Nedarim 51a (נא.) — the Talmud in English

He said to him

Bar Kappara:

Let the master see

that I can take any quantity of grain that I wish

[so that I can receive the wheat in whatever measure I want].

He took

Bar Kappara

a large basket

[a large basket],

smeared it with pitch

[so that the wheat would not fall through the holes in the basket],

and placed it over his head

[turning it upside down over his head, so that Rabbi would not recognize him].

And he went

[and came] to Rabbi,

and said to him: Let the master measure out for me forty se'ahs of the wheat that I am owed by you

[so that Rabbi would measure for him, using this basket, the four measures of wheat that Rabbi owed him].

You have made me laugh

[you have made me laugh],

Rabbi!

Rabbi said to

Bar Kappara:

Did I not warn you not to jest?

[Did I not warn you not to make fun of me]?

Bar Kappara said to

him:

I have come only to take the wheat that I am owed

[I came only to take the wheat to which you obligated yourself].

On the eve of the wedding of Rabbi Shimon, Rabbi's son,

Bar Kappara said to the daughter

[to the daughter]

of Rabbi

, who was married to Ben Elasa:

Tomorrow I shall drink wine

[tomorrow, at the wedding of Rabbi Shimon the son of Rabbi, I shall drink wine]

at your father's dancing

[while your father dances before me]

and your mother's singing

[and your mother will croak and sing].

Ben Elasa was Rabbi's son-in-law, and he was very wealthy, and he was invited to the wedding feast of Rabbi Shimon the son of Rabbi

[he was among those invited to the wedding of Rabbi Shimon the son of Rabbi].

At the wedding,

Bar Kappara said to Rabbi: What

[what is the meaning of the word]

"to'eva" (Leviticus 20)

concerning intercourse between males.

Every

interpretation

that Rabbi gave him, saying that this was the meaning of

[that this was the meaning of]

"to'eva," Bar Kappara refuted.

Rabbi said to

Bar Kappara:

You explain it

the meaning of "to'eva"!

Bar Kappara said to

him:

Let your wife come and pour me a cup

[let your wife come and pour me a cup of wine, and then I will tell you the meaning of the matter].

She came and poured it for him

[Rabbi's wife came and poured it for him].

Bar Kappara said to

Rabbi

: Get up and dance for me,

before me, so that

I can tell you

[I will tell you] the meaning of the word "to'eva"—

This is what the Merciful One said: "to'eva"—

you have strayed from her,

leaving the bed of a woman and going to a male.

For another cup

[when Bar Kappara drank another cup] of wine,

he said to

Bar Kappara to Rabbi:

What is "tevel" (Leviticus 18),

which is written concerning a woman who has intercourse with an animal?

Rabbi said to

him:

As with the previous matter.

[That is, as in the previous matter: every interpretation that Rabbi gave him, Bar Kappara refuted, until Rabbi asked Bar Kappara to explain it].

Bar Kappara said to

him:

Do for me

[do for me] as before: let your wife pour me a cup, and let Rabbi dance before me, so that

I can tell you

the meaning of "tevel."

Rabbi did

[he did] as Bar Kappara had told him.

Bar Kappara said to

him,

"Tevel" means—

and is there

a spice in it

in intercourse with an animal

? Does this intercourse differ from all other acts of intercourse

[what reason is there for her to go to an animal and leave one of her own kind]?

Rabbi said to

Bar Kappara:

And what

[what is the meaning of the word]

"zimma" (Leviticus 18)?

Bar Kappara said to

him,

Do as in the previous matter

and let your wife come and pour me a cup of wine, and let Rabbi dance before me.

Rabbi did

[so],

and Bar Kappara said to him

, "Zimma" means:

This—

what is it?

It is an expression of doubt, for it is not known by whom she will become pregnant.

And because Ben Elasa was wealthy,

Ben Elasa could not

[was unable]

to endure

[to tolerate] seeing the disrespect shown to Rabbi, his father-in-law.

Ben Elasa arose,

Ben Elasa,

and went out

[and departed]

he and his wife

[Rabbi's daughter, his wife]

from there

[from there].

