tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55895642024-03-13T06:03:31.524-04:00parshablogparshablog is published by josh waxman (joshwaxman [at] yahoo [dot] com). this blog is devoted to parsha as well as whatever it is i am currently learning.
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<a href="http://parsha.blogspot.com/atom.xml">Rss Feed</a>joshwaxmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03516171362038454070noreply@blogger.comBlogger476316tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-83383301150430704122022-12-06T09:48:00.002-05:002022-12-06T09:48:20.940-05:00It's been a while...<p> I've been blogging a bit on Substack, at Scribal Error. While focused more on gemara and girsaot, I just had a post on Rationalism and Midrash. Check out <a href="https://scribalerror.substack.com/p/luminous-stones-and-peshat-in-midrash">Luminous Stones and Peshat in Midrash</a>.</p><p>An excerpt:</p><blockquote><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">Is this magic? Miracle? The natural process by which luminous stones glow? It seems a natural process. Bereishit Rabba continues:</p><blockquote style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; border-left: var(--size-4) solid var(--background_pop); color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; margin: var(--size-20) 0;"><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; color: var(--color-primary); line-height: 1.6em; margin-left: var(--size-20);">אָמַר רַבִּי הוּנָא עֲרִיקִין הֲוֵינָן מִן קוֹמֵי גוּנְדָא בַּהֲדָא בּוּטִיטָה דִּטְבֶרְיָה וְהָיָה בְּיָדֵינוּ נֵרוֹת, בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁהָיוּ כֵּהִים הָיִינוּ יוֹדְעִים שֶׁהוּא יוֹם, וּבְשָׁעָה שֶׁהָיוּ מַבְהִיקִים הָיִינוּ יוֹדְעִים שֶׁהוּא לָיְלָה.</p></blockquote><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">Rabbi Huna relates how, when they were hiding from a troop in the ruins of Teveriah, they had lamps. When they grew dim they knew it was day, while when they grew bright, they knew it was night.</p><p style="--tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / 0.5); --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: Spectral, serif, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 19px; line-height: 1.6em; margin: 0 0 var(--size-20) 0;">Thus, I’d guess that Rabbi Levi, the author of this midrash, viewed it as natural rather than supernatural. </p></blockquote><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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Here, and the other one is (<a class="refLink" data-ref="II Chronicles 24:20" href="/II_Chronicles.24.20">II Chronicles 24:20</a>) "and the spirit of God clothed Zecharya." One could here too read [as if it was written], "and the spirit of God clothed;" the explanation [of which] is that because of His clothing, He said, "let there be light," after which is written, "and there was light." This is what our Rabbis, of blessed memory, expounded (<a class="refLink" data-ref="Bereishit Rabbah 3:4" href="/Bereishit_Rabbah.3.4">Bereishit Rabbah 3:4</a>), "from a little of his clothing, He created light."</blockquote><p>But Minchat Shai has a different version of Minchat Shai, which he will propose to emend. Minchat Shai summarizes Baal HaTurim that, like a masoretic note, that there are two in construct form (the Spirit <b>of </b>God), namely here and <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/I_Chronicles.12.19?lang=bi">I Divrei Hayamim 12:19</a>, וְר֣וּחַ לָֽבְשָׁ֗ה אֶת־עֲמָשַׂי֮, "Then the spirit clothed Amasai". To explain, we should read it here <b>as if </b>it were "then the spirit <b>of God </b>clothed", etc.</p><p>ותימא גדולה על דבריו. כי אין דרך המסורת למסור סימן במה שלא נמצא בכתוב ולומר קרי ביה. </p><p>And Baal HaTurim's words are astonishing, because it isn't the way of the Masoret to record a mnemonic about what is <b>not</b> found in the Scriptures and to say, "read it as if it said this".</p><p>ובלי ספק שנוסחא משובשת נזדמנה לפניו והנוסחא האמיתית היא ורוח אלהים לבשה את זכריה <small>(ד"ה ב' כ"ד).</small> </p><p>And doubtless, a mistaken nusach came before the Baal HaTurim, while the true nusach would be to point to II Divrei Hayamim 24:20, which does have וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים לָבְשָׁה. </p><p>(The digital text of Baal HaTurim, which corrected the pointed-to text, makes no sense, for why would we read a text which actually has veruach Elokim as if it said veruach Elokim?)