Study Eruvin folio 83A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
תנא: וחצי חצי חציה לטמא טומאת אוכלין. ותנא דידן מאי טעמא לא תני טומאת אוכלין? משום דלא שוו שיעורייהו להדדי.
A Sage taught in the Tosefta: And half of one half of its half, 1/8th of this loaf, is the minimum measure of food that contracts the ritual impurity of foods. The Talmud asks: And our tanna, in the Mishnah, for what reason did he did not teach the measure of the impurity of foods? The Talmud answers: He did not state this halakha because their measures are not precisely identical. The measure for the impurity of foods is not exactly half the amount of ritually impure food that disqualifies one from eating teruma.
דתניא: כמה שיעור חצי פרס? שתי ביצים חסר קימעא, דברי רבי יהודה. רבי יוסי אומר: שתי ביצים שוחקות. שיער רבי, שתי ביצים ועוד. כמה ועוד? אחד מעשרים בביצה.
As it was taught in a baraita: How much is half a peras? Two eggs minus a little; this is the statement of R' Yehuda. R' Yosei says: Two large eggs, slightly larger ones than average. R' Yehuda HaNasi measured the amount of half a peras after calculating the number of kav in the se’a brought before him, and found it to be a little more than two eggs. The tanna asks: How much is this little more? 1/20th of an egg.
ואילו גבי טומאת אוכלין תניא: רבי נתן ורבי דוסא אמרו: כביצה שאמרו כמוה וכקליפתה, וחכמים אומרים: כמוה בלא קליפתה.
In contrast, concerning the impurity of foods, it was taught in a baraita: R' Natan and R' Dosa said that the measure of an egg-bulk, which the rabbis said is the amount that contracts the impurity of foods, is equivalent to it, i.e., the egg, and its shell. And the Rabbis say: It is equivalent to it without its shell. These amounts are not precisely half of any of the measurements given for half a peras.