(Mishnah): The more a woman checks herself, the better;

If a man does so (puts his hand to his Ever to check himself), his hand is worthy to be cut off!

(Gemara) Question: Why are men and women different?

Answer: A woman is not Bas Hargashah. (Rashi - she does not emit her seed due to sensation. R. Tam - she is not commanded to have children or not to waste seed. Tosfos ha'Rosh - she (sometimes) does not feel the blood moving.) Therefore. extra checking is laudable for her;

This sensation in men causes emissions of semen. (This is one of the worst Aveiros.)

Question: If so, it should be forbidden to do so even once (unnecessarily)!

Answer: Indeed, that is true; regarding women, the Tana taught that doing so often is laudable.

(Beraisa #1): One may not check himself for semen. (Presumably, he would have felt it.) It is laudable for him to check himself for Zivah. (If he already saw Zivah, he must know if more came out, to know his status regarding Tum'ah and Korbanos);

Even checking for semen is permitted, using a pebble or a piece of earthenware.

Question: This Beraisa does not permit a cloth;

Contradiction (Beraisa #2): He may check himself with a cloth or anything he wants!

Answer: Abaye explained (elsewhere) that (only) a thick cloth is permitted. (Since it is hard, it will not warm the Ever.) Also here, Beraisa #2 permits only a thick cloth.

Question: Where did Abaye say this?

Answer (Mishnah): If a man was eating Terumah and felt his semen moving (it is about to come out), he should hold his Ever tightly (to delay the emission) until he swallows the Terumah. (If he would spit it out, it would become repulsive.)

Contradiction (Beraisa - R. Eliezer): One who holds his Ever while urinating causes (emission of semen, like the sin of the generation punished by) a Mabul (flood)!

Answer #1 (Abaye): The Mishnah permits holding the Ever only through a thick cloth.

Answer #2 (Rava): He may use even a thin cloth. Once the semen starts moving, it will come out in any case.

Abaye forbids. He is concerned lest this cause more semen to come out.

Rava permits. He is not concerned lest this cause more semen to come out.

Question: The Beraisa compares this to placing a finger in one's eye; the eye will tear for as long as his finger remains there!

Answer: Rava holds that once the semen starts moving, holding the Ever will not cause more to come out. (Tzelach - even his bare hand would not increase the emission, but touching the Ever would be Metamei his hand. One may not eat (Terumah) with Tamei hands. Me'iri - once the Ever is heated, it is not common that more heating will cause more semen to leave. Perhaps Rava agrees that a thick cloth is better. He permits a thin cloth when there is no time to get a thick cloth - PF.)

(Beraisa #1 - R. Eliezer): One who holds his Ever while urinating causes a Mabul.

Chachamim: If he does not hold it, drops will fall on his feet, and people will think he is a Seris (who is impotent), and they will say that his children must be Mamzerim!

R. Eliezer: It is better that people say that his children are Mamzerim than for him to sin, even for a moment.

(Beraisa #2 - R. Eliezer (to Chachamim): He can stand in a high place, or in a place of loose earth, so drops will not fall on his feet, and he will not sin, even for a moment. (This implies that if neither of these are possible, he may hold the Ever.)

Question: Which answer did R. Eliezer give first?

Suggestion: He gave Answer #1 first.

Rejection: Once he said that one may never hold it, he would not permit this (where a high place or loose earth is not found)!

Answer: He gave Answer #2 first;

Chachamim asked what to do if a high place or loose earth is not found. R. Eliezer said "it is better that people say..."

Question: Why is it so terrible to hold the Ever?

Answer: It causes unnecessary emissions of semen.

(R. Yochanan): One who emits semen unnecessarily is Chayav Misah (bi'Yedei Shamayim) -- "va'Yera b'Einei Hash-m... va'Yames Gam Oso."

(R. Yitzchak and R. Ami): He is like a murderer. We read "... Shochatei ha'Yeladim" like "Sochetei". (They cause their semen to exude.)

(Rav Asi): He is like an idolater. It says here "Tachas Kol Etz Ra'anan", the same expression used regarding idolatry.

Rav Yehudah and Shmuel were on the roof of a Beis ha'Keneses. Rav Yehudah needed to urinate. Shmuel told him to hold his Ever and urinate over the side.

Question (Beraisa - R. Eliezer): One who holds his Ever while urinating causes a Mabul.

Answer #1 (Abaye): Rav Yehudah's case was considered like a troop;

(Mishnah): If an army entered a city in peacetime, open barrels of wine are forbidden (perhaps a soldier was Menasech, i.e. poured it to idolatry), and closed barrels are permitted;

In wartime, all are permitted, because they do not have time to be Menasech.

Because they are afraid, they are not Menasech. Also here, because Rav Yehudah was afraid, he would not have thoughts (that could lead to an emission).

Question: Why was he afraid?

Answer #1: It was night. Perhaps he would fall off the roof.

Answer #2: His Rebbi (Shmuel) was there.

Answer #3: He feared the Shechinah (because he was over a Beis ha'Keneses).

Answer #4: He feared Hash-m (everywhere);

(Shmuel): Rav Yehudah (fears Hash-m like an angel, which) was not born to a woman!

Answer #2: Rav Yehudah was married;

(Rav Nachman): A married man may hold his Ever (when urinating).

Answer #3: Shmuel permitted him to hold only the Beitzim from below, but not the Ever, like R. Aba taught.

Answer #4: Shmuel permitted him to hold the Ever only from the crown and below (towards the end of the Ever), like R. Avahu taught.

(Rav): If one causes himself to have an erection, Beis Din should excommunicate him.

Question: Why isn't it enough to say that it is forbidden?

Answer: This is because he incites the Yetzer ha'Ra upon himself.

