Meilah 17a — the Talmud in English

He said to him

Rava said to Rav Adda bar Ahava:

When the Merciful One draws an analogy,

the analogy of an animal’s Torah-law to creeping creatures is

to “You shall not make yourselves detestable”,

as it is stated there: “You shall not make your souls detestable through animal or bird, or through anything that moves upon the earth.” That is: the Torah compared them with regard to what they both have in common, namely, that both are forbidden for eating; but it did not compare an animal to a creeping creature in order to derive from it that the measure of eating an organ is less than an olive-bulk

Version of the Shita Mekubetzet. Mishna:

The Mishna continues concerning the combining of impurities with one another [and is explained here according to Rashi’s explanation in Yoma 81a].

The blood of a creeping creature and its flesh

of a creeping creature

combine with one another

for the measure of impurity. That is, the blood of the creeping creature joins and completes the flesh to the measure of a lentil, in order to impart creeping-creature impurity through contact. This will be explained in the Gemara.

Rabbi Joshua stated a principle: Anything whose impurity and its measure are equal:

for example, two half-olive-bulks from two corpses, whose time of impurity is equal, seven days, and whose measure is equal, an olive-bulk. And similarly, two half-olive-bulks from two carcasses, whose impurity is evening impurity and whose measure is an olive-bulk. Or two half-lentil-bulks from two impure creeping creatures, the mole and the mouse, whose impurity is evening impurity and whose measure is a lentil-bulk,

combine

to impart impurity.

But anything whose

impurity

is equal

but not its measure,

such as a creeping creature and a carcass, both of which impart evening impurity, but whose measure is not equal for imparting impurity: the measure of a creeping creature is a lentil-bulk, while that of a carcass is an olive-bulk.

Likewise, anything whose

measure

is equal

but not its impurity,

such as a corpse and a carcass, both of whose measure is an olive-bulk, but whose impurity is not equal: a corpse imparts seven-day impurity, while a carcass imparts evening impurity,

and all the more so when

its impurity

is not equal

and not its measure,

such as a corpse and a creeping creature,

they do not combine.

Gemara:

In the following discussion there are several explanations and readings, and we have explained it according to the reading of Rabbenu Nissim Gaon, as the Tosafot explained it. According to this explanation, the Gemara’s discussion is whether the blood of one creeping creature combines with the flesh of another creeping creature.

Rav Hanin said in the name of Rav Zeira: And in it.

That is, what the Mishna said, that the blood combines with the flesh, applies only when the blood is from that very same creeping creature. But the blood of one creeping creature does not combine with the flesh of another creeping creature.

Rabbi Yosei bar Rabbi Hanina raised an objection

from what we learned in a beraita: The Torah said in the section of creeping creatures [Leviticus 11], “These are the

impure

ones for you,” and we expound from the fact that it says “the impure ones” and does not say “impure ones,”

this teaches that they combine, even a creeping creature and a creeping creature

combine. And even flesh of

a creeping creature and blood, whether from one name,

such as the flesh of a mole and the blood of a mole,

or from two names,

such as a mole and a mouse, they combine to the measure of impurity.

It follows that the blood of one creeping creature combines with the flesh of another creeping creature, and this is difficult for Rav Zeira in the name of Rav.

And we answer:

Rav Yosef said: It is not difficult. Here,

where the beraita said that the blood of a creeping creature combines with the flesh of another creeping creature, it is speaking

of all of it,

where the person who came into contact came into contact with everything, both the flesh and the blood.

But

here,

the statement of Rav Hanin in the name of Rav Zeira, that the blood of one creeping creature does not combine with the flesh of another creeping creature, is speaking of a case where the person who came into contact came into contact only

with part of it,

with the blood or the flesh. In that case, only if the blood and the flesh are from the same creeping creature, and he came into contact with part of it, does the person who came into contact become impure, since the matter is considered as though the blood and flesh of that same creeping creature were joined together. But when the blood and flesh are from two creeping creatures, each one is considered an entity in itself, and one who comes into contact with one of them is not considered to have come into contact with all of them.

And the Gemara continues:

And from where do you say it

that you should distinguish between coming into contact with all of it and coming into contact with part of it?

The Gemara brings a proof from a beraita that is taught with regard to the laws of corpse impurity.

a. An olive-bulk from a corpse imparts impurity through a tent, and likewise a quarter-log of blood from a corpse.

b. The impurity of a corpse tent applies in three ways: first, when the person and the corpse are beneath one roof [tent]. Second, when a person or a vessel forms a tent over a corpse. And third, when a corpse forms a tent over a person or over vessels.

For it was taught:

Was spilled

a quarter-log of blood from a corpse

onto the floor

outside, and not beneath a tent ,

and its place

of the floor

was katperes,

made like a slope, and the blood did not remain in one place but flowed down the slope, then if the person

formed a tent

over

part of it, he is pure.

