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

Another day, another gem. On our daf today, Rav Hisda refers to an interesting tradition that teaches that Abraham, who grew up in an idolatrous environment, had four hundred chapters of mishnah concerning the laws of idolatry.

Rav Ḥisda said to Avimei: It is learned as a tradition that the tractate Avoda Zara of our forefather Abraham contained four hundred chapters, and we have learned only five chapters in our tractate Avoda Zara, and we do not even know the meaning of what we are saying.

Ha! Abraham lived in a time where everyone but him was an idolater, so 400 chapters is a lot – but there was a lot of idolatry! By R. Hisda’s time, there are only had five chapters that they have to learn, but they still had trouble understanding them!

I love the humility of this. I also love the fact that the Torah talks most to what you are living with and dealing with in your own time.

Keep it relevant. . . because it is.

How much do Jews value learning? How much do we value love? More than almost anything. On our daf today we see that the rabbis permit leaving Israel to find an ideal teacher or an ideal partner. (Wow!)

The baraita continues: And a priest may become ritually impure and leave Eretz Yisrael in order to study Torah or in order to marry a woman. Rabbi Yehuda says: When does this allowance apply? It applies when he cannot find a place to study in Eretz Yisrael. But when the priest can find a place to study in Eretz Yisrael, he may not become ritually impure by leaving the country. Rabbi Yosei says: Even when he can find a place to study Torah in Eretz Yisrael, he may leave the country and become ritually impure, because a person does not merit to learn from everyone, and it is possible that the more suitable teacher for him lives outside of Eretz Yisrael.

Love this. To find the right teacher, or the right partner, you can leave the holy land. Love and learning are the highest priorities of all.

May we all find both!

Today’s gem is the irony of a tractate against idol worship warning us not to pee at night, but if we do, a special incantation to say against the evil spirits!

The Sages taught: A person should not drink water at night. And if he drank, his blood is upon his own head, due to the danger. The Gemara asks: What is this danger? The Gemara answers: The danger of the shavrirei, an evil spirit that rules over water. And if he is thirsty, what is his remedy? If there is another person with him, he should wake him and say to him: I thirst for water, and then he may drink. And if there is no other person with him, he should knock with the lid on the jug and say to himself: So-and-so, son of so-and-so, your mother said to you to beware ofthe shavrirei verirei rirei yirei rei, found in white cups. This is an incantation against the evil spirit.

Even rabbis seem to be scared of the dark. My take home is that we all may think we are rational, but none of us are completely.

One of the greatest translators (if not the greatest) of the Torah was Onkelos. His translation is the primary Aramaic translation of the 5 books of Moses and every rabbinical student becomes familiar with his work. Some students may know he is a famous convert to Judaism, but even fewer know how many he inspired to convert to Judaism as we see on our daf today when the Roman emperor tries to capture him after his conversion to surprising results:

Onkelos bar Kelonimos converted to Judaism. The Roman emperor sent a troop [gunda] of Roman soldiers after him to seize Onkelos and bring him to the emperor. Onkelos drew them toward him with verses that he cited and learned with them, and they converted. 

Oops! The emperor tried to stop one convert and ended up with a whole troop!

The emperor then sent another troop of Roman soldiers after him, and said to them: Do not say anything to him, so that he cannot convince you with his arguments. The troops followed this instruction, and took Onkelos with them. When they were walking, Onkelos said to the troop of soldiers: I will say a mere statement to you: A minor official [nifyora] holds a torch before a high official [apifyora], the high official holds a torch for a duke [dukasa], a duke for the governor, and the governor for the ruler [koma]. Does the ruler hold a torch before the common people? The soldiers said to Onkelos: No. Onkelos said to them: Yet the Holy One, Blessed be He, holds a torch before the Jewish people, as it is written: “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light” (Exodus 13:21). They all converted. 

Foiled again! Will the emperor stop? Not yet.

The emperor then sent another troop of soldiers after him, to bring Onkelos, and said to them: Do not converse with him at all. The troops followed this instruction, and took Onkelos with them. While they grabbed him and were walking, Onkelos saw a mezuza that was placed on the doorway. He placed his hand upon it and said to the soldiers: What is this? They said to him: You tell us. Onkelos said to them: The standard practice throughout the world is that a king of flesh and blood sits inside his palace, and his servants stand guard, protecting him outside; but with regard to the Holy One, Blessed be He, His servants, the Jewish people, sit inside their homes and He guards over them outside. As it is stated: “The Lord shall guard your going out and your coming in, from now and forever” (Psalms 121:8). Upon hearing this, those soldiers also converted to Judaism. After that, the emperor sent no more soldiers after him.

