Megillah 8b

מגילה ח׳ ע״ב

Learn Megillah 8b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Megillah 8b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The זב with two sightings and ״מִזּוֹבוֹ״; the differences between a מצורע מוסגר and a מצורע מוחלט and their sources in the פסוקים; and the language rules for ספרים versus תפילין ומזוזות.

Overview

This amud opens in the middle of a ברייתא. The ברייתא uses the שומרת יום כנגד יום to show that logic cannot prove a זב with two sightings must count seven clean days, so it learns this from the word ״מִזּוֹבוֹ״ instead. רב פפא asks אביי how the same word can include him here but exclude him from bringing a קרבן. אביי answers that an excluding word here would teach nothing, and the word is not needed for any other lesson. Next comes a new משנה: a מצורע מוסגר and a מצורע מוחלט differ only in פריעה and פרימה, and when they become pure, only in תגלחת and צפרים. The גמרא searches for the פסוקים behind each difference. רבא rejects a proof from ״וְטָהֵר״ and learns from ״אֲשֶׁר בּוֹ הַנֶּגַע״ instead. He uses ״כׇּל יְמֵי״ to keep the מוסגר included in שילוח, and אביי learns from ״נִרְפָּא״ that the מוסגר is free from shaving and birds. A final משנה teaches that ספרים may be written in any language, while תפילין ומזוזות must be written in אשורית. The גמרא then raises a contradiction from a ברייתא, and רבא begins an answer that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (26)

1. RejectionThe woman who waits one day disproves the logical argument
2. ProofThe verse teaches that a two-sighting זב counts seven
3. Challengeרב פפא: how can one word both include and exclude?
4. Resolutionאביי: an excluding word here would be pointless
5. RejectionLogic could not include him, as the waiting woman proves
6. ChallengeMaybe the word is needed for a different lesson
7. ResolutionThe verse could have said that without the extra word
8. StatementQuarantined versus confirmed מצורע while impure
9. StatementPurified from quarantine versus purified from confirmed צרעת
10. StatementBoth are sent out and both are impure
11. QuestionAsking for the source
12. ResponseThe word 'and he is pure' shows he was free from the start
13. Challengeרבא: the same word appears by a זב
14. StatementWhat 'and he is pure' really means by a זב
15. RejectionThe same meaning applies to the מצורע
16. Responseרבא's new source: the leper 'in whom the plague is'
17. Challengeאביי: then the מוסגר should also be free from being sent out
18. ChallengeBlocking the escape: the משנה says they are the same for being sent out
19. Resolutionרבא: the word 'all' includes the מוסגר in being sent out
20. ChallengeThen why no shaving and birds for the quarantined leper?
21. ResolutionShaving and birds are only for leprosy cured by healing
22. StatementNew משנה: ספרים versus תפילין ומזוזות
23. Statementרבן שמעון בן גמליאל: scrolls only in Greek
24. StatementInference: in sewing and in making hands impure, ספרים and תפילין are the same
25. ChallengeContradiction: a ברייתא says a scroll in another language or script is not holy
26. Resolutionרבא begins his answer: there is no contradiction