Menachot 44a — the Talmud in English

And he taught

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Go

he is more despised

more

than a woman; therefore it is necessary to recite a blessing over this matter separately.

The Sages taught: The chilazon,

this is its description: the appearance of

its body resembles the sea, and its form

[the pattern of its figure]

resembles

a fish,

and it rises

from the earth

once in seventy years, and with its blood they dye

the threads of

blue; and therefore,

since it rises only once in seventy years,

its blood is expensive.

It was taught: Rabbi Natan said: You have no minor mitzva that is written in the Torah whose reward is not given in this world

and in the World to Come, but I do not know how great

its reward is.

Go and learn from the mitzva of tzitzit,

which is considered a minor mitzva, as it is only a positive commandment 61 .

There was an incident involving a certain man who was careful

There was an incident involving a certain man who was careful

with the mitzva of tzitzit.

It happened that

he heard

that man

that there was a prostitute

one

in the cities by the sea who took four hundred gold coins as her fee. He sent her four hundred gold coins and set a time

for coming to her.

When

his appointed time arrived, he came and sat at the entrance. Her maid entered, and that man who had sent you four hundred gold coins came and sat at the entrance, she said: Let him enter! He entered, and she spread out for him seven beds,

each higher than the other,

six of silver and one of gold, and between each one and the next there was a silver ladder, and beneath the

lower part of the

upper

bed there was a ladder

of gold. He climbed and sat upon

the

upper bed while she was naked, and he too climbed to sit naked opposite her.

A miracle occurred and

his four tzitzit came and struck his face;

immediately

he slipped

from these beds

and sat upon the ground, and she too slipped and sat upon the ground. She said to him: By the greatness of Rome,

I swear by the life of the king, who is the prince of Rome,

that I will not leave you until you tell me what blemish you saw

in me

that because of it you slipped and descended

! He said to her: By the service

[I swear]

that I have not seen a woman as beautiful as you, but

there is

one mitzva

that

the Lord our God commanded us, and tzitzit is its name; and it is written in it, “I am the Lord your God” twice,

once at the beginning of the final verse of the portion and once at its end, to teach you:

I am He who is destined to punish

those who transgress My commandments,

and I am He who is destined to pay the reward

to those who observe My commandments.

And now,

when I climbed to you,

my

tzitzit, which struck my face, appeared to me

like four witnesses

testifying that the Lord is destined to punish those who transgress His will.

She said to him: I will not leave you until you tell me what your name is, what the name of your city is, what the name of your teacher is, and what the name of

the

study hall in which you study Torah is!

He replied and

wrote

for her everything she had asked

and placed it in her hand.

That woman arose

that woman

and divided all her property: a third

she gave

to the government

so that they would allow her to convert,

and a third

of her property she divided

among the poor, and a third

she sold and

took

the money

in her hand, apart from those beds

which she did not sell, but took them with her.

And she came to the study hall of Rabbi Hiyya,

and

she said to him

to Rabbi Hiyya:

Rabbi, command concerning me

your student, and

let them make me a convert.

He said to her: My daughter, perhaps

you came to convert only because

you have set your eyes upon one of the students,

and converts are not accepted for the sake of marriage.

She took a written document from her hand

[the document that she had received from that man who studied in this academy],

and gave it to him,

and related to him the entire incident, that she was converting for the sake of Heaven, because she had heard from that student of the great miracle of the quality of the mitzva of tzitzit, that his four tzitzit had struck his face. When he heard this,

he said to her: Go, enjoy your purchase!

The matter was completed and she converted, and married that student.

And those beds

of silver and gold

that she had spread out for him

at first

in prohibition—

she spread them out for him

now

with permission,

and

this

was

his reward in this world,

but concerning the World to Come, I do not know how great

the reward of the mitzva is.

Rav Yehuda said: A borrowed cloak, for up to thirty days it is exempt from tzitzit

for the garment must be his, as we expound: “your covering,” and not that of others.

From then onward,

although it is borrowed,

it is obligated

in tzitzit, by rabbinic enactment.

It was taught likewise

concerning mezuza:

One who resides in an inn

[a house in which passersby lodge]

in the Land of Israel, and one who rents a house outside the Land of Israel, the entire

thirty days is exempt from mezuza. From then onward, he is obligated

in mezuza.

But one who rents a house in the Land of Israel,

although it is not his house,

affixes a mezuza immediately,

upon entering,

because

through this the

settlement

of the Land of Israel

will increase: for one who affixes a mezuza is forbidden to remove it from there even when he leaves his dwelling, as we say in Bava Metzia [102a]. Therefore, if he affixes a mezuza in his rented dwelling, he will leave it only with difficulty, because he will have to trouble himself with new mezuzot for his other dwelling; and even if he leaves this dwelling, another Israelite will rent it easily, since it has mezuzot. Through obligating him to affix a mezuza in his rented dwelling, the Land of Israel is found to be settled 67 .

We learned in the Mishna:

The arm tefillin does not prevent

the head tefillin, and the head tefillin does not prevent the arm tefillin; and if he put on one of them, he fulfilled that mitzva separately.

Rav Hisda said: They taught

that the arm and head tefillin do not prevent one another

only when he has

both and put on one.

But when he does not have

more than one and put it on,

it prevents

and he fulfilled not even one mitzva.

They said to him:

But

did you say

so? That he fulfilled not even one mitzva?

He said to them

Rav Hisda:

I did not

say this! For he retracted the law that he had stated initially. And he said: Would it enter your mind that

one who does not have two mitzvot

but only one

should not perform even one mitzva?!

Rather, certainly, when he has only one, he should put it on, for they do not prevent one another, and not as I initially thought.

And we raised a question about it:

And initially,

when Rav Hisda said that when he has only one they prevent one another and he should not put it on,

what did he hold?

And we answered: He held that he should not put on the one,

lest

he be negligent,

for if you allow him to put on one tefillin, he will be negligent and will not purchase the other one that he lacks. Therefore they decreed that he should not put on any at all, for they prevent one another, and consequently he will purchase the other one in order to fulfill the mitzva of tefillin. And ultimately Rav Hisda retracted and held that they do not prohibit putting on one, and he will at least fulfill one mitzva.

Rav Sheshet said: Anyone who does not put on tefillin transgresses eight

mitzvot

of positive commandments,

for there are four passages in the tefillin, and concerning each passage two positive commandments were stated: (a) “And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand”; (b) “And they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.” Here there are eight.

And anyone who has no tzitzit on his garment transgresses five

mitzvot

of positive commandments,

(a) “And they shall make for themselves tzitzit on the corners of their garments”; (b) “And they shall place upon the tzitzit of the corner a thread of blue”; (c) “And it shall be for you as tzitzit”; (d) “And you shall see it”; (e) “You shall make twisted threads for yourself.”

And any koen who does not ascend the platform

to bless the people with the Priestly Blessing

transgresses

three

mitzvot

of positive commandments

stated concerning the Priestly Blessing: (a) “So shall you bless the Children of Israel”; (b) “Say” to them: “May the Lord bless you and safeguard you,” and so on; (c) “And they shall place My name upon the Children of Israel.”

And anyone who does not have a mezuzah on his doorway transgresses two

mitzvot

—positive commandments,

as it is written in the section of Shema Yisrael “

And you shall write them

on the doorposts of your house,” and likewise it is written in the section of Ve-haya im shamoa “

And you shall write them

on the doorposts of your house,” so here are two positive commandments.