Traité Niddah

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : you shall send out, out of the camp you shall send them, so that they not impurify their camp, in the midst of which I dwell” (Numbers 5:3). It is derived from the verse that only a definite male or a definite female is liable for entering the Temple in a state of impurity, but not a tumtum or a hermaphrodite.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara suggests: Let us say that the following baraita supports the opinion of Rav: In the case of a tumtum and a hermaphrodite who saw white ziva or red blood, they are not liable for entering the Temple in a state of impurity, and if they touch teruma, one does not burn the teruma due to their contact. If they saw white ziva and red blood as one, i.e., they emitted both ziva and blood, they are still not liable for entering the Temple, but one burns teruma due to their contact.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara reasons: What is the reason that they are not liable for entering the Temple despite the fact that they are definitely impure? Is it not because it is stated in the verse: “Both male and female you shall send out,” from which it is derived that only a definite male or a definite female could be liable for entering the Temple in a state of impurity, but not a tumtum or a hermaphrodite? Ulla says: No, Rav’s opinion cannot be proved from this baraita, as in accordance with whose opinion is this baraita? It is in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Eliezer.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : As we learned in a mishna (Shevuot 14b) that Rabbi Eliezer says: With regard to the sliding-scale offering the verse states: “Or if a person touches any impure thing…or the carcass of a non-kosher creeping animal, and it is hidden from him” (Leviticus 5:2). A precise reading of this verse indicates that if one has a lapse of awareness that he contracted ritual impurity by touching a carcass of a creeping animal, he is liable to bring a sliding-scale offering for defiling the Temple or the sacrificial food, but he is not liable to bring such an offering for a lapse of awareness that he is entering the Temple or partaking of sacrificial food.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : Rabbi Akiva says that it is derived from the phrase: “And it is hidden from him, so that he is impure” (Leviticus 5:2), that for a lapse of awareness that one had contracted ritual impurity, he is liable to bring a sliding-scale offering, but he is not liable to bring an offering for a lapse of awareness that he is entering the Temple or partaking of sacrificial food.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : And we say with regard to this mishna: What is the difference between the opinions of Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Akiva? They are apparently stating the same halakha. And Ḥizkiyya says: There is a practical difference between them in a case where one initially knew that he had contracted ritual impurity, but he did not know whether the impurity was contracted from a carcass of a creeping animal or from the carcass of an unslaughtered animal. As Rabbi Eliezer holds that for one to be liable to bring an offering, we require that he initially know whether he contracted impurity from a carcass of a creeping animal or whether he contracted impurity from an unslaughtered animal carcass, and if he never knew this, he does not bring an offering. And Rabbi Akiva holds that for him to be liable to bring an offering, we do not require that he know this detail, since he knows in general terms that he contracted impurity.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara infers: Doesn’t Rabbi Eliezer say there, in that mishna, that we require one to bring an offering for entering the Temple in a state of impurity only if he knew initially whether he contracted impurity from a carcass of a creeping animal or whether he contracted impurity from an unslaughtered animal carcass? Here, too, with regard to a hermaphrodite or a tumtum who emitted both ziva and blood, they are not obligated to bring an offering according to Rabbi Eliezer, as we require one to bring an offering only if he knew whether he became impure due to the white ziva he emitted or whether he became impure due to the red blood he emitted.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : But according to Rabbi Akiva, who said that one is obligated to bring an offering due to his initial knowledge of his impurity even if he did not know the exact cause of his impurity, here too, in the case of a hermaphrodite or a tumtum who emitted both ziva and blood, he is obligated to bring an offering due to his initial knowledge of his impurity, despite the fact that he does not know whether he is impure due to the blood or the ziva.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara asks: And according to Rav, who holds that an impure tumtum or hermaphrodite is not liable for entering the Temple but that any teruma that he touches is burned, what is different with regard to entering the Temple, for which he is not liable? The reason it is different is that it is written: “Both male and female you shall send out,” from which it is derived that a definite male or a definite female is liable for entering the Temple in a state of impurity, but not a tumtum or a hermaphrodite.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : If so, we should not burn teruma that he touches either, as it is written in a verse dealing with these types of impurity: “This is the law of the zav, and of one from whom the flow of semen emerges, so that he is thereby impure; and of her that is sick with her menstrual status, and they who have an issue, whether a male or a female” (Leviticus 15:32–33). It can similarly be derived from this verse that these types of impurity apply only to a definite male or a definite female, but not to a tumtum or a hermaphrodite.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara answers: That verse is necessary for the halakha of Rabbi Yitzḥak, as Rabbi Yitzḥak said: The term “whether a male” serves to include a male leper as a primary source of impurity with regard to the sources of his bodily emissions. In other words, the various emissions of a leper, e.g., his saliva and urine, have the status of a primary source of impurity, and therefore they transmit impurity to a person or utensil that touches them. And the term “or a female” serves to include a female as a primary source of impurity with regard to the sources of her bodily emissions.

Traduction française en préparation — version anglaise (Steinsaltz) : The Gemara raises a difficulty: This verse: “Both male and female you shall send out” (Numbers 5:3), from which Rav derives that the prohibition against an impure person entering the Temple does not apply to one whose sex is uncertain, is also necessary for another halakha. That halakha is that the obligation to remove from the Temple any impure person or item applies only to one that has the option of attaining ritual purity by immersing in a ritual bath; this excludes an impure earthenware vessel, which cannot be purified by immersing it in a ritual bath. This is the statement of Rabbi Yosei. Consequently, Rav’s halakha cannot be derived from that verse.