Yoma 18b — the Talmud in English

and watercress, and purslane, and eggs, and garden cress.

It is stated in the Book of Kings II [chapter 4]:

"And one went out to the field to gather herbs".

And we explain: what are “herbs”?

A tanna taught in the name of Rabbi Meir: This is garden cress.

And

Rabbi Yohanan said: Why were the plants

of garden cress

called “herbs”?

Because

they illuminate the eyes.

Rav Huna said: One who finds garden cress—

if he can eat it, let him eat it

in order to illuminate his eyes.

And if not—

let him pass it

at the least

over his eyes,

as this too is of benefit for illuminating the eyes.

And

Rav Pappa said:

This statement was said only

with regard to garden cress

of the boundary.

For it grows on the boundary of the field, where no other plant is sown around it to weaken its power.

Rav Giddel said that Rav said: A guest,

a traveler who sleeps in a bed that is not his,

may not eat eggs,

for through eating them he may come to an emission and be disgraced before the members of the household.

And

likewise

he may not sleep in the householder’s cloak,

for the householder uses it during the day, and if an emission is found on it, it is disgraceful for the guest.

Rav

was accustomed, when

he happened

[when he happened to come]

to

a place called

“Darshish,”

even for one day, he would

announce

and ask:

“Who will be mine for a day?”—

which woman agrees to marry me for the one day that I am staying here, and I will divorce her when I return to my place.

And Rav did this because a person who is without a woman may come to thoughts and impurity. And Rav was stringent with himself, not to remain without a woman even for one day, although he had a wife in his house.

And so was

Rav Nahman

accustomed

to do

when

he happened

to come

to

a place called

Shakhnediv,

he would

announce

and ask:

“Who will be mine for a day”.

And we are astonished: how did they act in this manner?

But it was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov says: A person may not

marry a woman in this country,

and leave her,

and go and marry a woman

in addition

in another country.

For there is reason for concern

lest,

as the days go by, because his descendants in this country will not know his descendants who are elsewhere, they will come to stumbling, and perhaps

they will pair off,

his son in this country with his daughter in the other country—

each with the other.

And it will be found that a brother marries

his

sister.

And

it will be found that this person

fills

the

entire world

with

mamzerut.

And concerning this it is said

in the Torah,

“And the land will be filled with lewdness.”

And we answer:

They say,

this law was not stated with regard to

the Sages.

For since Torah scholars are famous, and

they have a reputation,

their name is called upon their sons, and there is no concern that they will not know who their father is; therefore there is no concern of stumbling here.

And further we are astonished: how did Rav and Rav Nahman marry a woman on the same day on which they happened to come to those places?

But Rava said:

A woman betrothed to a man, when

they demand her

[they address her with a request]

to marry

[to enter the wedding canopy], and

she agrees

[and consents] to marry him, we are concerned for her lest she saw menstrual blood because of the excitement of the marriage, and

she must sit

before she marries

seven

days

clean

of blood, after the day on which she agreed to marry him.

If so, how were Rav and Rav Nahman permitted to marry their wives immediately on the same day on which they agreed to marry them?

And we answer:

The Sages—

they would inform them beforehand.

They would inform those women who agreed to marry them of their arrival. For

they would advance

they would precede

and send a messenger

[and dispatch a messenger] seven days before they arrived there, to request a woman who would agree to marry them for one day; and that woman who agreed to marry them would sit seven clean days from the time she agreed, until they arrived.

And if you wish, say:

It may be said that they did not resort to them immediately, but only

designation

merely

they would designate them

the Sages would designate those women who agreed to marry them, so that they would be fit to marry them in seven days.

And this designation alone was sufficient for them to prevent thoughts.

For one who has bread in his basket

and can eat if he wishes

is not comparable to one who has no bread in his basket.

For one who has bread in his basket does not crave eating as does one who has no bread in his basket.

And the same law applies with regard to thoughts: since they designate themselves with them for marriage, the women are considered to them as “bread in his basket,” for they could wait seven days and resort to them, and likewise take them to their place.

Mishna:

They handed him over

[the High Priest], those

elders of the court

[who were mentioned in the previous Mishna] who would read before him all seven days,

to the elders of the priesthood.

And they brought him up

the elders of the priesthood to the upper chamber called

Beit Avtinas,

where the members of the house of Avtinas, experts in the preparation of the incense, its grinding, and the mixing of its ingredients, were located. And there they taught him the laws of taking the incense in his handfuls, as will be explained in the Gemara.

And

when they handed him over,

they administered an oath to him

the elders of the court [as will be explained],

and they took leave

of him

and went away.

This oath was customary in the days of the Second Temple, after the Sadducees had increased, who did not believe in the reception of the Sages, and interpreted the words of the Written Torah not according to the halakha. And they would say that the incense with which the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies had to be placed on the fire outside, before he entered, and afterward he was to enter and place it inside.

And since there was reason for concern regarding the High Priests in the days of the Second Temple, that they were disciples of the Sadducees, they would administer an oath to them on the eve of Yom Kippur, that they should act according to the halakha and not deviate from anything that the elders of the court instructed them.

And

this is what they would say to him:

My master

[my lord],

High Priest! We are agents of the court

to administer an oath to you.

And you are our agent and the agent of the court.

We administer an oath to you, by Him whose Name dwelt in this House—

that you shall not change a thing

in the service

from anything that we told you.

Afterward

he would withdraw

from them

and weep

because he was suspected of being a Sadducee.

And

also

they

would

withdraw

from him

and weep,

lest he was fit, and they had suspected him without cause.

We already mentioned in the previous Mishna that they did not allow the High Priest to sleep on the night of Yom Kippur, so that he should not come to an emission and be disqualified from serving on Yom Kippur.

Therefore,

if he was

the High Priest

a scholar

himself, he would

expound

in matters of halakha all night.

And if not

[if he did not know how to expound himself],

Torah scholars would expound before him,

to occupy him with matters of halakha, so that he would not sleep.

And

likewise

if

he himself

was accustomed to read

the sacred writings, he would

read

himself.

And if not,

others would

read before him: in

the Book of

Job, and in

the Book of

Ezra, and

likewise

in

the Book of

Chronicles.

Zechariah ben Kevutal says: Many times I read before him in

the Book of

Daniel,

and the reason these books were chosen from among the sacred writings is that they are matters that draw the heart, so that sleep should not seize him.