Berakhot 23a (כג.) — the Talmud in English

One sage held: If he paused for enough time to complete it all -

he returns to the beginning.

And one sage held:

he returns

to the place where he stopped.

Rav Ashi said:

If so,

this phrase, “if he paused

to complete it all,” or

“if he did not pause” should have been stated

to distinguish between the statements of Rav Ḥisda and Rav Hamnuna. And since they did not distinguish in their statements between one who paused for enough time to complete it all and one who did not pause for that length of time, conclude from this that the one who holds that he returns to the beginning said so in every case, even if he did not pause for enough time to complete it all.

Rather,

necessarily,

everyone

held that

if he paused for enough time to complete it all, he returns to the beginning.

And there, they disagree

over one who did not pause

for enough time to complete it all.

For one sage held:

Since at the beginning of the prayer he needed to relieve himself to the extent that he could not restrain himself until the end of the prayer,

he is a disqualified person

from the beginning of the prayer,

and he is not

a person

fit

to pray,

and his prayer is not a prayer

from the outset. Therefore, he returns to the beginning even if he interrupted only briefly.

And one sage held: He is a fit person,

since he needed to relieve himself only for urination,

and his prayer

that he recited until the urine began to flow is considered

a prayer.

Therefore, he returns only to the place where he stopped if the interruption was brief, so that he did not pause during it for enough time to complete the entire prayer.

The Sages taught: One who needs to relieve himself -

may not pray

. And if he prayed -

his prayer is an abomination .

Rav Zevid said, and some say Rav Yehuda: They taught

that it is prohibited for him to pray

only

when

he cannot restrain himself, but if he can restrain himself -

his prayer is a prayer.

And how much

must he be able to restrain himself in order for him to be permitted to begin praying?

Rav Sheshet said:

When, at the beginning of his prayer, he is capable of restraining himself for the time it takes to walk

up to

a parasang [

the measure is one hour and one-fifth] .

Some teach it according to the words of Rav Zevid

on the beraita,

the beraita itself:

When do these words apply,

that one who needs to relieve himself has no valid prayer? -

When he cannot restrain himself. But if he can restrain himself -

his prayer is a prayer.

Rather, Rav Zevid added the following to the words of the beraita:

And how much

must he be able to restrain himself?

Rav Zevid said: Up to a parasang.

Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: One who needs to relieve himself may not pray,

because

it is stated: [Amos 4:12]

Amos 4:12]

“Prepare to meet your God, O Israel.”

And Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: What is the meaning of that which is written [Ecclesiastes 4:17]:

Ecclesiastes 4:17]:

“Guard your foot when you go to the house of God” -

its meaning is:

Guard yourself so that you do not sin,

and need to come to the house of God to bring an offering for your sin.

And if

nevertheless

you sin -

bring an offering before Him.

And further it is stated:

“And be ready to hear.”

And

Rava said

that its meaning is:

Be ready to hear the words of the Sages -

for when they sin, they bring an offering and repent.

You too should act like them: repent when you bring your offering.

“The offering of fools is a sacrifice” -

Do not be like fools,

who sin and bring an offering but do not repent.

“For they do not know

[the fools]

how to do evil.”

The Gemara wonders:

If so,

if the meaning of the verse is that fools do not know how to do evil, why are they called “fools”? After all,

they are righteous!

The Gemara explains:

Rather,

this is the meaning of the verse:

Do not be like fools, who sin,

and even

bring an offering, but

they

do not know whether they bring their offering for good

as an ordinary offering,

or whether they bring it for evil

as a sin offering, because they do not know what their sin is.

And so

the Holy One, blessed be He, said: They cannot distinguish between good and evil,

because they do not know how to identify their sin -

and they bring an offering before Me?!

Rav Ashi, and some say Rabbi Ḥanina bar Pappa, said:

This is what the verse said:

“Guard your foot” -

guard your bodily orifices

between your legs, so that you first empty them,

when you stand

in prayer before Him.

The Sages taught: One who enters a lavatory

wearing phylacteries -

removes his phylacteries four cubits away and enters,

holding them in his hand. For the disgrace to the phylacteries occurs only when he enters with them exposed on his head, but not when he holds them in his hand.

Rav Aḥa bar Rav Huna said in the name of Rav Sheshet: They taught

that one must remove the phylacteries four cubits away

only

when the reference is to

a permanent lavatory,

where excrement is already present.

But in the case of a temporary lavatory -

he removes them nearby and holds them in his hand,

and relieves himself immediately.

And when he exits

the lavatory and wishes to put on the phylacteries -

he distances himself four cubits and puts them on.

The reason is

because he has now made it

the place where he relieved himself -

a permanent lavatory.

