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Zevachim 80b

זבחים פ׳ ע״ב

Learn Zevachim 80b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Zevachim 80b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Whether רבי אליעזר holds that mixed blood does not truly blend (אין בילה): challenges from three ברייתות and from the משנה about mixed bloods.

Overview

The גמרא keeps testing the view that, for רבי אליעזר, mixed blood does not truly blend (אין בילה). It brings three ברייתות about blood meant for above the red line that got mixed with blood meant for below it. Each time the answer is that the mixture is mostly upper blood, and the כהן places above more than the total amount of lower blood, so some upper blood surely went up. When a ברייתא says the lower placement counts, the גמרא explains that it counts only as שיריים, the leftover blood. In the third ברייתא, the words 'both count' are said to follow the רבנן alone, who hold יש בילה. Then the גמרא turns to the משנה's cases of mixed one-placement and four-placement bloods. It answers them by saying the mixture held exactly one, or exactly four, placements' worth of each blood. The amud ends with a challenge from four-placement blood mixed with one-placement blood, which is answered on the next amud.

Opening lines

וְעוֹד תַּנְיָא בְּהֶדְיָא:

And furthermore, it is taught explicitly:

הַנִּיתָּנִין לְמַעְלָה

Those placed above

שֶׁנִּתְעָרְבוּ בַּנִּיתָּנִין לְמַטָּה –

that became mixed with those placed below

רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר אוֹמֵר:

Rabbi Eliezer says:

The steps (18)

  1. ChallengeA ברייתא about upper and lower blood that got mixed
  2. ChallengeWhy the ברייתא is a problem if there is no full mixing
  3. ResolutionThe case has mostly upper blood, placed above in a measured amount
  4. ChallengeBut the ברייתא says the lower placements count
  5. ResolutionThe lower placement counts as leftover blood
  6. ChallengeA new ברייתא: he already placed the mixture below
  7. ResolutionSame answer: the mixture is mostly upper blood
  8. ChallengeBut the lower placements are said to count
  9. ResolutionIt counts as leftover blood
  10. ChallengeAnother ברייתא: he already placed the mixture above
  11. ResolutionSame answer again: mostly upper blood
  12. ChallengeBut the ברייתא says both sets of placements count
  13. ResolutionThe 'everyone agrees' does not cover the last clause
  14. ChallengeThe משנה: one-placement bloods mixed together
  15. ResolutionExactly one placement's worth of each blood
  16. ChallengeFour-placement bloods mixed together
  17. ResolutionExactly four placements' worth of each blood
  18. ChallengeFour-placement blood mixed with one-placement blood