I love this so much. Not only the foiled plans of the emperor, but also that the most famous translation of our holy text is from a convert (so no snobbishness about lineage) and most of all why these troops convert: 1) having the chance to learn and think independently, 2) having a holy guide to lead them in life, 3) feeling God’s protection.

May we all be so blessed.

Another interesting daf! What a tractate! Today we learn about how some of the Roman leadership secretly visited and was advised by the rabbis.

Antoninus once said to Rabbi Yehusay HaNasi: It is my desire that my son Asverus should reign instead of me and that Tiberias should be declared a Colony. Were I to ask one of these things it would be granted while both would not be granted. Rabbi thereupon brought a man, and having made him ride on the shoulders of another, handed him a dove bidding the one who carried him to order the one on his shoulders to liberate it. The Emperor perceived this to mean that he was advised to ask [of the Senate] to appoint his son Asverus to reign in his stead, and that subsequently he might get Asverus to make Tiberias a free Colony.

[On another occasion] Antoninus mentioned to him that some prominent Romans were annoying him. Rabbi thereupon took him into the garden and, in his presence, picked some radishes, one at a time. Said [the Emperor to himself] his advice to me is: Do away with them one at a time, but do not attack all of them at once.

I love the advice by illustration. First, it’s demonstrative and we can imagine it. Second, it protects the rabbis for being blamed for the kings actions and protects the king from being accused of taking advice from the Jews.

The rest of the daf has his son also taking advice from the next great rabbi, Rav. Rav gives a great gem as well: Once he asked him: ‘Shall I enter the world to come?’ ‘Yes!’ said Rabbi. ‘But,’ said Antoninus, ‘is it not written, There will be no remnant to the house of Esau?’ ‘That,’ he replied. ‘applies only to those whose evil deeds are like to those of Esau.’ 

It is not so much who You are that matters, but how you act in the world.

2,000 is the magic number of the day.

The Tanna debe Eliyyahu taught:  The world is to exist six thousand years; the first two thousand years are to be void;  the next two thousand years are the period of the Torah, and the following two thousand years are the period of the Messiah. Through our many sins a number of these have already passed [and the Messiah is not yet].

So the world existed for 2,000 years before we received the Torah. The rabbis believed there would be only 2,000 years from revelation till redemption. But even in their days they thought the Messiah was delayed because of our sins. In fact Said R. Hanina:  From the year four hundred after the destruction onwards, if one says unto you. ‘Buy a field that is worth one thousand denarii for one denar’ — do not buy it. Why? Because the Messiah is coming! How sad would the rabbis be that it’s now 5785 and the Messiah still hasn’t come?!

But 2,000 is also significant as yesterday we finished reading the 2,000th page of Talmud! With this one read that means we have 710 pages to go! We can do it!

Today’s daf has two of the best stories about Adam! The first is Adam establishing Chanukah before Chanukah ever happened!

With regard to the dates of these festivals, the Sages taught: When Adam the first man saw that the day was progressively diminishing, as the days become shorter from the autumnal equinox until the winter solstice, he did not yet know that this is a normal phenomenon, and therefore he said: Woe is me; perhaps because I sinned the world is becoming dark around me and will ultimately return to the primordial state of chaos and disorder. And this is the death that was sentenced upon me from Heaven, as it is written: “And to dust shall you return” (Genesis 3:19). He arose and spent eight days in fasting and in prayer. Once he saw that the season of Tevet, i.e., the winter solstice, had arrived, and saw that the day was progressively lengthening after the solstice, he said: Clearly, the days become shorter and then longer, and this is the order of the world. He went and observed a festival for eight days. Upon the next year, he observed both these eight days on which he had fasted on the previous year, and these eight days of his celebration, as days of festivities. He, Adam, established these festivals for the sake of Heaven, but they, the gentiles of later generations, established them for the sake of idol worship.

