Yoma 57

הרהורי עבירה קשו מעבירה וסימניך ריחא דבישרא שילהי דקייטא קשיא מקייטא וסימניך תנורא שגירא

Unchaste imagination is more injurious<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' To health, physical and moral.');">¹</span> than the sin itself, your analogy being the odour of meat.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The odour of roast meat is more injurious to the digestive apparatus even than the eating thereof.');">²</span>

אישתא דסיתוא קשיא מדקייטא וסימניך תנורא קרירא מיגמר בעתיקתא קשיא מחדתא וסימניך טינא בר טינא

The end of the summer is more trying than the summer itself, your analogy being a hot oven.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' It is easy to kindle a fresh fire in a hot oven, the ground being dry. By the end of summer the atmosphere is very hot so that any additional hot weather makes it well nigh intolerable.');">³</span> A fever in winter is severer than in summer, your analogy being a cold oven.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' It requires a great deal of wood and effort to warm up the cold oven in the cold days of winter. Thus must a fever be very severe to afflict one on a cold day.');">⁴</span>

א"ר אבהו מ"ט דרבי דכתיב (תהלים כב, א) למנצח על אילת השחר מה אילה זו קרניה מפצילות לכאן ולכאן אף שחר זה מפציע לכאן ולכאן

It is harder to remember well something old than to commit to memory a fresh thing, your analogy being a cement made out of old cement.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That has been used before. It is hard to dissolve it and re-make it.');">⁵</span> R'Abbahu said: What is the reason of Rabbi's opinion?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Who says that the light column of the sun (dawn) is scattered.');">⁶</span>

א"ר זירא למה נמשלה אסתר לאילה לומר לך מה אילה רחמה צר וחביבה על בעלה כל שעה ושעה כשעה ראשונה אף אסתר היתה חביבה על אחשורוש כל שעה ושעה כשעה ראשונה א"ר אסי למה נמשלה אסתר לשחר לומר לך מה שחר סוף כל הלילה אף אסתר סוף כל הנסים

- It is written:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ps. XXII, 1.');">⁷</span> For the Leader, upon Aijeleth ha-Shahar<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'The Hind of the Dawn.That may have been a well-known melody, according to which the psalm was to be sung, the direction being meant for the choir-leader. V. the comm. of Delitzsch, Cheyne and Koenig.');">⁸</span>

והא איכא חנוכה ניתנה לכתוב קא אמרינן הניחא למאן דאמר אסתר ניתנה לכתוב אלא למאן דאמר אסתר לא ניתנה לכתוב מאי איכא למימר

- just as the antlers of the hind branch off this way and that way, so the light of the dawn is scattered in all direction - R'Zera said: Why was Esther compared to a hind?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In Meg. 15b, Queen Esther is reported to have sung this psalm as she came before Ahasuerus, hence the comparison.');">⁹</span> To tell you that just as a hind has a narrow womb and is desirable to her mate at all times as at the first time, so was Esther precious to King Ahasuerus at all time as at the first time.

מוקים לה כר' בנימין בר יפת אמר ר' אלעזר דאמר רבי בנימין בר יפת אמר רבי אלעזר למה נמשלו תפלתן של צדיקים כאילת לומר לך מה אילה זו כל זמן שמגדלת קרניה מפצילות אף צדיקים כל זמן שמרבין בתפלה תפלתן נשמעת

R'Assi said: Why was Esther compared to the dawn?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' 'Er. 54b.');">¹⁰</span> To tell you that just as the dawn is the end of the whole night, so is the story of Esther the end of all the miracles.

שחטו את התמיד אימת אילימא בשאר ימות השנה לא סגיא דלאו כהן גדול אלא ביום הכפורים מאור הלבנה מי איכא

But there is Hanukkah? - We refer to those included in Scripture. That will be right according to the opinion that Esther was meant to be written,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Meg. 7a. To protect the books of the Bible, they were declared unclean, so that after touching them, one had to wash one's hands. The question hence, as to whether any book defiled the hands, implies the question as to whether it was included in the Canon and has inspiration ascribed to its contents. About the Book of Esther there is a dispute in Meg. 7a, one of the Rabbis ascribing inspiration to it, whence it was to be written and included in the Canon, the other denying it inspiration, hence declaring its touch did not defile the hands. V. Yadaim III, 5.');">¹¹</span>

הכי קאמר וביום הכפורים כי אמר ברק ברקאי הורידו כ"ג לבית הטבילה

but what can be said according to him who held that it was not meant to be written? - He could bring it in accord with what R'Benjamin B'Japheth said, for R'Eleazar said in the name of R'Benjamin B'Japheth: Why is the prayer of the righteous compared to a hind? To tell you that just as with the hind, as long as it grows, its antlers form additional branches every year, so with the righteous, the longer they abide in prayer, the more will their prayer be heard.

תני אבוה דרבי אבין לא זו בלבד אמרו אלא אף מליקת העוף וקמיצת מנחה בלילה תשרף בשלמא עולת העוף מאי דהוה הוה אלא קומץ

THEY SLAUGHTERED THE CONTINUAL OFFERING: When?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Did this error happen, on the basis of which the high priest was taken down to the place of immersion. The questioner takes the second incident reported in the Mishnah as a sequel to the first.');">¹²</span> Would you say on one of the remaining days of the year? Had it then to be offered up? Hence [you will say that it happened] on the Day of Atonement, but is there any moon-light visible then?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' At dawn.');">¹³</span> - This is what it means: On the Day of Atonement, when the observer said: It is daylight, they would take the high priest down to the place of immersion.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The answer indicates that these two incidents are not to be connected. The error happened on an ordinary day. The second passage refers to the Day of Atonement and states that when the observer had said 'It is daylight', then, on a Day of Atonement, the high priest would be taken down, etc.');">¹⁴</span> The father of R'Abin learnt:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Men. 100a.');">¹⁵</span> Not only concerning this<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Not only a sacrifice that was offered up during the night (instead of in its proper time, after day-break) .');">¹⁶</span> was it said,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That it is to be burnt.');">¹⁷</span> but also concerning the pinching of a bird's head and the taking of a fistful of the meal-offering, [was it said] that if it was done during the night had to be burnt. That is quite right with regard to the bird designated for a burnt-offering, since the fact can no more be undone, but touching the fistful of the meal offering,