Talmud - Zevahim 18b זבחים י״ח ב׳

soiled or ripped, and he performed sacrificial rites, his service is disqualified.

Rav Yehuda says that Shmuel says: If the vestments are dragging on the ground, they are fit, but if they are raised up above the ground, they are unfit. The Gemara asks: But isn’t it taught in the above baraita that even if the vestments were raised up they are fit? Rami bar Ḥama says: This is not difficult. Here, the baraita deems them fit in a case where the priest raised them up by his belt, although they were initially the proper length; there, Shmuel deems them unfit in a case where they do not initially cover the priest’s feet at all.

Rav says: In both this case and that case, whether they were dragging or raised up, they are unfit.

The Gemara recounts: Rav Huna happened to come to Argiza. The son of his innkeeper [oshpizekhaneih] raised a contradiction before him: Did Shmuel actually say that if the vestments are dragging on the ground, they are fit, but if they are raised up above the ground, they are unfit? But isn’t it taught in the baraita that even if the vestments were raised up they are fit? Rav Huna said to him: Raise a contradiction from any source apart from this baraita, as Rami bar Ḥama already answered that it does not contradict Shmuel’s statement, as it applies only to vestments that were initially the proper length.

The Gemara asks: But doesn’t the baraita pose a difficulty for Rav, who deems the vestments unfit even if they were dragging? And if you would say: What is the meaning of the word: Dragging, in the baraita? It means that they would initially drag but were raised up by a belt to the proper length, and they are fit since the belt effectively trims them, but then the term: Raised up, in the baraita poses a difficulty. Why should the baraita deem raised vestments fit? If the baraita is referring to vestments that were initially the proper length and were then raised up by a belt, then shouldn’t they be unfit as the belt trims them?

Rabbi Zeira says: Rav taught the baraita not as referring separately to both dragging and raised vestments, but as one statement referring to vestments that are simultaneously dragging and raised, i.e., dragging vestments that the priest raised up by his belt to the proper height are fit. But if they were above or below their proper height for any reason, they are unfit.

§ Rabbi Yirmeya of Difti says: The case of dragging vestments that the priest did not raise is the subject of a dispute between tanna’im. As it is taught in a baraita: The verse states: “On the four corners of your garment” (Deuteronomy 22:12), from which it can be inferred: Four, but not three, i.e., a three-cornered garment is exempt from the obligation of ritual fringes. One may ask: Or perhaps it is only specifying four, but not five? When it says in the same verse: “With which you cover yourself,” a garment of five corners is mentioned as obligated. If so, how do I realize the meaning of: “Four corners”? It means four, but not three. And what did you see that led you to include a garment of five corners and to exclude a garment of three corners? I include a garment of five corners as four is included in five, and I exclude a garment of three corners as four is not included in three.

And it is taught in another baraita that the verse states: “On the four corners of your garment,” from which it may be inferred: Four, but not three, and also four, but not five, i.e., only a four-cornered garment is obligated in the mitzva of ritual fringes. Rabbi Yirmeya continues: What, is it not that these tanna’im disagree with regard to this: That one Sage, who deems a five-cornered garment exempt, holds that an extra item is considered as though it exists and cannot be ignored, and one Sage, who deems it obligated, holds that it is considered as though it does not exist and the garment has only four corners? Accordingly, the first Sage deems a dragging priestly vestment unfit, since one cannot ignore the extra fabric, while the second Sage deems it fit since the extra fabric is treated as immaterial.

The Gemara responds: No, everyone agrees that an extra piece of a garment is considered as though it exists, and therefore dragging vestments are unfit. And according to the tanna of the second baraita, it is different here, with regard to ritual fringes, as the Merciful One amplifies the halakha to obligate even five-cornered garments with the words “with which you cover yourself.”

The Gemara asks: And the other Sage, who deems five-cornered garments exempt, what does he do with this verse: “With which you cover yourself”? The Gemara responds: He requires it for that which is taught in a baraita: The verse states: “And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that you may look upon it” (Numbers 15:39). The phrase: “That you may look upon it,” serves to exclude a night garment from the obligation of ritual fringes, as the fringes on such a garment cannot be seen. One might ask: Or is it only to exclude the garment of a blind person, who is unable to see the ritual fringes? When it states in the verse: “With which you cover yourself” (Deuteronomy 22:12), the obligation of ritual fringes for the garment of a blind person is mentioned. If so, how do I realize the meaning of the phrase: “That you may look upon it”? It serves to exclude a night garment.

