2,711 pages of Talmud. A gem a day.

Well, we just finished a tractate surrounding marital jealousy and infidelity – so now we are on to divorce!

Get is the Hebrew word for divorce.

I once got a call from a Catholic father whose daughter wanted to get a divorce so he was calling a rabbi so I could provide him with proof that God doesn’t allow for divorce. I quoted him Deuteronomy 24:1, “A man takes a woman [into his household as his wife] and becomes her husband. She fails to please him because he finds something obnoxious about her, and he writes her a bill of divorcement, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house;” Needless to say, he was not so happy (but shouldn’t he be worried that neither was his daughter?).

So, here we are entering a chapter about divorce. Today’s daf opens with:

An agent who brings a bill of divorce [get] from a husband to his wife from a country overseas, i.e., from outside of Eretz Yisrael to Eretz Yisrael, is required to state the following formula when he hands over the bill of divorce: This bill of divorce was written in my presence and it was signed in my presence.

It begins with a case, which is likely not the most common, of a man sending an agent overseas to divorce his wife. I have been told that this tractate starts backward which seems right. This is surely a strange place to start as it’s very specific and leaves out WHY people divorce WHEN they divorce and even HOW they divorce – but hey, we have 90 pages, so I am hopeful that will all be covered.

Here we are, at the end of Sotah. This strange book that was supposed to be about the ordeal a woman accused of adultery goes through has covered so very much. The end is also fascinating. It goes into a long list of great rabbis who dies and how whatever attribute the rabbis associated with him died as well.

The mishna taught that from the time when Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai died, wisdom ceased.

Who was he? Rabban Yochanan b. Zakkai was the prime author/editor/compiler of the Mishna an extraordinary Jewish leader and scholar who managed the fragile transition of the Jewish people to life without a Temple.

The Sages taught: From the time when Rabbi Eliezer died, it was as if the Torah scroll had been interred, as he had memorized many secrets of the Torah.

Who was he? Considered to be R. Yochanan b. Zakkai’s greatest students.

From the time when Rabbi Yehoshua died, council and deliberate thought ceased, as he had the sharpest mind in Israel.

He was the most influential scholar of his time.

From the time when Rabbi Akiva died, the powerful arm of Torah, meaning the exposition of all the details of Torah scripture, ceased, and the fountains of wisdom were sealed.

Akiva, while only starting to learn at 40 was a martyr who at one point had 24,000 students.

From the time when Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya died, the crowns of wisdom ceased, as “the crown of the wise is their riches” (Proverbs 14:24).

He was both a great Torah scholar and was also known for his great wealth and generosity.

From the time when Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa died, the men of wondrous deeds ceased.

He lived on next to nothing and experienced many miracles on behalf of himself and his family.

From the time when ben Azzai died, the diligent ceased;

His opinions are often quoted, and his love for Torah was so great that he did not want to interrupt its study even to raise a family.

from the time when ben Zoma died, the exegetists ceased. From the time when Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel died, locusts ascended upon the land and troubles proliferated.

They both died young. Ben Zoma did line by line interpretation of Genesis. Shimon ben Gamliel “Like his father, he was vigorous in consolidating leadership and keeping the memory of Temple rituals alive.”

From the time when Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi died, the troubles multiplied.

“Rabbi (Rabbi Yehuda haNasi) succeeded his father, R. Shimon ben Gamliel as Nasi and was a key figure in Jewish history. A pious and brilliant scholar, he worked to further consolidate the authority of his office. His great wealth and his prestige among the Jews also impressed the Romans, resulting in many discussions with them. His greatest achievement, however, was his organization and compilation of Jewish Law in the Mishnah.”

The final line of the mishna states that from the time when Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi died, humility and fear of sin ceased. Rav Yosef said to the tanna who reviewed the mishna: Do not teach that humility ceased, for there is still one who is humble, namely me.

Ha! How humble for him to have stated.

What is beautiful is just how important each of these scholars were and how we remember them today.

In researching them I found this quote, perfect for them and the end of this tractate:

“It is unnecessary to erect monuments to the pious; their sayings will preserve their memories” (Yer. Sheḳ. 47a; Gen. R. lxxxii. 11).

Today’s daf discusses the devastation of losing pillars of what Judaism used to mean.

From the time when the Sanhedrin ceased song was also nullified from the places of feasts . . .From the time when the early prophets died the Urim VeTummim was nullified. From the time when the Second Temple was destroyed the shamir worm ceased to exist and also the sweetness of the honeycomb, And men of faith ceased from being among the Jewish people . . .

Sounds rough. The Sanhedrin was a symbol of true justice (and the daf yesterday also gave us a whole passage on how they stopped making women drink bitter waters once everyone started having affairs, they stopped trying people for all kinds of things once that thing became rampant). How can we sing in celebration in a world of injustice?

