Pesachim 94a (צד.) — the Talmud in English

And also, regarding

Rav Yehuda

who says that the allowance for one who is on a distant road depends on the time of eating,

this is not difficult.

His statement is not contradicted by his view that the allowance for one who is impure with corpse impurity from a creeping creature depends on the time of slaughter.

For although, in the matter of one on a distant road, the allowance depends on the time of eating, nevertheless, concerning impurity it can be demonstrated that the allowance depends on the time of slaughter.

For

one who is impure with corpse impurity from a creeping creature—

the Torah rejected him;

the Torah disqualified him from bringing the Paschal offering even though he would have been fit at the time of eating,

as it is written: “Any person who will become impure through a dead body”.

But

are we not dealing

with a person impure through a dead body

whose seventh day falls on the eve of Passover?! [Rav Yehuda follows the view of Rabbi Yitzḥak above, on page 90b, who expounded from the verse that it refers to one impure through a corpse on the seventh day of his purification.]

And yet, a person impure through a dead body on his seventh day can immerse that day and eat from the Paschal offering in the evening,

and even so the Torah said that he is to be rejected;

the Torah deferred him to the second Pesaḥ!

From here we learn that the allowance in the case of impurity does not depend on the time of eating, but on the time of slaughter.

The Sages taught:

If one was standing outside Modi'in, and could enter

by riding

horses and mules

that travel quickly,

could it be that he would be liable

to karet if he did not reach the Temple courtyard at the time of slaughter?

The verse states: “And he was not on the road”—

and he shall be cut off.

And

if

that person had been on the road,

a distant road—for being outside Modi'in is considered a distant road.

If one was standing within Modi'in,

close to Jerusalem,

and could not enter because

he had

camels and wagons

on which he was bringing his household, and they were

holding him back

from reaching Jerusalem,

could it be that he would not be liable

to karet?

The verse states: “And he was not on the road

and he refrained from preparing the Pesaḥ, and that person shall be cut off.”

But he was not on the road;

he was not under duress, for he could have left his household on the road and gone alone to Jerusalem.

The sugya before us discusses how much time there is between dawn and sunrise; likewise, between sunrise and sunset; and likewise, between sunset and the emergence of the stars.

The Sages of Israel and the Sages of the nations disagreed concerning the course of the sun.

The view of the Sages of Israel [below, on the facing side] is that during the day the sun travels beneath the firmament [from east to west] and illuminates the earth. At night, however, the sun travels [returning from west to east] above the firmament. Since the firmament conceals it from our sight, there is darkness at night.

The sugya before us follows the view of the Sages of Israel.

As for what we see—that even after the sun is concealed from our sight there is still some light, until after a period of time it becomes completely dark—the view of the Sages of Israel is that this occurs because the sun enters the thickness of the firmament. The deeper it enters, the darker the day becomes, until it reaches the other side of the firmament, at which point it becomes completely dark.

Likewise, at dawn, the sun breaks through the thickness of the firmament until it emerges and becomes visible to us at sunrise [in accordance with the words of Rabbenu Ḥananel and the Maharsha].

Accordingly, the sugya before us is to be understood as follows:

Rava said: The world is six thousand parasangs in circumference

—the circumference of the world, above and below the firmament, over which the sun travels from east to west.

And the thickness of the firmament—

the thickness of the firmament—

is one thousand parasangs

—one thousand parasangs.

From where did Rava know his statements?

One—

one statement he made, that the circumference of the world is six thousand parasangs—

is tradition;

he received it from his teachers.

And one—

one statement he made, that the thickness of the firmament is one thousand parasangs—

is reasoning;

he deduced this logically from what his teachers taught him, that the circumference of the world is six thousand parasangs.

And from where did Rava logically infer that the thickness of the firmament is one thousand parasangs?

Rava understood it

—Rava—

like this,

as

Rabba bar bar Ḥana said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan:

How far does an average person travel

—an average person—

in a day?

Ten parasangs,

which are forty mil.

Of these forty mil,

from dawn until sunrise there are five mil.

And likewise,

from sunset until the emergence of the stars there are five mil.

It follows that between sunrise and sunset a person travels thirty mil. [40

the distance from dawn until the emergence of the stars. Subtract the five between dawn and sunrise, and subtract the five between sunset and the emergence of the stars; the result is thirty mil.]

