abundance of blood,

one who has much blood and does not let blood,

will have an abundance of boils,

he will develop many boils.

One who has an abundance of semen,

who has a wife but does not engage in marital relations,

will have an abundance of leprosy,

he will develop much leprosy.

One who has an abundance of feces,

who does not relieve himself,

will have an abundance of dropsy,

an intestinal illness.

One who has an abundance of urine will have an abundance of jaundice.

We learned in the Mishna:

“A short-breathed spirit comes upon him.”

And we inquire:

What is it?

And we answer:

The tanna taught: The spirit of a stillborn comes upon him.

A spirit of madness brought by a demon.

We learned in the Mishna:

“One whose testicles are enlarged, and one with an enlarged organ.”

The tanna taught: Enlarged,

that is

in the testicles,

as they are large.

And one with an enlarged organ,

that is

in the organ,

as it is large.

The tanna taught: “Enlarged” is kayin; “one with an enlarged organ” is garbetan. Kayin

is

in the testicles; garbata

is

in the organ.

And we inquire:

How much?

How large must they be for the animal to be disqualified on account of this?

Rav Yehuda demonstrated: Up to the knee,

that the organ or scrotum extends as far as his knee.

It was taught: Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov says:

If it reaches

as far as the knee, it is disqualified; above the knee, it is fit.

Some say: Up to the knee

it is still

fit; from the knee

onward it is

disqualified 23 .

Mishna:

If he has no testicles, or has only one testicle, this is “whose testicle is crushed,” stated in the Torah.

Rabbi Yishmael says: Anyone whose testicles have been smeared,

whose testicles have been dissolved.

Rabbi Akiva says: Anyone who has wind in his testicles,

and as a result his testicles are swollen.

Rabbi Hanina ben Antigonus says: Anyone whose appearance is dark,

as he is black like a Cushite. [The verse is not referring to the testicles at all.]

Gemara:

And we explain: What is the reason of Rabbi Yishmael, who disputes the first tanna?

Because

Rabbi Yishmael found it difficult:

If the verse is referring to one who has no testicles,

why do I need this phrase, “whose testicle is crushed”?

For since the verse writes “whose testicle is crushed,” it indicates that his testicles have been smeared. Therefore

he taught

Rabbi Yishmael:

“Whose testicles have been smeared.”

And the reason of Rabbi Akiva is as follows: Because

Rabbi Akiva found it difficult,

regarding Rabbi Yishmael’s statement:

Why do I need the expression “whose testicle is crushed”?

For the mem of “crushed” is part of the root of the word, whereas a mem should have been added before the word “crushed,” as in the word “salted.” Therefore

he taught

Rabbi Akiva:

“Who has wind in his testicles.”

And the reason of Rabbi Hanina ben Antigonus is as follows: Because

Rabbi Hanina ben Antigonus found it difficult

regarding Rabbi Akiva’s statement:

Why do I need the expression “wind of the testicle”?

And why did the verse write “whose testicle is crushed”? Therefore

he taught

Rabbi Hanina ben Antigonus:

“Whose appearance is dark.”

And how is the verse interpreted?

He holds that letters are subtracted and added,

as one subtracts the het from the word “crushed” and the alef from the word “testicle,” and adds them to the word “crushed” in place of the het—the alef—and to the word “testicle” in place of the alef—the het—as though it said, “whose appearance is dark.”

And we challenge Rabbi Hanina ben Antigonus: If so, “whose testicle is crushed”

is identical to a Cushite,

as we learned below [45b], that he is disqualified. Why was this taught again?

And we answer:

Rabbi Hanina ben Antigonus did not teach

below

“a Cushite.”

Mishna:

A koen who

strikes his ankles together,

whose knees are bent outward, causing his ankles to turn inward and strike one another when he walks.

And his knees,

whose lower legs are bent outward and are distant from one another, causing his knees above to bend inward and strike one another when he walks.