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Text Excerpt
כי מטי לבי בליעי, מלא כוזא דמיא מבי בליעי. כד אתו, אוקמינהו קמי קיסר. חזנהו דהוו מעני, אמר ליה: הני לאו נינהו. שקל מעפרייהו ושדא עילוייהו, אקשו לאפי מלכא. אמר ליה: כל דבעית עביד בהו.
When they reached the House of the Swallowed, a location in the sea where the water absorbs everything in its vicinity, R' Yehoshua ben Ḥananya filled up a small jug of water from the House of the Swallowed. When they arrived, he presented the rabbis of Athens before the emperor. The emperor saw that the rabbis of Athens were suffering due to their having been taken captive. He said to R' Yehoshua: These individuals cannot be the rabbis of Athens, because those rabbis are strong and arrogant. R' Yehoshua took some of the dirt that he had taken from Athens and threw it upon them. When they smelled the scent of their own soil they began to act like themselves again, and they spoke with arrogance before the king. Upon hearing them, the emperor said to R' Yehoshua: You may do with them whatever you wish.
R' Yehoshua brought the water that he had brought from the House of the Swallowed and poured it into a utensil [betigada]. He said to the rabbis: Fill it up and go on your way. They filled and poured one by one, i.e., they filled the utensil by pouring in water numerous times, and each time the utensil swallowed up the water. They continued to fill it until their shoulders became disjointed. In this manner, the rabbis of Athens were defeated.
מתני׳ חמורה שלא ביכרה וילדה שני זכרים — נותן טלה אחד לכהן, זכר ונקבה — מפריש טלה אחד לעצמו.
Mishnah: In the case of a female donkey that had not previously given birth and now gave birth to two male offspring, as there is no doubt that one of them is firstborn, its owner gives one lamb to the priest in redemption of that firstborn. If it gave birth to a male and a female and it is not known which was born first, he designates one lamb as firstborn in case the male was born first. Nevertheless, since it is merely a monetary debt to the priest, the burden of proof rests upon the claimant, in this case the priest. Due to that uncertainty, the priest can offer no proof and the owner keeps the lamb for himself.