Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Sotah

Folio 16a

The following question was asked: If there is no dust, how is it about putting ashes there? According to the view of Beth Shammai, the question does not arise because they said that we never find ashes called dust; but the question does arise according to the view of Beth Hillel because they said that we do find ashes called dust.⁵  How is it then? Although the word 'dust' is used, it is here written 'on the floor of the tabernacle';⁶  perhaps, however, the phrase 'on the floor of the tabernacle' is intended to be understood according to the interpretation of Issi b. Judah and Issi b. Menahem?⁷  — Come and hear: for R. Johanan said in the name of R. Ishmael: In three places the halachah crushes the Scriptural text under heel:⁸  the Torah states with dust,⁹  whereas the halachah allows [the blood to be covered] with anything; the Torah states no razor,¹⁰  whereas the legal decision is [that a Nazirite may not shave] with anything; the Torah states a book,¹¹  whereas the legal decision [allows] any [form of document]. Now if this¹²  is so, it should also have been enumerated! — He taught [some instances] and omitted others. What else, then, did he omit?¹³  — He omitted [the shaving] of a leper;¹⁴  for it has been taught: And it shall be on the seventh day that he shall shave all his hair — that is a generalization; off his head and his beard and his eyebrows — that is a particularization; even all his hair he shall shave off¹⁵  — that is again a generalization. Now [the rule of exegesis is]: when there is a general proposition, followed by the enumeration of particulars, and this is followed by a general proposition, include only that which resembles the particulars.¹⁶  As the particulars refer to a part [of the body] where the hair grows and is visible, so every place where the hair grows and is visible [comes within the scope of the law]. What does it include? It includes the hair on the private part. What does it exclude? It excludes that of the arm-pit and the whole body [which is normally covered]. The halachah, however, is: he shaves himself as smooth as a gourd.¹⁷  For we have learnt: When [the priest] comes to shave the leper, he passes a razor over all his flesh;¹⁸  and it continues,¹⁹  On the seventh day he shaves²⁰  the second shaving after the manner of the first.²¹  R. Nahman b. Isaac said: [R. Johanan] enumerated instances where the halachah crushes the Scriptural text under heel; but here it crushes a Rabbinical teaching²²  under heel.²³  R. Papa said: [R. Johanan] enumerated instances where the halachah crushes the Scriptural text under heel and overthrows it; but here it crushes the text under heel and extends it.²⁴  R. Ashi said: According to whom is this teaching [that only the visible parts of the body are to be shaved]? It is R. Ishmael who expounds [the Torah] by the rule of generalization and particularization.²⁵

1. In Jerusalem.
2. I.e., entrance into the Temple-precincts while ritually unclean. This is not an offence punished by a Court with death.
3. Which is a capital crime.
4. It must first be scattered on the floor. [In contradiction to the second Baraitha cited which permits the bringing in dust from elsewhere and putting it forthwith into the water].
5. This matter, with reference to covering the blood after slaughter of an animal, is discussed in Hul. 88b.
6. So it is impossible to think that ashes could be meant.
7. If these words intend the inclusion of temporary Sanctuaries and the Temple, then 'dust' could here signify ashes.
8. I.e., practice goes beyond the letter of the Torah.
9. Lev. XVII, 13.
10. Num. VI, 5.
11. So literally, of a letter of divorcement (Deut. XXIV, I).
12. The use of ashes instead of dust.
13. [He would not in enumeration just stop short at one point.]
14. This refers to the second act of shaving. The leper was shaved twice; see Lev. XIV, 8 and 9.
15. Lev. XIV, 9.
16. V. Shebu (Sonc. ed.) p. 13, n. 3.
17. I.e., all over his body.
18. Neg. XIV. 2.
19. Ibid 3.
20. [This is a reading of Rashi which is preferable to that of the cur. edd: 'on the seventh day he shall shave', as this is a quotation of Neg. XIV. 3.]
21. Over all the body.
22. [A teaching derived from Rabbinic exegesis. MS.M. reads 'Midrash'; v. Chajes, Z.H. ntes.]
23. And therefore R. Johanan's list of three cases is complete.
24. [By shaving the whole body the demands of the text are not set aside but extended.]
25. He elaborated thirteen rules of interpretation, and that quoted above is one of them. [And so according to R. Ishmael in whose name the above enumeration was reported by R. Johanan the list is complete].