I like to think of the Urim and Tummim as the God/legit version of a magic eight ball. They were worn by the High Priest and told the people what God wanted them to do.

The Shamir is this magical worm/salamander creature that Solomon used to cut the stones for the Temple.

But the real gem for me is that “men of faith ceased.” The Gemara tells us:

Rabbi Yitzḥak says: These are people who believe in the Holy One, Blessed be He, and place their trust in Him in all their ways. As it is taught in a baraita: Rabbi Eliezer the Great says that whoever has bread in his basket to eat today and says: What shall I eat tomorrow, meaning he does not know how he will acquire bread for tomorrow, he is nothing other than from those of little faith. One must trust in God to provide him with his sustenance. And this is what Rabbi Elazar said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “For who plunders the day of small things” (Zechariah 4:10)? What caused the table, i.e., the reward, of the righteous to be plundered, meaning wasted, in the future? It was the small-mindedness they possessed. And what is this small-mindedness? That they did not believe in the Holy One, Blessed be He, with a complete faith.

It’s beautiful how hope and faith are linked in this passage. What it means to believe in God then is to be hopeful and to be grateful.

Tomorrow is the last day of Sotah – let’s enjoy it while we have it and not worry too much about what’s next.

Today’s gem: Jesus.

No really, Jesus is on the daf. Uncomfortable? Well, it’s about to get worse. These sections of Talmud were historically censored. Some of that censorship came from the Catholic church (the first Christian censorship of the Talmud happened in the year 521) while others came from Jews. In the 12th century, Jews were being accused of blood libels, host desecration, and were subject to disputations – all leading to the Inquisition and the murder and forced conversion of many. So, when Catholic authorities accused the Talmud of saying treacherous things about Jesus, the response from the rabbis was that Jesus was not in the Talmud! After all, Joshua/Jesus is (still) a very common name in Judaism and they insisted any citations referred to individuals other than Jesus. These disputations led to many of the references being removed (censored), however, despite censorship and the Papal command to burn any copies of the Talmud found – we still have early manuscripts and today’s daf includes one of the refences to a Jesus who is a Nazarene. Now, let’s read and see why they were censored.

The Sages taught: Elisha fell ill three times. One was a punishment for inciting the bears to attack the children; and one was a punishment for pushing Gehazi away with both hands . . .

You need this passage to understand that a teacher is not supposed to push their student away with both hands.

The Sages taught: It should always be the left, weaker, hand that pushes another away and the right, stronger, hand that draws him near. In other words, even when a student is rebuffed, he should be given the opportunity to return. This is not like Elisha, who pushed Gehazi away with both hands, and not like Yehoshua ben Peraḥya, who pushed Jesus the Nazarene, one of his students, away with both hands.

Enter Jesus, a student who should have been pushed away with one hand and brought back with the other/the stronger, but whose teacher rebuffed him to terrible ends.

. . . The Gemara returns to the incident in which Yehoshua ben Peraḥya turned away Jesus the Nazarene: What is this incident? When King Yannai was killing the Sages, Shimon ben Shataḥ was hidden by his sister, Yannai’s wife, while Rabbi Yehoshua ben Peraḥya went and fled to Alexandria of Egypt. When peace was made between Yannai and the Sages, Shimon ben Shataḥ sent him the following letter: From myself, Jerusalem the holy city, to you, Alexandria of Egypt. My sister, my husband dwells within you, and I am sitting desolate. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Peraḥya said: I can learn from it that there is peace, and I can return.

So, the King was killing Sages so Jesus’ teacher fled to Alexandria until it was safe to return.

When he came back to Eretz Yisrael, Rabbi Yehoshua arrived at a certain inn. The innkeeper stood before him, honoring him considerably, and overall they accorded him great honor. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Peraḥya then sat and was praising them by saying: How beautiful is this inn.

So, lots of kissing up happening here. Sounds pretty innocent and polite, until . . .

Jesus the Nazarene, one of his students, said to him: My teacher, but the eyes of the innkeeper’s wife are narrow [terutot].

Jesus corrects his teacher by pointing our that the wife of the innkeeper is not attractive. Oy. Still, big deal. Right? Worng.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Peraḥya said to him: Wicked one, is this what you are engaged in, gazing at women? He brought out four hundred shofarot and excommunicated him. Every day Jesus would come before him, but he would not accept his wish to return.

So, he doesn’t just correct Jesus, he excommunicates him . . . with 400 shofarot. But Jesus tries to make amends.

One day, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Peraḥya was reciting Shema when Jesus came before him. He intended to accept him on this occasion, so he signaled to him with his hand to wait. Jesus thought he was rejecting him entirely.

He blew it! It was to olate for Jesus to think there was still hope. So, what happens?

