Study Horayot folio 8B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
״למן היום אשר צוה ה׳ והלאה לדורותיכם״, איזו היא מצוה שהיא נאמרה בתחלה? הוי אומר: זו עבודה זרה. והא אמר מר: עשר מצות נצטוו ישראל במרה (דכתיב: ״והיה אם שמוע תשמע לקול ה׳ אלהיך״)? אלא מחוורתא כדשנינן מעיקרא.
that it is derived from the verse: “All that YHWH has commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day that YHWH commanded and onward throughout your generations” (Numbers 15:23). Which is the mitzva that was stated at the beginning of all the mitzvot? You must say: This is idol worship, as it is the first mitzva in the 10 Commandments. The Talmud asks: But didn’t the Master say: The Jewish people were commanded 10 mitzvot in Marah soon after leaving Egypt, prior to the revelation at Sinai, as it is written: “If you should hearken to the voice of YHWH your God…and listen to His mitzvot” (Exodus 15:26)? Evidently, there were mitzvot that preceded the prohibition against idol worship. Rather, it is clear as we initially answered.
מתני׳ אין חייבין על עשה ועל לא תעשה שבמקדש, ואין מביאין אשם תלוי על עשה ועל לא תעשה שבמקדש.
Mishnah: The court is not liable to bring a bull as an unwitting communal sin-offering for issuing a ruling with regard to a positive mitzva or a prohibition related to the defiling of the Temple by one being there while ritually impure, or the defiling of its sacrificial foods by one partaking of them while ritually impure. There is a positive mitzva to remove impure people from the Temple, and there is a prohibition against entering the Temple while in a state of ritual impurity. And one does not bring a provisional guilt-offering for a positive mitzva or a prohibition related to the defiling of the Temple or its sacrificial foods.
אבל חייבין על עשה ועל לא תעשה שבנדה, ומביאים אשם תלוי על עשה ועל לא תעשה שבנדה. איזו היא מצות עשה שבנדה? פרוש מן הנדה. ומצות לא תעשה? אל תבא על הנדה.
But the court is liable to bring a bull for a positive mitzva or for a prohibition that is related to a menstruating woman, and one brings a provisional guilt-offering for a positive mitzva or for a prohibition that is related to a menstruating woman. What is the positive mitzva that is related to a menstruating woman? Distance yourself from the menstruating woman. If a man has sex with a woman and she begins menstruating, he is required to separate from her. And what is the prohibition? Do not have sex with a woman whom you know is a menstruating woman.