We have already explained that from the time of sunset the sun penetrates into the thickness of the firmament until it reaches the end of the firmament’s thickness, at which point it becomes completely dark, and that is the time of the emergence of the stars. Likewise, from dawn the sun begins to break through the thickness of the firmament until it becomes visible to us at sunrise.

According to Rabbi Yoḥanan’s principle, there is a distance of five mil between dawn and sunrise, and likewise between sunset and the emergence of the stars, whereas between sunrise and sunset there is a distance of thirty mil. Five is one-sixth of thirty—

it follows

that

the thickness of the firmament

is

one-sixth

of the distance traveled by the sun

during the day.

That is, the thickness of the firmament is one-sixth of the circumference that the sun traverses around the world during the day.

Since Rava learned from his teachers that the circumference of the world is six thousand parasangs, he consequently knew through reasoning that the thickness of the firmament is one thousand parasangs, for the thickness of the firmament is one-sixth of the circumference of the world.

The objection is raised,

for a beraita contradicts Rava’s statement:

Rabbi Yehuda says:

The time that the sun takes to traverse

the thickness of the firmament

is

one-tenth of the day.

Know

that this is so, for

how far does an average person travel during the day,

from dawn until the emergence of the stars?

Ten parasangs,

which are forty mil.

And from dawn until sunrise

the distance traveled is

four mil.

And likewise,

from sunset until the emergence of the stars

the distance traveled is

four mil.

Since between sunset and the emergence of the stars, and likewise between dawn and sunrise, when the sun traverses the thickness of the firmament, there is a period corresponding to a distance of four mil, which is one-tenth of forty mil, the distance a person travels in a day, it follows that the thickness of the firmament is one-tenth of the circumference of the earth.

And since Rabbi Yehuda said that between dawn and sunrise there is a distance of four mil, and likewise between sunset and the emergence of the stars, it follows that between sunrise and sunset there is a distance of only thirty-two mil. 32 = [4 + 4] subtracted from 40.

And from here there is

a refutation of Rava.

According to his statement, the distance from dawn until sunrise is five mil, and likewise from sunset until the emergence of the stars is five mil, while between sunrise and sunset there is a distance of thirty mil.

Likewise, there is

a refutation of Ulla,

who said on the previous page that a person travels thirty mil during the day, and that from dawn until sunrise there are five mil, and likewise from sunset until the emergence of the stars there are five mil.

And we conclude:

a refutation.

And the Gemara continues:

Shall we say that there is also

a

refutation of Rabbi Yoḥanan?

Shall we say that this also contradicts the statement of Rabbi Yoḥanan, for Rabba bar bar Ḥana said in his name [above, on page 93b] that a person travels ten parasangs during the day? The Gemara understands that he added in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan that the distance between dawn and sunrise, and likewise between sunset and the emergence of the stars, is five mil; and the beraita, which says that the distance is four mil, would consequently pose a difficulty for his statement.

He can say to you

—Rabbi Yoḥanan can answer:

I

—I, Rabbi Yoḥanan—

spoke only of the daytime.

I spoke only about the distance a person travels during the entire day, which is ten parasangs; I did not explain how far he travels before sunrise or how far he travels after sunset.

And the Sages—

Ulla and Rava—

were the ones who erred

in my words. They interpreted on their own that before sunrise and after sunset a person travels five mil, because

they calculated the early dawn and the darkness;

they saw that people ordinarily leave their homes for a distance of five mil before sunrise, and likewise delay returning home until a distance of five mil after sunset.

But I [Rabbi Yoḥanan] hold in accordance with the words of Rabbi Yehuda, that there is only a period corresponding to four mil before sunrise and after sunset. Those who leave their homes five mil before sunrise rise before dawn, and those who return home five mil after sunset arrive home after the emergence of the stars.

And again we examine this:

Shall we say that there is also

a

refutation of Rabbi Ḥanina?

Shall we say that the beraita contradicts the statement of Rabbi Ḥanina? For Rabbi Ḥanina said that the distance between Sodom and Zoar is five mil. And the Torah indicates that Lot left Sodom at dawn and arrived at Zoar at sunrise, whereas Rabbi Yehuda said that a person travels four mil between dawn and sunrise!

