Babylonian Talmud in English

List
1) Seder Zera'im:
1.1) Berachoth..................p. 1 (duplicates... p. 8448)
1.2) Pe'ah.........................p. 251
1.3) Demai........................p. 275
1.4) Kil'ayim......................p. 292
1.5) Shebi'ith....................p. 321
1.6) Terumoth..................p. 349
1.7) Ma'aseroth................p. 380
1.8) Ma'aser Sheni...........p. 395
1.9) Hallah........................p. 411 (duplicates... p. 2910)
1.10) 'Orlah......................(missing)
1.11) Bikkurim..................p. 432

2) Seder Mo'ed:
2.1) Shabbath..................p. 443
2.2) 'Erubin......................p. 954
2.3) Pesachim..................p. 1446
2.4) Yoma........................p. 1843
2.5) Sukkah.....................p. 2114
2.6) Bezah.......................p. 2304
2.7) Rosh Hashana...........p. 2432
2.8) Ta'anith....................p. 2543
2.9) Shekalim..................p. 2643
2.10) Megillah.................p. 2663 (duplicates... p.9109)
2.11) Mo'ed Katan..........p. 2790
2.12) Chagigah...............(missing)

3) Seder Nashim:
3.1) Yebamoth.................p. 2931
3.2) Kethuboth.................p. 3530
3.3) Nedarim…………………..p. 4024
3.4) Nazir………………………..p. 4204
3.5) Sotah……………………….p. 4367
3.6) Gittin……………………….p. 4539
3.7) Kiddushin………………..p. 4805

4) Seder Nezikin:
4.1) Baba Kamma……………p. 5082
4.2) Baba Mezi’a…………….p. 5527
4.3) Baba Bathra…………….p. 5946
4.4) Sanhedrin……………….p. 6472
4.5) ‘Abodah Zarah………..p. 6982
4.6) Horayoth………………..p. 7209
4.7) Shebu’oth………………p. 7275
4.8) Makkoth…………………p. 7470
4.9) ‘Eduyyoth……………….p. 7577
4.10) Aboth……………………p. 7607

5) Seder Kodashim:
5.1) Zebahim………………….p. 7662
5.2) Menahoth………………p. 8038
5.3) Hullin………………………(missing)
5.4) Bekoroth………………..(missing)
5.5) ‘Arakin……………………p. 8698
5.6) Temurah………………..p. 8817
5.7) Kerithoth……………….p. 8978
5.8) Me’ilah…………………..(missing)
5.9) Tamid.....................p. 9236 (starts with 25b)
5.10) Middoth...............p. 9258
5.11) Kinnim..................p. 9271

6) Seder Tohoroth:
6.1) Niddah....................p. 9285
6.2) Kelim......................p. 9629
6.3) Oholoth..................p. 9713
6.4) Nega’im..................p. 9758
6.5) Parah......................p. 9797
6.6) Tohoroth................p. 9829
6.7) Mikwa’oth..............p. 9863
6.8) Makshirin...............p. 9886
6.9) Zabim.....................p. 9903
6.10) Tebul Yom............p. 9916
6.11) Yadayim...............p. 9925
6.12) Ukzin...................p. 9937
Reviewer: ruben garcia - favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite - April 14, 2013
Subject: subjet
subjet
Reviewer: mordochai - favoritefavoritefavorite - February 25, 2011
Subject: missing mesechtot
At least two mesechtot are missing from the collection. They are Bechorot and Hullin.

It is difficult and time consuming to find the volume and page within this set-up.

