Study Chagigah folio 15A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
יכול אני לבעול כמה בעילות בלא דם. או דלמא דשמואל לא שכיחא? אמר להו: דשמואל לא שכיח, וחיישינן שמא באמבטי עיברה.
I can have sex several times without blood. In other words, I can have sex with a woman while leaving her hymen intact. If this is so, it is possible that the assumed virgin had sex in this manner and is forbidden to the High Priest. Or, perhaps a person who can act like Shmuel is not common and the halakha is not concerned with this case. He said to them: One like Shmuel is not common, and we are concerned that she may have conceived in a bath. Perhaps she washed in a bath that contained a man’s semen, from which she became impregnated while remaining a virgin.
והאמר שמואל: כל שכבת זרע שאינו יורה כחץ — אינה מזרעת! מעיקרא נמי יורה כחץ הוה.
The Talmud asks: How could she possibly become pregnant in such a manner? Didn’t Shmuel say: Any semen that is not shot like an arrow cannot fertilize? The Talmud answers: This does not mean that it must be shot like an arrow at the moment of fertilization. Even if initially, when released from the male, it was shot as an arrow, it can also fertilize a woman at a later moment.
תנו רבנן: מעשה ברבי יהושע בן חנניה שהיה עומד על גב מעלה בהר הבית, וראהו בן זומא ולא עמד מלפניו. אמר לו: מאין ולאין בן זומא? אמר לו: צופה הייתי בין מים העליונים למים התחתונים, ואין בין זה לזה אלא שלש אצבעות בלבד, שנאמר: ״ורוח אלהים מרחפת על פני המים״ — כיונה שמרחפת על בניה ואינה נוגעת. אמר להן רבי יהושע לתלמידיו: עדיין בן זומא מבחוץ.
With regard to the fate of ben Zoma, A baraita states: There was once an incident with regard to R' Yehoshua ben Ḥananya, who was standing on a step on the Temple Mount, and ben Zoma saw him and did not stand before him to honor him, as he was deep in thought. R' Yehoshua said to him: From where do you come and where are you going, ben Zoma, i.e., what is on your mind? He said to him: In my thoughts I was looking upon the act of Creation, at the gap between the upper waters and the lower waters, as there is only the breadth of a mere 3 fingers between them, as it is stated: “And the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2), like a dove hovering over its young without touching them. R' Yehoshua said to his students who had overheard this exchange: Ben Zoma is still outside; he has not yet achieved full understanding of these matters.