Bechoros 44b

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Bekhorot 44b

Learn Bechoros 44b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

מומי כהנים: the danger of holding back urine, definitions of the משנה's blemishes, and the meaning of מרוח אשך

Overview

The משנה lists more מומין that disqualify a כהן, including a swollen belly (כריסו צבה). The גמרא uses the swollen belly to teach that holding back urine is dangerous, so one may urinate in public rather than hold it in. Stories about שמואל and מר בר רב אשי show that this danger outweighs modesty and even embarrassment. ברייתות and statements of ריש לקיש and רבן שמעון בן גמליאל add more harms: barrenness, dropsy (הדרוקן) and jaundice (ירקון). רבי יהושע בן לוי reads the same פסוק as a lesson about students and humble prayer. The גמרא then returns to the משנה to define רוח קצרית, מאושבן and בעל גבר, and measures the organ blemish by the knee. A new משנה brings four opinions on the Torah's מרוח אשך, and the גמרא shows how each תנא rejected the earlier reading because of the word's letters. The amud ends as another משנה begins, about a כהן whose ankles or knees knock together.

Opening lines

The steps (36)

1. StatementThe משנה lists more blemishes of a כהן
2. StatementOne may urinate in public but not drink in public
3. ProofA ברייתא teaches the same rule
4. ProofA man held back and his belly swelled
5. Statementשמואל needed to urinate at a public lecture
6. Challengeשמואל's father tells him to correct the public impression
7. Proofמר בר רב אשי urinates even with his mother-in-law approaching
8. ChallengeMaybe a leech caused the swelling
9. ResolutionHis urine was dripping
10. StatementHolding back urine can make a man barren
11. Statementריש לקיש: Do not be barren, like your animals
12. Statementרבי יהושע בן לוי: Students and humble prayer
13. Statementרב פפא: Do not urinate on earthenware or a hard surface
14. Proofרב's reason: Babylonia's waters flow back to עין עיטם
15. Statementאביי: A woman should not urinate facing a child
16. StatementHolding back waste causes dropsy and jaundice
17. Statementריש לקיש: Four kinds of buildup and four illnesses
18. QuestionWhat is a 'shortened spirit' in the משנה?
19. ResponseIt means a demon's spirit has come upon him
20. StatementDefining מאושבן and בעל גבר
21. StatementOther names for these blemishes: קיין and גרבתן
22. QuestionHow long must the organ be to count as a blemish?
23. Responseרב יהודה shows: until the knee
24. ProofA ברייתא supports the knee measure
25. StatementAnother version: until the knee is fit, below the knee is unfit
26. StatementNew משנה: what is מרוח אשך?
27. Challengeרבי ישמעאל's problem with the first opinion
28. ResolutionSo רבי ישמעאל reads it as crushed testicles
29. Challengeרבי עקיבא's problem with רבי ישמעאל
30. ResolutionSo רבי עקיבא reads it as wind in the testicles
31. Challengeרבי חנינא בן אנטיגנוס's problem with רבי עקיבא
32. ResolutionSo רבי חנינא reads it as a dark appearance
33. StatementHis method: take away letters, add letters, and explain
34. ChallengeIsn't a dark-skinned person already the same as a כושי?
35. Resolutionרבי חנינא בן אנטיגנוס does not include כושי in the list
36. StatementNew משנה: a כהן whose ankles or knees knock together