Bekhorot 89
יתר בידיו וברגליו שש ושש עשרים וארבע ר' יהודה מכשיר וחכמים פוסלין
OR IF HIS HEEL PROJECTS BEHIND, OR IF HIS FEET ARE WIDE LIKE THOSE OF A GOOSE<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' As thin as those of a goose and their length and width are alike.');"><sup>2</sup></span>
השולט בשתי ידיו רבי פוסל וחכמים מכשירין:
OR IF HIS FINGERS LIE ONE ABOVE THE OTHER OR IF THEY ARE GROWN TOGETHER UP TO THE ROOT [THE MIDDLE JOINT], HE IS FIT [FOR THE PRIESTHOOD]; IF BELOW THE ROOT,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Viz., towards the nail, the fingers being all attached to each other.');"><sup>3</sup></span>
תנא
IF HE HAS ADDITIONAL FINGERS AND ADDITIONAL TOES, ON EACH HAND AND FOOT SIX FINGERS AND SIX TOES, [MAKING ALTOGETHER] TWENTY-FOUR [FINGERS AND TOES], R'JUDAH DECLARES SUCH A PRIEST FIT FOR THE PRIESTHOOD,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since the fingers are equal in number.');"><sup>6</sup></span>
לא תימא דטריפה ולא סדיקא אלא כיון דטריפה אע"ג דסדיקא:
R'Hiyya B'Abba reported in the name of R'Johanan: Ba'al ha-pikin is one who has many calves<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Appearing as if possessing many calves on his legs, very thick-fleshed.');"><sup>10</sup></span>
(ויקרא כא, יט) שבר יד אין לי אלא שבר יד אצבעות מורכבות (למעלה) או קלוטות למעלה מן הפרק וחתכן
Said R'Eleazar: This [latter defect] means the leg coming out in the middle of the foot.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Half of the foot is in the front and the other half in the rear. vphry vphry');"><sup>12</sup></span>
אלא
Said R'Papa: You should not say that the feet must be thin<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' So Rashi understands here. The Arukh says that means: The length and width of the feet are alike. Rashi in his commentary on the Mishnah appears to combine both interpretations. Tosaf. Yom Tob suggests that Rashi on the Mishnah means that they are either thin or that their length etc.');"><sup>13</sup></span>
היתה בו יתרת וחתכה אם יש בה עצם פסול ואם לאו כשר:
Whence do we deduce that if his fingers lie one above the other or are grown together above<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The 'above' here has the same meaning as 'below' in the MISHNAH:');"><sup>15</sup></span>
ובנספרת על גב היד
Rabbah B'bar Hana reported in the name of R'Johanan: Provided the additional finger is counted with the others.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., is in line with the rest of the fingers, it is then that the Mishnah regards it as a limb.');"><sup>17</sup></span>
אמר רב חסדא דבר זה רבינו הגדול אמרו המקום יהיה בעזרו
Our Rabbis taught: An additional [finger] if it has a bone in it even without a nail,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Although it does not possess a nail, the additional finger of a corpse is still considered a limb, since it is in line with the rest of the fingers.');"><sup>18</sup></span>
יתרת שיש בה עצם ואין בה צפורן מטמא במגע ובמשא ואין מטמא באהל
makes a person unclean by contact and by carrying it.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Where, for example, it has a small quantity of flesh attached to it, even it be less than the size of an olive. For if there were a piece of flesh the size of an olive on the bone, then even if the additional finger were not in line with the rest of the fingers or even if there were not a bone in the additional finger, it would have caused tent uncleanness, for the rule is that the flesh of a corpse the size of an olive causes tent uncleanness. Again, if there were not any flesh at all on the bone, then even if the additional finger were in line with the rest, it would not have been considered a limb, since bones as such do not cause tent uncleanness, unless where there is a majority of the joints or the greater part of the corpse. But now since there is a small portion of flesh, even though not the size of an olive, the additional finger of a corpse causes uncleanness because it is in line with the rest and is legally recognized as a limb.');"><sup>19</sup></span>
אמר רבב"ח א"ר יוחנן
It also causes tent uncleanness,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Tent uncleanness is uncleanness arising from being under the same tent and shelter with, or forming a tent and shelter over, a corpse; v. Num. XIX, 14.');"><sup>20</sup></span>
ובשאינה נספרת על גב היד
and is counted in the number of one hundred and twenty-five [limbs].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If there is no flesh the size of an olive, the additional finger is counted as a limb among the one hundred and twenty-five limbs and joints, as this constitutes the greater number of limbs of the two hundred and forty-eight limbs and joints of which the human body is composed, the law being that the majority of the joints and limbs of a corpse causes tent uncleanness.');"><sup>21</sup></span>
עשו דבריהם כדברי נביאות
Said R'Hisda: The following ruling was taught by our great Master [Rab], may the Lord be his support! An additional finger if there is a bone in it, even without a nail, makes a person unclean by contact and by carrying it but i does not cause tent uncleanness.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Where the additional finger is not in line with the rest, as explained below, there being here two disqualifications; first that there are no nails, and secondly its not being in line with the rest of the fingers. But if it has a nail in it, the additional finger makes tent uncleanness although it is not in line.');"><sup>22</sup></span>
משום עצם כשעורה נגעו בה
They have put their teaching on the level with prophecy.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Just as the Prophets are not required to give reasons for their utterances, so the teachers in the passage just quoted also give no reason for their ruling.');"><sup>24</sup></span>
גזירה שאינה נספרת אטו נספרת
If the additional finger is considered a limb [legally then it should even cause tent uncleanness; and if it is not a limb [legally], then it should not even make a person unclean by contact and by carrying it! - Said R'Huna B'Manoah in the name of R'Aha B'Ika: The Rabbis applied here the rule of a bone which is the size of a barleycorn.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Which makes a person unclean either by carrying it or coming in contact with it, but does not cause tent uncleanness.');"><sup>25</sup></span>
אי הכי שאינה נספרת באהל נמי תטמא
