Niddah 13b — the Talmud in English

Above the corona [to direct the body]—

it is forbidden.

And likewise, he instructed him to hold below the corona.

Rav said: One who intentionally arouses himself—

shall be

placed under a ban of excommunication.

And the Gemara asks: Why did

Rav not simply say—

“It is forbidden—

to intentionally arouse oneself”?

And it answers: Rav used this wording in order to teach you that the prohibition is especially severe, because of

“he incites the evil inclination against himself” [Ran, Shabbat, chapter 14].

And Rabbi Ami said:

One who intentionally arouses himself—

is called a transgressor!

This is because

this is the method of the evil inclination—

today it tells him, “Do this,” and tomorrow it tells him, “Do that,” and the next day [after the person obeys it and has become subject to its control]

[after the person obeys it and becomes entirely under its control],

it tells him: “Go and worship idols!” And he goes and worships them.

Some say that Rabbi Ami said: Anyone who brings himself to sexual thoughts—

is not admitted into the presence of the Holy One, blessed be He!

For

Here, with regard to [the wasting of semen], it is written

«

“And what he did was evil in the eyes of the Lord,”

which refers to what Onan did.

And there, [concerning those who are not admitted into the presence of the Holy One, blessed be He], it is written:

«

“For You are not a God who desires wickedness;

the evil person shall not dwell [together with You, in Your presence],

a

wicked person.”

And Rabbi Elazar said: What is the meaning of that which is written, “Your hands are full of blood”?—

These are those who commit adultery with their hands! [That is, they waste their semen with their hands.]

[As they destroy their semen with their hands.]

A tannaitic teaching from the school of Rabbi Yishmael states:

The verse does not say, “Do not commit adultery with a woman,” but rather

“Do not commit adultery” without qualification—

to teach

that there should not be in you

any

act of adultery—

whether with the hand

or with the foot! The Sages taught: Converts and those who play with children—

delay the coming of

the

Messiah!

And the Gemara discusses this:

Granted, converts

delay the Messiah’s coming,

as Rabbi Helbo said. Rabbi Helbo said: Converts are as difficult for the Jewish people as a scab [leprosy]!

[a form of leprosy]!

Rather, what does “those who play with children”—

refer to?

If you say it refers to male homosexual intercourse—

then

they are liable to stoning!

It is not merely that they delay the Messiah’s coming and nothing more.

Rather,

perhaps you will say that they waste their semen

through other limbs [whereas male homosexual intercourse specifically resembles intercourse with a woman]—

[whereas homosexual intercourse specifically resembles intercourse with a woman]—

the difficulty nevertheless remains:

they are “people of the Flood,”

which is a more severe expression than merely delaying the Messiah’s coming! And the Gemara answers:

Rather, it refers to those who marry

women

who are minors and cannot bear children, 21 ,

and there is no prohibition of wasting semen in this case; rather, they neglect the commandment to be fruitful and multiply.

As Rabbi Yosei said—

the descendant of David will not come until

all the souls in the “body” have been born!

“The body” is the place where all souls are stored. As long as all the souls have not emerged from it, the descendant of David will not come. It follows that one who prevents himself from bringing souls from the “body” into the world thereby delays the redemption!

As it is stated: “For the spirit that is before Me shall be enveloped, and the souls

I have made.”

This means: The spirits that are before Me, which I decreed should be born, will be “enveloped,” that is, will delay [from the expression “the weak ones to Laban”] the redemption mentioned in that verse.

We learned in the Mishna: Any hand that frequently examines itself

among men—

should be cut off!

They raised a dilemma:

Is

the Mishna teaching an actual law,

meaning that his hand is literally cut off, or

is it teaching a curse [a declaration that his hand deserves to be cut off]?

[a curse—that his hand deserves to be cut off]?

The meaning of the dilemma is: Is

the Mishna teaching an actual law—

as in the case of Rav Huna, who cut off a hand! [As explained in Sanhedrin, anyone who raises his hand against another person should have his hand cut off; Rav Huna actually did so.] And similarly here, the hand should be cut off.

[As explained in Sanhedrin, anyone who raises his hand against another person should have his hand cut off. Rav Huna actually did so!] Likewise here, the hand should be cut off.

Or is it only a curse,

—

that the Mishna teaches?

Come and hear a proof, as it was taught in a baraita: Rabbi Tarfon says:

One who sends

his hand to his penis—

his hand should be cut off

while it is still

on his navel!

They said to him:

How can the hand be cut off while it is on the navel?—

his abdomen will be split open

by this, whereas he is liable only for having his hand cut off!

Rabbi Tarfon said to them:

Rabbi Tarfon:

It is preferable

that

his abdomen should be split open, rather than that he should descend to the pit of destruction!

And the Gemara proves:

Granted, if you say that the Mishna teaches an actual law,

this is why they said to him: “But his abdomen will be split open!”

But if you say that the Mishna teaches only a curse,

and his hand is not actually cut off—

what is there to the statement, “His abdomen will be split open”

at all!?

The Gemara rejects this:

Rather, what—

you would say that the Mishna teaches an actual law!?

But

is it not enough

to say that his hand should be cut off when it is

not on his navel?

Why, then, did Rabbi Tarfon say that it should be cut off specifically while it is on his navel?

Rather, this is what Rabbi Tarfon is saying: Anyone who brings his hand below his navel [and touches his penis] —

[and touches his organ] -

the hand should be cut off

the hand! In fact, it is only a curse. This is the meaning of his words: “A hand that reaches the penis should be cut off,” because he brought his hand below his navel.