He therefore went and stood up a brick and worshipped it as an idol. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Peraḥya said to him: Return from your sins. Jesus said to him: This is the tradition that I received from you: Anyone who sins and causes the masses to sin is not given the opportunity to repent. The Gemara explains how he caused the masses to sin: For the Master said: Jesus the Nazarene performed sorcery, and he incited the masses, and subverted the masses, and caused the Jewish people to sin.

Oh wow. So we get a good lesson about not pushing others away in a way that doesn’t leave room for repentance and return. We learn about the balance between rebuke and loving forgiveness.

And we learn why this was censored. Certainly, this text is not an easy one. Not a text of loving acceptance of Christian neighbors and friends.

It seems that the Jesus in the story is saying – if you won’t allow me to repent when I really have done nothing wrong, I might as well do something worth repenting about. And certainly we learn that his teacher messed up. But it’s not a great text in that it seems to say that Jesus led others to sin.

Can we safely read this now? Well, it’s out there for the masses to read, so we should know what it says.

Jesus.

Abraham Joshua Heschel once said, “Few are guilty, but all are responsible.” He reminds us of our responsibility to others. On our daf today, the rabbis are discussing the ritual of purification after discovering a dead body with no one to bury it. While no one in the town may be guilty of the death – all are responsible. The Elders must deal with the body and then perform the ritual of the red heifer.

“And they shall say: Our hands did not spill this blood, nor did our eyes see” (Deuteronomy 21:7). The mishna explains: But did it enter our minds that the Elders of the court are spillers of blood, that they must make such a declaration? Rather, they mean to declare: The victim did not come to us and then we let him take his leave without food, and we did not see him and then leave him alone to depart without accompaniment. They therefore attest that they took care of all his needs and are not responsible for his death even indirectly.

Here, we see that the daf is already recognizing that we do not have to be active in someones death to be guilty of it. Sometimes, what we don’t do is even more detrimental. Within this conversation we get good advise – advise girls are taught at young ages, but that we should all follow – not to travel alone.

Rabbi Yoḥanan says in the name of Rabbi Meir: Whoever does not accompany another or will not allow himself to be accompanied is like a spiller of blood and is held responsible for any deaths that occur as a result of his inaction.

It’s a mitzvah to accompany someone. Here, we see that hold true in walking, but we have also learned it’s true in Torah study and we learned in the creation story that “it’s not good for man to be alone” – so let our lesson be to accompany others, it might just save a life.

Rabbis love to complain that people don’t come to synagogue only. Actually, all religious leaders. It was a Christian Reverend who told me his church had a lot of H2O Christians – Holidays, 2 Only. Why not come? There is so much to learn, prayers to sing and pray, community to be with, fun to be had. Well, maybe we should take a cue from Abaye.

On one occasion Abaye said: I am hereby as sharp and expert as ben Azzai, who taught Torah in the markets of Tiberias, and am ready to answer any question that might be posed to me.

I love the image of Abaye and ben Azzai both going to the market place in order to engage people in Torah. He teaches us 1) don’t wait for people to come to you – go to where the people are; and 2) make your Torah relevant to the people and what they want to learn!

A great daf for clergy everywhere.

Israel is a country of mandated conscription. All men and women serve (okay, not all, the orthodox can be exempt – but that’s a whole other megillah). And our daf gives us a pretty bad-ass image of men and women going to war:

In obligatory wars, everyone goes, even a groom from his room and a bride from her wedding canopy.

Sounds like the plot of another movie.

But what you really need to know if that men are typically exempt from fighting if they’ve just married – so this line is powerful. It also points to an important difference between “obligatory wars” and “elective wars.” My friend Rabbi Spike Anderson wrote his senior thesis on the difference, but the daf gives us some good guidelines to go by.

Rava said: With respect to the wars that Joshua waged to conquer Eretz Yisrael, all agree that they were obligatory. With respect to the wars waged by the House of King David for the sake of territorial expansion, all agree that they were elective wars. When they disagree, it is with regard to preventative wars that are waged to reduce the gentiles so that they will not come and wage war against them. One Sage, Rabbi Yehuda, called this type of war a mitzva, and one Sage, the Rabbis, called it an elective war.

Wars commanded by God are obligatory. Any expansionary effort is elective. Going into a war that another nation is waging against you falls into pikuach nefesh and rodef rules and are obligatory. But preemptive strikes – that’s where there is disagreement. (Who knew that the debate would continue today?)

Yet the daf gives us the image of Israel uniting, both men and women, to fight for their survival. It’s a powerful image. One that is on-going. If only we would see a world of peace where no one need fight, let alone brides and grooms.

Today’s gem reminds us that sometimes we have to dance well within the lines because of how things might look to others.