What is the basis for saying that Ben Elasa

was wealthy

? As it was taught: Ben Elasa did not squander his money for nothing;

he would pay a barber a great deal of money to cut his hair in the manner of the kohen gadol's haircut,

but

in order

to display through it

the beauty of the

haircut of

the

kohen gadol.

As it is written

concerning the haircut of the kohen gadol:

"They shall surely trim their heads" (Ezekiel 44).

A tanna

taught in a beraita: Ben Elasa's haircut was

like a lulinit.

What is a lulinit?

Rabbi Yehuda said: A singular haircut

of exceptional beauty.

What does it look like,

that haircut?

Rava said: The end of

one lock of

hair was beside the root of

another lock of

hair.

One hair did not rise over another.

And this was the haircut of the kohen gadol:

We learned in the Mishna: One who vows to prohibit upon himself cooked food is permitted

to eat remuza squash:

What is remuza squash?

Shmuel said: It is a squash

[a squash]

from Karkuz

[from a place called Karkuz],

which never cooks properly, and therefore is not called cooked food.

Rav Ashi said:

Remuza squash is

squash buried in hot ashes (

and it is not called cooked food because it was buried in hot ashes).

Ravina raised an objection to Rav Ashi:

How can remuza squash be interpreted as squash buried in hot ashes, when we learned in the Mishna in tractate Kilayim:

Rabbi Nehemya says: Aramaic squash is Egyptian squash.

And it is prohibited as

kilayim with

squash

of the Greek variety.

Likewise, it is prohibited as

kilayim with

squash

of the remuza variety.

It follows that remuza squash is not squash buried in hot ashes; rather, it is a species of squash.

Tiyuvta

against Rav Ashi's interpretation!

Mishna:

The kדרה is a vessel in which foods are cooked in water.

The ilpas is a vessel in which foods are fried in oil.

There are foods whose cooking is completed in a kדרה, and these are called "a preparation of a pot."

There are foods that, at the beginning of their cooking, are placed in a kדרה for a brief boiling, while their cooking is completed in an ilpas with oil; these are not called "a preparation of a pot."

a.

One who vows

to prohibit upon himself

a preparation of a pot—

is

not

prohibited except from a preparation requiring extensive boiling

[a cooked dish that requires extensive boiling], such as foods made from types of flour or legumes, whose cooking is accomplished through extensive boiling in a pot until they become fit to eat.

For only such foods are called "a preparation of a pot."

But he is not prohibited from foods prepared in an ilpas, even when their cooking is completed there, since these are not called "a preparation of a pot."

b.

If

one who vows

says

"a konam upon me is every food"

that enters a pot, which I shall not taste,

he is prohibited

from

all foods cooked in a pot.

He is prohibited not only from "a preparation of a pot," but also from all foods whose cooking is completed in an ilpas, since these foods too first enter a pot to be partially cooked.

Gemara:

It was taught:

a.

One who vows against

food

that enters a

pot to be cooked

is prohibited

also

from

food

that enters an ilpas,

since

it

this food

already entered a pot before it entered the ilpas.

For the method of cooking in an ilpas is to boil the food briefly in water in a pot before cooking it in oil in the ilpas.

b. But if he vowed

against

food

that enters an

ilpas to be cooked in it,

an ilpas,

the law is that he

is permitted to eat food that enters a pot,

since it did not enter an ilpas.

c. And if he vowed

against

food

prepared in a pot,

the law is that he

is permitted to eat food prepared in an ilpas.

Since "prepared" indicates the completion of preparation, with regard to food prepared in an ilpas, even though it had already entered a pot, nevertheless, since its preparation was completed in an ilpas, one who vowed against food prepared in a pot may eat it.

d. And if he vowed

against

food

prepared in an ilpas,

the law is that he

is permitted to eat food prepared in a pot

even if the food was subsequently placed in an ilpas, since its preparation was completed in the pot.

e.

One who vows against food that enters an oven,

the law is that he

is prohibited only from bread,

since, ordinarily, food that enters an oven refers to bread.

f.

And if

one who vows

says "every preparation of an oven"

is prohibited

upon me,

the law is that he

is prohibited from all

foods

prepared in an oven.