Ask A Question on the daf

Previous daf

1a) [line 2] TZIREF YADO - if he made his hand enter first [by sticking it into the house]
b) [line 3] TZIREF GUFO - if he made his body enter first [by keeping his hands at his sides]

2) [line 5] CHOTMO - his nose
3a) [line 6] HICHNIS YADO - the word *Yado* is very problematic here. There are various solutions: (a) it means his nose or his hand or any body part, and the word "Yado" is not to be taken literally (LEKET HA'KOTZRIM); (b) the correct Girsa is HICHNIS *ROSHO* - if he made his head enter first (ROSH); (c) the correct Girsa is HICHNIS *CHOTMO* - if he made his nose enter first (BE'ER MOSHE)
b) [line 7] HICHNIS GUFO - if he entered with his body first [with his head bent backwards or sideways, so that no individual body part enters first]

4) [line 9] ETZBE'ASA D'CHAR'EI - the toe of his foot

5a) [line 11] SHIDAH - (a) a woman's carriage that is closed on all sides (RASHI to Eruvin 30b); (b) a large chest that is used as a bench in a woman's carriage (RASHI to Eruvin 14b)
b) [line 11] TEIVAH - a chest
c) [line 11] MIGDAL - (O.F. mestier) a cupboard (RASHI to Eruvin 30b)

6) [line 11] PARA ALAV ES HA'MA'AZIVAH - he removed one of the walls of the chest

7) [line 14] D'AYIL KESHE'HU GOSES - the Nazir went into the house that contained a Goses, a person who is about to die

8) [line 16] "[L'AVIV UL'IMO, L'ACHIV UL'ACHOSO, LO YITAMA LAHEM] B'MOSAM (YITAMA)..." AD SHE'YAMUS - "[For his father and for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, he shall not become Tamei because of them] upon their deaths..." (Bamidbar 6:7) which means, until they die - The word "Yitama" is out of place (BACH #1)

9) [line 18] MASHMA'US DORSHIN - the implication of the verse regarding how to learn the Halachah; i.e. which verse teaches the Halachah

10) [line 22] B'MOSAM EINO METMEI (TUM'AS MES)
(a) A k'Zayis of a Mes (a corpse) is called "Avi Avos ha'Tumah" and is Metamei through Maga (contact), Masa (carrying), and Ohel (being in the same room),
(b) If a person (or utensil) became Tamei through touching a Mes, he must wait seven days to become Tahor. On the third and seventh days he must have spring water mixed with the ashes of the Parah Adumah (Mei Chatas) sprinkled on him. A person who is Tahor dips three Ezov branches (hyssops) that have been bound together into the mixture, and sprinkles them on the person who is Tamei. On the seventh day, he immerses in a Mikvah after the mixture is sprinkled on him in order to complete his Taharah. (Bamidbar 19:17-19)
(c) Kohanim and Nezirim are prohibited from becoming Tamei Mes.

11) [line 23] NIG'ASAM
(a) For a detailed description of how a house becomes a Bayis ha'Menuga (a house that has Tzara'as), see Background to Nazir 8:15. For a detailed description of how an article of clothing becomes a Beged ha'Menuga (an article of clothing that is infected with Tzara'as), see Background to Yevamos 103:23.
(b) When a person is a Metzora, he is Metamei the objects in the house that he is in (if they are of the type that are able to be Mekabel Tum'ah). Similarly, a house that is declared a Bayis ha'Menuga is Metamei all the objects that are in it. If the stones of this house are brought into another house, they are Metamei the objects in the second house. An article of clothing that is infected with Tzara'as is likewise Metamei the objects in the house that it is in. All four (Metzora, Bayis ha'Menuga, Even ha'Menga'as and Beged ha'Menuga) are also Metamei anyone or any object that touches them.
(c) Regarding a *person* who enters a *house* that has Tzara'as or has a Metzora in it, the Torah records two verses: 1. "veha'Ba El ha'Bayis Kol Yemei Hisgir Oso, Yitma Ad ha'Erev." - "And one who enters the house all the days of its quarantine, will become Tamei until nightfall." (Vayikra 14:46) 2. "veha'Shochev ba'Bayis Yechabes Es Begadav, veha'Ochel ba'Bayis Yechabes Es Begadav." - "And one who reclines in the house shall immerse his clothes [in a Mikvah], and one who eats in the house shall immerse his clothes [in a Mikvah]." (ibid. 14:47)
From the first verse we learn that any person (or thing) that comes into the house becomes Tamei. The clothes that he is wearing, however, do not become Tamei. From the second verse we learn that if someone lingers in the house for the amount of time it takes to eat a Pras (half of a loaf of wheat bread) dipped in relish, while he is reclining, then even the clothes that he is wearing become Tamei.
(d) A person or object that becomes Tamei through a person or object that is infected with Tzara'as (see above, (b)) becomes a Rishon l'Tum'ah and is Metamei only food and drinks. He immerses in a Mikvah and becomes Tahor at nightfall. As our Sugya states, Kohanim and Nezirim, while prohibited from becoming Tamei through Tum'as *Mes*, are not prohibited from becoming Tamei through people and things that are infected with Tzara'as (RAMBAM Hilchos Tum'as Ochlin 16:9).