And we answer:

No.

The beraita does not contradict Rabbi Ḥanina, for although a person travels only four mil between dawn and sunrise [as Rabbi Yehuda said in the beraita], nevertheless Lot ran from Sodom to Zoar, as it is stated [Genesis 19:15]:

“They urged

Lot.” Therefore Lot

was different

from the ordinary case: he managed to travel, in the time ordinarily required to walk four mil, a distance of five mil.

Now the Gemara comes to prove that Rava’s statement is incorrect, in what he said—that there are five mil before sunrise and after sunset.

Come and hear

a contradiction from the beraita to Rava’s statement that the world’s circumference is six thousand parasangs:

For we learned in a beraita:

Egypt was four hundred parasangs by four hundred parasangs.

And Egypt

is

one-sixtieth of Cush.

And Cush is one

of

sixty parts of the world.

And the world is

one

of sixty parts of the Garden.

And the Garden is one-sixtieth of Eden.

And Eden is one-sixtieth of Gehenna.

It follows that the entire world is like the lid of a pot,

which is a small thing in comparison

with Gehenna.

And from here there is a contradiction to Rava’s statement. For when the calculation is made, Egypt is 400 × 400 parasangs, Cush is sixty times larger, and the world is sixty times larger than Cush; it follows that the world is larger than six thousand parasangs.

And we conclude:

a refutation.

Come and hear

another beraita that contradicts Rava:

For it was taught in the school of Elijah: Rabbi Natan says: The entire inhabited world

—the entire area of the world inhabited by human beings—

sits beneath one star.

Know

that this is so,

for a person fixes his eyes on one star

and sees it directly opposite him.

He walks

—the person—

eastward,

and still sees the star

standing opposite him

in the same direction. Likewise, when the person walks

to

any of the

four directions of the world,

the star still

stands opposite him

in the same direction.

But if the inhabited world were larger than a star, then when a person standing in the west sees the star directly above him, as soon as he walks eastward he would no longer see the star above him, but rather diagonally toward the west.

It follows that the entire inhabited world sits beneath one star.

Since each star is as large as the entire inhabited world, and we see that the inhabited world is larger than one thousand parasangs, while there are innumerable stars in the firmament, it follows that the entire world is much larger than six thousand parasangs.

And we conclude: from here there is

a refutation

of Rava.

Come and hear

another beraita that contradicts Rava:

The Wagon—

stars close to one another in a form resembling a wagon [and it is the constellation Taurus]. Rashi]—is found

in the north

of the sky.

And the Scorpion [

stars close to one another in a form resembling a scorpion] is

in the south

of the sky.

And the entire inhabited world,

the area of the world inhabited by human beings,

is inhabited only

in a small area that is found

between the Wagon and the Scorpion.

For every person sees the Wagon to his north and the Scorpion to his south. [

The inhabited world is not as large as the entire area between the Wagon and the Scorpion, for there are many stars between them, and each star is as large as the entire inhabited world. Rashi.]

And the entire inhabited world does not take

the sun

more than one hour a day

to pass from its beginning to its end.

Know

that this is so,

for

indeed

at the fifth [

during the fifth hour of the day]

the sun is in the east, and at the seventh [

during the seventh hour of the day]

the sun is in the west.

And only from

half

the hour

six and

until half the hour

seven, [

half an hour before midday and half an hour after midday]

the sun stands directly above every person.

It follows that the inhabited area of the world is one-twelfth of the entire world, for the sun traverses the inhabited area in one hour, which is one-twelfth of the entire day.

If so, the length of the entire world is twelve times the inhabited area; and since the inhabited area is larger than one thousand parasangs, it follows that the world is much larger than six thousand parasangs.

And we conclude: from here there is

a refutation

of Rava.

Come and hear

a contradiction to Rava from the words of Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Zakkai:

For Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Zakkai said:

In Isaiah [14:13], it is stated concerning Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylonia, that he said in his heart, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will resemble the Most High.” And Rabbi Yoḥanan ben Zakkai asked:

What answer did the Divine Voice give that wicked man when he said, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will resemble the Most High”?

A Divine Voice emerged [

went forth]

and said to him: