Menachot 39b — the Talmud in English

Rav said: The garment is fine,

that garment made entirely of tekhelet is beautiful,

but the tekhelet is not fine.

For its tzitzit is not beautiful, since he made for it a fringe consisting only of a braid and no loose threads. 33 .

Rabbah bar bar Hana said: The garment is fine, and the tekhelet is fine!

And the Gemara explains:

In what do they disagree?

What is the basis of their disagreement as to whether tzitzit containing a braid without a thread-fringe is valid?

Rabbah bar bar Hana holds: It is written “braid” [Deuteronomy 22:12: “You shall make for yourself twisted threads”],

“twisted threads,”

and it is written “thread,”

from here we learn that one may make the tzitzit

either a braid or a thread-fringe.

And Rav holds: We always require “thread.”

And that

verse

“twisted threads” came

for the counting

of the threads,

to teach us that eight threads are required. And thus they expounded: Had the Torah written only

“braid”

alone, it would have meant

two

threads, because it is impossible to make a braid with fewer than two threads, since one thread is needed with which to wind the second thread. But now that the Torah wrote

“twisted threads” in the plural, it implies two braids; each braid contains two threads, and therefore there are

in the plural, this indicates two gedilim, each of which contains two threads, for a total of

four

threads that must be inserted into the hole in the corner of the garment. And it is written, “They shall put on the thread of the tzitzit of the corner a thread of tekhelet”—the Torah said:

Make

from four threads

one braid,

and when you insert them into the corner of the garment and double them, on this side and on that side, there will be eight threads,

and make it twisted

that braid

from within it,

so that at the end of the braid there will be a fringe of threads.

Samuel said in the name of Levi: Wool threads

of white

exempt

and fulfill with them the mitzva of tzitzit

in

a garment made of

linen.

Since the two threads of tekhelet are made of wool, and they must be placed in a linen garment, it is also permitted to place in it the two white threads when they are made of wool.

They raised a dilemma:

Threads of

linen—

what is the law: do they exempt a

garment of

wool?

And the sides of the uncertainty are as follows: Is it that threads of

wool in

a garment of

linen are what exempt, for since tekhelet

which is made of wool is required to be placed also in a linen garment,

it exempts,

and one fulfills the mitzva of tzitzit with this, therefore the threads of

white

wool

also exempt?

But

to place threads of

linen in wool is not

something the Torah permitted, for tekhelet placed in wool contains no prohibition of kilayim; if so, why should we permit placing linen threads in wool?

Or perhaps, since

both of them [wool and linen] are mentioned in the verse,

as it is written, “You shall not wear a mixture, wool and linen together,”

“You shall make twisted threads for yourself,”

and from here we learn that it is permitted to wear kilayim for the sake of fulfilling the mitzva of tzitzit, if so

it makes no difference whether wool is in linen,

the Torah permitted it, since tekhelet, which is made of wool, is kilayim in a linen garment,

or whether linen is in wool

[linen tzitzit in a wool garment].

And the Gemara brings a proof:

Come and hear: For Rahava said in the name of Rav Yehuda: Wool threads exempt in linen, and linen threads exempt in wool.

And

wool and linen threads exempt everywhere,

in all types of garments,

even in silk,

silk garments that are neither wool nor linen.

It is explicit in the words of Rabbi Yehuda that a linen thread exempts a wool garment, and the dilemma of the Gemara is resolved.

And concerning Rabbi Yehuda’s additional ruling—that two white linen threads together with two tekhelet threads exempt all types of garments—the Gemara says:

And it disagrees

with

Rav Nahman. For Rav Nahman said: Silk garments—

are exempt from tzitzit.

For the Torah obligated tzitzit only in a wool or linen garment.

Rava raised an objection to Rav Nahman:

For we learned:

Silk garments,

a silk cloak,

and kelakh and serikin,

which is a cloak made from silk fibers—

all of them are obligated in tzitzit!