12) [line 23] ZIVASAM (ZAV AND ZAVAH)
(a) A Zav (see Background to Nazir 15:7), a man who emits Zov two or three times (see Background to Pesachim 66:16 for a discussion of the Tum'ah of the Zav), whether it is emitted in one day or in two or three consecutive days, is an Av ha'Tum'ah.
(b) A Zavah (see Background to Nazir 15:4), a woman who experiences bleeding during the eleven days that follow the seven days of Nidah, is also an Av ha'Tum'ah
(c) A person who *touches* (Maga) or *carries* (Masa) a Mishkav or Moshav ha'Zav (see Background to Nazir 15:8) or a Zav or Zavah themselves gets the status of Rishon l'Tum'ah, and so do the clothes he is wearing and other utensils (except for earthenware utensils) that he is touching at the time. He immerses in a Mikvah and becomes Tahor at nightfall. As our Sugya states, Kohanim and Nezirim, while prohibited from becoming Tamei through Tum'as *Mes*, are not prohibited from becoming Tamei through people and things that are Tamei with Tum'as Zivah (RAMBAM Hilchos Tum'as Ochlin 16:9).

13) [line 32] MEGUYAD - dismembered, even in places that make him a Tereifah (a person who will definitely die)

14) [line 1] NIKTA - cut off
15) [line 4] PIKSA D'ARAVOS - the valley of Aravos (Steppes) in Bavel
16) [line 5] U'PASKUHA GANAVEI L'REISHEI - and thieves cut off his head

17) [line 8] MES MITZVAH
(a) When a dead Jew is found unattended and an attempt to determine who his relatives are brings about no response, the dead body is called a Mes Mitzvah. The person who found the body is obligated to bury it. (RAMBAM Hilchos Avel 3:8)
(b) The body must be buried where it is found; Mes Mitzvah Koneh Mekomo i.e. it "acquires the place where it rests." Even if it is found in the middle of a field, it is buried there. However, if the body is found within 2000 Amos of a Jewish community, it must be buried in the community cemetery. (RAMBAM Hilchos Tum'as Mes 8:7)

18) [line 9] KOREI V'ACHERIM ONIN OSO - (a) if a Kohen who finds a corpse calls out and others answer him (who are coming to bury the corpse) (SMAG, RAN to Yevamos 89b and SHULCHAN ARUCH Yoreh Deah 374:3 based on the Yerushalmi that is brought in Bi'ur ha'Gra); (b) had the dead person been alive and have called out, others from the city (i.e. his heirs and relatives) would have answered him (MAHARSHAL to Yevamos ibid.)

19) [line 12] "[UL'ACHOSO HA'BESULAH, HA'KEROVAH ELAV, ASHER LO HAYESAH L'ISH,] LAH YITAMA." - "[And for his virgin sister, who is next [of kin] to him, who has had no husband;] for her he may become Tamei." (Vayikra 21:3)

20) [line 12] LAH HU MITAMEI
(a) The Torah (Vayikra 21:1-4) forbids Kohanim from coming into contact with corpses while concurrently commanding them to handle the burial of certain relatives. Those relatives are the Kohen's mother, father, son, daughter, brother, sister from his father (if she is an unmarried virgin), and wife (if the wife is permitted to be married to him).
(b) If a Kohen is married to a woman with Kidushin mid'Rabanan (e.g. if she married him as a minor after her father died), her husband is allowed and required to handle her burial. (The Gemara (Yevamos 89b) concludes that the Kohen is actually permitted to bury her mid'Oraisa, even though she is only married to him with a Kidushin mid'Rabanan. Since the Kohen inherits her, nobody else will handle her burial, and therefore she is like a Mes Mitzvah -- see above, entry #18 and Insights to Yevamos 89b.)
(c) The prohibition to come into contact with a corpse applies only to male Kohanim who are not Chalalim. (However, immediately before, and during, the three pilgrimage holidays (Pesach, Shavuos and Sukos), every Jew, male or female, is commanded to be Tahor -- RASHI, Yevamos 29b DH v'Lo Mitames.) The positive command to handle the burial of the seven relatives mentioned above (a) applies not only to Kohanim, but also to all Jews.

21) [line 22] NETZEL - the flesh of a corpse that dissolves to a putrid liquid and then coagulates (Gemara below 50a, RAMBAM Hilchos Tum'as Mes 2:1)

22) [line 22] MELO TARVAD REKEV
A large spoonful (that measures two handfuls) of rot (Rekev) from a decomposed corpse, is Metamei b'Ohel (Ohalos 2:1). Rekev is Metamei only if it is from a bare corpse that decomposed and was not mixed with anything else (Gemara below Daf 51a, Nidah 27b). (According to the Yerushalmi (Nazir 35b), a large spoonful is the total amount of decomposed matter that is produced from any one corpse that decomposes.)

23) [line 23] L'SHIDRAH UL'GULGOLES - for the spinal column and the skull
(a) The bones of a Mes are only Metamei through Ohel under one of three conditions: 1. They constitute a quarter of a Kav (Rova Ha'kav); 2. They are the majority of the human body (whether they are the majority of the *build* (Rov Binyano) of the body or the majority of the *number* (Rov Minyano) of 248 bones; 3. The bone is a complete skull or a complete spinal column. In order to be Metamei through Maga and Masa, it is enough for the bone to be the size of a Se'orah (a grain of barley).
(b) Rov Binyano refers to the majority of the bones that enable a person to stand erect, e.g. two calf bones and one thigh bone. All of his "build," i.e. the bones that enable him to stand erect are two calf bones, two thigh bones, the ribs and the spinal column (Gemara below 51b, RAMBAM Hilchos Tum'as Mes 2:8).

24) [line 24] L'ROV MINYANAH UL'ROV BINYANAH - see previous entry
25) [line 24] "[VA'YOMER...EMOR EL HA'KOHANIM BENEI AHARON;] V'AMARTA ALEHEM, [L'NEFESH LO YITAMA B'AMAV.]" - "[And HaSh-m said to Moshe, 'Speak to the Kohanim, the sons of Aharon,] and say to them, ["Each of you shall not Metamei himself for a [dead] person among his people."']" (Vayikra 21:1)

Next daf