R'Papa says: We declare him unclean in the case where the additional finger was not counted with the others on account of the case where the additional finger is counted with the others.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Legally where the additional finger is not in line with the rest, there is no uncleanness, only for fear that this might bring about laxity in a case where the additional finger is in line, where it legally causes uncleanness, the Rabbis declared uncleanness also in the former case.');"><sup>26</sup></span>
עבדו רבנן היכירא כי היכי דלא לישרפו עלייהו תרומה וקדשים
But if this be so, then in the case where the additional finger is not counted with the others, it should also cause tent uncleanness? - The Rabbis made a distinction in order that terumah and consecrated ob jects might not be burnt [unnecessarily] on account of it.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Had every form of uncleanness been declared, including that of ohel, one might have been led to believe that an additional finger not in line is a genuine limb, and therefore terumah etc. might come to be wrongly burnt as a consequence.');"><sup>27</sup></span>
רוב בנינו ורוב מנינו של מת אע"פ שאין בו רובע טמאין
of a corpse [as measured by size of limbs] and the larger number of joints and limbs, even though there is not among them one quarter of a kab<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A small measure of capacity.');"><sup>29</sup></span>
איזהו רוב מנינו קכ"ה
Two legs and a thigh, since this is the greater par of the height of a tall person.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Without reckoning the head, for as regards the frame of a corpse, the head is not taken into consideration. This measurement applies to a tall person only but not to a small person.');"><sup>31</sup></span>
חסר שאין בו אלא מאתים ויתר שיש בו מאתים ושמונים וא' כולן עולין למנין קכ"ה
to Raba: Is it the object of the Tanna to teach us calculation?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For since there are two hundred and forty-eight joints in the human body, it is obvious that the majority is one hundred and twenty-five, and what need is there for the Tanna of the Baraitha to teach us this?');"><sup>33</sup></span>
זיל בתר רובא דאינשי
He replied to him: He informs us of the following as it was taught: If a person is defective [in the number of joints], having only two hundred,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A man born with two fingers missing on each hand and two toes on each leg i.e., eight members. Now since every finger has six bones, this makes altogether a total of forty-eight joints of which this man is short. Thus he has only two hundred joints of the two hundred and forty-eight which the human body contains.');"><sup>34</sup></span>
א"ר יהודה אמר שמואל
or if one<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If a woman is born with two additional fingers on her hands and two additional toes on her legs and each one has six bones, we have a total of twenty-four additional limbs. In addition, there are five extra limbs in the case of a woman, viz. two hinges, two doors and the womb (v. infra) . We have therefore altogether twenty-nine additional limbs. Add this to two hundred and forty-eight, and we have a grand total of two hundred and seventy-seven. Rashi says that he cannot account for the other four so as to make up the number to two hundred and eighty-one. R. Gershom however explains that for every six bones in a finger there is a corresponding extra bone in the arm. Consequently, as there are four additional fingers and toes, we have a further four limbs, which bring the number of joints to two hundred and eighty-one.');"><sup>35</sup></span>
מעשה בתלמידיו של ר' ישמעאל ששלקו זונה אחת שנתחייבה שריפה למלך בדקו ומצאו בה מאתים וחמשים ושנים
has additional limbs, having two hundred and eighty-one, all these joints are counted in the number of one hundred and twenty-five.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The Tanna therefore informs us that although one hundred and twenty-five is not the actual majority of limbs in the case of a woman who has additional fingers or the bare majority in the case of one who has less than the usual number of limbs, we accept the number in all cases as the greater number of limbs causes tent uncleanness.');"><sup>36</sup></span>
(שמואל א ד, יט) ותכרע ותלד כי נהפכו עליה ציריה
[They came and inquired of R'Ishmael: 'How many joints has the human body? ' He replied to them: 'Two hundred and forty-eight.]'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Inserted from Sh. Mek.');"><sup>37</sup></span>
כשם שדלתות לבית כך דלתות לאשה שנאמר
He replied to them: 'Perhaps you made the postmortem examination on a woman, in whose case Scripture adds two hinges [in her sexual organ] and two doors<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., the muscles.');"><sup>38</sup></span>
כשם שמפתח לבית כך מפתח לאשה שנאמר
so a woman's body has hinges [in her sexual organ], as it is written in the Scriptures: She<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The word (her pains) coming from the word literally rendered means 'hinges'.');"><sup>40</sup></span>
וכולן אין מטמאין באהל שנאמר
According to the opinion of R'Akiba, is there not a difficulty in connection with what R'Ishmael's disciples discovered?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Who only found two hundred and fifty-two limbs in a woman's body, while according to R. Akiba who mentions that the womb was an extra limb, there is another limb, making two hundred and fifty-three in all.');"><sup>44</sup></span>
(ישעיהו כא, ג) צירים אחזוני כצירי יולדה
[implying], a thing which is common to all human beings [causes tent uncleanness].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' But a thing which is not common to both men and women does not clause tent uncleanness, the word meaning human being in general and not exclusively a man.');"><sup>48</sup></span>
לא באיש ולא באשה:
- Here again the verse refers to 'hinges' of flesh. It also stands to reason. For if you will not say so,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That zirim written in connection with a man is not an additional limb and thus there would be another limb in the case of a man.');"><sup>54</sup></span> to whom then will you apply the accepted statement that there exist two hundred and forty-eight limbs [in the human body], for it can apply neither to a man nor to a woman.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' On the number of human limbs given here v. Mak., Sonc. ed., p. 169 n. 5.');"><sup>55</sup></span>