The baraita continues: And what did you see that led you to include the garment of a blind person and to exclude a night garment and not the reverse? I include the garment of a blind person because it is at least visible to others, and I exclude a night garment because it is not visible, even to others.

The Gemara asks: And the other Sage, who derives that a five-cornered garment requires ritual fringes from the phrase: “With which you cover yourself,” from where does he derive that the garment of a blind person requires ritual fringes? The Gemara responds: He derives it from the word “which” in the phrase, as that term itself connotes an amplification of the halakha. The Gemara asks: And what does the other Sage do with this word? The Gemara responds: He does not interpret the word “which” as an amplification.

§ The Sages taught with regard to the priestly vestments that the term: “Linen [bad ]” (Leviticus 6:3), used in the verse indicates several properties of the garments: The verse states “linen” to indicate that they must be made of fine linen [butz]; “linen,” that they must be new; “linen,” that their thread must be twisted of several plies; “linen,” that their thread must be folded six times; “linen,” that the priest may not wear non-sacred clothes along with them.

Abaye said to Rav Yosef: Granted, the statement that they must be of fine linen is understood; this requirement teaches us that if they are of fine linen they are fit, but if they are of something else they are not. But with regard to the statement: Linen, that they must be new, one can infer that if they are new they are fit but if they are frayed they are not. But isn’t it taught in the baraita (18a) that even if they were frayed they are fit?

Rav Yosef said to him: And according to your reasoning that the baraita intends to derive all of these requirements from the word linen, such that all of these requirements are indispensable, how can one understand the requirement: Linen, that their thread must be folded six times? The word bad itself means each one on its own (see Exodus 30:34). Rather, this is what the baraita is saying: Those garments with regard to which it is stated: Linen, must be made of fine linen, and they must be new and twisted, and their thread must be folded six times. Some of these requirements constitute a mitzva ab initio, and some of them are indispensable.

The Gemara asks: From where is it known that this material bad is produced from the flax plant? Rabbi Yosef, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, says: The verse is referring to an item that grows from the ground with each stalk growing on its own [bad bevad], i.e., it does not split into multiple stalks. The flax plant fulfills this criterion.

The Gemara asks: Why not say that it is wool? The Gemara responds: The individual wool fibers split into smaller fibers. The Gemara rejects this: But flax also splits. The Gemara responds: It splits only by being struck. Wool, by contrast, splits naturally.

Ravina says that the identity of bad is derived from here: The verse states with regard to the priestly vestments: “They shall have linen [pishtim] crowns upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with yaza” (Ezekiel 44:18). The word pishtim is clearly referring to flax.

Rav Ashi said to Ravina: But before Ezekiel came, from where did we derive the identity of bad? Ravina responded: And according to your reasoning, one could ask the same of that which Rav Ḥisda said with regard to the prohibition against Temple service by one who is uncircumcised or an apostate: We did not learn this following matter from the Torah of Moses, our teacher; we learned it from the words of Ezekiel, son of Buzi: “No stranger, uncircumcised in heart or uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into My Sanctuary to serve Me” (Ezekiel 44:9). Until Ezekiel came, from where did we derive this? Rather, this halakha is learned as a tradition and therefore was observed for generations, and Ezekiel came and gave it support by writing a verse. Here too, it is learned as a tradition, and Ezekiel came and gave it support by writing a verse.

The Gemara asks: What is the meaning of the phrase in the verse: “They shall not gird themselves with yaza”? Abaye said: They shall not gird themselves in a place in which people sweat [mezi’in]. As it is taught in a baraita: When they gird themselves with the belt, they may not gird themselves below their loins nor above their elbows, but rather

Traduction : The William Davidson digital edition of the Koren Noé Talmud, with commentary by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz.

Zevachim 18b examines whether a priest's garments that drag on the ground or are hitched up by his belt still render his Temple service valid.