Shabbat 13b — the Talmud in English

And served Torah scholars extensively -

why did he die in the middle of his years ?!

And no person returned it to her as a matter.

And Elijah said:

Once I lodged at her house, and she recounted the entire incident.

And I said to her: During your days of menstruation,

which are the seven days from the first sighting of menstrual blood -

what was he with you [

how did he conduct himself with you]?

She said to me: Heaven forbid -

he did not touch me even with his little finger!

And I continued to ask her:

During your days of whitening,

which are the seven clean days free of blood that the zava [who is a woman who saw blood for three consecutive days

not during “the time of her menstruation”]]

must count after the end of the last sighting, and during which she must wear white garments in order to examine herself, so that the count has not been invalidated by a sighting of blood -

what was he with you

during those days?

She said to me: During those days,

he ate with me, drank with me, and slept with me with bodily proximity.

But

it did not enter his mind

to do to me

another thing [

marital intercourse].

And I said to her: Blessed is the Omnipresent who killed him!

Because

your husband did not bear

your

face toward the Torah .

For the Torah said: “And to a woman in the impurity of her menstruation you shall not draw near” [

and this prohibition also includes a woman impure with the impurity of ziva], for even bodily proximity alone is forbidden.

For as long as she had not immersed, she was still in her impurity and was forbidden to him by Torah law. And as we expound from “she shall remain in her menstruation”: in her state she shall remain until she enters the water [Rashi]. And therefore it says about him, “he did not bear a face toward the Torah,” to expound this exposition. [Maharsha].

When Rav Dimi came, he said:

The fact that that pious man was lenient in this matter was because

the bed was one [

wide]

it was.

And since there was no bodily proximity, he held that it was permitted to do so.

In the West they said, Rabbi Yitzhak bar Yosef said:

He slept with her, while the

apron

that she was girded with

separated between him and her.

And for this reason he was lenient with himself.

Mishna:

And these

laws stated in this chapter are

among

the laws that they said

the Sages

in the upper chamber of Hananiah ben Hezekiah ben Garon, when they went up to visit him.

And in the Gemara it will be explained to which Mishna it refers.

And they counted

there, when they set out to count who were the majority and who were the minority,

and

it was found that

the students of the House of Shammai outnumbered

the students of

the House of Shammai over

the students of

the House of Hillel

in the count. And therefore the halakha was decided according to them in these laws.

And eighteen matters they decreed on that day.

Gemara:

Abaye said to Rav Yosef:

How did we learn in the Mishna -

Whether

“And these

among the laws that they said in the upper chamber of Hananiah ben Hezekiah ben Garon”

we learned,

without a conjunction “and”,

or

perhaps

“And these

among the laws”

we learned?

And Abaye explains the uncertainty:

Whether

“And these we learned”,

with the conjunction “and,” and our Mishna refers to

these

laws

that we said

in the preceding Mishna: to say that these laws, “he shall not inspect his garments” and “he shall not read by the light of the lamp,” were said in the upper chamber of Hananiah.

Or “these we learned”,

without the conjunction “and.” And according to this, the Mishna refers to these laws

that we need to say

in the Mishna

below.

For only they were said there.

And we resolve it:

Come and hear: One may not inspect by the light of the lamp, and one may not read by the light of the lamp -

and these are among the laws that were said in the upper chamber of Hananiah ben Hezekiah ben Garon!

It follows that the laws of the preceding Mishna are among the eighteen matters, and not the laws of the Mishna below. And if so,

infer from it

that

“And these we learned.”

And we conclude:

Infer from it!

Until the days of Rabbi, they did not write the words of the Oral Torah, for it was forbidden to write all the Mishnayot and beraitot, because of “matters that are oral you are not permitted to put into writing.” Until Rabbi permitted them to write them because of “it is a time to act for the Lord; they have violated Your Torah.”

The exception was the “Scroll of Fasts,” which they wrote for themselves in writing, as a remembrance, on a scroll, all the days on which a miracle occurred for them and they were redeemed from their troubles, in order to know that on these days it is forbidden for them to fast.

The Sages taught: Who wrote

the

“Scroll of Fasts”?

They said: Hananiah ben Hezekiah and his group

wrote it. Because

they cherished the troubles.

For the miracle through which they were redeemed from the troubles was beloved to them, to mention it and praise the Holy One, blessed is He, through it. And they wrote them for these days in order to make them holidays and not to fast on them.

Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel said: We too cherish the troubles. But what can we do?

For if we were to come to write

all the troubles and miracles -

we would not be able to finish!

For since they occur constantly, we would have to make every day a holiday.

Alternatively:

The fact that we do not write these days is because

a fool is not afflicted.

That is, the fool does not feel the evil blows that come upon him. So too, we do not feel the troubles, and consequently we do not recognize the miracle of rescue from them.

Alternatively: The flesh of the dead does not feel the scalpel,

the knife that cuts it. And it is a parable for one who is accustomed to troubles, for he no longer feels them.

And we object: Is that so? Does the dead person not feel?

But did Rav Yitzhak not say: The worm is painful

the worm that bites

the dead person -

like a needle in the flesh of the living.

As it is stated: “But his flesh upon him shall hurt, and his soul within him shall mourn.”

