Study Shabbat folio 86B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
והא טבולי יום נינהו? אביי בר רבין ורב חנינא בר אבין דאמרי תרווייהו: ניתנה תורה לטבול יום. יתיב מרימר וקאמר לה להא שמעתא. אמר ליה רבינא למרימר: ניתנה קאמרת, או ראויה קאמרת? אמר ליה: ראויה קאמינא.
The Talmud asks: Didn’t some of the people have status of those who immersed themselves during the day when they received the Torah? Some of the women immersed themselves on Shabbat evening to purify themselves from the discharge of semen. Even after immersion, the purification process is not complete until sunset. It was Abaye bar Ravin and Rav Ḥanina bar Avin who both said in response: The Torah was given to those who immersed themselves during the day, and that in no way diminishes the magnitude of the revelation. The Talmud relates that Mareimar sat and stated this halakha. Ravina said to Mareimar: Did you say that the Torah was actually given to those who immersed themselves during the day, or did you say that it was fit to be given to those who immersed themselves during the day, but, in reality, it was not? He said to him: I said that the Torah was fit to be given, but in actuality the nation was ritually pure, and the women did not discharge semen on the 3rd day.
וליטבלו ביני שימשי, וליקבלו תורה ביני שימשי? אמר רבי יצחק: ״לא מראש בסתר דברתי״. וליטבלו בצפרא דשבתא, וליקבלו תורה בצפרא דשבתא? אמר רבי יצחק: שלא יהא הללו הולכין לקבל תורה והללו הולכין לטבילה.
The Talmud asks: And let them immerse during twilight on Friday and receive the Torah just after that during twilight. Why was it necessary to delay revelation until Shabbat morning? R' Yitzḥak said that the verse said in that regard: “From the first, I did not speak in concealment” (Isaiah 48:16). God did not give the Torah under the cloak of night, but rather in the light of day. The Talmud asks: And let them immerse themselves on Shabbat morning and receive the Torah on Shabbat morning. In that case, according to all opinions, the period of separation could have begun 13-hour period later. R' Yitzḥak said: This was not done so that there would not be a situation where these, one segment of the people, would be going to receive the Torah while those, another segment of the people, would be going to immerse themselves. Optimally, the entire nation should go to receive the Torah together.