Yerushalmi Kilayim 8:3 ירושלמי כלאים ח׳:ג׳

MISHNAH: One does not tie a horse to the sides or the back of a cart, or a Libyan donkey to camels. Rebbi Jehudah says, all animals born from a horse are permitted one with the other even if their father was a donkey, all animals born from a donkey are permitted one with the other even if their father was a horse, but those born from a horse are forbidden with those from a donkey.

HALAKHAH: ⁵⁶In the Venice text, Halakhah 3.: “One does not tie a horse to the sides or the back of a cart.” It is stated⁵⁷In both Sifry Deut. 231, Tosephta Kilaim 5:4, it is stated that R. Meïr permits it; in his opinion it is not a non-prosecutable misdemeanor but is unquestionably permitted. The reason is stated in Sifry: Since it says, “do not plough with ox and donkey together”, any use that is not together is permitted.: Rebbi Meïr frees from prosecution. If it supported, whether in ascent or in descent, everybody agrees that it is forbidden. Rebbi Joḥanan said, because either one carries the laziness of the other⁵⁸Since the ox before the cart and the horse tied to the cart do not walk with the same speed, they both influence the movement of the cart and are “together”. In antiquity, horses were used for riding and drawing chariots but never civilian carts.. Rav says, because the rope is carried between them.

Rebbi Jeremiah asked: If he bound them by their hair⁵⁹Is this permitted or forbidden? The question is not formulated clearly.? Where do we hold? In case he bound them together by their hair⁶⁰In this case, they cannot draw anything., should we say that it is forbidden to let one animal ride on another? If he tied them by a rope, we say because they carry the rope between them. Rebbi Jonah said, Rav and Rebbi Joḥanan disagree, Rebbi Joḥanan said, because either one carries the laziness of the other. Rav says, because they carry the rope between them. What is the difference? Both according to Rav as also according to Rebbi Joḥanan, if he bound them by their hair⁶¹If no rope is used, the argument of Rav does not apply. Since the animals will not be able to draw if the cart is attached to their hair, the argument of R. Joḥanan does not apply. he is not punishable!

⁶³A parallel text is in Šabbat 5:1. A very detailed study of the first six sentences here and in Šabbat was done by J. N. Epstein, מבוא לנוסח המשנה ², Jerusalem 1964, pp. 97–99, where all variant readings of the names here, in Šabbat, and Gen.rabba are collected and commented on. The vocalization of ליבדקס is from the Kaufmann ms. of the Mishnah.“And not a Libyan⁶⁴Perhaps the ending דקס refers to Latin equus “horse”, “Libyan animal of the horse family” (E. G.). donkey.” Some Tannaïm state: “Not a nybrqvs⁶⁵An unexplained word that was unknown even to the rabbis of the Yerushalmi. The Arukh reads ניבדקוס, explainable by a change of liquids, l - n. Perhaps also a composite of equus, “Nubian animal of the horse family” (E. G.)..” He who says libdĕqēs on the name of Lybian and (Dan. 11:43) “Lybians and Nubians in His train.” He who says nybrqvs ‘bhṭs⁶⁶The parallel in Šabbat reads אמבטס ἀμβάτης, poetic for ἀναβάτης “stallion”. J. N. Epstein points out that because of the nasal pronunciation of מ in Galilean speech, an m can easily be inserted or disappear, so that אמבטס and אב(ה)טס are really one and the same and the text in Kilaim is not necessarily a corruption of the text in Šabbat., What is ‘bḥṭs? A mounting donkey. Rebbi Jonah: Rav Hoshaia⁶⁷Amora of the third generation, Babylonian student of Rav Jehudah and Rav Huna, who went to Galilee with his brother and became prominent in the academies of the successors of R. Joḥanan. The two brothers earned their livelihood as shoemakers; their main customers were prostitutes who used to swear by the lives of these holy rabbis who never even looked at them. asked: Do proselytes from Libya have to wait three generations⁶⁸Deut. 23:8–9 prescribes that an Egyptian proselyte and his direct offspring may not marry anyone born to Jewish parents. {The discussion is purely theoretical since one holds that the political upheavals already from the time of Sanherib did displace all peoples originally mentioned in the Pentateuch, Mishnah Yadayim 4:4; cf. Šulḥan ‘Arukh Even Ha’ezer 4:10.}? Rebbi Jonah from Bostra⁶⁹Amora of the fifth generation, mentioned in connection with R. Mana and Rebbi Ḥuna. said, from what we see that they call a green Egyptian bean Libyan⁷⁰A bean is لوبيا lubia in Arabic and Farsi; according to N. Brüll, the name is originally Coptic. but a dry one Egyptian, that means a proselyte from Libya has to wait three generations, it means that Libya is identical with Egypt.

Rebbi Isaac bar Naḥman in the name of Rebbi Hoshaiah: Practice follows the student⁷¹The “student” here is Rebbi Jehudah. It is implied that the opinion of the “Sages”, that all kinds of mules are the same and may be mated with one another, is the opinion of R. Jehudah’s teacher R. Aqiba. The ruling is also reported in the Babli (Ketubot111b). In the generally accepted opinion of Maimonides, based on the Babli but which can be supported by the position of the “Sages” here, R. Jehudah is restrictive: Only mules of the same kind of mother can be mated, not different kinds of mules nor mules with the pure species of their mother (Kilaim 9:6–7). R. Jehudah holds that among animals the father counts; the Sages take the opposite position.. The words of the Sages are that all kinds of mules are the same.

These⁷²An almost identical text is in Berakhot 8:6, Notes 120 ff. Since practice follows R. Jehudah, one has to have a practical criterion of how to distinguish between the two kinds of mule that cannot be mated. are its signs: Rebbi Jonah says, if it has small ears, its mother is a horse and its father a donkey; if it has large ears its mother is a donkey and its father a horse. Rebbi Mana ordered those of the patriarch’s estate: If you want to buy a mule, you should buy one with small ears whose mother is a horse and whose father is a donkey.

The white is from the male, from him are brain, bones, and sinews. The red is from the female, from her are skin, flesh, and blood. But breath, life force, and soul are from the Holy One, may He be praised; all three are partners in him⁷³“Him” is the child. A much more detailed explanation of the talmudic theory of heredity is in Babli Niddah 31a. Since the text here deals with animals, the paragraph is somewhat out of place since animals are said not to have נשמה “soul” but only נפש “the animal force of life.”.

Rebbi Abba, Rav Jehudah in the name of Rav: The Sages agree with Rebbi Jehudah in the case of a horse from a horse from a donkey with a donkey from a donkey from a horse⁷⁵The Sages hold that any two animals half horse and half donkey can be mated, but not an animal ⅔ horse with an animal ⅔ donkey.. Rebbi Ḥaggai, Rebbi Zeïra in the name of Rebbi Issy⁷⁶The otherwise unknown איסת must be איסי (Issy, Assi, Yasa), one of the known teachers of R. Zeïra.: descendants of she-goats and ewes are forbidden one with the other. If it were not so, why do we say “a goat from a goat from a ewe with a ewe from a ewe from a goat.”