Zevachim 232

דאפילו אקשויי נמי לא אקשו ומנא ידעה דאמר מר אין לך כל שר ונגיד שלא בא על רחב הזונה

- [She meant that] they even lost their virility. And how did she know this? - Because, as a master said, There was no prince or ruler who had not possessed Rahab the harlot.

אמרו בת י' שנים היתה כשיצאו ישראל ממצרים וזנתה [כל] מ' שנה שהיו ישראל במדבר אחר נ' שנה נתגיירה אמרה יהא מחול לי בשכר חבל חלון ופשתים:

It was said: She was ten years old when the Israelites departed from Egypt, and she played the harlot the whole of the forty years spent by the Israelites in the wilderness. At the age of fifty she became a proselyte.

אמר מר ועובדי כוכבים בזמן הזה רשאין לעשות כן מנא ה"מ דת"ר (ויקרא יז, א) דבר אל בני ישראל בני ישראל מצווין על שחוטי חוץ ואין העובדי כוכבים מצווין על שחוטי חוץ

Said she: May I be forgiven as a reward for the cord, window, and flax.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For hiding them in flax, and then letting them down by a cord through a window (ibid. 6, 15) .');">¹</span> The master said: 'And gentiles are permitted to do thus in these days'.

לפיכך כל אחד ואחד בונה לו במה לעצמו ומקריב עליה כל מה שירצה א"ר יעקב בר אחא אמר רב אסי אסור לסייען ולעשות שליחותן אמר רבה ולאורינהו [להו] שרי

How do we know it? - Because our Rabbis taught: Speak unto the children of Israel:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lev. XVII, 2.');">²</span> the children of Israel are enjoined against [sacrifices slaughtered without, but gentiles are not enjoined against [sacrifices] slaughtered without.

כי הא דאיפרא הורמיז אימיה דשבור מלכא שדרה קורבנא לרבא שלחה ליה אסקוה ניהליה לשם שמים אמר להו לרב ספרא ולרב אחא בר הונא זילו ודברו תרי עולמי גולאי וחזו היכא דמסקא ימא שירטון ושקלו ציבי חדתי ואפיקו נורא ממרא חדתא ואסקוה ניהליה לשם שמים

Therefore each one may build himself a bamah and offer thereon whatever he desires. R'Jacob B'Aha said in R'Assi's name: It is forbidden to assist them or act as their agents.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In sacrificing without.');">³</span>

א"ל אביי כמאן כר"א בן שמוע דתניא ר' אלעזר בן שמוע אומר מה מזבח שלא ישתמש בו הדיוט אף עצים שלא ישתמש בהן הדיוט והא מודה ר"א בן שמוע בבמה

Raba observed: Yet we may instruct them.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' How to sacrifice.');">⁴</span> [This happened with] Ifra Hormiz, mother of King Shabur,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Of Persia.');">⁵</span>

דתניא כתוב אחד אומר (דברי הימים א כא, כה) ויתן דוד לארנן במקום שקלי זהב משקל שש מאות וגו' וכתיב (שמואל ב כד, כד) ויקן דוד את הגרן ואת הבקר בכסף שקלים חמשים הא כיצד

who sent an offering to Raba, with the request, Offer it up in honour of Heaven. Said Raba to R'Safra and R'Aha B'Huna: Go, fetch two young men [non-Jews] of like age, seek a spot where the sea has thrown up alluvial mud,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Which has dried and can he used as an altar.');">⁶</span>

גובה מכל שבט ושבט חמשים שהן שש מאות רבי אומר משום אבא יוסי בן דוסתאי בקר [ועצים] ומקום מזבח בנ' וכל הבית כולו בשש מאות

take new [unused] twigs,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Or, chips. (10) He held that an altar must never have been used for a secular purpose; similarly the wood must not be fragments of utensils, and the flint etc. must likewise never have been used for secular purposes. Hence he told them to seek virgin soil caused by the drying of alluvial mud. - They would then instruct the young men how to offer the sacrifice.');">⁷</span> produce a fire with a new flint, and offer it up in honour of Heaven.

ר"א בן שמוע אומר בקר ועצים ומקום מזבח בנ' וכל הבית כולו בשש מאות דכתיב (שמואל ב כד, כב) ויאמר ארונה אל דוד יקח ויעל אדוני המלך [הטוב בעיניו] ראה הבקר לעולה והמוריגים [וכלי הבקר] לעצים ורבא אמר לך התם נמי בחדתי

Said Abaye to him: In accordance with whom [do you give these instructions]? In accordance with R'Eleazar B'Shammua'?

מאי מוריגים אמר עולא מטה של טורבל מאי מטה של טורבל אמר אביי עיזא דקרקסא דדיישן דישאי אמר אביי מאי קרא (ישעיהו מא, טו) הנה שמתיך למורג חרוץ חדש בעל פיפיות

For it was taught, R'Eleazar B'Shammua' said: As the altar must not have been used by a layman [for secular purposes], so the wood must not have been used by a layman. But surely R'Eleazar B'Shammua' admits in the case of a bamah?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That the wood may have been used previously for something else.');">⁸</span>

מקרי ליה רבא לבריה ורמי ליה קראי אהדדי כתיב ויתן דוד לארנן וגו' וכתיב ויקן דוד וגו' הא כיצד גובה מכל שבט ושבט חמשים שהן שש מאות

For it was taught: One text says, So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I Chron. XXI, 25.');">⁹</span> whereas it is written, So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' II Sam. XXIV, 24.');">¹⁰</span>

ואכתי קשיין אהדדי התם כסף הכא זהב אלא ה"ק גובה כסף במשקל שש מאות זהב:

how can these be reconciled? He collected fifty [shekels] from each tribe, which amounted to six hundred [in all].

