Study Chagigah folio 22A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
וכחללה, בשתי אצבעות חוזרות למקומן.
and its space, which is equivalent to the width of 2 fingers going around in their place, i.e., a space large enough to insert 2 fingers and twist them around inside. If one body of water contains the requisite 40 se’a, while another, adjacent body is lacking this amount, then if the opening between the two bodies of water is wider than this measurement, the two bodies are considered as one, and the smaller body is also considered an acceptable mikveh. Since any opening smaller than this is not considered to connect two bodies of water, the water inside a bottle with a narrow mouth would be considered disconnected from the water of the mikveh, and smaller vessels inside such a narrow-necked vessel would not be considered as having come into contact with the water of the mikveh. The rabbis therefore enacted a decree rendering prohibited the immersion of any vessel inside another vessel.
סבר לה כהא דאמר רב נחמן אמר רבה בר אבוה: אחת עשרה מעלות שנו כאן: שש ראשונות — בין לקודש, בין לחולין שנעשו על טהרת הקודש. אחרונות — לקודש, אבל לא לחולין שנעשו על טהרת הקודש.
The Talmud notes: Rava holds in accordance with this statement that Rav Naḥman said that Rabba bar Avuh said: They taught 11 stringencies of sacrificial food here in this Mishnah, rather than R' Ila’s 10. The first 6 stringencies apply both to sacrificial food itself and to non-sacred food that was prepared according to the standards of purity of sacrificial food, whereas the last 5 apply only to actual sacrificial food but not to non-sacred food that was prepared according to the standards of purity of sacrificial food.
מאי איכא בין דרבא לדרבי אילא?
The Talmud asks: What practical difference is there between the opinion of Rava, i.e., that the rabbis rendered it prohibited to immerse one vessel inside of another because they were concerned lest one immerse needles in a vessel whose mouth is narrower than the tube of a wineskin, and the opinion of R' Ila, who holds that their concern was about interposition?