Chullin 250

Chapter 250

א הנוגע בכחצי זית ודבר אחר מאהיל עליו ועל כחצי זית טהור

1 if he touched one half-olive's bulk and some other thing overshadowed both him and another half-olive's bulk,1

ב ואי חד שמא הוא אמאי טהור

2 he is clean.

ג אלא קשיא רישא

3 Now if they fall within one category why is he clean?2

ד אמר רבי זירא

4 But does not this clause conflict with the first clause?3

ה בטומאה רצוצה בין ב' מגדלים עסקינן ואין ביניהן פותח טפח דכולה נגיעה היא

5 - R'Zera answered: We are dealing there [in the first clause] with uncleanness that was confined between two cupboards between which there was not a handbreadth's space, in which case [overshadowing] is regarded as actual contact.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For it is established law that uncleanness which is confined or wedged in - i.e., there is not the air-space of a handbreadth on all sides - breaks through its confines and rises, as it were, in a column directly above, so that whoever passes at any height whatsoever over the uncleanness actually comes into contact with the column of uncleanness and is rendered unclean.');">4

ו ומאן תנא דקרי לאהל נוגע ר' יוסי היא דתניא ר' יוסי אומר

6 Who then is the Tanna that includes 'overshadowing' in the term 'he who touches'? - It is R'Jose.

ז מלא תרווד רקב מטמא במגע ובמשא ובאהל בשלמא במשא ובאהל הא קא טעין ליה לכוליה והא קא מאהיל אכוליה

7 For it was taught: R'Jose says.

ח אלא נוגע הא לא נגע בכוליה

8 A ladleful of corpse-mould5

ט אלא לאו ש"מ

9 conveys uncleanness by contact, by carrying, and by overshadowing.

י מאי נוגע מאהיל

10 Now it is clear [that a person is rendered unclean] by carrying and by overshadowing, for he carries the whole quantity and overshadows the whole quantity, but with regard to uncleanness by contact, he surely does not touch the whole quantity!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For the corpse-mould is composed of many particles, and when a person touches a part thereof he cannot be said to have touched the whole ladleful, in which case he should not be rendered unclean by contact therewith.');">6

יא והא קתני נוגע והא קתני מאהיל

11 One must say, therefore, that the expression 'contact' means 'overshadowing'.

יב אמר אביי

12 But does it not expressly state 'by contact' as well as 'by overshadowing'?

יג למטה מטפח אהל נגיעה למעלה מטפח אהל גרידא

13 Abaye suggested, [To overshadow uncleanness] within a handbreadth thereof is termed 'overshadowing by contact', but more than a handbreadth away it is termed 'plain overshadowing'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The terms 'contact' and 'overshadowing' employed in the foregoing Baraitha are both to be understood in the sense of overshadowing, but Abaye draws a distinction between two modes of overshadowing. It must be observed that Abaye's suggestion is in no wise in support of R. Johanan's contention that the Tanna of our Mishnah is R. Jose and that the expression in our Mishnah HE WHO TOUCHES includes overshadowing, for according to him only overshadowing within a handbreadth from the unclean matter can be referred to by the term 'touch', accordingly our Mishnah does exclude plain overshadowing so that the difficulty propounded at the beginning of the argument stands. Of course Abaye himself has already explained the Mishnah to his satisfaction as stated above, supra p. 701.');">7

יד רבא אמר

14 Raba said: Even more than a handbreadth away, it is also termed overshadowing by contact'; but what is meant by 'plain overshadowing'?

טו אפילו למעלה מטפח נמי אהל נגיעה הוא

15 Where there is a projection.8

טז והיכי דמי אהל גרידא בהמשכה

16 Raba said: Whence do I derive this?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That whatsoever overshadows more than the distance of a handbreadth away from the uncleanness is still regarded as 'overshadowing by contact' according to R. Jose, and is implied in the term 'touch'.');">9

יז אמר רבא מנא אמינא לה

17 From what was taught [in the following Baraitha]: R'Jose says.

יח דתנן ר' יוסי אומר

18 The woven cords of beds and the lattice-work of windows serve as partitions between the house and the upper room to prevent the passage of uncleanness to the other side.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If these networks are stretched out across the lower room forming a ceiling thereto, they become forthwith part of the structure of the room and as such cannot contract uncleanness. Moreover they serve as a partition and prevent the uncleanness from passing into the room above, for the meshes or holes in the network do not give passage to the uncleanness since there is no opening a handbreadth square in it. Consequently whatsoever happens to be in the upper room, even that which is directly over a hole in the net, remains clean.');">10