</p><p> וכן כתב מוהר"ר מאיר אנגיל במסורת הברית הגדול. </p><p>So did Rabbi Meir Engel write in <a href="https://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=11579&st=&pgnum=8">Masoret HaBrit HaGadol</a>:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj9O4LhCkjCbxnB9y91vi2QcZBDwDduNRiC2sh0NLe7VpJnhEY3nu2qKIXZl1JXKg7vA5Nh6lKiuPwzndFRmqBE-Q519T3MrSG-_sbnG-V_VznojGttJ8oCb_JLj1HmfsPpakdxV-MdlTrRHVTf6SaM_O7VYH6ZN_QA4l2bLP1h5beO0mmdxJw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="147" data-original-width="704" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj9O4LhCkjCbxnB9y91vi2QcZBDwDduNRiC2sh0NLe7VpJnhEY3nu2qKIXZl1JXKg7vA5Nh6lKiuPwzndFRmqBE-Q519T3MrSG-_sbnG-V_VznojGttJ8oCb_JLj1HmfsPpakdxV-MdlTrRHVTf6SaM_O7VYH6ZN_QA4l2bLP1h5beO0mmdxJw=s16000" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjJ4HMwcZ9D5lhOKOSH98_ALPodFAZQH5ofAfu2zb9eN4-BOOPIgHvSRdjIJiV6Pd9Jre52tfmP-gKxetmzJeChpWCTuZZIebU9wgIVSkfkwfRiUFFtGfDjK6aZtxel6WoiWwiUY_pdP_caI98Eg0Vhhhw28hxTXbwXJ74EFKxdHqkZvDeScgc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="604" data-original-width="736" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjJ4HMwcZ9D5lhOKOSH98_ALPodFAZQH5ofAfu2zb9eN4-BOOPIgHvSRdjIJiV6Pd9Jre52tfmP-gKxetmzJeChpWCTuZZIebU9wgIVSkfkwfRiUFFtGfDjK6aZtxel6WoiWwiUY_pdP_caI98Eg0Vhhhw28hxTXbwXJ74EFKxdHqkZvDeScgc=s16000" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>ומה שנמסר בפ' ויקהל רוח אלהים ה' בלישנא. היינו כל הכתובים רוח אלהים בין בוא"ו בין בלא וא"ו כמו שמונה והולך שם:<p></p><p>Meanwhile, regarding the masoretic note in parashat Vayakhel which reads רוח אלהים, there are five with this language, these are all the verses with רוח אלהים, whether with or without a vav, as he will enumerate and detail there.</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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Names of these commentary links.</p><p>5) What are two extremely important skills / characteristics for learning gemara?</p><p><b>Mishnah</b></p><p>1) What is Rashi's explanation for why Rabbi Yehuda and the Tanna Kamma disagree about >20 amot?</p><p>2) What is Rashi's explanation for why < 10 is invalid?</p><p>3) What is Rashi's explanation for why more sun than shade is a problem?</p><p>4) Why is shlosha put in parentheses?</p><p><b>Gemara - first sugya</b></p><p>1) What is a "mavuy" that has a height?</p><p>2) Why not say pasul, in your own words? Two explanations.</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Some hints:</b></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">אמר </span><a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A8%D7%91%D7%99_%D7%99%D7%95%D7%97%D7%A0%D7%9F" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0645ad; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="רבי יוחנן">רבי יוחנן</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">: "סתם משנה רבי מאיר </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">סתם </span><a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%A1%D7%A4%D7%AA%D7%90" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0645ad; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="תוספתא">תוספתא</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A8%D7%91%D7%99_%D7%A0%D7%97%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%94" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0645ad; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="רבי נחמיה">רבי נחמיה</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">, סתם </span><a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A1%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%90" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0645ad; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="ספרא">ספרא</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A8%D7%91%D7%99_%D7%99%D7%94%D7%95%D7%93%D7%94" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0645ad; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="רבי יהודה">רבי יהודה</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">, סתם </span><a href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A1%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%99" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0645ad; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="ספרי">ספרי</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </span><a class="mw-redirect" href="https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A8%D7%91%D7%99_%D7%A9%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%95%D7%9F" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); color: #0645ad; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none;" title="רבי שמעון">רבי שמעון</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> וכולהו אליבא דרבי עקיבא".</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">plurality because pasken. came out of his beit midrash with rabbi yehuda hanasi redacting</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">inside margin</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">back in time, contemporary, forward to halacha</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">sitzfleish and keeping finger on place</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">wait and see</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">bitul</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">gender</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">crossbeam needs to be seen, before moving from alleyway to real road</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><script type="text/javascript"><!--
