Pisqa’ 255¹

1

“Should there be among you” (Dr.23:11)—

but not among [gentile] outsiders.

“A man” (Dt.23:11)—

this excludes a minor from the rule.

“Who has not purified himself from a nocturnal emission” (Dt.23:11)—

might I infer only that

the rule applies to an emission by night?

How do I know that it applies as well to an emission by day?

The Teaching states:

“Who has not purified himself” (Dt.23:11)—

from an ejaculation of semen, day or night.

If so, why is an emission by night specified?

This teaches that

the verse speaks in common terms.

2

“Then he shall go beyond the camp” (Dt.23:11)—

this is a prescriptive commandment;

“He may not go within the camp”(Dt.23:11)—

This is a proscriptive commandment.

R. Shimon says:

“Then he shall go beyond the camp” (Dt.23:11)—

beyond the levitical camp [set aside for Priests].

“He may not go within the camp”—

namely, the camp of the Presence

[which encircles the Tent of Encounter].²

1. H:256; JN2:183.
2. A parallel, cited at B. Pes. 68a, clarifies that a man unclean from a nocturnal emission is obliged to refrain from entering either camp until he purifies himself at nightfall.