Yadayim 3:4-5

Yadayim 3:4

The margin of a book above or below the text and at the beginning or at the end conveys impurity to hands. Rabbi Yehuda says that the margin at the end doesn’t convey impurity to hands until a roller is attached to it.

Yadayim 3:5

Let’s say that a book has been erased so that only 85 letters remain; this is as many as are in the section of “It happened when the ark set forward” (Numbers 10:35-36 – this is considered the smallest complete “book”). Such a book conveys impurity to hands. A scroll (e.g., a single sheet of a Torah) on which 85 letters are written – as many as are in the section of “It happened when the ark set forward” – conveys impurity to hands. All Biblical books conveys impurity to hands, including Shir HaShirim (Song of Songs) and Koheles (Ecclesiastes). Rabbi Yehuda says that Shir HaShirim conveys impurity to hands and there’s a difference of opinion regarding Koheles. Rabbi Yosi says that Koheles doesn’t convey impurity to hands and there’s a difference of opinion regarding Shir HaShirim. Rabbi Shimon says that the case of Koheles is one of the scenarios in which Beis Shammai is lenient Beis Hillel is stringent. Rabbi Shimon ben Azzai says that he received a tradition from the 72 elders on the day that Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya was appointed head of the academy (in Yavneh) that Shir HaShirim and Koheles convey impurity to hands. Rabbi Akiva was appalled at the thought that any authority ever argued that Shir HaShirim doesn’t convey impurity hands because the world was never as worthy as it was the day on which Shir HaShirim was given to Israel. This is because all the Kesuvim (Writings) are holy but Shir HaShirim is the holy of holies. Therefore, if they ever disagreed, it was only about Koheles. Rabbi Yochanan ben Yehoshua, the son of Rabbi Akiva’s father-in-law, said the Sages debated and they decided as described by Ben Azzai.