Gittin 69a (סט.) — the Talmud in English

For brokati

for an eye ailment:

let him bring a spotted scorpion of seven colors

and dry it in the shade because of its old age,

and let him dry it in the shade

so that it will not dry out from the sun,

and let him grind two measures

of blue eye-paint and one measure of it

and grind two measures of eye-paint and one measure of the scorpion,

and let him fill three spoonfuls of the eye-paint into this eye and three spoonfuls of the eye-paint into that eye

and place three spoonfuls of the eye-paint in this eye and three spoonfuls in that eye, but

more, let him not fill

he should not place any more,

for if he does not

take care not to place more,

his eye will burst

his eye will burst.

A remedy

for shivrirei of the night

for the dazzling that a person experiences at night:

Let him bring a hair rope

made of animal hair and horse and cow tail hair,

and tie one of its legs and one of a dog’s legs

tie one of his legs and one of the dog’s legs at the two ends of the rope,

and let children rattle potsherds behind it

and let children rattle potsherds behind it,

and let them say to it

and let them recite this incantation:

“The dog’s elder, the rooster’s fool.”

“The dog’s elder, the rooster’s fool.”

And let him collect seven pieces of meat from seven houses

and let him collect seven pieces of meat from seven houses,

and let the members of those households place them for him in the door’s opening

and let the members of those households place those pieces of meat for him in the door’s opening,

and let him eat them in the city’s refuse dumps

and let him eat them in the city’s refuse dumps,

after that, let him untie the hair rope

and untie it from his leg,

and let them say this

and let them recite this incantation:

“Shivrirei,”

the dazzling,

“of so-and-so son of so-and-so, leave him,”

abandon him,

“of so-and-so son of so-and-so, and cling to the dog in the pupil of its eye.”

and cling to the dog in the pupil of its eye.

A remedy

for shivrirei of the day

for the dazzling of the day, on account of which he cannot see:

Let him take seven spleens from animals

and let him take seven spleens from animals,

and let him roast them on the earthenware vessel of a bloodletter

and roast them on a dirty potsherd into which blood is drawn,

and let he sit inside while another person sits outside

and let him sit inside while another person sits outside,

and let the blind man say to

the one at the entrance:

“Give”

give

“me something to eat,”

that I may eat,

and let the lame man say to him

and let the lame man say to him:

“Take and eat.”

Take and eat,

and after he eats, let him break the potsherd

and after he eats, let him break the potsherd,

for if he does not

break the potsherd,

it will return upon him

the illness will return upon him.

A remedy

for blood issuing from the nostrils

for blood that comes out of the nostrils:

Let them bring a man who is a priest and whose name is Levi

let them bring a priest named Levi.

And let him write “Levi” backward

and write the name “Levi” in reverse.

And if not

if he cannot bring such a man,

let him bring an ordinary person

let him bring any person

and write for him

and write this incantation for him:

“I am Pappi Shila son of Sumki.”

And let him write this

backward

in reverse.

And if not

if he cannot bring a person,

let him write this for himself

let him write this incantation for himself:

“Taste a ladle in silver water; taste a ladle in defective water.”

And if not, let him bring the root of alfalfa

let him take the root of alfalfa,

and an old bed cord

and an old bed cord,

and a kurtasa

and a sheet of carded wool,

and turmeric

and saffron,

and the red part of a lulav

and the red part that grows on a lulav,

and let him burn them together

and burn them together,

and let him bring a tuft of wool and twist two wicks

and bring a tuft of wool and twist two wicks from it,

and let him dip them in vinegar

and place them in vinegar,

and let him roll them in this ash

and roll the wicks in this ash so that the ash adheres to them,

and let him place them in his nostrils

and place them in his nostrils.

And if not, let him see

let him look at

a water channel that flows

that flows

from east toward west,

and let him stride across it and place one foot on this side and one foot on that side

and let him stride across it, placing one foot on one side of the water channel and the other foot on the other side,

and let him take mud with his right hand from beneath his left foot, and with his left hand from beneath his right foot

and take mud with his right hand from beneath his left foot, and with his left hand from beneath his right foot,

and let him twist two woolen wicks

and twist two woolen wicks,

and let him dip them in the mud

and dip them in the mud,

and let him place them in his nostrils

and place the wicks in his nostrils.

And if not, let him sit beneath a gutter and let them bring water and pour it over him

let him sit beneath a gutter, and let them bring water and pour it over him through the gutter.

And let them say

and let them recite this incantation:

“Just as these waters stop, so may the blood of so-and-so son of so-and-so stop.”

Just as these waters stop, so may the blood of so-and-so son of so-and-so stop.

