Yoma 71b — the Talmud in English

“From the scent of water” [

sons of Torah] —

“it will blossom, and it will make a harvest like a sapling.”

We learned in the Mishna:

“And it was a festival for him who made it for his loved ones.”

The Sages taught: There was an incident involving one High Priest who left the Temple, and everyone was walking after him.

When they saw them

the people saw

Shemaiah and Avtalyon —

they abandoned him,

they left him,

and walked after Shemaiah and Avtalyon.

In the end, Shemaiah and Avtalyon came to take leave of him,

to separate and request permission

from the High Priest,

in order to go to their homes.

He said to them,

the High Priest said to Shemaiah and Avtalyon, who were sons of converts:

“May the sons of the nations come in peace!”

that is, he blessed them with peace by calling them “sons of the nations,” in order to recall the fact that they were sons of converts.

They said to him:

indeed,

“May the sons of the nations come in peace” —

for they perform the deed of Aaron,

for they maintain peace,

and may the son of Aaron not come in peace —

for he does not perform the deed of Aaron.

Mishna:

a.

The High Priest serves

in the Temple service

with eight garments,

garments.

And the ordinary priest —

with four: a tunic, trousers, a turban, and a belt.

The High Priest adds over him: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, and a frontplate.

b.

By

the High Priest’s being dressed in these eight garments

these —

they inquire by means of the Urim and Tumim.

And they inquire not

by means of the Urim and Tumim

except for a king, the head of the court, and one whom the public needs.

Gemara:

The Sages taught: Matters concerning which “six” is stated —

their thread is doubled sixfold.

And if several kinds are stated concerning it, each of the kinds is doubled sixfold.

“Twined”

stated concerning the pomegranates of the robe: its thread is doubled

eightfold.

The robe —

its threads are doubled

twelvefold.

The curtain —

twenty-fourfold.

The breastplate and the ephod —

twenty-eightfold.

And we raise a question concerning it:

“Their thread is doubled sixfold” —

from where do we have this?

For the verse says [

Exodus 39]

“And they made the tunic of linen … and the turban of linen, and the splendid head-coverings of the caps of linen, and the trousers of fine linen, twined.”

Five verses

of linen

are written,

here [four “linen” expressions and one “fine linen,” which is also linen]:

One —

for itself, that they should be

linen

.

And one —

that their thread should be doubled sixfold.

And one —

that they should be twined

into one thread.

And one —

for the other garments concerning which “linen” was not stated.

And one —

to invalidate.

And the Gemara explains:

What is the indication that this “linen” —

is flax

linen

?!

Rabbi Yosei son of Rabbi Hanina said: For the verse says “fine linen” —

something that grows from the ground, stalk by stalk.

And flax is made from the stalk of the flax plant, which grows stalk by stalk, and not from its branching leaves.

But say wool,

wool, which also grows fiber by fiber!

And we answer:

Wool —

the fibers of wool

split apart

and are not stalk by stalk.

And we object:

Flax also splits apart

during the processing of the flax, when it is beaten.

And we answer:

Flax —

only

because of its being beaten,

when it is beaten during its processing,

splits apart.

But when it is growing, it grows stalk by stalk.

Ravina said: From here: [

Ezekiel 44]

“Caps of linen shall be upon their heads, and trousers of linen shall be upon their loins.”

Rav Ashi said to him: This,

that “fine linen” means flax,

before

before

Ezekiel

came,

who said it,

who said it?

From where did they learn this matter?

Ravina answered him:

And according to your reasoning, this matter

that an uncircumcised priest is disqualified for service

we did not learn from the Torah of Moses our teacher.

Rather,

from the words of

Ezekiel son of Buzi we learned it.

For it is written [Ezekiel 44]:

“Every foreign son”,

who is a priest whose deeds have become estranged from his Father in Heaven, and he is

“uncircumcised of heart.”

And

likewise a priest who is

“uncircumcised of flesh,”

who was not circumcised because of danger —

“he shall not come into My Sanctuary.”

This,

this law,

before Ezekiel came —

who said it?

Rather, it was learned by tradition,

by transmission from generation to generation, from a halakha given to Moses at Sinai,

and Ezekiel came and supported it with a verse.

Here too, it was learned by tradition, and Ezekiel came and supported it with a verse.

And we raise a question concerning it:

“Twined”,

concerning the pomegranates made of three kinds—“blue wool, purple wool, and crimson wool”—which is

eight

threads —

from where do we have this?

And we answer:

For it is written [

Exodus 39]

“And they made upon the hem of the robe pomegranates of blue wool and purple wool and crimson wool, twined.”

And he derives “twined” from “twined”

by means of a gzera shava

from the curtain: just as there

the threads of the curtain are doubled

twenty-fourfold [

four kinds of thread doubled sixfold] —

so here too,

in the pomegranates,

twenty-fourfold.

For each and every one

of the three kinds of thread is doubled

eightfold,

eight threads.

And we challenge this:

Let us derive

by a gzera shava of “twined” from “twined”

from the breastplate and the ephod,

and let us say:

Just as there, twenty-eightfold —

so here too,

in the pomegranates,

twenty-eightfold!

And we answer:

We derive

a pomegranate, which is

a thing concerning which gold was not stated, from

the curtain, which is

a thing concerning which gold was not stated.

To exclude

the derivation from

the breastplate and the ephod, concerning which gold was stated.

And we challenge this:

On the contrary, we derive

a pomegranate, which is part of a

garment

the robe

from

the breastplate and the ephod, which are

garments.

And

to exclude

the derivation from

the curtain, for it is a tent

and not a garment.

And we answer:

Rather: we derive from the belt,

whose threads are doubled twenty-fourfold.

And we derive

a pomegranate, which is

a garment, and

it is

a thing concerning which gold was not stated, from

the belt, which is

a garment and

it is

a thing concerning which gold was not stated.

And we do not derive

a pomegranate, which is

a thing in which there is no gold, from

the breastplate and the ephod, which are

a thing in which there is gold.

Rav Mari said: “You shall make it” is written

concerning the breastplate, to say:

“Make it for this one”

of twenty-eight threads,

and not for

another

garment.

Rav Ashi said: “And you shall make” is written

concerning the making of the pomegranates, to teach

that all the acts of making

the three kinds of thread

should be equal.

There should be of each kind the same number of threads.

And how shall we make

a doubled thread of twenty-eight threads from three kinds, with an equal number of threads from each kind?

Let us make three

three kinds

of ten each

threads from each kind —

they will be thirty

thirty threads.

Let us make two

two threads

of nine each, and one

thread

of ten —

the verse says, “And you shall make it,”

that all its acts of making should be equal.

Therefore, it is impossible to learn by a gzera shava from the curtain that the threads of the pomegranate should be doubled twenty-eightfold.

We raise another question concerning it:

The robe,

whose threads should be doubled

twelvefold —

from where do we have this?