Nevertheless, the digital copy is still useful

(5) I.e., when he gives a traditional ruling bearing on his own case, he is believed only if he had stated it before the same
arose.
(6) Rab Judah.
(7) Or ‘on the ferry-boat’.
(8) Rab Judah's litigant.
(9) Of women who belonged to that family, and accordingly bore the status of slaves, so that their marriage was invalid.
(10) For revealing their inferiority.
(11) The dove is a clean bird (i.e., fit for food); the raven is unclean. The House of Jonah is of pure descent; the other is
not. Descendants of the two families were probably widespread in Nehardea, but their origin was forgotten: hence the
threat.
(12) So many were there.
(13) On the Tigris, not far from Ktesifon; it is discussed at great length in Obermeyer, pp. 161-186.
(14) These are either places or family names. Probably they are contemptuous nicknames, which may mean, old rags,
barrels, patches, stuffings and grape skins.
(15) The name of a place.
(16) From which it derives its name, ‘dura’ _ village, so Rashi, according to cur. ed. ‘Nethinim villagers’.
(17) Who had intermingled with the populace, though they had never been formally manumitted.
(18) A priestly contemporary of Jeremiah who had him put in the stocks because of his dire prophecies of national
disaster; (Jer. XX 1-6).
(19) Heb. Shura, the large circumvallation. v. next note.
(20) Var. lec.: in Sura and Nehardea.
(21) I.e., of an impure family descent.
(22) Hos. IV, 4.
(23) I.e., of an unfit stock.
(24) [Read preferably with MS.M. ‘When the Holy One, blessed be He, testifies, He testifies concerning etc.,’ omitting
‘causes His divine Presence to rest.’]
(25) Ps. CXXII. 4.
(26) Worthily married and born.
(27) Jer. XXXI, 1.
(28) The limitation must exclude those of questionable birth.
(29) Lit., ‘which is between Israel and proselytes.’
(30) Ezek. XXXVII, 27; i.e., God calls them first, and they accept the call.
(31) Jer. XXX, 21f; i.e., they must first call upon God, Who willingly accepts them. There is no spirit of exclusiveness in
this: God first appeared unto Israel; thereafter, He is ready to accept all who call upon Him.
(32) Isa. XIV, 1.
(33) Lev. XIV, 55. We-nispehu is thus connected with sappahath, and the former verse is translated: and they shall be as
a scab to the house of Jacob. — Rashi states: because their lax observance of precepts sets a bad example to true born
Jews. Tosaf. suggests the reverse: proselytes are more observant, and expose the laxity of other Jews! Cf. infra p. 387.

Talmud - Mas. Kiddushin 71a

purifies the tribes, He will first purify the tribe of Levi, for it is said: And he shall sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver; and they
shall offer unto the Lord offerings in righteousness.1 R. Joshua b. Levi said: Money purifies
mamzerim,2 for it is said. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.3 What is meant by, and
they shall offer unto the Lord offerings in righteousness? — Said R. Isaac: The Holy One, blessed be
He, shewed charity4 to Israel, in that a family once mixed up5 remains so.6

The [above] text [states]: Rab Judah said in Samuel's name: All countries are as dough in
comparison with Palestine, and Palestine is as dough relative to Babylon. In the days of Rabbi7 it
was desired to render Babylon as dough vis a vis Palestine.8 Said he to them, You are putting thorns
between my eyes!9 If you wish, R. Hanina b. Hama will join [issue] with you. So R. Hanina b. Hama

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joined [issue] with them and said to them, ‘I have this tradition from R. Ishmael son of R. Jose who
stated on his father's authority: All countries are as dough in comparison with Palestine, and
Palestine is as dough relative to Babylon.’10

In the days of R. Phineas it was desired to declare Babylon as dough vis a vis Palestine.11 Said he
to his slaves, ‘When I have made two statements in the Beth Hamidrash, take me up in my litter and
flee.’ When he entered he said to them, A fowl does not require slaughter by Biblical law. Whilst
they were sitting and meditating thereon, he said to them, All countries are as dough in comparison
with Palestine, and Palestine is as dough relative to Babylon. [Thereupon] they [his slaves] took him
up in his litter and fled. They ran after, but could not overtake him. Then they sat and examined
[their genealogies], until they came to danger;12 so they refrained.13

R. Johanan said: By the Temple! It is in our power;14 but what shall I do, seeing that the greatest
men of our time are mixed up therein. [Thus] he holds with R. Isaac, who said: Once a family
becomes mixed up, it remains so.15 Abaye said: We have learnt likewise: There was a family, Beth
ha-Zerifa, in Transjordania, which Ben Zion16 forcibly expelled.17 There was another, which Ben
Zion forcibly admitted.18 Such as these, Elijah will come to declare unclean or clean, to expel and
admit.19 [Hence, only] such as these, who are known; but once a family becomes mixed up, it
remains so. It was taught: There was yet another, which the Sages declined to reveal, but the Sages
confided it to their children and disciples once a septennate — others say, twice a septennate. Said R.
Nahman b. Isaac: Reason supports the view that it was once a septennate. Even as it was taught: [If
one vows,] ‘Behold, I will be a nazir20 if I do not reveal the families [which are impure],’ he must be
a nazir, and not reveal the families.21

Rabbah b. Bar Hanah said in R. Johanan's name: The [pronunciation of the Divine] Name of four
letters the Sages confide to their disciples once a septennate — others state, twice a septennate. Said
R. Nahman b. Isaac: Reason supports the view that it was once a septennate, for it is written, this is
my name for ever [le'olam]22 which is written le'allem.23 Raba thought to lecture upon it at the public
sessions. Said a certain old man to him, It is written, le'allem [to be kept secret].

