יא תני דבי אליהו מעשה בתלמיד א' ששנה הרבה וקרא הרבה ושימש תלמידי חכמים הרבה ומת בחצי ימיו והיתה אשתו נוטלת תפיליו ומחזרתם בבתי כנסיות ובבתי מדרשות ואמרה להם כתיב בתורה (דברים ל, כ) כי הוא חייך ואורך ימיך בעלי ששנה הרבה וקרא הרבה
11 Come and hear: And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath come near to a woman who is a <i>niddah</i>:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ezek. XVIII, 6. ');"><sup>18</sup></span> thus a woman who is a <i>niddah</i> is assimilated to his neighbour's wife: just as his neighbour's wife, he in his garment and she in hers is forbidden, so if his wife is a <i>niddah</i>, he in his garment and she in hers is forbidden. This proves it. Now, this disagrees with R. Pedath. For R. Pedath said: The Torah interdicted only intimacy of incestuous coition, as it is said, None of you, shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lev. XVIII, 6. 'Incest' in the Talmud includes adultery. The same applies to a niddah. ');"><sup>19</sup></span> 'Ulla, on his return from the college,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The term Be Rab denotes either the great Academy founded by Rab or college in general. ');"><sup>20</sup></span> used to kiss his sisters on their bosoms; others say, on their hands. But he is self-contradictory, for 'Ulla said, Even any form of intimacy is forbidden,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' With consanguineous relations, such as a sister. ');"><sup>21</sup></span> because we say, 'Take a circuitous route, O nazirite, but do not approach the vineyard.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A nazirite must not eat grapes or drink wine (v. Num. VI, 1-3); as a precaution he is forbidden even to approach a vineyard. The same reasoning holds good here. ');"><sup>22</sup></span> [It is taught in the] Tanna debe Eliyahu:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This is the Midrash consisting of two parts, 'Seder Eliyahu Rabbah' and 'Seder Eliyahu Zuta'. According to the Talmud Keth. 106a the Prophet Elijah taught this Midrash, the Seder Eliyahu, to R. 'Anan, a Babylonian amora of the third century. Scholars are agreed that the work in its present form received its final redaction in the tenth century C.E., though they are not agreed as to where it was written. V. Bacher, Monatsschrift, XXIII, 267 et seqq.; in R.E.J. XX, 144-146; Friedmann, introduction to his edition of Seder Eliyahu. ');"><sup>23</sup></span> It once happened that a certain scholar who had studied much Bible and Mishnah<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Kara refers to the study of the Bible; shanah to the study of the Mishnah. ');"><sup>24</sup></span> and had served scholars much,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' 'Serving scholars', i.e., being in personal attendance on scholars, was one of the requisites of an academical course. ');"><sup>25</sup></span> yet died in middle age. His wife took his tefillin and carried them about in the synagogues and schoolhouses and complained to them, It is written in the Torah, for that is thy life, and the length of thy days:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Deut. XXX, 20. ');"><sup>26</sup></span> my husband, who read [Bible], learned [Mishnah],