They said to Rabbi Tarfon: If a thorn became lodged in his abdomen [on his penis],

[his organ], should

should he not remove it? He said to them—

No!

They said to him—

but

his abdomen will be split open?!

He said to them: It is preferable that his abdomen be split open and that he not descend

to the pit of destruction!

Mishna:

A deaf-mute woman [who lacks understanding because she did not learn],

[who lacks understanding because she has not learned],

an intellectually disabled woman [whose understanding has been impaired from birth],

[whose understanding was impaired from birth],

a blind woman, and one whose mind has become deranged—

then,

if they have

acquaintances who are

mentally competent,

their competent friends

prepare them

by examining them to ascertain that they have not become ritually impure as menstruants; and if they have become impure, they immerse them

and they may eat teruma,

if they are daughters of kohanim, members of the priestly family.

Gemara:

And the Gemara asks:

deaf woman—

why is it necessary to have her examined by her sighted companions?

Let her examine herself!

For it was taught: Rabbi said: There was a deaf woman in our neighborhood—

not only did she examine herself, but her companions would see, and show her

the blood of their examinations, to examine it to determine whether it was pure or impure, since she was expert in the appearances of blood!?

And the Gemara answers:

there

it speaks of the neighborhood of Rabbi,

of

a deaf woman who

speaks but does not hear.

For she had heard previously and had then learned to speak, and afterward became deaf, so that she possesses understanding.

Here,

in our Mishna, it speaks

of one who does not

speak and does not hear

because she was born deaf.

As we learned: A deaf-mute concerning whom the Sages spoke everywhere

who has no understanding, like a mentally incompetent person—is specifically a deaf-mute who

neither hears nor speaks!

We learned in our Mishna:

the blind woman—

sighted women attend to

her.

And the Gemara asks: Why?

Let her examine herself, and let her inspect it for her companion?

And it answers:

Rabbi Yosei son of Rabbi Hanina said: "Blind woman"—

is not part of the Mishna!

For it must be erased from the Mishna.

We learned in the Mishna:

and one whose mind became deranged.

And the Gemara asks:

"whose mind became deranged"—

that is a mentally incompetent person.

It has already been written in the Mishna!?

And it answers: It is not speaking of one whose mind became deranged from birth, as in the case of a mentally incompetent person, but rather—

whose mind became deranged,

after she was born,

because of illness!

The Sages taught: A mentally incompetent kohein

who wishes to eat teruma—

they immerse him

in order to purify him from the impurity of a seminal emission or the impurity of a creeping creature.

And they feed him teruma in the evening,

for it is permitted to eat only after sunset.

And they guard him so that he should not sleep,

lest he see a seminal emission in his sleep.

If he slept —

he is impure. If he did not sleep—

he is pure.

Rabbi Eliezer son of Rabbi Tzadok says:

Even if he sleeps, there is a way to feed him teruma:

they make for him a leather pouch

and examine the pouch before coming to feed him teruma, to see whether there is a seminal emission or flux in it.

They said to him:

It is impossible to make a pouch for him, because

all the more does it bring

that pouch

to heating.

He said to them: According to your words—

a

mentally incompetent kohein has no remedy,

because perhaps he will see a seminal emission.

They said to him: According to our words

he has a remedy, because only

if he slept, he is impure,

but

if he did not sleep—

he is pure.

But

according to your words

that one makes a pouch for him, there is concern

lest he see a drop

of seminal emission, small

like mustard seed, and it be absorbed in the pouch!

And he will eat teruma with bodily impurity, for a severe punishment of death is incurred for this!

A tanna said: They said in the name of Rabbi Elazar: They make for him

for the mentally incompetent kohein

a metal pouch. Abaye said: And

it is necessary to make the metal pouch

of copper

specifically, since copper does not absorb at all, and therefore there is no concern lest it absorb into the pouch a drop of semen like a mustard seed.

And as it was taught

in another matter, that copper does not absorb:

“The water of purification”—which is water mixed with the ashes of the red cow, and with which those impure through contact with the dead are purified—renders the one carrying it impure if the water contains enough for the amount required for sprinkling. And according to the Sages, the water that renders the one carrying it impure must contain an amount of water sufficient both for sprinkling and for the absorption by the stalks of the hyssop [with which the water is sprinkled upon those being purified]. And with less than this total amount, the water of purification does not render the one carrying it impure.

But

Rabbi Judah

disputes this, and holds that an amount of water sufficient for sprinkling alone is enough. For

we regard

those

stalks of hyssop as though they were of copper,

which does not absorb at all, and as though all the water on the stalks were sprinkled upon the person being purified, without being absorbed by the hyssop.

Rav Pappa said: Learn from this

from the fact that the Sages prohibited making a leather pouch for a mentally incompetent kohein—

underpants

are forbidden

to wear, for they bring one to heating, like the pouch.

And the Gemara raises an objection:

But it is written

in the garments of the priests, “

And you shall make for them linen underpants to cover naked flesh”!?

And it answers:

That one, as it was taught: The underpants of the priests—

to what are they similar? Like a kind of apron

[an apron]

of horsemen

[which are wide underpants that do not bring one to heating].

Above

the underpants reach

until the hips. Below

they reach

until the thighs. And they have drawstrings

[cords].

And they have neither a “hole-house”

at the back,

nor a “nakedness-house”

at the front, for it is disgraceful for the sacred garments to be made in this manner.