And if he

formed a tent over all of it, he is impure.

It follows that there is a distinction between forming a tent over part of it and forming a tent over all of it. If so, likewise one should distinguish with regard to contact with a creeping creature between coming into contact with part of it and coming into contact with all of it, as will be explained.

And the Gemara explains:

What is “part of it”

—what is the beraita’s intention when it says, “He formed a tent over part of it”?

If you say,

if we say that the intention is

part of the blood,

meaning that less than a quarter-log of blood was spilled onto the floor,

but Rabbi Hanina said

in the name of Rabbi: A quarter-log of blood

from a corpse

which he stirred

with a spoon or a reed in a manner that does not render him impure through contact

is pure,

and one cannot render him impure by the law of forming a tent over a corpse, because he did not form a tent over more than part of the blood.

It follows that even though there was a quarter-log of blood from a corpse there, since the person forming the tent formed a tent only over part of it, he is pure.

Rather, is it not demonstrated from here that what the Mishna said, “part of it,” does not mean blood of less than a quarter-log, but that he “formed a tent over part of it”; and what the Mishna said, “all of it,” means that he formed a tent over all of it.

proven from here that when the Mishna says “part of it,” it does not mean blood measuring less than a quarter-log; rather, it means that he formed a tent over part of it. And when it says “all of it,” it means that he formed a tent over all of it.

Conclude from it: Here it is with all of it, and here it is with part of it.

And the Gemara’s conclusion: Indeed,

conclude from it!

And here too, with blood and flesh that come from two creeping creatures, we distinguish between coming into contact with part of it, in which case the person who came into contact is pure, and coming into contact with all of it, in which case he is impure. We learned in the Mishna that the blood of a creeping creature imparts impurity. The Gemara seeks the source from which it is known that the blood of creeping creatures imparts impurity.

The Gemara relates:

Rabbi Matya ben Harash asked

Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai in Rome

Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai said to him:

From where is it known that the blood of creeping creatures is impure?

Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai said to him:

in the passage concerning creeping creatures [there]:

For Scripture says

in the section of creeping creatures [there]:

“And this is the impure one for you.”

And we expound from what is said, “and this” [the extra vav], or from what is said, “the impure” [the extra heh], that it comes to include the blood of a creeping creature, which is impure.

His students said to him,

the students of Rabbi Matya ben Harash to Rabbi Matya:

Has Ben Yohai become wise for him,

has Ben Yohai become wise, and is he a great sage, that he expounded so beautifully?

He said to them,

Rabbi Matya ben Harash said to his students: This is not his exposition, but rather

an arranged teaching in the mouth of Rabbi Eliezer the son of Rabbi Yosei!

That is, he heard this exposition from him.

And the Gemara relates when he heard this exposition from Rabbi Eliezer the son of Rabbi Yosei.

Once the kingdom decreed,

wicked Rome,

a decree,

three decrees. The first:

that they should not observe

Israel

the Shabbat.

And

the second:

that they should not circumcise their sons.

And

the third:

that they should have intercourse with menstruating women,

meaning, they closed the immersion houses.

Rabbi Reuven ben Istrobeli went and had his hair cut in the Roman style,

shaving the hair of his head in the manner that the gentiles do, in order to disguise himself, so that they would not recognize that he was a Jew,

and he went

to Rome,

and sat with them,

with the great men of Rome.

Rabbi Reuven said to them,

Rabbi Reuven to the great men of Rome:

One who has an enemy,

what does he wish for him,

that he become poor or that he become rich?

The great men of Rome said to him,

the great men of Rome:

That he become poor!

Rabbi Reuven said to them,

Rabbi Reuven:

If so, let the Children of Israel not perform

the Children of Israel

labor on Shabbat, so that they become poor!

The great men of Rome said,

the great men of Rome:

He has spoken well ,

the matter is correct, and it is good to annul this decree!

And they annulled it,

this decree.

Rabbi Reuven again said to them,

Rabbi Reuven:

One who has an enemy, should he become weaker or become healthy? They said to him: Let him become weaker!

He said to them: If so, let them circumcise their sons on the eighth day, and they will become weaker! They said: He has spoken well! And they annulled it,

also this decree.

He again said to them: One who has an enemy, should he increase or diminish? They said to him: Let him diminish! He said to them

If so, let them not have intercourse with menstruant women,

and since they will wait until the time of their immersion, they will diminish!

They said: He has spoken well! And they annulled it.

In the end

they recognized that he was a Jew,

and all his aim was for the benefit of the Jews.

They reinstated them,

the three decrees.

The Sages and leaders of Israel said,

the Sages and leaders of Israel:

Who will go

to Rome,

and annul the decrees?