א"ר יהושע מוטב דאיקום ואיזיל אנא לגבייהו אתא טרף אבבא א"ל מזה בן מזה יזה ושאינו לא מזה ולא בן מזה יאמר למזה בן מזה מימיך מי מערה ואפרך אפר מקלה א"ל ר"ע רבי יהושע נתפייסת כלום עשינו אלא בשביל כבודך למחר אני ואתה נשכים לפתחו
R. Joshua said, "It is better that I should rise and go myself to him." He went and knocked at his door, and said to him, "Let the sprinkler who is the son of a sprinkler sprinkle; for shall one who is not a sprinkler nor the son of a sprinkler say to a sprinkler who is the son of a sprinkler, 'Thy water is cave water and thy ashes the ashes of a stove'?" R. 'Akiba said to him, "R. Joshua, thou hast become reconciled ! Have we not done this only out of regard for thine honour? To-morrow thou and I will go early to the door of [Rabban Gamaliel's] house."
Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot
To R. Eleazar b. 'Azariah and induce him to stand aside in favour of Rabban Gamaliel.
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Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot
By "sprinkler" is meant the priest who had the duty of purifying one defiled by contact with the dead, by sprinkling him with the ashes of the "red heifer" mingled with running water; cf. Num. xix. For the sense of the enigmatic message, see note 3 above.
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Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot
I.e. ordinary well-water and common ashes, not the running water and ashes of the red heifer, as required by the Torah.
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Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot
