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

Sanhedrin 110

How do we reconcile? Especially if we are the one who has been hurt? What if the person who hurts us makes no effort to apologize?

On our daf today, we learn from Moses.

With regard to the verse: “And Moses arose and went to Dathan and Abiram” (Numbers 16:25), Reish Lakish says: From here we derive that one may not perpetuate a dispute, as Rav says: Anyone who perpetuates a dispute violates a prohibition, as it is stated: “And he will not be like Korah and his assembly, as the Lord spoke by the hand of Moses to him” (Numbers 17:5). Even the aggrieved party must seek to end the dispute. Dathan and Abiram accused Moses and by right should have initiated the reconciliation. Nevertheless, Moses was not insistent on this; he went to them.

Moses could have simply escalated the situation, but he did his best to try and reconcile. It may not have worked . . . but we still learn a valuable lesson in that we can be the bigger person.

Sanhedrin 109

Gam Zo is introduced on our daf today. This is a man who says that everything, everything, is ultimately for the good – hence the name Gam So which means “also this.” But, is it for the good when he is robbed? When what he was to give the emperor is replaced with dirt? Let’s see . . .

First, you need this textual proof from Isaiah. In it, Isaiah refers to Abraham’s battles against kings:

“Who has raised up one from the east at whose steps victory attends? He gives nations before him, and makes him rule over kings; his sword makes them as the dust, his bow as driven straw” (Isaiah 41:2). Apropos Abraham’s miraculous weapons, the Gemara tells our fabulous story of Gam Zo.

Naḥum of Gam Zo was accustomed that in response to any circumstance that arose in his regard, he would say: This too [gam zo] is for the best. One day the Jewish people sought to send a gift [doron] to the emperor. They said: With whom shall we send the gift? They decided: We will send it with Naḥum of Gam Zo, as he is experienced in miracles. When he reached a certain lodging, he sought to sleep there. The residents of that lodging said to him: What do you have with you? Naḥum said to them: I am taking the head tax to the emperor. They rose in the night, opened his chest and took everything that was in it, and then filled the chest with dirt.

Okay, so the optimist Gam Zo was sent to the emperor with a chest full of money, the taxes from the people in his town. He spends the night somewhere and tells them he has all this money and they rob him! Now, he unwittingly takes the chest of dirt to the emperor in Rome.

When he arrived there, in Rome, earth was discovered in the chest. The emperor said: The Jews are mocking me by giving me this gift – kill him! They took Naḥum out to kill him. Naḥum said: This too is for the best.

Really? This too is for the best?

Elijah the prophet came and appeared to them as one of Naḥum’s traveling party. Elijah said to them: Perhaps this earth is from the earth of Abraham our forefather, who would throw dust and it became swords, and who would throw straw and it became arrows.

Elijah the Prophet, here to save the day!

They examined the dust and discovered that it was indeed the dust of Abraham. There was a province that the Romans were unable to conquer. They threw some of this earth upon that province and they conquered it. In appreciation for the gift that Naḥum of Gam Zo had brought on behalf of the Jewish people, they brought him into the treasury and said: Take that which is preferable to you. He filled his chest with gold.

So, it all worked out! But, what about those who robbed Gam Zo?

When he returned to that lodging, those residents said to him: What did you bring to the king’s palace? Naḥum said to them: What I took from here, I brought to there. The residents heard the story and concluded that the earth with which they had filled the chest had miraculous properties. They took more earth and brought it to the emperor. But guess what? That’s right. It did not work the second time. Once the Romans discovered that the earth was ineffective in battle, they executed those residents.

So, this too is for good . . . but maybe only the good of Gam Zo.

Sanhedrin 108

Two fabulous passages on the daf! The first is an argument about just how righteous Noah was (there are other places that argue maybe he wasn’t so righteous). The second is also about Noah, and it’s a quote I teach often (including in my chapter on climate justice in Moral Resistance and Spiritual Authority). So, including them both!

First, just how righteous is Noah?

With regard to the verse: “These are the generations of Noah; Noah was a righteous man, and wholehearted in his generations” (Genesis 6:9), Rabbi Yoḥanan says: Relative to the other people of his generation he was righteous and wholehearted, but not relative to those of other generations.

Boom! Okay, he was good compared to those horrible people of his time, but compared to Abraham? Moses? Forget about it. But, Reish Lakish does not agree (and remember, he was a reformed gang leader, so he knows how hard it is to be righteous in a corrupt world).

And Reish Lakish says: In his generation he was righteous and wholehearted despite being surrounded by bad influences; all the more so would he have been considered righteous and wholehearted in other generations.