This is fabulous. Every culture had a winter solstice holiday and this is the origin (according to the rabbis). It also shows how much we fear the dark and how we need to create light in dark times. The second is similar, but instead of a time of year, it’s a time of day. Adam on the first day of life seeing the sun set:

The Sages taught: On the day that Adam the first man was created, when the sun set upon him he said: Woe is me, as because I sinned, the world is becoming dark around me, and the world will return to the primordial state of chaos and disorder. And this is the death that was sentenced upon me from Heaven. He spent all night fasting and crying, and Eve was crying opposite him.

That’s my favorite part: Eve sitting with Adam as he cries. That’s a true partner, someone to sit with you when you’re in your feelings and fears.

Once dawn broke, he said: Evidently, the sun sets and night arrives, and this is the order of the world. He arose and sacrificed a bull…

This is the order of the world, light and dark and fear and comfort.

Today’s gem reminds me of a kid who asks one parent permission to do something and gets a “no” who then goes and asks the other:

The Sages taught: In the case of one who asks a question of a Sage with regard to an issue of ritual impurity and the Sage rules that the item is impure, he may not ask the same question of another Sage and have him rule that it is pure.Similarly, in the case of one who asks a Sage a halakhic question and he deems it forbidden, he may not ask the question of another Sage and have him deem it permitted.

What are you doing? You don’t like the answer so asking another Sage? Or are you stirring up trouble? His leads to the next question:

In a situation where there were two Sages sitting together and one deems an item impure and the other one deems it pure, or if one deems it prohibited and the other one deems it permitted, the questioner should proceed as follows: If one of the Sages was superior to the other in wisdom and in number, one should follow his ruling, and if not, he should follow the one who rules stringently. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥa says: If the uncertainty exists with regard to a Torah law, follow the one who rules stringently; if it exists with regard to a rabbinic law, follow the one who rules leniently. Rav Yosef said: The halakha is in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥa.

Don’t ask two people or you may end up with a more stringent response (well, I guess it’s 50/50). The idea is that the law should be the law no matter who you ask. (But don’t let this stop you from getting second opinions medically.)

Beauty tips!

R. Judah says, A woman must not smear lime on her face on the festival  because it disfigures her; R, Judah, however, admits that if the lime can still be scraped off during the festival, it may be applied on the festival for though she is troubled by it for the while, it will eventually please her!

Lime? So I learned two things, the first that lime (like the plaster/stone) is used to remove hair but it’s very caustic. It’s still used today on animal hides but women did use it back in the day. The second is that lime, the fruit, is apparently great for skin as long as you don’t have sun exposure afterward! It was vitamin C, brightens dark spots and can clear up acne! Not the lime they’re mentioning of the daf but good to know.

So, the gem is that women have suffered for beauty for at least a few thousand years.

My grandfather, who was an orthodox rabbi, did not like to admit that our ancestors were anything but perfect. In contrast, part of what I love about Torah is that our ancestors is how flawed they are, and yet God chooses them (so maybe there is hope for the rest of us). Today’s gem shows us that we as individuals and as a nation have been imperfect, and outright sinners. But that teaches the most valuable lesson of all:

R. Joshua b. Levi further said: The Israelites made the [golden] calf only in order to place a good argument in the mouth of the penitents,  as it is said, O that they had such a heart as this alway, to fear Me and keep all My commandments etc.

This last statement accords with what R. Johanan said in the name of R. Simeon b. Yohai: David was not the kind of man to do that act,  nor was Israel the kind of people to do that act.  David was not the kind of man to do that act, as it is written, My heart is slain within me;  nor were the Israelites the kind of people to commit that act, for it is said, O that they had such a heart as this alway etc. Why, then, did they act thus?

God predestined it so, in order to teach thee that if an individual hath sinned [and hesitates about the effect of repentance] he could be referred to the individual [David], and if a community commit a sin they should be told: Go to the community.  And both these instances are necessary; for if [the case of] the individual only were mentioned. [it might have been thought that pardon is granted] because his sin is not generally known, but in the case of a community whose sins are publicly known it might not be so; if, on the other hand, the case of a community only were mentioned, it might have been thought, because they command greater mercy,  but with an individual, whose merits are not so numerous, it is not so; hence both are necessary.

David teaches us that individuals can sin and be forgiven and the Golden Calf teaches us that a nation can sin and be forgiven. It’s never too late for any of us to make teshuvah (to repent) and any of us can be instruments of God’s will. If only we put what’s right before our own self interests.