(R. Ami): He is called a transgressor, for this is the way of the Yetzer ha'Ra:

Today it tells one to do transgress (something small), also the next day (something slightly bigger). The next day, it tells him to serve idolatry, and he does!

(R. Ami): One who brings himself to sinful thoughts does not enter Hash-m's abode:

It says "va'Yera b'Einei Hash-m", and it says "... Lo Yagurcha Ra." (Evil will not be Gar (dwell) with You.)

(R. Elazar): "Yedeichem Damim Male'u" refers to people who rub the Ever with their hands.

(Tana d'Vei R. Yishmael): "Lo Sin'af" (forbids rubbing the Ever) with the hand or thigh.

(Beraisa): Converts, and those who sport with minors, delay Mashi'ach.

(R. Chelbo): Converts harm Yisrael like Tzara'as. (Rashi - they do not observe the Mitzvos so well. This brings punishments, or Yisraelim learn from them. Tosfos - the Shechinah rests only on families of good lineage. Some say that Yisrael is punished severely for paining converts. R. Avraham the convert -- converts are more meticulous in Mitzvos than (native) Yisraelim. This causes Hash-m to judge Yisrael more stringently.)

Question: What does "those who sport with minors" mean?

Suggestion: It refers to men who have Bi'ah with boys.

Rejection: They do not merely delay Mashi'ach. They are Chayav Misah!

Answer #1: It refers to men who excite their Ever by lying with boys (without Bi'ah).

Rejection: They do not merely delay Mashi'ach. They cause a Mabul!

Answer #2: It refers to men who marry girls too young to have children. (The men are idle from reproduction until their wives mature.)

(Rav Asi): Mashi'ach will not come until all the souls in (a storehouse called) Guf come to the world -- "Ru'ach mi'Lefanai Ya'atof u'Neshamos Ani Asisi". (Chazal said that Mashi'ach could have come earlier, e.g. had Yisrael guarded two Shabbosos in the Midbar (Shabbos 118b). Women would have given birth to many at once, in order that all the Neshamos be born first - Tosfos DH Ad.)

(Mishnah): If a man does so, his hand should be cut off!

Question: Is this the law, like the case in which Rav Huna cut off a man's hand? (He used to hit people);

Or, it is a curse?

Answer (Beraisa - R. Tarfon): A hand that touches the Ever should be cut off (when) on the navel.

Chachamim: His stomach will split! (The knife will cut through his hand, and cut also his stomach.)

R. Tarfon: It is better that his stomach split, than for him to (sin and) go to Gehinom.

This makes sense if we truly cut his hand. If it is only a curse, why will his stomach split?!

Rejection: If we truly cut his hand, why must we do so on the stomach?!

Rather, R. Tarfon cursed a hand that touches below the navel (Maharsha - "navel" and "stomach" refer to the Ever), that it should be cut off.

Chachamim: If a thorn lodged in his stomach and he cannot remove it, his stomach will split!

R. Tarfon: It is better that his stomach split, than for him to go to Gehinom.

(Mishnah): If a Kohenes is deaf, insane, blind or went crazy, healthy women check and immerse her, so she can eat Terumah.

(Gemara) Question: A deaf woman can check herself!

(Beraisa - Rebbi): There was a deaf woman in our neighborhood. Not only did she check herself, rather, other women would bring their Safek sightings or stains to her and ask whether they are appearances of Dam Nidah!

Answer: That woman was able to speak. (Originally she could hear, and she went deaf.) The Mishnah discusses a woman who cannot speak nor hear.

(Mishnah): Wherever Chachamim mention a Cheresh, he cannot speak nor hear. (Therefore, he lacks understanding.)

(Mishnah): A blind woman...

Question: A blind woman can check herself, and ask someone else to look at it!

Correction (R. Yosi b'Rebbi Chanina): Indeed, "blind" should be deleted from the Mishnah.

(Mishnah): Or went crazy...

Question: This is the same as an insane woman!

Answer: She went crazy due to sickness.

(Beraisa): If a Kohen is insane, sane men immerse him, so he can eat Terumah at night. (Until then, perhaps he is a Tevul Yom.) They guard him that he does not sleep between immersing and eating Terumah;

Until he sleeps, he is (Muchzak to be) Tahor. Once he sleeps, he is (Safek) Tamei. (Perhaps he had an emission.)

R. Eliezer b'Rebbi Tzadok says, we put a leather pouch around his Ever (to check whether he had an emission).

Chachamim: This will warm the Ever and cause emissions!

R. Eliezer bar Tzadok: According to you, he cannot eat Terumah (after sleeping)!

Chachamim: According to us, until he sleeps, he is Tahor. According to you, perhaps a drop of semen will come out and be (unnoticeably) absorbed in the pouch, and he will eat Terumah when he is Tamei!

(Beraisa - R. Elazar): We make a metal pouch for him.

(Abaye): It is of copper, which does not absorb.

(Beraisa - R. Yehudah): (If one needlessly carries enough Mei Chatas for sprinkling, he becomes Tamei.) When calculating the Shi'ur for sprinkling, we consider the Ezov (hyssop) stalks (which are dipped into the Mei Chatas) as if they are copper (and do not absorb. We only need enough water for drops to cling to them).

(Rav Papa): We learn from Chachamim that one may not wear pants.

Question: "V'Aseh Lahem Michnesei Vad" (teaches that Kohanim wear pants)!

Answer (Beraisa): The Michnesayim are like pants of pious men (alternatively -- horsemen). They reach up to the hips and go down to the thighs;

They have straps. They are not close-fitting near the Ever (lest it get warmed) or the rectum (lest it cling inside and get sweaty. Alternatively, they do not have holes from which to urinate or excrete.)