Beitzah 32

You know it’s a good daf when it includes permission to make makeshift toilets! (Rav Naḥman said: stones of a lavatory– it is permitted to put them together on a Festival.)

But today’s real gem comes from Rav Natan bar Abba. Rav Natan bar Abba is not seen very often in the pages of Talmud. Therefore, when he teaches: “One may moḥet a wick on a Festival (mohet is explained to mean getting rid of the black residue).” The Talmud uses this as an excuse to give more of his teachings and here we get our gem:

Rav Natan bar Abba said that Rav said: The wealthy Jews of Babylonia will descend to Gehenna because they do not have compassion on others. This is illustrated by incidents such as this: Shabbetai bar Marinus happened to come to Babylonia. He requested their participation in a business venture, to lend him money and receive half the profits in return, and they did not give it to him. Furthermore, when he asked them to sustain him with food, they likewise refused to sustain him.

He said: These wealthy people could not possibly be descendants of our forefathers, but they came from the mixed multitude, as it is written: “And show you compassion, and have compassion upon you, and multiply you, as He has sworn to your fathers” (Deuteronomy 13:18), from which it is derived: Anyone who has compassion for God’s creatures, it is known that he is of the descendants of Abraham, our father, and anyone who does not have compassion for God’s creatures, it is known that he is not of the descendants of Abraham, our father. Since these wealthy Babylonians do not have compassion on people, clearly they are not descended from Abraham . . .

Rav Natan bar Abba was not a wealthy man, and when the people of Babylonia do not treat his how the Torah says they should – he concludes that they can’t possibly be Jewish.

His poverty is illustrated by the other lessons he teaches as well:

This is another teaching that Rav Natan bar Abba said that Rav said: Whoever looks to the table of others for his sustenance, the world is dark for him. Everything looks bleak and hopeless to him, for it is stated: “He wanders abroad for bread: Where is it? He knows the day of darkness is ready at his hand” (Job 15:23). Rav Ḥisda said: Even his life is no life, as he receives no satisfaction from it.

Rav Natan bar Abba is a beautiful illustration of how hypocritical religious people can be, and his teaching reminds us that the goal of prayer and Torah study and service to God in really any faith is compassion towards God’s creatures.

Compassion is how you live a religious life. Everything else – the holidays, the prayers, the rituals, the study- should lead to more compassion.