יט חבילי מטה וסריגי חלונות חוצצין בין הבית לעלייה שלא להכניס טומאה לצד שני

19 If these were spread over a corpse, being suspended in the air, whatever touches<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., happens to be directly over one of the holes in the net. In this case the network is in no way intended as a ceiling, consequently whatsoever directly overshadows the corpse becomes unclean, but whatsoever is not directly over a hole but over a bar or thread of the net does not become unclean, for in this respect the threads of the net, inasmuch as they do not contract uncleanness, form a partition to prevent the uncleanness from passing upwards.');">11

כ פרסן על פני המת באויר הנוגע כנגד הנקב טמא שלא כנגד הנקב טהור

20 directly over a mesh is unclean but whatever is not directly over a mesh is clean.

כא ה"ד אילימא למטה מטפח שלא כנגד הנקב אמאי טהור

21 Now what are the circumstances?

כב מת בכסותו הוא ומת בכסותו מטמא

22 If [they were suspended] within a handbreadth [from the corpse], why does that which was not directly over a mesh remain clean?

כג אלא לאו למעלה מטפח וקא קרי ליה נוגע

23 Surely it is nothing else but the corpse in its shroud, and the corpse in its shroud conveys uncleanness!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The network, since it is so close to the corpse, can almost be regarded as the shroud of the dead, and the shroud of the dead surely cannot prevent the uncleanness of the corpse from spreading!');">12

כד אמר אביי

24 They must then [have been suspended] more than a handbreadth away [from the corpse], nevertheless the expression 'whatever touches' is used! - Abaye said: In fact [they were suspended] within a handbreadth [from the corpse], but as for your objection, 'Surely it is nothing else but the corpse in its shroud!' [I reply that] with regard to t corpse in its shroud a man certainly ignores [the existence of the shroud],<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., he mentally ignores the separate existence of the shroud as a garment but looks upon it as part of the corpse; this, however, cannot be said with regard to the network.');">13

כה לעולם למטה מטפח ודקאמרת

25 but he does not ignore the existence of these.

כו מת בכסותו הוא מת בכסותו מבטל ליה

26 But is this not a case of concealed uncleanness14

כז האי לא מבטל ליה

27 which [according to established law] breaks through and rises upwards? - R'Jose is of the opinion that concealed uncleanness cannot break through and rise upwards.

כח ותהוי כטומאה טמונה בוקעת ועולה

28 Whence do you know this?15

כט קסבר רבי יוסי

29 From [the following Mishnah] which we learnt:16

ל טומאה טמונה אינה בוקעת

30 If a drawer in a cupboard had the capacity of a [cubic] handbreadth within,17

לא ומנא תימרא

31 and the opening [of the cupboard] was less than a handbreadth [square], and there was some uncleanness in it, the house becomes unclean;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' By Rabbinic decree everything in the house becomes unclean forthwith, even while the uncleanness is still shut-up in the drawer, because eventually the uncleanness will be brought forth and then it will certainly render everything in the house unclean. Cf. Ohol. VII, 3; Bez. 101.');">18

לב דתנן

32 if there was some uncleanness in the house, what is in the drawer remains clean, for the uncleanness must come forth [eventually] but need not come in at all.

לג תיבת המגדל שיש בה פותח טפח ואין ביציאתה פותח טפח טומאה בתוכה הבית טמא

33 R'Jose declares [the house] clean, for one could take out the uncleanness by halves or burn it in its place.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' It is not inevitable that the house be tendered unclean, for the uncleanness can either be destroyed in the drawer, or be brought out in such quantities as does not render unclean.');">19

לד טומאה בבית מה שבתוכה טהור

34 And the next clause reads thus: If one set [the cupboard] in the doorway of the house and it [the cupboard] opened outwards, and there was some uncleanness in it, the house remains clean;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For the uncleanness will not pass through the house at all and as there was the space of a cubic handbreadth in the cupboard the uncleanness in it cannot break through.');">20

לה מפני שדרך טומאה לצאת ואין דרך טומאה ליכנס

35 if there was some uncleanness in the house, what is in [the cupboard] remains clean.

לו ורבי יוסי מטהר מפני שיכול הוא להוציאה לחצאין או לשורפה במקומה

לז וקתני סיפא

לח העמידה בפתח ופתחה לחוץ טומאה בתוכה הבית טהור

לט טומאה בבית מה שבתוכה טהור

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