Now parables!

Rabbi Ḥanina says: There is a parable for the statement of Rabbi Yoḥanan; to what is this matter comparable? It is comparable to a barrel of wine that was placed in a cellar where vinegar is stored; in its place, its fragrance diffuses, i.e., is noticeable, relative to the odor of the vinegar. When it is not in its place surrounded by vinegar, its fragrance does not diffuse, and its pleasant odor is not sensed. Rabbi Oshaya says: There is a parable for the statement of Reish Lakish; to what is this matter comparable? It is comparable to a flask of perfume [palyaton] that was placed in a location of filth. In its place its fragrance diffuses despite the ambient odor, and all the more so is its fragrance noticeable if it is placed in a location where there is perfume.

So, if something smells good in the bathroom – imagine how nice it would smell somewhere else! LOVE the parable. Noah was great, and to be great when everyone around you is terrible is extra dificult.

Now, my climate change text.

This teaches that Noah the righteous would rebuke the people of his generation, and he said to them statements that are harsh as torches [kelapidim], and they would treat him with contempt. They said to him: Old man, why are you building this ark? Noah said to them: The Holy One, Blessed be He, is bringing a flood upon you. They said to him: A flood of what? If it is a flood of fire, we have another item and it is called alita, and it is fireproof. And if it is a flood of water that He brings, if He brings the water from the earth, we have iron plates with which we can plate the earth to prevent the water from rising. And if He brings the water from the heavens, we have an item and it is called ekev, and some say it is called ikkesh, which will absorb the water.

Noah! He tells the people that they have to change the way they’re living or the world will be destroyed by a flood. (Sound like 99% of scientists? We need to change how we are living of the planet will no longer be able to sustain us?) And the people brush him off! They say, “we have technology for that” and that God can’t hurt them. (Sound familiar?) The lived in denial and refused to change.

So, what will you do to change how you live to show that you believe?

Be righteous. Do the right thing. Even is those around you refuse.

Sanhedrin 107

Oh what a daf!! It’s a good one. It starts with Dvid asking why we say “God of Abraha, God of Isaac, God of Jacob” in our prayers, but we don’t say “God of David.” Let’s see:

Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: A person should never bring himself to undergo an ordeal, as David, king of Israel, brought himself to undergo an ordeal and failed. David said before God: Master of the Universe, for what reason does one say in prayer: God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, and one does not say: God of David? God said to David: They have undergone ordeals before Me, and you have not undergone an ordeal before Me. David said before Him: Examine me and subject me to an ordeal, as it is stated: “Examine me, Lord, and subject me to an ordeal; try my kidneys and my heart” (Psalms 26:2). God said to him: I will subject you to an ordeal, and I will perform a matter for you that I did not perform for the Patriarchs, as for them, I did not inform them of the nature of the ordeal, while I am informing you . .

Okay! So David gets his shot at being mentioned in our daily prayers, and he KNOWS he is being tested! Easy, right? Wrong.

. . . I will subject you to an ordeal involving a matter of a married woman, with whom relations are forbidden. Immediately, it is written: “And it came to pass one evening that David rose from his bed” (II Samuel 11:2). Rav Yehuda says: Once David heard the nature of his ordeal, he sought to prevent himself from experiencing lust. He transformed his nighttime bed into his daytime bed, i.e., he engaged in intercourse with his wives during the day, in an attempt to quell his lust. But a halakha, i.e., a Torah statement, escaped him: There is a small limb in man that he employs in sexual intercourse. If he starves the limb, and does not overindulge, it is satiated; but if he satiates the limb and overindulges in sexual intercourse, it is starving, and desires more.

So, he heard that he woudl be tested to NOT have sex with a married woman (married to someone else), and so he has sex with his own wives to try and sate his thirst . . . but the rabbis give us this fabulous teaching that the more you have sex, the more you want to have sex.

His plan had the opposite effect. The verse states: “And he walked upon the roof of the king’s house; from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very fair to look upon” (II Samuel 11:2).

Now, more questions about the scene of Bathsheba bahting on the rooftop are answered.

Bathsheba was shampooing her head behind a beehive, which concealed her from sight. Satan came and appeared to David as a bird. David shot an arrow at the bird, the arrow severed the beehive, Bathsheba was exposed, and David saw her. Immediately, it is written: “And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said: Is not this Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers, and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was purified from her impurity, and then she returned to her house” (II Samuel 11:3–4). And that is the meaning of that which is written: “You have proved my heart; You have visited me in the night: You have tried me, but You find nothing; let no presumptuous thought pass my lips” (Psalms 17:3).

