Zevachim 94a

זבחים צ״ד ע״א

Learn Zevachim 94a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Zevachim 94a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Which items must be laundered when חטאת blood lands on them: the 'fit for טומאה' versus 'already able to become impure' views, the spot to be washed, and whether leather can be laundered.

Overview

The amud opens with the end of a ברייתא that includes every kind of garment in the כיבוס requirement for חטאת blood. It leaves out a freshly flayed hide, because a 'garment' must already be able to become טמא. The גמרא asks how this view of רבי אלעזר differs from רבי יהודה's view that anything 'fit' to become impure must be washed. אביי answers with a small patch of cloth. רבא answers with a garment meant to get a picture, or in another version an untrimmed hide, and a ברייתא of רבי שמעון בן מנסיא supports that version. The גמרא then explains more lines of the משנה: only the bloody spot is washed (from ״אשר יזה״), the unnamed משנה follows רבי יהודה, and vessels are scraped, not washed. Next comes the question of whether leather can be laundered. אביי says the רבנן and אחרים argue about it, and רבא answers instead that everyone agrees soft leather is launderable and they argue only about hard leather. רבא then takes back his reading of the צרעת פסוק and explains that צרעת softens the leather. The amud ends as רבא begins a new difficulty against his own view, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (22)

1. StatementAll garments are included, but a freshly flayed hide is not
2. QuestionWhat is the practical difference between the two views?
3. Responseאביי: a cloth patch smaller than three fingerbreadths
4. Responseרבא: a garment meant to receive a picture
5. Responseרבא, another version: an unfinished hide meant to be trimmed
6. ProofSupport: רבי שמעון בן מנסיא says the untrimmed hide stays pure
7. QuestionWhere do we learn that only the bloody spot needs laundering?
8. ResponseA ברייתא learns it from the words 'that on which it shall be sprinkled'
9. StatementThe unattributed משנה follows רבי יהודה
10. Statement'Fit for laundering' leaves out hard vessels
11. ChallengeCan leather really be laundered? A contradiction from a משנה about שבת
12. Resolutionאביי: the two משניות follow different תנאים
13. ProofThe ברייתא showing the dispute about leather
14. QuestionWhose view fits רב חייא's story about רב's shoes?
15. Responseרב's practice follows the רבנן
16. Challengeרבא: a verse says leather can be laundered
17. Resolutionרבא: soft leather versus hard leather
18. ChallengeChallenge from רב's shoes
19. Resolutionרב's shoes were hard leather, following the רבנן
20. Rejectionרבא takes back his own answer
21. ResolutionLeprosy softens the leather
22. Challengeרבא introduces his own difficulty