I.e. the disappearance of the sun below the horizon, but not the appearance of the stars. So Tosafot ; Rashi, less probably, refers Lev, xxii. 7 to the dawn of the eighth day.
I.e. "then he shall be clean," whereas wetaher means "it (or he) is clean."
The Palestinian Schools, from the geographical standpoint of Babylon.
When the priests may partake of the Terumah.
On account of his poverty, he cannot afford artificial light ; therefore he takes his evening meal while there is yet sufiScient light. See fol. 3 a (p. 7) for a reference to sleeping in a dark room ; and on fol. 5 b (p. 24) it is mentioned that R. Eleazar, who was very poor, was lying in a dark room. According to Lane, p. 145, Orientals have their supper "shortly after sunset." In J. T. it is mentioned that the inhabitants of villages leave the fields before nightfall for fear of wild beasts.
The terminus ad quern does not agree with any of the views stated in the Mishnah.
The meal would be earlier on the Sabbath-eve, everything having been prepared before the advent of the Sabbath.
See p. 1 n. 2.
Viz. that the day ends with the appearance of the stars.
M. reads : but on account of the building of the Temple they started early and worked late.
"Come and hear" introduces a quotation or illustration, often with the object of refuting an argument. Its use in the present instance is as follows : According to Neh. iv. 15, the day-shift of workers laboured from "the rising of the morning" (i.e. dawn) until "the stars appeared." These two points of time may be regarded as defining the beginning and end of a day. But should it be objected that no such inference can be drawn, inasmuch as the workmen in their enthusiasm may have exceeded the normal hours of the day, the objection is met by v. 16, where it is explicitly stated "and may labour in the day." The conclusion, therefore, is that a normal day is intended in 5:15.
I.e. the poor man (mentioned in the first Baraita) who has his evening meal early through lack of artificial light, and people generally (mentioned in the second) on the Sabbath-eve who have their supper early.
The reasoning may be simplified by calling the meal-time of the poor man A, that of people on the Sabbath-eve B, and that of the priest for partaking of the Terumah C. In this paragraph A is assumed to equal B. If, then, A is said to equal C, then B = C. But R. Meir, who adopts B, is contrasted with the Sages who adopt C, so these cannot be identical.
And it is agreed by all that the evening Shema' must not be read in the daytime. This question is dealt with below.
R. Hannina adopts A and R. Joshua adopts C. According to the hypothesis A = C; but that cannot be, since these two Rabbis hold divergent views.
The time-standards of the poor man and the priest.
M. inserts: Rab Nahman b. Isaac said.
There is not sufficient data in the Gemara to account for this conclusion. Tosafot note the difficulty.
In Shab. 34 b R. Judah defines "twilight" thus: From the time the sun sets and so long as the sky in the East is coloured red. When the lower horizon is pale but not the upper horizon, it is still twilight; but when the upper horizon is pale like the lower, it is night. Cf. Lane, p. 74 n. 2.
Should, therefore, the priest bathe about the time of twilight (according to B. Jose's view), although it is still day, it is legitimate to read the Shema' then, since it is practically night.