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For today's daf yomi, Shabbat 75a, let us consider the chilazon. Does the gemara's description of it match up with what contemporary scientific sources say about it? In particular, here is <a href="https://archive.org/stream/naturalhistory03plinuoft#page/248/mode/2up">Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, Book 9, Chapter 60</a>.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2sH_8SDCzSBtqvnuiqsufZjYpRT7OAapg1ZU-RhBT6J1LL4ONaeg52ez7pAZv1vkOa7wkmPXDMPupAZoUhWAbrU6soHRW02Q7kQ85Ep84R5imFnlXMh_iKGSbCOEx6jXw1YA7/s1600/murex.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="745" data-original-width="1036" height="460" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2sH_8SDCzSBtqvnuiqsufZjYpRT7OAapg1ZU-RhBT6J1LL4ONaeg52ez7pAZv1vkOa7wkmPXDMPupAZoUhWAbrU6soHRW02Q7kQ85Ep84R5imFnlXMh_iKGSbCOEx6jXw1YA7/s640/murex.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
The quote I would like to focus on is this:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"People strive to catch this fish alive, because it discharges it juice with its life; and from the larger purples they get the juice by stripping off the shell, but they crush the smaller ones alive with the shell, as that is the only way to make them discharge the juice."</blockquote>
<br />
This matches up with <b>some</b> of the statements in the gemara. My concern is more with statements of <b>named Amoraim</b>. Statements of the <i>setama degemara</i>, which might well be from the Savoraim or later, do not concern me as much, as they never saw a murex snail and were far in time from when the <i>chilazon</i> was available.<br />
<br />
A <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Shabbat.75a.5?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en">brayta</a> firstly talks about first catching and then being "potzeia" a chilazon:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;">
<span style="color: #202122; font-family: Narkisim;"><span style="font-size: 18.9px;">הַצָּד חִלָּזוֹן וְהַפּוֹצְעוֹ — אֵינוֹ חַיָּיב אֶלָּא אַחַת. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר חַיָּיב שְׁתַּיִם. שֶׁהָיָה רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר: פְּצִיעָה בִּכְלַל דִּישָׁה. אָמְרוּ לוֹ: אֵין פְּצִיעָה בִּכְלַל דִּישָׁה.</span></span></blockquote>
<span style="color: #202122; font-family: Narkisim;"><span style="font-size: 18.9px;"><br /></span></span>
The Tanna Kamma says he is liable for two acts, while Rabbi Yehuda says only for one act. That is slightly ambiguous, because <b>perhaps </b>Rabbi Yehuda holds there is no such thing as catching a slow-moving chilazon. The <i>brayta</i> (maybe a later stratum) continues and clarifies that all hold there is a liability for the catching, and the dispute is about <i>potzea</i> - whether this is like <i>disha</i>, threshing.<br />
<br />
What is petzia? Rashi writes: הפוצעו - דוחקו בידיו שיצא דמו: That is, he squeezes / crushes it in his hands so that the blood will come out. Potzea usually means to crush or crack open. See <a href="https://www.sefaria.org/Jastrow%2C_%D7%A4%D6%B8%D6%BC%D7%A6%D6%B7%D7%A2?lang=bi">Jastrow</a>.<br />
<br />
I am not sure if I am forcing this explanation, but perhaps we can say that the <i>brayta</i> is ambiguous. Is it possible to that <i>petzia </i>is the same as the "stripping off of the shell" of the larger murex, and that there is some cracking open that is possible here, that does not kill it?<br />
<br />
Rava says that this is only an issue of whether <i>disha</i> (threshing) applies only to plants.<br />
<br />
אָמַר רָבָא: מַאי טַעְמָא דְּרַבָּנַן — קָסָבְרִי אֵין דִּישָׁה אֶלָּא לְגִדּוּלֵי קַרְקַע.<br />
<br />
The <i>setama degemara</i> objects that there is the issue of taking a life! This is a prelude to the (earlier) statement of Rabbi Yochanan, that we are dealing with a dead murex:<br />
<br />
וְלִיחַיַּיב נָמֵי מִשּׁוּם נְטִילַת נְשָׁמָה! אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: שֶׁפְּצָעוֹ מֵת.<br />
<br />
And Rava disagrees and says that it could even apply to a live murex, because that is not his intent.<br />
<br />
רָבָא אָמַר: אֲפִילּוּ תֵּימָא שֶׁפְּצָעוֹ חַי, מִתְעַסֵּק הוּא אֵצֶל נְטִילַת נְשָׁמָה.<br />
<br />
The setama degemara objects that this is a statement by Rava, and Abaye and Rava agree about <i>pesik reisha velo yamut</i>. And answers that here, it is not in the person's interest that the murex dies, because if extracted while alive, the dye will be clearer.<br />
<i><br /></i>
