Study Sotah folio 46B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
“Firm [eitan] is your dwelling-place, and your nest is set in the rock” (Numbers 24:21), and it states: “Hear, O you mountains, YHWH’s controversy, and the enduring rocks [eitanim], the foundations of the earth” (Micah 6:2). The use of the word in these verses indicates that “eitan” means something
§ The Mishnah taught: And they break the neck [orfin] of the heifer from behind with a cleaver. The Talmud explains: What is the reason that the rabbis understood that the heifer is killed in this manner? They derive that the term arifa, which describes what is done to the heifer, refers to breaki
§ The Mishnah taught further: And with regard to its place, it is prohibited for that ground to be sown or to be worked. A baraita states: The verse: “Which may be neither worked nor sown” (Deuteronomy 21:4) is referring to the past, that is, a place which has not previously been worked or sown.
Rava said: As for the future, everyone agrees that it is prohibited to sow or work the land, as it is written “neither worked nor sown” in the future tense. When they disagree is with regard to the past. R' Yoshiya, who disqualifies a place that was sown beforehand, holds: Does it state: And shall
§ The Mishnah taught: But it is permitted to comb flax there or to cut stones there. A baraita states: From the phrase “which may be neither worked nor sown,” I have derived only sowing; from where do I derive that other types of labor are also prohibited? The verse states: “Which may be neither wo