Chullin 211
מים הראשונים האכילו בשר חזיר אחרונים הוציאו את האשה מבעלה
The omission to wash the hands before the meal caused one to eat swine's flesh,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A person once entered an inn and sat down to the table without first washing his hands. He was taken for a non-Jew and was served with swine's flesh.');"><sup>1</sup></span>
כי אתא רבין אמר
and the omission to wash the hands after the meal caused a separation of a wife from her husband.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Yoma 83b, where it is related that certain Rabbis had entrusted their purses to a certain man who later denied all knowledge of them. They noticed that the man had traces of lentils on his upper lip, so they immediately went off to his home and asked his wife in the name of her husband to hand them the purses. On her asking them to prove their bona fides they told her that her husband had eaten lentils that day. She thereupon handed them the purses. When the husband came home and learnt what his wife had done he immediately divorced her, or as some say, killed her. Now had the husband been particular about washing the hands (and naturally also the lips) after the meal, this tragedy of a divorce or a murder would not have happened.');"><sup>2</sup></span>
אתא רב דימי אפקה אתא רבין קטלה
and the omission to wash after the meal caused a murder.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Yoma 83b, where it is related that certain Rabbis had entrusted their purses to a certain man who later denied all knowledge of them. They noticed that the man had traces of lentils on his upper lip, so they immediately went off to his home and asked his wife in the name of her husband to hand them the purses. On her asking them to prove their bona fides they told her that her husband had eaten lentils that day. She thereupon handed them the purses. When the husband came home and learnt what his wife had done he immediately divorced her, or as some say, killed her. Now had the husband been particular about washing the hands (and naturally also the lips) after the meal, this tragedy of a divorce or a murder would not have happened.');"><sup>2</sup></span>
ר' אבא מתני חדא מהני וחדא מהני לחומרא
R'Nahman B'Isaac said, [In order to remember the statements of each bear in mind] the following mnemonic: R'Dimi came [first] and separated her, and then Rabin came and killed her'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' R. Dimi came to Palestine before R. Abin and reported what could have occurred only earlier before the murder reported by R. Abin.');"><sup>4</sup></span>
איתמר חמי האור
R'Abba reported the graver result in each case.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' With regard to the omission of washing before the meal the graver outcome was the eating of swine's flesh, and with regard to the omission of washing after the meal it was the taking of a life.');"><sup>5</sup></span>
נוטלין מהם לידים
R'Johanan related: I enquired of R'Gamaliel the son of Rabbi, who used to eat all his food in conditions of levitical purity, and he told me that all the great men of Galilee did so.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., wash their hands before the meal with hot water.');"><sup>7</sup></span>
אמר רבי יוחנן
As regards the hot springs of Tiberias, Hezekiah says: One may not wash the hands therewith, but one may immerse the hands therein.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Provided there was the requisite quantity of water, viz., forty se'ah.');"><sup>8</sup></span>
כל גדולי גליל עושין כן
One may immerse the body therein, but not the face, hands or feet.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If the hands were unclean and one immersed them in these hot springs they are not thereby rendered clean, neither are they regarded as washed for the meal. The terms 'face' and 'feet' are quite irrelevant and are added here only on account of the fullness of the expression. 'face, hands and feet'.');"><sup>9</sup></span>
חמי טבריא חזקיה אמר
But surely, if one may immerse therein the whole body, how much more so the face, hands or feet!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For it established that the immersion of the whole body is accounted as the immersion of the hands and certainly as the washing of the hands before the meal.');"><sup>10</sup></span>
אין נוטלין מהם לידים אבל מטבילין בהן הידים
- R'Papa said: At the source there is no dispute at all that it is permitted;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For all purposes, immersion as well as washing. For by immersing the hands at the source of the spring it is like an immersion in a fountain or mikweh.');"><sup>11</sup></span>
ורבי יוחנן אמר
moreover, to take some away in a vessel, there is no dispute at all that it is forbidden.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., to fill a vessel with water from these springs and to pour it over the hands would not be deemed a valid 'washing' of the hands. For washing the hands by means of a vessel was primarily confined to the use of cold water, and although the Rabbis permitted water that had been heated, the permission did not extend to include the water from hot springs, for, being ever hot, it never came within the scope of the institution.');"><sup>12</sup></span>
כל גופו טובל בהן אבל לא פניו ידיו ורגליו
They disagree only in the case where the water [from the spring] was run off into a channel;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., the water from the hot springs had been run off in a small channel in which there was not the requisite quantity of water for immersion but which was connected with the source.');"><sup>13</sup></span>
השתא כל גופו טובל בהם פניו ידיו ורגליו לא כ"ש
one holds that we must forbid the case of a channel on account of a vessel,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Such is the view of Hezekiah, hence his ruling that one may not wash the hands therewith; the following view is that of R. Johanan. V. Asheri a.l. and Alfasi on Ber. VIII, 44b.');"><sup>14</sup></span>
לא גזרינן
But surely if one may immerse therein the whole body, how much more so the face, hands or feet! This therefore must be a case where the water was run off into a channel, and they differ in this: one<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' R. Simeon b. Eleazar.');"><sup>16</sup></span>
מים שנפסלו משתיית בהמה בכלים פסולים בקרקע כשרין
R'Idi B'Abin said in the name of R'Isaac B'Ashian: The washing of the hands for common food was ordained only in order to acquire the habit with regard to terumah;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For hands are accounted unclean in the second degree and so can only impart their uncleanness to consecrated food or terumah but not to common food.');"><sup>17</sup></span>
רבי שמעון בן אלעזר אומר
moreover, it is a meritorious act.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [I.e., apart from the consideration of terumah, the fact that the washing of the hands was instituted by the Sages makes it into a meritorious act, v. Adreth Hiddushim.]');"><sup>18</sup></span>
רבא אמר
The meaning must be: And any other person that has not rinsed his hands is unclean.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' It is interpreted as a distinct rule and does not refer to the person that has an issue. Of course it is not intended thereby to convey that the t,fnxt law of washing the hands is of Biblical origin, the Rabbis merely supported their enactment by a Biblical text, i.e., .');"><sup>20</sup></span>
מצוה לשמוע דברי ר"א בן ערך דכתיב (ויקרא טו, יא) וכל אשר יגע בו הזב וידיו לא שטף במים אמר ר"א בן ערך
R'Eleazar said in the name of R'Oshaia: They enjoined the washing of the hands before eating fruit only for reasons of cleanliness The disciples understood from this that it was not a duty but that it was nevertheless a meritorious act.
אמר ליה רבא לרב נחמן
This opinion [of Raba] differs from that of R'Nahman, for R'Nahman said: Whosoever washes his hands for fruit is of those that are haughty in spirit.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And one should not behave so; Raba however permits it at one's free choice. inzk');"><sup>21</sup></span>
אלא הכי קאמר
Draw three conclusions from this: (i) that the law of washing the hands does not apply to fruit; (ii) that the law of Common Grace does not apply to fruit;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Ber. 45a: Three who ate together are under the obligation to say the Common Grace () . This law evidently does not apply to a meal of fruit, for if it did these Rabbis would certainly have offered Rabbah some fruit in order to be enabled to say the Common Grace.');"><sup>22</sup></span>