Rabbi Yitzḥak says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says in the name of Rabbi Eliezer ben Ya’akov: With regard to a man’s stepdaughter who grows up among the brothers from a different marriage, she is eligible to be married to them in principle, because they are not actually her siblings. Nevertheless, she is prohibited to be married to the brothers, because she appears as though she is their sister.

Technically they are not blood, but it LOOKS like she is marrying her borthers – so it’s a no.

However, the Gemara comments: And that is not so; such a marriage is not prohibited because the matter generates publicity, and the public knows that they are not truly related.

So, if everyone knows they’re not related – then it’s okay (so that Bradey Bunch hookup was kosher?).

A similar example:

When Rav Dimi came from Eretz Yisrael, he said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Eliezer ben Ya’akov: The Sages decreed that if there is a young grapevine less than one handbreadth tall, it is obligated in orla all its years, even after the three years mandated by the Torah, because it appears like a vine of one year. The Sages were concerned that if they permitted one to eat from such a vine, people would also eat true orla. And this prohibition applies to a very small section of two grapevines opposite two grapevines and one more vine emerging and growing between them, in the formation of a tail. But if the entire vineyard grows so short, it generates publicity, and people know that the vines are old enough to no longer be subject to orla.

Here, a stubby plant is treated as if it’s under 3 years of age because people might see it and think the owner is not upholding the laws . . . unless that stubby plant becomes famous and everyone knows it’s old . . .

The point is that we need to worry about appearances. If it looks like we are breaking laws or eschewing them then we will be modeling that behavior to others. That’s why it’s SO important for leaders and those in the public eye to dance well within the lines. (Instead, there are some who seem to relish blatantly violating the laws and getting away with it. We are watching, and so is God.)

Great little gem (but if you want further reading there is a whole section of “your momma” jokes about Goliath’s mom):

The verse states: “If there is a care in the heart of a man, let him bend it [yashḥena]” (Proverbs 12:25). Rabbi Ami and Rabbi Asi dispute the verse’s meaning. One said: He should force it [yasḥena] out of his mind. He should remove his worries from his thoughts. And one said: It means he should tell [yesiḥena] his troubles to others, which will relieve his anxiety.

Love this! When something is weighing on our minds we actually need to do both! Discuss it, if you ignore it – it will come back to haunt you. And we need to not dwell on it and remind ourselves of all the other things we have going for us and going well in life.
True wisdom. 😉

Love this gem – let it be a warning:

Rabbi Yirmeya bar Abba says: Four classes of people will not greet the Divine Presence: The class of cynics, and the class of flatterers, and the class of liars, and the class of slanderers.

Lying and slandering are a bit more obvious than the other two. But being cynical is the opposite of gratitude and we are a people who are supposed to find 100 blessings every day – so maybe we can understand why cynicism is such a bad thing. But what’s so bad about flattery? The daf explains (you need to know that King Agrippa was the last Jewish king of Judea, check out this link):

The mishna continues: And when Agrippa arrived at the verse: “You may not appoint a foreigner over you” (Deuteronomy 17:15), tears flowed from his eyes because he was a descendant of the house of Herod and was not of Jewish origin. The entire nation said to him: You are our brother. It is taught in the name of Rabbi Natan: At that moment the enemies of the Jewish people, a euphemism for the Jewish people, were sentenced to destruction for flattering Agrippa. Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta says: From the day that the power of flattery prevailed, the judgment has become corrupted, and people’s deeds have become corrupted, and a person cannot say to another: My deeds are greater than your deeds, as everyone flatters one another and people no longer know the truth. Rabbi Yehuda of the West, Eretz Yisrael, and some say Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi, taught: It is permitted to flatter wicked people in this world, as it is stated concerning the future: “The vile person shall no longer be called generous, nor shall the churl be said to be noble” (Isaiah 32:5). By inference, this indicates that in this world it is permitted to flatter them.

Now we get an AWESOME re-reading of that same verse that flips it by ben Lakish:

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said that this can be proven from here. Jacob said to Esau: “I have seen your face, as one sees the face of angels, and you were pleased with me” (Genesis 33:10). Jacob flattered him by comparing seeing him to seeing a divine vision. The Gemara notes: And Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, in interpreting Jacob’s statement, disagrees with Rabbi Levi, as Rabbi Levi says: With regard to the interaction between Jacob and Esau, to what is this matter comparable? To a person who invited another to his home and the guest realized that he wants to kill him. The guest said to him: The flavor of this dish that I taste is like a dish that I tasted in the king’s house. The host then said to himself: The king must know him. Therefore, he was afraid and did not kill him. Similarly, when Jacob told Esau that his face is like the face of an angel, he intended to let him know that he had seen angels, in order to instill fear in him so that Esau would not seek to harm him.

Yes! That’s awesome! The message – don’t flatter, speak truth to power.