Responsa for Shabbat 1:4

וְאֵלּוּ מִן הַהֲלָכוֹת שֶׁאָמְרוּ בַעֲלִיַּת חֲנַנְיָה בֶן חִזְקִיָּה בֶן גֻּרְיוֹן כְּשֶׁעָלוּ לְבַקְּרוֹ. נִמְנוּ וְרַבּוּ בֵּית שַׁמַּאי עַל בֵּית הִלֵּל, וּשְׁמֹנָה עָשָׂר דְּבָרִים גָּזְרוּ בוֹ בַיּוֹם:

And these ["One may not remove lice from his garments or read by the light of a lamp" (above)] are among the halachoth that they stated in the upper chamber of Chananiah b. Chezkiah b. Gurion when they went up to visit him. [The sages wished to secrete the Book of Ezekiel, whose words seemed to contradict words of Torah, e.g., (Ezekiel 44:31): "All that is carrion or treifah (organically "torn") of fowl or of beast the Cohanim shall not eat" — The Cohanim shall not eat it, but the Israelites may? Likewise, (Ibid. 45:20): "And thus shall you do on the seventh of the month." Where is this offering intimated in the Torah? And Chananiah b. Chezkiah secreted himself in an upper chamber and sat there and explained the Book of Ezekiel.] They took a count and Beth Shammai were (found to be) more numerous than Beth Hillel [Beth Shammai differed with Beth Hillel, and Beth Shammai being more numerous, it was ruled according to them, viz. (Exodus 23:2): "After many to incline."], and they decreed eighteen things on that day. [All eighteen are adduced in the gemara, viz.: If one eats a food of first-degree or second-degree uncleanliness, they decreed that his body assume second-degree uncleanliness and render terumah unfit by contact, (second-degree uncleanliness invalidating terumah). These are two decrees involving food, food of first-degree and of second degree uncleanliness. And if one drinks unclean liquids he also assumes second-degree uncleanliness and invalidates terumah. This is a third decree. The reason that these were decreed against is that sometimes one has in his mouth food that is tamei (ritually unclean) and takes in liquids of terumah, which are thus rendered pasul (unfit); and sometimes he has in his mouth liquids that are tamei, and takes in food of terumah, which is thus rendered pasul. And they decreed (uncleanliness) upon one who had come rosho verubo (his head and most of his body) into drawn water on the same day that he had immersed himself for his uncleanliness; and (they decreed uncleanliness) upon one who was clean to begin with, upon whose head there fell five logs of drawn water — thus, five decrees. The reason for uncleanliness being decreed upon these to impart uncleanliness to men is that they were wont to immerse in stagnant cave-water, after which they would douse themselves with drawn water to remove the foulness — as a result of which they began to say that it was not the cave-water which effected the cleanliness, but the drawn water. They (the sages), therefore, arose and decreed uncleanliness upon them lest they come to immerse regularly in drawn water as in a mikveh. The sixth decree: that scrolls of Scripture render terumah pasul by contact. For in the beginning they would secrete terumah foods with the scrolls, saying that both are holy. When they saw, however, that the scrolls were thereby spoiled (mice nibbling the scrolls together with the food), they decreed that the scrolls — Torah, Prophets, and Writings — render terumah pasul. The seventh: They decreed that hands render terumah pasul, for hands are "busy" and touch one's privy parts, and it is offensive to touch terumah with befouled hands and to render it revolting to its eaters. The eighth decree: that foods be rendered unclean by liquids which had been rendered unclean by hands touching them before being washed. For all things which render terumah pasul impart first-degree uncleanliness to liquids — a decree by reason of liquids which come from a sheretz (a creeping thing), which we find to be of first-degree uncleanliness by Torah ordinance. And the reason that all liquid-uncleanliness was decreed to be first-order uncleanliness, though we do not find a similar decree for foods by reason of food-matter coming from a sheretz is that the rabbis were more stringent in respect to liquids, which are (always) susceptible of uncleanliness, not requiring any predisposing factor for such susceptibility, as opposed to foods, which require the addition of water. The ninth decree: Vessels which became tamei through liquids which became tamei through a sheretz. Even though they (the liquids) are of first-degree uncleanliness by Torah ordinance, they cannot impart uncleanliness to men or vessels, for these become unclean only through proto-uncleanliness (av hatumah). But the rabbis ordained that they become unclean through vessels, a decree by reason of liquids of the zav and the zavah (their spittle and urine); for they are av hatumah and render vessels unclean by Torah ordinance. The tenth decree: that the daughters of Cuthites be (regarded as) niddoth from their cradle; that is, from the day of their birth. For a one-day old girl is subject to niddah uncleanliness. But the Cuthites do not expound it thus (see Niddah 4:1), so that when they see (blood in young girls), they do not separate them, for which reason the rabbis made this decree. The eleventh decree: that all movable objects confer uncleanliness with the thickness of a plow-handle, whose surface is a tefach (a handbreadth), but not its thickness. And though by Torah ordinance, there is no tent-uncleanliness with less than (thickness of) a tefach, the rabbis decreed respecting all movable objects whose surface is a tefach, that if one of its heads tented a dead body, and the other, vessels, tent-uncleanliness is imparted to the vessels, a decree by reason of objects a tefach thick, which confer such uncleanliness by Torah ordinance. The twelfth decree: If one picks grapes to tread them in the wine-press, the liquid which they exude when picked makes them tumah-susceptible, even though it (the liquid) goes lost and he is not intent upon it — a decree lest he pick them in pitch-lined baskets, in which instance, the liquid not going lost, he is intent upon it, and it confers tumah-susceptibility by Torah ordinance. The thirteenth decree: that the growths of terumah be (regarded as) terumah, even with something whose seed perishes, such as grain and pulse — a decree by reason of unclean terumah in the hand of a Cohein, which may not be eaten and which he intends to sow. They decreed that it retain its original designation, so that it is "terumah teme'ah." We fear that he might hold onto it until the time for planting and come to eat of it in its unclean state. The fourteenth decree; If darkness descended upon one (on Sabbath eve) on the road, he gives his purse to a gentile and may not carry it less than four cubits (progressively). The fifteenth and sixteenth decrees: "One may not remove lice or read by the light of a lamp" — our Mishnah. The seventeenth: They decreed against the loaf, the oil, the wine, and the daughters of the gentiles. And it is all one decree, as stated: They decreed against their loaf because of their oil, against their oil because of their wine, against their wine because of their daughters, and against their daughters because of "something else," i.e., idolatry. The eighteenth: They decreed that a gentile child confer zav uncleanliness, so that a Jewish child not be familiar with him at risk of sodomy.]

Explore responsa for Shabbat 1:4. In-depth commentary and analysis from classical Jewish sources.