Study Bekhorot folio 44B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Mishnah: The Mishnah lists additional blemishes that disqualify a priest from performing the Temple service: One who has breasts so large that they sag like those of a woman; or if one’s belly is swollen and protrudes; or if one’s navel protrudes; or if one is an epileptic, even if he experiences
Talmud: The Talmud cites a halakha involving a swollen belly. R' Abba, son of R' Ḥiyya bar Abba, says that Torah scholars may urinate in public and they need not be concerned with issues of modesty, because holding back from urinating causes bodily harm. But they may not drink water in public, as
The Talmud relates: It was necessary for Shmuel to urinate on the Shabbat when everyone came to hear halakhot relating to the impending Festival. In order to afford him privacy, they spread a sheet for him. Shmuel then came before his father, who said to him: I will give you 400 dinars if you wil
The Talmud further relates that it was necessary for Mar bar Rav Ashi to urinate while he was walking on the beams of a bridge, and therefore he urinated. They said to him: Your mother-in-law is coming. Mar bar Rav Ashi said to them: I would have done this even in her ear. Since holding back fro
The Talmud returns to the incident cited in the baraita involving one who held back from urinating and his belly became swollen: And let me derive, i.e., can it not be said, that his belly swelled due to a leech that entered his intestines? The Talmud responds: The baraita is referring to a case wh