Study Yevamot folio 46B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
With regard to one who immersed but was not circumcised, everyone, i.e., both R' Yehoshua and R' Eliezer, agrees that the halakha is derived from the foremothers that immersion alone is effective. Where they disagree is with regard to one who was circumcised but had not immersed; R' Eliezer derives
The Talmud asks: From where did he derive this? If we say that he derived it from the fact that it is written that in preparation for the revelation at Sinai, God commanded Moses: “Go unto the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments” (Exodus 19:10), as R' Yehosh
The Talmud rejects the proof: But perhaps when the verse states that they had to wash their clothes, it was merely for cleanliness and not for the sake of ritual purity. If so, no a fortiori inference can be drawn from it to the case of immersion for ritual purity.
Rather, R' Yehoshua derived it from here, where the verse states with regard to the formation of the covenant at Sinai: “And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people” (Exodus 24:8), and it is learned as a tradition that there is no ritual sprinkling without immersion. Therefore, our
The Talmud asks: And with regard to the opinion of R' Yehoshua, from where do we derive that also in the case of our foremothers there was immersion? The Talmud answers: It is based on logical reasoning, as, if so, that they did not immerse, then with what were they brought under the wings of the