קדשים קלים נאכלים [בכל מחנה ישראל]: אמר רב הונא בכל מקומות ישראל אבל מחנה לא הוי

Rabbi said on the authority of Abba Jose B'Dosethai: [He bought] the oxen, wood, and site of the altar for fifty, and [the site of] the whole Temple for six hundred. R'Eleazar B'Shammua' said: [He bought] the oxen, wood, and site of the altar for fifty, and [the site of] the whole Temple for six hundred,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' On the present version the views of R. Eleazar b. Shammua' and Rabbi are identical. Sh.M. emends: 'How can these be reconciled? (He bought) the site of the altar (only) for fifty, and (the site of) the whole Temple for six hundred. Rabbi said on the authority of Abba Jose b. Dostai: He collected fifty shekels . . (in all) . R. Eleazar b. Shammua' said (continuing as in the text) '.');">¹¹</span>

איתיביה ר"נ לרב הונא ומתנות במדבר לא הואי והא תניא כשם שמחנה במדבר כך מחנה בירושלים מירושלים להר הבית מחנה ישראל מהר הבית לשער נקנור מחנה לויה

for it is written And Araunah said unto David: 'Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him; behold the oxen for the burnt-offering, and the threshing instruments [morigim] and the furniture of the oxen for the wood'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. 22. Thus he took utensils that had already been used for a secular purpose, and used them as fuel for the altar. - As the Temple was not built until the reign of Solomon, the altar erected here by David was simply a bamah.');">¹²</span> And Raba? - He can answer you: There too they were new.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' They had never yet been used.');">¹³</span>

מכאן ואילך מחנה שכינה והן הן קלעים שבמדבר

What are morigim? - Said 'Ulla: A bed of turbel. What is a bed of turbel? - Said Abaye: 'A goat with hooks', with which the threshers thresh.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' 'Goat with hooks' was the name of a threshing sledge. It was a wooden platform (hence 'bed') studded underneath with sharp pieces of flint or with iron teeth (Jast.) .');">¹⁴</span>

אלא אימא בכל מקום מחנה ישראל פשיטא מהו דתימא איפסלו ביוצא קמ"ל

Abaye said: Which text [proves this meaning]? - Behold, I make thee a new threshing-sledge [morag] having sharp teeth; [thou shalt thresh the mountains etc.].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Isa. XLI, 15.');">¹⁵</span> Raba<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Sh.M. emends: Rahabah.');">¹⁶</span>

ואימא ה"נ אמר קרא (במדבר ב, יז) ונסע אהל מועד אע"פ שנסע אהל מועד הוא

read out [Scripture] to his son, and opposed texts to each other: It is written: 'So David gave to Ornan etc.' ; whereas it is also written, 'So David bought etc.'

תניא רשב"י אומר עוד אחרת היתה וחיל עזרת נשים היא ולא היו עונשין עליה ובשילה לא היו אלא שני מחנות בלבד

How can these be reconciled? He collected fifty from each tribe, which totalled six hundred.

הי מינייהו לא הוה אמר רבה מסתברא דמחנה לויה הואי דאי סלקא דעתך מחנה לויה לא הואי

Yet the texts are still contradictory, for there it was silver and here it was gold? - Say rather: He collected silver to the value [weight] of six hundred [shekels of] gold. LESSER SACRIFICES WERE EATEN ANYWHERE IN THE CAMP OF THE ISRAELITES. R'Huna said: [This means,] wherever the Israelites were, but there was no camp.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This is now assumed to mean that one could eat lesser sacrifices even if he went out of the camp of the Israelites.');">¹⁷</span> R'Nahman refuted R'Huna: Were there no camps in the wilderness? Surely it was taught: Just as there were camps in the wilderness, so there was a camp in Jerusalem. From [the walls of] Jerusalem to the Temple Mount was the camp of the Israelites; from the Temple Mount to the Gate of Nicanor<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The east gate of the Temple court.');">¹⁸</span> was the Levitical camp; beyond that was the camp of the Shechinah, and that corresponded to [the place within] the curtains in the wilderness! - Say rather, wherever the camp of the Israelites was.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' If they broke camp and pitched their camp elsewhere, a sacrifice which had been offered at the former site could be eaten in the new site.');">¹⁹</span> That is obvious? - You might say, it is disqualified through having gone out. Therefore he informs us [otherwise]. Yet say that it is indeed so? - Scripture saith, Then the tent of meeting shall set forward:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. II, 17.');">²⁰</span> even when it sets forward, it is still the 'tent of meeting'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. supra 61b. Hence the camps even in travelling are regarded as camps.');">²¹</span> It was taught, R'Simeon B'Yohai said: Yet another place was there, [viz.] the Women's Court,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This did not have the status either of the Temple Mount or of the Temple court.');">²²</span> and no penalty was imposed on its account.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' One was not punished for entering it whilst unclean.');">²³</span> But at Shiloh there were only two camps. Which was absent? - Said Abaye:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Emended text (Sh.M.) . Cur. edd. Rabbah.');">²⁴</span> It is logical that there was certainly the Levitical camp; for if you should think that there was no Levitical camp,