R. Abina opposed [two verses]: It is written: ‘this is my mame’; but it is also written: ‘and this is
my memorial’?24 — The Holy One, blessed be He, said: I am not called as I am written: I am written
with yod he, but I am read, alef daleth.25

Our Rabbis taught: At first [God's] twelve-lettered Name26 used to be entrusted to all people.
When unruly men increased,27 it was confided to the pious of the priesthood,28 and these ‘swallowed
it’29 during the chanting of their brother priests.30 It was taught: R. Tarfon said: ‘I once ascended the
dais31 after my mother's brother, and inclined my ear to the High Priest, and heard him swallowing
the Name during the chanting of his brother priests.

Rab Judah said in Rab's name: The forty-two lettered Name32 is entrusted only to him who is
pious,33 meek, middle-aged,34 free from bad temper, sober,35 and not insistent on his rights. And he
who knows it, is heedful thereof,36 and observes it in purity, is beloved above and popular below,
feared by man,37 and inherits two worlds, this world and the future world.38

Samuel said on the authority of an old man: Babylon stands in the presumption of being fit, until
you know wherewith it became unfit;39 other countries are presumed to be unfit, until you know
wherewith they are fit.40 As for Palestine, he who has the presumption of unfitness is unfit; he who
has the presumption of fitness is fit. But this is self contradictory: you say, he who has the
presumption of unfitness is unfit — hence, when undetermined,41 he is fit; then you teach, he who
has the presumption of fitness is fit hence, when undetermined, he is unfit? — Said R. Huna b.
Tahlifa in Rab's name: There is no difficulty:

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____________________
(1) Mal. III, 3.
(2) By means of their wealth they intermarry with Israel, and having thus mingled, they will not be separated in the
future.
(3) I.e., those who married by means of their silver, He will purify by retaining them in Israel.
(4) Heb. zedakah: the same word denotes righteousness and charity, because charity is righteousness.
(5) With illegitimate elements.
(6) And no attempt is to be made to excise it.
(7) C. 135-220 C.E.
(8) To declare the families of Palestine of purer birth, so that if a Babylonian desired to marry into a Palestine family he
would have to prove the purity of his own descent. — It was thought that by now the Palestinian families were pure, and
so it was due to the honour of Palestine to make this change; Halevi, Doroth, 1, 3, p. 105.
(9) Rabbi was a descendant of Hillel, a Babylonian, and so this would cast a stigma upon his birth.
(10) I.e., a mere declaration cannot change an historical fact.
(11) Since he was a contemporary of Rabbi (R. Judah I), this is probably the same as referred to above.
(12) They discovered that some powerful families were of impure birth, and it would endanger their own lives to reveal
it.
(13) Lit., ‘separated themselves.’
(14) To reveal the families of impure birth in Palestine.
(15) V. p. 359, n. 10.
(16) A person of great importance and power. In ‘Ed. VIII, 7 the reading is ‘bene Zion,’ the citizens of Jerusalem.
(17) I.e., he declared them unfit, so that other families would not intermarry with them.
(18) Lit, ‘brought near.’ He compelled their pure birth to be recognised.
(19) ‘Ed. (Sonc. ed.) p. 50 notes 4-6.
(20) V. Glos.
(21) This shews how inadvisable and dangerous such action might be; hence once a septennate would have been enough.
(22) Ex. III, 15.
(23) Defectively without a waw, hence to be read le'allem, To be kept secret.
(24) Ibid. This implies that he gave him two names. One, His real Name, and the other, by which He was to be generally
designated.
(25) The Tetragrammaton is yod he waw he; but it is read adonai _ alef dateth nun yod.
(26) V. n. 6 [This would suggest that they also hesitated to write or pronounce this latter name in full, but wrote or
pronounced it merely Ad or Alef dateth. Lauterbach. J.Z. Proceedings of the Americas Academy for Jewish Research
1930-1931. p. 43.]
(27) And it was not fit that they should pronounce this.
(28) [To utter it at the priestly benediction, v. Sot. 38a.]
(29) I.e., pronounced it indistinctly.
(30) [I.e., while they were chanting the Tetragrammaton at the benediction.]
(31) Where the priests stood when they blessed the people.
(32) Maim. in ‘Moreh’ I, 62, conjectures that these multiliteral Names, of which no trace is found, were perhaps
composed of several other divine names; also that not only the names were communicated, but their real meanings too.
[On these names v. further Blau L. Das altjudische Zauberwesen pp. 137ff and Bacher. JE XI 264.]
(33) [ gubm denotes simply a modest man careful to carry out his religious obligations, a pious man, and not a member
of a particular sect — an Essene. v. Buchler Types, pp. 59ff.]
(34) Lit., ‘stands in the middle of his days’.
(35) Lit., ‘he does not get angry, does not get drunk’.
(36) Not to use it lightly.
(37) Lit., ‘his fear lies upon mankind.’
(38) In general the name of God was regarded more than a mere designation, but represented His nature or character and
His relation to His people. It thus came to partake of His essence, His glory and power. This probably explains the
mystic awe with which its pronunciation was surrounded, on the one hand, and the powers attributed to the right
manipulation thereof on the other. Cf. Sanh. 91a: ‘He who pronounces the Divine Name according to its letters loses his

