Study Yoma folio 49A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מיתיבי: זר, ואונן, שיכור, ובעל מום, בקבלה ובהולכה ובזריקה — פסול. וכן יושב, וכן שמאל — פסול! תיובתא.
The Talmud raises an objection from a baraita: With regard to receiving, carrying, or sprinkling blood, if a non-priest, a mourner on his first day of mourning, a drunk priest, and a blemished priest, performed the rite, it is disqualified. And likewise if the priest was sitting, and likewise if he performed one of these rites with his left hand, it is disqualified. This statement contradicts the ruling of Rav Sheshet. The Talmud concludes: This is indeed a conclusive refutation, and Rav Sheshet’s opinion is rejected.
והא רב ששת הוא דאותבה, דאמר ליה רב ששת לאמוריה דרב חסדא, בעי מיניה מרב חסדא: הולכה בזר מהו? אמר ליה: כשירה, ומקרא מסייעני: ״וישחטו הפסח ויזרקו הכהנים מידם והלוים מפשיטים״!
The Talmud asks: But wasn’t Rav Sheshet the one who objected on the basis of this very baraita? As Rav Sheshet said to the interpreter of Rav Ḥisda: Raise the following dilemma before Rav Ḥisda: What is the halakha with regard to carrying the blood performed by a non-priest? He said to him: It is valid, and a verse supports me: “And they slaughtered the Paschal offering and the priests sprinkled with their hand, and the Levites flayed” (II Chronicles 35:11). This verse indicates that the priests took the blood from the hands of the Levites, from which it can be inferred that the Levites carried the blood from the place of slaughtering to the place of sprinkling.
ומותיב רב ששת: זר ואונן, שיכור ובעל מום, בקבלה ובהולכה ובזריקה — פסול, וכן יושב וכן שמאל — פסול.
And Rav Sheshet objected based on the aforementioned baraita: With regard to receiving, carrying, or sprinkling blood, if a non-priest, a mourner on his first day of mourning, a drunk priest, and a blemished priest, performed the rite, it is disqualified. This statement proves that carrying cannot be performed by a non-priest. Since Rav Sheshet himself cited this baraita in his objection, he was certainly familiar with it. How, then, could he issue a ruling in contradiction to the baraita?