וְהָא אַבָּיֵי וְרָבָא דְּאָמְרִי תַּרְוַויְיהוּ: מוֹדֶה רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן בִּ״פְסִיק רֵישֵׁיהּ וְלֹא יָמוּת״! שָׁאנֵי הָכָא, דְּכַמָּה דְּאִית בֵּיהּ נְשָׁמָה טְפֵי נִיחָא לֵיהּ, כִּי הֵיכִי דְּלֵיצִיל צִיבְעֵיהּ.<br />
<br />
This reason, that its dye will be clearer, is Rashi's explanation, and Rashi's girsa of the gemara. (He says "Hachi Garsinan").<br />
<br />
<b style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16.8px;">דליציל ציבעיה גרסינן</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #202122; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 16.8px;"> - שתהא מראית צבעו צלולה:</span><br />
<br />
What would be the alternative? Maybe a sense of <i>hatzala</i>, saving its dye. It is like <i>hatzala</i>. The variant manuscript in question is <i>ktav yad Vatikan.</i> Here, from the Hachi Garsinan website, is a comparison of several manuscripts:<br />
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And it glosses <i>delitzlei</i> as <i>denitzlach</i>, that it be saved.<br />
<br />
Dr. Mendel Singer, a Radziner chassid, in his article about <a href="http://www.aishdas.org/articles/techeiles.htm">the criteria for the chilazon</a>, in which he tries to show that the murex does not match, writes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Dye is better while chilazon is alive: We learn in the Gemara that people try not to kill the chilazon when extracting the dye because the dye is better if extracted while the chilazon is alive.[<a href="http://www.aishdas.org/articles/techeiles.htm#f42">42</a>] From this Gemara we learn that there is a significant difference in the dye when extracted while the chilazon is alive and when it is extracted just moments after its death. Petil followers argue that the murex secretion (mucus) loses its dyeing power a few hours after the snail's death. This doesn't help since the Gemara is speaking not of a few hours, but mere moments after death. Another problem is Pliny's statement that the murex discharges its dye upon death.[<a href="http://www.aishdas.org/articles/techeiles.htm#f43">43</a>] If so, the reason not to kill the murex when removing the gland containing the dye is because otherwise the precious few drops of dye will be lost!</blockquote>
<br />
I personally would not try, like the Petil people, to make the <i>setama</i>'s statement accord with contemporary observed reality. In terms of Rabbi Yochanan, he could be dealing with a dead chilazon. In terms of Rava, he could be dealing with a live chilazon. But we see from Pliny that people <b>prefer</b>, at least with the large snails where it is possible, to <b>not</b> crush it with the shell. It is only the smaller snails that they crush with the shell. It could be that this brings in impurities, because you are mixing it with bits of shell and other flesh of the snail. Indeed, the extracted dye will not be <i>tzalil</i>, pure. You would need to filter it. As the <i>setama</i> describes, perhaps.<br />
<br />
I am a bit stymied by Dr. Singer's last two sentences, though:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Another problem is Pliny's statement that the murex discharges its dye upon death.[<a href="http://www.aishdas.org/articles/techeiles.htm#f43">43</a>] If so, the reason not to kill the murex when removing the gland containing the dye is because otherwise the precious few drops of dye will be lost!</blockquote>
I can only surmise that he was exposed to Pliny secondhand, and so did not see the full context. Recall that Pliny wrote:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"People strive to catch this fish alive, because it discharges it juice with its life; and from the larger purples they get the juice by stripping off the shell, but they crush the smaller ones alive with the shell, as that is the only way to make them discharge the juice."</blockquote>
The same Pliny who wrote that it discharges its dye upon death said immediately that they crush the smaller murex alive with its shell, to make them discharge the juice. Obviously Pliny is not saying that when you crush a live murex, killing it, the drops will be lost! That would be nonsensical.<br />
<br />
Rather, Pliny seems to mean that, if a murex dies in the water, it discharges the dye into the water, and so you will not have a chance to extract it. But once you <b>catch it</b> alive, you can do with it what you will - strip off the shell for larger murex, crush it alive for smaller murex. And then they will discharge their juice / dye, which you can use.<br />
<br />
So Dr. Singer presumably did not see Pliny inside, and kvetches him beyond recognition. However, if Dr. Singer does want to say that the concern of the gemara should be is that precious drops of dye will be <b>lost</b>, he can always use the Vatican manuscript, which interprets the word as <i>hatzala</i>, דנצלח צבעיה, or even interpret our own <i>girsa</i> in like manner.</div>
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