And we answer:

Rabbinically,

they are obligated in tzitzit, whereas Rav Nahman exempted them only from the Torah obligation.

And we ask:

If so,

that silk garments are obligated in tzitzit only rabbinically,

say the latter clause: And all of them,

all garments that are not of wool and linen, threads of

wool and linen

[meaning, apparently, two white linen threads and two tekhelet wool threads]

exempt them.

And now this is difficult:

Granted, if you say

that the obligation of silk garments in tzitzit

is by Torah law,

then

this is why kilayim is permitted in them,

because the prohibition of kilayim was permitted for tzitzit.

But if you say

according to Rav Nahman, that the obligation of silk garments in tzitzit

is rabbinic

—

how is it permitted in them

to place wool and linen threads together, which are

kilayim?

And we answer:

Say:

He places in a silk garment

either

threads of

wool, or

threads of

linen.

And the Gemara proves the answer:

This too is reasonably so

according to Rav Nahman, that silk garments are not obligated in tzitzit by Torah law.

For it teaches in the latter clause: They themselves,

the tzitzit of the other types,

in their own type

they

exempt,

for one fulfills the obligation by placing silk threads in a silk garment, but

not in their own type—

they do not exempt.

And the Gemara proves:

Granted, if you say

that the obligation of silk garments in tzitzit is only an obligation

rabbinic, this is why they are exempt

silk garments

in their own type,

with silk threads.

But if you say

that their obligation in tzitzit

is by Torah law,

it is difficult: How does a silk thread exempt them? For only a thread of

wool and linen is what exempts

and is valid

for

tzitzit, since from the Torah we find only that wool and linen threads exempt, as it is written, “wool and linen... you shall make twisted threads for yourself”!

And we reject this:

If it is because of this, it is no proof.

From this one cannot bring a proof for Rav Nahman; rather, according to Rav Yehuda as well, silk threads exempt a silk garment,

as Rava [said].

For Rava raised a contradiction:

he asked, for there is apparently a contradiction in the wording of the verse:

It is written, “the corner,”

and they expounded that it comes to say that one must place tzitzit that are

of the type of the corner,

which includes silk threads for a silk garment.

And

on the other hand,

it is written

adjacent to the verse “You shall make twisted threads for yourself,”

“wool and linen.”

And it implies that only with them does one fulfill the obligation.

How is this so?

Wool and linen exempt both in their own type

and in a type not their own.

But

the other types

only

exempt in their own type,

but

in a type not their own they do not exempt.

And this derivation proves that the obligation of silk garments in tzitzit is by Torah law.

And Rav Naḥman,

who exempted silk by Torah law from tzitzit, because

he holds in accordance with the tannaitic teaching of the school of Rabbi Ishmael.

For the tannaitic teaching of the school of Rabbi Ishmael is: Since “garments” were stated in the Torah

in the mitzva of tzitzit, “on the corners of their garments,”

without specification,

and Scripture did not specify of what species those garments are,

and Scripture specified one of them for you,

in the passage of afflictions, that Scripture’s intention is a garment of

wool and flax,

it is to be learned from here,

also every

place where the Torah says “garment” means a garment of

wool and flax.

Abaye said: And this tannaitic teaching of the school of Rabbi Ishmael,

which expounded from a verse to exempt other species from tzitzit,

excludes,

it comes to disagree with and exclude

the other tannaitic teaching of the school of Rabbi Ishmael,

which derives by exposition that every “garment” in a verse includes the other types of garments.

For the tannaitic teaching of the school of Rabbi Ishmael:

it is written in the passage of afflictions, “

garment

wool.”

I have only a wool garment

on which the law of afflictions applies

, from where is it derived to include

a garment made of

camel wool, rabbit wool, goats’ down, kelaikh, sarikim, and silk; from where is it derived

that they too become impure with the impurity of afflictions? —

The verse states: “or on a garment

of flax.” Scripture repeated the expression “garment,” to include other garments.