Study Zevachim folio 93A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
בעא מיניה רמי בר חמא מרב חסדא: ניתז על בגד טמא, מהו? אמר רב הונא בריה דרב יהושע: מדקמיבעיא ליה הכי, שמע מינה: היתה לה שעת הכושר ונפסלה – אין דמה טעון כיבוס.
§ In a related matter, Rami bar Ḥama asked of Rav Ḥisda: If the blood of a sin offering sprayed onto a ritually impure garment, so that the blood became impure and unfit for presentation, what is the halakha? Does the garment require laundering? Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, said: From the fact that Rami bar Ḥama asked the question in this manner, with regard to ritually pure blood that sprayed onto an impure garment, and not with regard to blood that was already impure that sprayed onto a garment, conclude from it that he holds that even if the sin offering had a period of fitness and then was disqualified, a garment onto which its blood sprayed does not require laundering.
הני מילי בזה אחר זה, אבל בבת אחת לא; או דלמא לא שנא? אמר ליה: פלוגתא דרבי אלעזר ורבנן אליבא דרבה, וכדקא מתריץ אביי.
His question, therefore, is: Does this statement apply only when one event, the spraying of the blood, occurs after the other event, i.e., the disqualification of the blood? But if the spraying and the disqualification occur simultaneously, as in this case, perhaps the principle does not apply, and the garment must be laundered. Or, perhaps there is no difference whether the events occur this way or that way, and even if the offering becomes unfit only as the blood touches the garment, it still does not require laundering? Rav Ḥisda said to Rami bar Ḥama: The matter is subject to the dispute between R' Elazar and the Rabbis, in accordance with the explanation of Rabba, and as Abaye resolves it.
דתניא, רבי אלעזר אומר: מי חטאת שנטמאו – מטהרין, שהרי נדה מזין עליה.
The Talmud elaborates: As it is taught in a baraita: R' Elazar says: With regard to water of purification, which has been sanctified by the ashes of the red heifer, even if the water is rendered impure it nevertheless performs its function and purifies a person from the ritual impurity imparted by a corpse. This is evident because those performing the rite would sprinkle water of purification even on a menstruating woman who has been rendered impure by a corpse. Although her menstruation impurity renders the water of purification impure when it touches her, it is effective in removing the ritual impurity imparted by a corpse. R' Elazar’s opinion is in opposition to that of the Rabbis.