Jewish%20thought for Menachot 57:19

אגרא חמוה דר' אבא

and the creeping things.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The identification of the clean and unclean reptiles.');">²⁵</span> The candlestick, as it is written, And this was the work of the candlestick. The new moon, as it is written, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ex. XII, 2.');">²⁶</span> The creeping things, as it is written, And these are they which are unclean.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lev. XI, 29.');">²⁷</span> Others add, Also the rules for slaughtering [beasts], as it i written, Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ex. XXIX, 38. And as the first act of the offering is the slaughtering the expression 'this' clearly refers to an actual demonstration unto Moses of the rules and regulations of slaughtering.');">²⁸</span> OF THE TWO PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE IN THE MEZUZAH THE [ABSENCE OF] ONE INVALIDATES THE OTHER; INDEED EVEN ONE [IMPERFECT] LETTER CAN INVALIDATE THE WHOLE. Is not this obvious?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That one imperfect letter can invalidate the whole. For the law insists upon perfect writing in Scrolls of the Law, tefillin, and mezuzah.');">²⁹</span> - Rab Judah answered in the name of Rab, The law had to be taught in respect of the tittle of the letter yod.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., even if the lower (according to Tosaf. 'the upper') stroke of the letter yod was missing, it is invalid.');">³⁰</span> And is not this, too, obvious?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since without the stroke it is no yod and it would not be recognizable as such.');">³¹</span> - It had to be taught in regard to the other statement of Rab Judah in the name of Rab. For Rab Judah said in the name of Rab, Any letter that is not surrounded on all four sides by a margin of parchment is invalid.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The letter must not be joined to or run into either the preceding or following letters, but must be surrounded by a blank margin of the parchment. v');">³²</span> Ashian B'Nidbak said in the name of Rab Judah, If the inner [leg] of the letter he<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., the left or detached leg of the letter. It is referred to as inner for in early MSS. this leg was almost in the middle of the letter. Aliter: the inner space of the letter. v');">³³</span> was perforated, it is still valid; if the [right] leg was perforated it is invalid. R'Zera said, This was explained to me by R'Huna and R'Jacob said, This too was explained to me by Rab Judah - as follows: If the inner [leg] of the he was perforated, it is still valid; if the [right] leg was perforated and there still remained thereof the size of a letter,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., the upper part of the leg was still joined to the roof of the letter, thu, so that it can be read as a he, although reduced in size.');">³⁴</span> it is valid; otherwise it is invalid. It once happened to Agra, the father-in-law of R'Abba,

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