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Makkos 21a

מכות כ״א ע״א

Makkot 21a

Learn Makkos 21a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Makkos 21a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Cutting the skin, the corners of the head and beard, tattooing, and counting מלקות for repeated sins

Overview

The גמרא explains that רבי יוסי treats שריטה and גדידה as one prohibition. שמואל rules that cutting with a tool makes one חייב, because he follows רבי יוסי. רבי יוחנן corrects a ברייתא so that for עבודה זרה only cutting with a tool makes one חייב, matching the פסוק about the prophets of the בעל. Next the גמרא explains the משנה about the corners of the head and beard: רב ששת's gestures, רבי אליעזר's view that it is one לאו, and the two פסוקים that show only a razor counts. רבי אליעזר also includes tweezers and a plane, because he holds they count as shaving. A new משנה teaches that a tattoo needs both cutting and dye, and רבי שמעון requires the name of an עבודה זרה. The גמרא then discusses putting ashes on a wound and sorts out which teachings belong to רב מלכיא and which to רב מלכיו. Finally, a משנה teaches that a נזיר, or one wearing כלאים, gets מלקות for each act done after a separate warning.

Opening lines

קָסָבַר רַבִּי יוֹסֵי:

Rabbi Yosei holds:

שְׂרִיטָה וּגְדִידָה אַחַת הִיא,

an incision and a laceration are one,

וּכְתִיב הָתָם ״לְמֵת״.

and it is written there: "for the dead."

אָמַר שְׁמוּאֵל:

Shmuel said:

The steps (29)

  1. Resolutionרבי יוסי treats incision and laceration as one prohibition
  2. Statementשמואל: cutting with a tool makes one liable
  3. ChallengeA ברייתא says incision is by hand and laceration by tool
  4. Resolutionשמואל follows רבי יוסי
  5. StatementA ברייתא on cutting for the dead and for idolatry
  6. ChallengeThe פסוק about Baal's priests shows the opposite
  7. Resolutionרבי יוחנן flips the ruling for idolatry
  8. Statementרב ששת points to the corners of the head
  9. Statementרב ששת points to the five corners of the beard
  10. Statementרבי אליעזר holds it is one prohibition
  11. StatementTwo verses show only a razor counts
  12. ConclusionThe answer is a razor
  13. ChallengeChallenge to רבי אליעזר about tweezers and scissors
  14. Resolutionרבי אליעזר counts tweezers and a plane as shaving
  15. Statementמשנה: a tattoo needs both cutting and dye
  16. Statementרבי שמעון: liable only for writing 'the name'
  17. QuestionMust he actually write the words 'I am the Lord'?
  18. ResponseIt means the name of an idol
  19. StatementNo ashes on a wound, because it looks like a tattoo
  20. StatementA memory list: which rulings belong to which rabbi
  21. Statementרב פפא's rule for telling רב מלכיא and רב מלכיו apart
  22. QuestionWhat difference is there between the two rules?
  23. ResponseThey differ about the ruling on maidservants
  24. Statementרב ביבי was strict even about a bloodletting wound
  25. Statementרב אשי: the wound itself shows the ashes are for healing
  26. StatementA נזיר drinking wine: one set of lashes, or one for each warning
  27. StatementA נזיר becoming impure from the dead follows the same rule
  28. StatementA נזיר shaving follows the same rule
  29. StatementWearing כלאים: one set of lashes, or one for each time he puts it back on