Talmud - Yoma 14a יומא י״ד א׳

Rabbi Yehuda means to say that the High Priest does not serve for the entire day even though the Torah allows him to do so, due to a rabbinic decree lest he forget that he is an acute mourner and eat consecrated food forbidden to him. Rav Adda bar Ahava said to Rava: And did Rabbi Yehuda issue a decree lest he eat? But didn’t we learn in the mishna that Rabbi Yehuda says: The Sages would even designate another wife for him lest his wife die? And if his wife dies, he nevertheless performs the Temple service, and Rabbi Yehuda did not issue a decree lest he eat. That contradicts the other statement by Rabbi Yehuda that a High Priest may not serve for the entire day that he is an acute mourner. Rava said to him: How can these cases be compared? There, in the mishna, since it is Yom Kippur, when everyone does not eat, he too will not come to eat. However, here, during the rest of the year, when everyone eats, he too will come to eat. Therefore, a decree was issued.

The Gemara raises a question from a different perspective: And in a case like this, would the halakhic status of acute mourning take effect on him, considering that she is divorced? According to Rabbi Yehuda, the High Priest must give his wife a provisional divorce in which case she is no longer his wife and if she dies he is no longer obligated to mourn her. The Gemara answers: Although the status of acute mourning does not take effect on him, is he not troubled over the death of his wife? Therefore, according to Rabbi Yehuda, it is appropriate to prohibit his performance of the service on that day.

MISHNA: During all seven days of the High Priest’s sequestering before Yom Kippur, he sprinkles the blood of the daily burnt-offering, and he burns the incense, and he removes the ashes of the lamps of the candelabrum, and he sacrifices the head and the hind leg of the daily offering. The High Priest performs these tasks in order to grow accustomed to the services that he will perform on Yom Kippur. On all the other days of the year, if the High Priest wishes to sacrifice any of the offerings, he sacrifices them, as the High Priest sacrifices any portion that he chooses first and takes any portion that he chooses first.

GEMARA: The Gemara asks: Who is the tanna who taught this mishna? Rav Ḥisda said: This mishna is not in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Akiva, as if it were in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Akiva, it is difficult. Didn’t Rabbi Akiva say: With regard to a ritually pure person upon whom a sprinkling of purification water fell, it renders him impure? This is based on the enigmatic principle with regard to the water of the red heifer: It purifies the ritually impure and renders impure the ritually pure. If so, how can the High Priest perform the Temple service? The High Priest is sprinkled with purification water on each of the seven days of his sequestering due to the possibility that he was impure with impurity imparted by a corpse. However, it is possible that he is ritually pure. If he is ritually pure, the sprinkling will render him impure.

As it was taught in a baraita that it is written: “And the pure person will sprinkle it upon the impure person” (Numbers 19:19); this emphasis that he sprinkles the water upon the impure person comes to teach that if he sprinkled on the ritually impure person, that person becomes pure; but if he sprinkled on the pure person, that person becomes ritually impure. This is the statement of Rabbi Akiva. And the Rabbis say: These matters are stated to teach that it is considered sprinkling only if it is performed on items susceptible to impurity, whereas if the water was sprinkled on items not susceptible to impurity, it is not considered sprinkling.

What is the halakhic implication of that statement? It is as we learned in a mishna: With regard to one who mistakenly intended to sprinkle purification water on an animal, which does not become impure when alive, but happened to sprinkle it upon an impure person, if water remains on the hyssop that he used to sprinkle the water, he should repeat the action and sprinkle the purification water on the person to purify him. Since the first sprinkling was onto a person, who can become impure, the water remaining on the hyssop may be reused, and it is not disqualified by improper use. However, with regard to one who intended to sprinkle purification water on a person but happened to sprinkle it upon an animal, even if water remains on the hyssop, he should not repeat the action. Since the first sprinkling was onto an animal, which cannot become impure, the water is disqualified by improper use, and may not be used in a second sprinkling.

The Gemara analyzes the basis of the dispute: What is the reason for the opinion of Rabbi Akiva? Instead of writing: And the pure person will sprinkle it upon the impure person, let the Merciful One write in the Torah: And the pure person will sprinkle it upon him, and it would be clear that it is upon the aforementioned impure person. What is taught by the phrase: Upon the impure person? Learn from it that if he sprinkled on the impure person, that person becomes pure; but if he sprinkled on the pure person, that person becomes impure. And the Rabbis say with regard to that phrase: It comes to teach that it is only considered sprinkling if it is performed on items susceptible to impurity. However, here, with regard to sprinkling purification water on a pure person, it is derived through an a fortiori inference that he remains ritually pure: If the water falls on the impure person, he is pure; if the water falls on the pure person, all the more so is it not clear that he remains pure?

And Rabbi Akiva would respond to that a fortiori inference: That is what King Solomon said: “I said I would become wise, but it eludes me” (Ecclesiastes 7:23). According to tradition, even Solomon in his great wisdom could not understand the contradictory nature of the sprinkling of purification water that purifies an impure person and impurifies a pure person. And the Rabbis ascribe Solomon’s bewilderment to a different aspect of the halakha: The one who sprinkles the water and the one upon whom one sprinkles the water are pure; but one who touches the water unrelated to sprinkling is impure.

The Gemara asks: Is the one who sprinkles the water actually pure? Isn’t it written: “He who sprinkles the purification waters will wash his clothes, and he who touches the purification waters will be unclean until evening” (Numbers 19:21)? The Gemara responds: What is the meaning of the term: He who sprinkles? It means: He who touches. But isn’t it written: He who sprinkles? And isn’t it written in the same verse: And he who touches? And furthermore, in that verse, one who sprinkles requires washing of his clothes, indicating a more severe level of impurity, whereas one who touches does not require washing of his clothes. Apparently, when it is written: He who sprinkles, it is not referring to one who touches.

Rather, the Rabbis assert: What is the meaning of: He who sprinkles? It refers to one who carries the purification water. The Gemara asks: But if so, let the Merciful One write: One who carries; what is the reason that he who sprinkles is written if the reference is to carrying? The Gemara answers: This use of the term sprinkling to depict carrying teaches us that in order to become impure from carrying purification water, one must carry the measure required for sprinkling.

The Gemara asks: This works out well according to the one who said that sprinkling requires a minimum measure of water, as then the concept of a measure required for sprinkling has meaning. However, according to the one who said that sprinkling does not require a minimum measure of water, what can be said? There is no concept of a measure required for sprinkling. The Gemara answers: Even according to the one who said that sprinkling does not require a minimum measure of water, that applies only to the measure of purification water that must be sprinkled on the back of the impure man; any amount will suffice. However, in the vessel into which one dips the hyssop in order to sprinkle the water, a certain measure of water is required, as we learned in a mishna: How much water should be in the vessel so that it will be equivalent to the measure required for sprinkling? It must be equivalent to the measure required to dip

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

Yoma 14a explores rabbinic restrictions on the High Priest as an acute mourner, weighing eating concerns against provisional divorce and Yom Kippur mourning rules.