For blood issuing from the mouth

for blood that comes out of the mouth from the windpipe,

we examine it with a wheat straw

we examine it with a wheat straw,

if it clings

if the straw becomes stuck to the blood, this is a sign that the blood

comes from the lung

comes from the lung,

and it has a remedy

and it has a remedy,

but if not

if the straw does not become stuck to the blood, this is a sign that it

comes from the liver

the blood comes from the liver,

and it has no remedy

and it has no remedy.

Rav Ami said to Rav Ashi: But did we not learn the opposite,

that a defect in the lung is more severe than a defect in the liver,

we learned thus in a Mishna in tractate Chullin: if

the liver was removed and nothing of it remained,

only then is the animal a tereifa,

whereas concerning the lung we learned:

“A lung that was punctured or from which something was missing,

it is a tereifa,”

and it follows that a defect in the lung is more severe than a defect in the liver, since it is sufficient for the lung to be punctured for the animal to become a tereifa, whereas in the case of the liver it does not become a tereifa until the liver has been removed entirely.

He said to him:

The reason that when blood from the liver issues from his mouth there is no remedy is that

since it comes from his mouth

the blood emerges from his mouth,

say

that it has already been completely dissolved

assume that the liver has already been entirely dissolved, with nothing of it remaining, and it entered the lung through the liver’s duct, which is connected to the lung’s windpipe.

The Master said

we learned above in the Gemara:

if

the blood that comes out of the mouth

comes from the lung,

it comes from the lung,

it has

there is

a remedy.

What

what is

its remedy?

Let him take

let him take

seven fistfuls of the trimmings of beets

the amount of seven fistfuls of beet trimmings,

and seven fistfuls of the trimmings of leeks

and seven fistfuls of leek trimmings,

and five fistfuls of ferida

and five fistfuls of an herb called ferida,

and three fistfuls of lentils

and three fistfuls of lentils,

and a fistful of cumin

and a fistful of cumin,

and a fistful of ropes

and a fistful of ropes,

and an equivalent amount

of all these measures, let him take

the fat of a firstborn animal’s intestines

the intestinal fat of a firstborn animal,

and let him cook and eat

and cook and eat everything,

and afterward drink strong beer from the month of Tevet

and afterward drink strong beer from the season of Tevet.

For toothache

for pain in the inner teeth—

Rabba bar Rav Huna said: Let him take a single-clove garlic

let him take a head of garlic that contains only one clove,

and crush it with oil and salt

and crush it with oil and salt,

and let them place it on the thumbnail on the side that hurts him

and place it on the thumbnail of the hand on the side that hurts him,

and let him surround it with a strip of dough

and place a strip of dough around it,

and let him take care with regard to his flesh

and take care that the garlic does not touch his flesh, because

it is harmful to whiteness

it is harsh and can cause leprosy.

For chinchei

for the pustules that grow in the throat—inflammation of the tonsils—

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The leaf of chumati

a leaf of the warming plant filtero—is beneficial as a remedy

like

like the herb called

“mamru.”

But

the root of chumati

the root of the warming plant filtero

is preferable

as a remedy

to “mamru,”

and let him hold these in his mouth

and place these in his mouth

to make it stand

to halt the illness, so that the tonsils will not swell further.

For bashulei

for pustules—

in order to gather their phlegm inside them so that it will emerge when they are lanced,

let him take

let him take

large bran from the upper part of a sieve

the large bran that remains at the top of the sieve when flour is sifted,

and lentils with their earth

and lentils together with the earth in which they were uprooted,

and fenugreek

and fenugreek,

and the flower of hops

and the flower of hops,

and let him hold an amount the size of a nut in his mouth

and take an amount the size of a nut into his mouth.

For opening them

in order to open the tonsils in the throat and bring out the phlegm within them—

let his fellow blow white cress into his throat through a wheat straw

let his fellow insert white cress into his throat through a wheat straw.

To raise

in order to raise flesh that will heal these fissures—

let him take earth from beneath the shade of a latrine

let him take earth found beneath the shade of the stones arranged like a seat for a field latrine.

And let him knead it with honey and eat it. It benefits him

and knead it with honey and eat it. This remedy benefits him.

For barsem

for severe nasal discharge coming from the head through the nose—

let him take an amount of nishdur

let him take the drug called nishdur, known as ammonium, in the measure of a cedar gallant.

And an amount the size of a sweet galbanum nut

and an amount the size of a sweet galbanum nut,

and a spoonful of clear honey

and a spoonful of clear honey,

and a full measure of a matbe’a vessel of Meḥoza containing pure wine

and a full measure of a vessel holding a revi’it, of the type used in Meḥoza, filled with clear wine,

and let him boil them together

and boil them together.

And when the nishdur is cooked, everything is cooked for him

when the nishdur—the ammonium drug—is cooked, everything will be cooked.

And if not

if he cannot do so,

let him take a revi’it of white goat’s milk

let him take a revi’it of milk from a white goat,