In their time, there were no permanent lavatories constructed as excavations in the ground designated for use as lavatories; rather, there were scattered places throughout the fields.

Therefore, a place where excrement was already present was considered “a permanent lavatory,” whereas a new place, where there had not yet been excrement and where one was relieving himself there for the first time, was called “a temporary lavatory.”

They raised a dilemma before them: May a person enter wearing phylacteries

that are on his head

into a permanent lavatory -

to urinate

alone?

Ravina permits,

Rav Adda bar Mattana prohibits.

They came and asked Rava, and he said to them: It is prohibited,

because

we are concerned lest he need to relieve himself in them. And some say:

because they are concerned

lest he pass wind in them.

It was taught in another beraita: One who enters a fixed lavatory removes his phylacteries four cubits away and places them in a window adjacent to the public domain, and enters.

And when he emerges—

he distances himself four cubits

and places them there; this is the statement of Beit Shammai.

And Beit Hillel say: He holds them

while the phylacteries are

in his hand,

and enters.

Rabbi Akiva says: He holds them in his garment and enters.

The Gemara is astonished: Is it conceivable that

he can hold them in his garment

and hold them?

Sometimes he forgets them,

as he forgets that he has them—

and they will fall?!

The Gemara explains:

Rather, say: He holds them

while they are concealed

in his garment and in his hand,

and enters, and places them in the holes adjacent to the lavatory.

And he places them in the holes adjacent to the lavatory,

and he should not place them in the holes adjacent to the public domain, lest passersby take them and he come to suspicion ,

and

as there was

an incident involving a certain student who placed his phylacteries in the holes adjacent to the public domain. A certain prostitute came and took them, and came to the beit-midrash and said: “See what so-and-so gave me as my payment!”

When that student heard this, he went up to the roof and fell and died. At that time, they instituted that one should hold them in his garment and in his hand and enter.

The Sages taught: At first, they would place phylacteries in the inner holes

of the fence surrounding the field in which one would relieve himself,

adjacent to the lavatory.

But mice would come and take them.

They instituted that they should place them in windows,

namely, in the holes of the fence of the field where he would relieve himself, on the outer side of the fence, where there were “windows”

adjacent to the public domain,

where mice were not commonly found, because of the people walking in the public domain.

And

still

passersby would come and take them.

They instituted that he should hold them in his hand and enter.

Rabbi Meyasha, son of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, said: The halakha is: He

rolls them

the phylacteries with their straps

like a scroll, and holds them in his right hand

opposite his heart.

Rav Yosef bar Minyomi said that Rav Naḥman said: Provided that a strap does not protrude from beneath his hand

to a measure of

a handbreadth.

Since it possesses sanctity, because it is used to bind the cases of the phylacteries, and through their knots there are formed what resemble two letters of the name Shaddai [the dalet in the head phylactery and the yod in the arm phylactery].

Rabbi Yaakov bar Aḥa said that Rabbi Zeira said: They taught

that one who enters a lavatory rolls the phylacteries

only when there is

still

time during the day to don them; but

if

there is no time during the day to don them—he

makes for them

a garment

like a pouch

whose height is

a handbreadth, and places them

in it and enters the lavatory with them.

Rabba bar bar Ḥana said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said:

When he comes to relieve himself

during the day—he

rolls

the phylacteries with their straps

like a scroll and places them in his hand opposite his heart.

And at night,

when he removes them and wishes to put them away and place them on the ground until morning —he

makes for them a pouch one handbreadth high,

so that there will be an “ohel,” recognizable as an object separating the phylacteries from the ground,

and places them

the phylacteries inside the “ohel”—the pouch.

Abaye said: They taught

that it is necessary to make a pouch one handbreadth high

only when it is a vessel that is their usual container

of the phylacteries, for since it is their usual container, it is not considered a partition between them and the ground until he makes something resembling an ohel measuring a handbreadth.

But when it is a vessel that is not their usual container—

it is considered an “ohel”

even

if its height is

less than a handbreadth.

Mar Zutra said, and some say Rav Ashi: Know

that vessels are considered an “ohel” forming a partition even when the vessel is small, measuring less than a handbreadth,

for small jars

of earthenware covered with a tightly fitting seal, even though they are less than a handbreadth,

protect

what is inside them from contracting ritual impurity

in the ohel of a corpse.

This is because these vessels are considered an ohel in their own right, forming a partition against the impurity in the ohel.

And Rabba bar bar Ḥana said: When we would follow Rabbi Yoḥanan, when he wished to enter the lavatory, if he was holding a book of aggada—he

would give it to us .

But

when he was holding phylacteries—he

would not give them to us,

but would enter with them while they were covered, as required.

He said: Since the Sages permitted us

to bring them in—