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portion in the world to come; also 65b and 67b on the human powers of creation by means of the Sefer Yezirah, which
Rashi a.l. explains was effected by combinations of the Divine Name. [On this subject v. Marmorstein The Old Rabbinic
Doctrine of God, I, p. 17.]
(39) I.e., a Babylonian Jew is presumed to be of pure descent and fit to marry into any Jewish family, unless we
definitely know the contrary.
(40) As stated on 76a; the four preceding generations must be examined.
(41) I.e., there is no presumption at all about him.

Talmud - Mas. Kiddushin 71b

here it is to permit him to take a wife; there it is to take the wife from him.1

R. Joseph said: He whose speech is Babylonian is permitted to take a wife [of superior birth]. But
nowadays that there are dissemblers, we fear [them].2

Ze'iri was evading R. Johanan, who was urging him, ‘Marry my daughter.’3 One day they were
travelling on a road, when they came to a pool of water. Thereupon he placed R. Johanan on his
shoulder and carried him across. Said he to him: ‘Our learning is fit but our daughters are not? [On]
what is your view [based]? Shall we say, because we learned, TEN GENEALOGICAL CLASSES
WENT UP FROM BABYLON: PRIESTS, LEVITES [etc.]? Did then all the priests, Levites and
Israelites go up? just as some of these were left, so were some of those [the unfit enumerated in the
Mishnah] left [in Babylon].’4 He [however] overlooked what R. Eleazar said: Ezra did not go up
from Babylon until he made it like pure fine flour: then he went up.5

‘Ulla visited Rab Judah in Pumbeditha. Seeing that R. Isaac, the son of Rab Judah, was grown up,
yet unmarried,6 he asked him, ‘Why have you not taken a wife for your son?’ ‘Do I then know
whence to take one?’ he replied.7 ‘Do we know whence we are descended?’ he retorted. ‘Perhaps
from those of whom it is written: They ravished the women in Zion, the maidens in the cities of
Judah.8 And should you answer: If a heathen or slave has intercourse with the daughter of an
Israelite, the issue is fit, — then perhaps [we are descended] from those of whom it is written, that lie
upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves [seruhim] upon their couches.9 Now, R. Jose son of R.
Hanina said: This refers to people who pass water before their beds naked.10 But R. Abbahu derided
this: If so, see what is written: Therefore shall they now go captive the first that go captive11 —
because they pass water before their beds naked they shall go captive with the first that go captive!
But, said R. Abbahu, this refers to people who eat and drink together, join their couches, exchange
their wives and make their couches foul [masrihim] with semen that is not theirs.’12 ‘Then what shall
I do?’ he ‘asked. ‘Go after the peaceful,’13 he replied.14 As the Palestinians15 make a test: When two
quarrel, they see which becomes silent first and say: This one is of superior birth.

Rab said: Silence [peaceableness] in Babylon, is [the mark of]16 pure birth. But that is not so, for
Rab visited the family of Shihla17 and examined them; surely that means as to their genealogy? —
No, by silence. He said thus to them:18 Examine [them], whether they are silent [peaceable] or not.
Rab Judah said in Rab's name: If you see two people continually quarreling, there is a blemish of
unfitness in one of them, and they are [providentially] not allowed to cleave to each other. 19

R. Papa the elder said on Rab's authority: Babylon is healthy; Mesene20 is dead; Media is sick, and
Elam is dying.21 And what is the difference between sick and dying? — Most sick are [destined] for
life; most dying are for death.22

How far does Babylon extend?23 — Rab said: As far as the river ‘Azak;24 Samuel said: as far as
the river Wani.25 How far on the upper [reaches of] Tigris? Rab said: as far as Bagda26 and Awana;
Samuel said: as far as Moxoene.27 Is then Moxoene itself not included? Surely R. Hiyya b. Abba

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