Page:Takkanot Ezra.djvu/4

 Similarly in the matter of sunset. For according to the Torah, mere bathing of the body in water would not have been deemed sufficient to render a person pure, unless the sun had set on him thereafter, and he is called by the Talmud. The Sages then ordained that, if he had taken the prescribed bath, he was ipso facto pure, and relieved of the necessity of waiting until sunset. This reform the Talmud ascribes to Ezra in these words,, meaning to say, that it is sufficient for him to undergo ṭebilah, as he need not leave the city nor concern himself as to when the sun will set.

The law of, according to which ṭebilah alone does not suffice, but it is necessary to wait for sunset, the Pharisees made, by their decree, apply in cases of terumah—if a priest was unclean, he would not only have to undergo ṭebilah, but be inhibited from eating terumah until night. This is one of the 'Eighteen Measures' that were decreed by Bet Shammai and Bet Hillel. And