מאי טעמא
Aramaic
Etymology
From מַאי (may, “what”) + טַעְמָא (ṭaʕmā, “taste”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /maj tˤaʕ.ˈmɒ/
- (Ashkenazi) IPA(key): /maj ta.ˈmɔ/
Adverb
מַאי טַעְמָא • (may ṭaʕmā)
- (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic) why, what for
- a. 500 C.E., Babylonian Talmud. Yoma, 2a:
- מַאי טַעְמָא? כֵּיוָן דִּטְבוּל יוֹם כָּשֵׁר בַּפָּרָה, דִּתְנַן: מְטַמְּאִין הָיוּ הַכֹּהֵן הַשּׂוֹרֵף אֶת הַפָּרָה וּמַטְבִּילִין אוֹתוֹ, לְהוֹצִיא מִלִּבָּן שֶׁל צַדּוּקִין, שֶׁהָיוּ אוֹמְרִים: בִּמְעוֹרְבֵי הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ הָיְתָה נַעֲשֵׂית.
- may ṭaʕmā? Kēwān di'ṭ'ḇul yōm kāšēr ba'pārā di'ṯnan: m'ṭamm'īn hāyu ha'kohēn ha'ssōrēf eṯ ha'pārā u'maṭbīlīn ōṯō, l'hōṣī mi'labbān šel ṣadduqīn, še'hāyu omrīm: bi'mʕōrḇē ha'ššemeš hāyṯā naʕăsēṯ
- The Gemara asks: What is the reason that they were so stringent with regard to the purity of the heifer? The Gemara explains: It is since a priest who immersed that day is fit for service and may perform the ritual of the heifer after immersion, even before sunset, as we learned in a mishna: They would intentionally render the priest who burns the heifer ritually impure and immerse him immediately, to remove a misconception from the hearts of the Sadducees by means of a public display of disregard for their ruling. As the Sadducees would say: Only by those for whom the sun set was the heifer ritual performed. The Sadducees believed that it is prohibited for priests who began the purification process with immersion during that day to burn the red heifer until sunset, when the purification process is completed.