JUST SUFFICIENT TO BE VISIBLE ABOVE THE WATER. Our Rabbis have taught: Three things must be visible, viz., the dust in the ceremony of the suspected woman, the ashes in the ceremony of the red heifer¹  and the spittle in the ceremony of Halizah.²  They said in the name of R. Ishmael, Also the blood of the bird.³  What is R. Ishmael's reason? — Because it is written: And shall dip them in the blood of the bird etc.;⁴  and it has been taught: 'in the blood' — it is possible [to think that they must be dipped] in blood and not in water; therefore the text declares '[over the running] water'. If Scripture [had only mentioned] 'water', it would be possible [to think that they must be dipped] in water and not in blood; therefore the text declares 'in the blood'. What, then, was the procedure? He brings water in which the blood of the bird is recognisable. What is the quantity? A quarter [of a log]. And [why is this instance not included in their enumeration by] the Rabbis? — That is part of the subject-matter; for thus said the All-Merciful, Dip in blood and water.⁵  [How is this argument met by] R. Ishmael? — In that case, the All-Merciful should have written: 'And he shall dip in them'; so why [is it stated] in blood and in water? That [the blood] must be recognisable. And [how is this argument met by] the Rabbis? — If the All-Merciful had written: 'And he shall dip in them', I might have imagined [that he was to dip] in each separately; therefore He wrote 'in blood and in water' to indicate that they must be mixed. [How does] R. Ishmael [answer this point]? That they are to be mixed [is learnt from] another verse; it is written: And kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water.⁶  [How do] the Rabbis [answer this point]? — If [we had to learn it] from that passage, we might have thought that he is to kill it near a vessel, press the jugular veins,⁷  and receive the blood in another vessel. Hence we are informed [by this verse that the killing must be done over the vessel containing the water].

R. Jeremiah asked R. Zera, How is it if [the bird] was so big that [its blood] effaced [all trace of] the water, or if it was so small that [all trace of its blood] was effaced by the water? He answered: Have I not told thee not to take thyself beyond the legal decision?⁸  The Rabbis estimated [the quantity of a quarter of a log] by a free bird;⁹  and this is never so big that [its blood] should efface [all trace of] the water, nor so small that [all trace of its blood] should be effaced by the water.

Our Rabbis have taught: If he put the dust [in the bowl] before the water, it is invalid; but R. Simeon allows it. What is the reason of R. Simeon? — Because it is written: And for the unclean they shall take of the dust of the burning of the sin-offering;¹⁰  and it has been taught: R. Simeon said: Was it dust and not ashes? The text changes the expression to indicate that a conclusion was to be drawn from it by the rule of analogy: it is mentioned here 'dust', and there [in the ceremony of the suspected woman] it is also mentioned 'dust'; as in the second instance the dust had to be placed over the water,¹¹  so also here the dust had to be placed over the water; and further, as it is valid here if he put the dust on before the water, so also there [in the ceremony of the suspected woman] it is valid if he put the dust on before the water.¹²  Whence is this derived there [in the rite of the red heifer]? — There are two texts: It is written thereto,¹³  consequently the ashes are first; and it is written running water in a vessel, consequently the water is first. So what was the procedure? He can put either in first. [How is this interpretation answered by] the Rabbis?¹⁴  — 'In a vessel' — precisely so;¹⁵  'thereto'- that they are to be mixed. But say rather that 'thereto' means precisely so;¹⁶  and 'in a vessel' means that the water must be poured directly into the vessel from the spring!¹⁷  — As we find that everywhere it is the qualifying element which is on top,¹⁸  so also here¹⁹  the qualifying element must be on top.

1. Num. XIX.
2. V. Glos.
3. Used in the purificatory rites of a leper.
4. Lev. XIV, 6.
5. So long as there is some blood in the water, even if it cannot be distinguished.
6. Lev. XIV, 5.
7. So that no blood escapes while carrying it to the other vessel.
8. Not to raise questions about exaggerated points in connection with the decisions.
9. Such as flies in and out of a house. [A swallow; v. Lewysohn Zoologic, p. 206ff].
10. Num. XIX, 17. The text has the word for dust, not 'ashes'.
11. As stated in Num. V, 17.
12. As explained anon.
13. Ibid., running water shall be put thereto.
14. Who declare that the rite is invalid if the dust is placed in the bowl before the water.
15. I.e., the water must be poured in first.
16. The water to be poured on the ashes.
17. It must be running water, and not poured from another vessel.
18. [In the case of a suspected woman, and of a leper, the qualifying elements — i.e., the dust which gives the water of bitterness its efficacy and the blood of the bird — must be placed on top as indicated by the plain meaning of the Scriptural texts: Num. V, 17, and Lev. XIV, 6.]
19. With the ashes of the red heifer.