Scrolls That Defile the Hands

A scroll on which the writing has become erased and eighty-five letters remain, as many as are in the section beginning And it came to pass when the ark set forward (Numbers 10:35–36) defiles the hands.

A single sheet on which there are written eighty-five letters, as many as are in the section beginning And it came to pass when the ark set forward, defiles the hands. All the holy scriptures defile the hands. The Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes defile the hands.

R. Judah says: The Song of Songs defiles the hands, but there is a dispute about Ecclesiastes.

R. Yosi says: Ecclesiastes does not defile the hands, but there is a dispute about the Song of Songs.

R. Simeon says: [The ruling about] Ecclesiastes is one of the leniencies of Beth Shammai and one of the stringencies of Beth Hillel.

R. Simeon ben Azzai said: I have received a tradition from the seventy-two elders on the day when they appointed R. Eleazar ben Azariah head of the academy that the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes defile the hands.

R. Akiva said: Far be it! No man in Israel disputed the Song of Songs [saying] that it does not defile the hands. For the whole world is not as worthy as the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel; for all the writings are holy, but the Song of Songs is the holy of holies. If they had a dispute, they had a dispute only about Ecclesiastes.

R. Yoḥanan ben Joshua, the son of the father-in-law of R. Akiva, was in accordance with the words of ben Azzai, so they disputed and so they reached a decision.