And we answer:

Say: The flesh of the dead [

flesh that has dried]

that

is found

in

the body of a

living person feels the scalpel.

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: Indeed, that man should be remembered for good, and Hananiah ben Hezekiah was his name,

for had it not been for him,

the

Book of Ezekiel would have been hidden.

Because

its words were

of the Book of Ezekiel

contradicting

the

words of Torah [

such as: “Every carcass and torn animal, of bird and of animal, they shall not eat, the priests.” For it apparently implies that Israelites are permitted to eat them. And such as the sin-offering mentioned there concerning a priest who became impure through contact with the dead, which he brings when he becomes pure after seven days, for which there is no hint in the Torah]. And for this reason the Sages sought to conceal it.

What did

Hananiah ben Hezekiah

do

for him, to his upper chamber?

They brought him three hundred jars of oil,

for lighting and provisions for the entire time of his sitting there.

And he sat in the upper chamber and expounded them

for all the writings that appear to contradict the words of Torah, until he resolved all the contradictions [and so, concerning a carcass and a torn animal, they are certainly forbidden to be eaten even by an Israelite. Rather, because the wing of a bird may be cut for priests for eating in the sin-offering of a bird, it was necessary to warn them concerning the cutting of an unconsecrated animal, which is a carcass].

We learned in the Mishna:

And eighteen matters they decreed

on that day.

What are the eighteen matters?

Nine of them are matters in which they decreed that they render teruma unfit by rabbinic law, forbidding it to be eaten like impure teruma.

As we learned: These render teruma unfit

through their contact: A. A person

who eats

the measure of half a pars of

food

that is

first

degree of impurity.

By Torah law, a person becomes impure through eating an impure thing only if he ate the carcass of a pure bird, at the time of its eating alone. And all the more so, a person who eats food that is first degree of impurity does not become impure through it. The Sages decreed that a person who eats food of first degree of impurity shall be second degree of impurity. And although a second degree of impurity does not render unconsecrated food impure, it does render teruma unfit.

B.

And

also the person

who eats

half a pars of

food

that is

second

degree of impurity, they decreed that he become second degree of impurity, and he renders teruma unfit through his contact .

C.

And

likewise

one who drinks

a quarter-log of

impure liquids -

although by Torah law he does not become impure, by rabbinic law he becomes second degree of impurity and renders teruma unfit.

D. Likewise, an impure person who immersed and became pure from his impurity, and on that day [and even after the sun had set and he was already permitted with regard to teruma. Tosafot]

put his head and the greater part of his body into drawn water -

they decreed that through the drawn water he again become second degree of impurity and render teruma unfit.

E.

And

also one who had been

entirely pure

beforehand,

upon whose head and the greater part of whose body three log of drawn water fell

they decreed impurity upon him, and he renders teruma unfit.

F. And

and

likewise they decreed that when

the scroll

which is among the twenty-four books of the Holy Scriptures of Torah, Prophets, and Writings - renders teruma unfit through its contact, like a second degree of impurity that touches teruma. [Whether they decreed that the scroll itself be considered second degree of impurity, or only decreed concerning teruma that touches it that it become unfit - see Tosafot, section “The tanna.” And the Rash in tractate Yadayim wrote: From where would it occur to us to render the scroll impure?!].

G.

And

likewise

the hands,

before they are washed, are second degree of impurity and render teruma unfit.

And one who immersed that day [

who has already immersed for his impurity, but whose sun has not yet set] renders teruma unfit through his contact. But he is not included in the count of the eighteen matters, because by Torah law he renders teruma unfit, and not because of a decree.

H.

And the foods

that became impure through impure liquids are second degree of impurity. And it will be explained below .

I.

And vessels that became impure through liquids

that are impure become second degree of impurity and render teruma unfit. And it will be explained below.

And it proceeds to explain all these nine matters.

There are three distinctions in the order of impurity.

A. With regard to unconsecrated things, we find that each one of the fathers of impurity makes everything that becomes impure through it first degree of impurity. And that first degree makes everything that becomes impure through it second degree of impurity. But the second does not make a third degree of impurity after it.

B. With regard to teruma, it was innovated that even a second degree of impurity renders the teruma touching it unfit to eat [and this is derived from one who immersed that day, who resembles second degree of impurity in that he is forbidden with teruma, and he renders teruma unfit].

C. With regard to sacred things, it was innovated that even a third degree of impurity renders sacred things that it touches unfit. [And this is derived from one lacking atonement, who resembles third degree of impurity in that he is permitted with teruma but forbidden only in eating sacred things, and renders sacred things unfit].

And now the Gemara discusses what we learned: “These render teruma unfit [through their contact: a person] who eats first-degree food, and one who eats second-degree food”!

From the fact that it is written, “render teruma unfit,” it implies that the teruma becomes merely “unfit” for eating through their contact with it, but it does not become “impure” with regard to rendering other teruma unfit through its contact.

And we inquire:

Who

is this

tanna

who holds that

one who eats first-degree food, and one who eats second-degree food -

they render unfit

the teruma, but

render impure

they do not render impure

the teruma, so that it itself becomes impure and has the power to render other teruma unfit?