Remember that David is said to have written the Psalms.

David said: Oh, that a muzzle would have fallen upon the mouth of the one who hates me, a euphemism for his own mouth, and I would not have said anything like that and I would have withstood the ordeal.

He is angry at himself for asking God to test him, because he failed.

Rava taught: What is the meaning of that which is written: “To the leader, of David. In the Lord I put my trust; how can you say to my soul: Flee like a bird to your mountain” (Psalms 11:1)? David said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, pardon me for that sin with Bathsheba so that the wicked people will not say: The mountain that is among you, i.e., the luminary of the generation, David, was driven from the world due to a bird that led to his transgression.

So, David was tested . . .and failed. You may be thinking, “Hey, Solomon came from them, didn’t God want that to happen?” The rabbis answer that as well teaching the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, was designated as fit for David, but he partook of her unripe, before the appointed time. David would have ultimately married her in a permitted manner after the death of Uriah, but instead he was tested, and failed.

So much entertainment on the daf . . . and some answers to some questions we might all have.

Sanhedrin 106

How do we react when someone (with power) says something that we think is wrong or immoral? What if we were standing before them?

On our daf, we learn that three men were standing before Pharaoh when he decided to drawn all the Jewish baby boys in the Nile.

And that is what Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba says that Rabbi Simai says: Three were associates in that counsel, and they are: Balaam, Job, and Yitro. Balaam, who advised to drown the newborn males, was killed. Job, who was silent and was reluctant to express his opinion, was sentenced to suffer afflictions. And Yitro, who fled after he disagreed with that counsel and Pharaoh sought to kill him, his descendants were privileged to sit as scribes in session with the Sanhedrin in the Chamber of Hewn Stone. . .

Balaam is the evil prophet who was hired by King Balak to curse the Jewish people so hi army could defeat us. Balaam, famously, couldn’t do it! God changed the words in his mouth. But, after 3 attempts with no success, Balaam “blessed” us. Balaam’s blessing pointed out that our tents did not fae one another, a sign of modesty, and according to the rabbis, he hinted that what the other nations needed to do was to seduce Israel and god woudl turn God’s back on us. . . that’s also on the daf!

Balaam said to them: The God of these Jewish people despises lewdness, and they desire linen garments, as they have no new garments; come, and I will give you advice. Make for them enclosures using wall hangings and seat prostitutes in them, with an old woman outside the enclosure and a young woman inside, and have the women sell them linen garments. Balak made for them enclosures using wall hangings from the snow mountain, the Ḥermon, until Beit HaYeshimot, and he sat prostitutes in them, with an old woman outside and a young woman on the inside. And at the time when Jewish people were eating and drinking and were glad and going out to stroll in the marketplace, the old woman would say to a Jew: Aren’t you seeking linen garments? He would enter the enclosure and ask the price, the old woman would quote him a price equal to its value, and the young woman would quote him a price less than its value. That scenario would repeat itself two or three times. And thereafter she would say to him: You are like a member of our household, sit and choose for yourself the merchandise that you want. And a jug of Ammonite wine was placed near her, and neither Ammonite wine nor gentile wine had been prohibited yet for Jews. She said to him: Is it your wish to drink a cup of wine? Once he drank the wine, his evil inclination burned within him. He then said to her: Submit to me and engage in intercourse with me. She then removed the idol that she worshipped from her lap and said to him: Worship this. He said to her: Am I not Jewish? I am therefore forbidden from engaging in idol worship. She said to him: And what is your concern? We are asking you to do nothing more than defecate in its presence. But he does not know that its worship is conducted in that manner.

For this, Balaam is killed.

Job is the Job from the book of Job. He seems a good man and God tests him seemingly out of nowhere. Killing his family, his crops, his animals and eventually covering him in painful boils. And yet Job never curses God. It seems so unfair. And it is.

This is a rabbinic explanation of how this might happen to a righteous, Godfearing man – he stood by and said nothing when he heard what Pharaoh intended to do.

Who did speak up? Yitro. . . and then he ran for his life. He was rewarded and his offspring were rewarded.

So, the lesson is so speak out, even when it seems dangerous.

Sanhedrin 105

When is a good time to curse someone? When God’s angry at them! When is that?

Explaining the cause of God’s anger, it was taught in a baraita in the name of Rabbi Meir: When the sun rises and the kings place their crowns on their heads and bow down to the sun, the Holy One, Blessed be He, immediately grows angry. Since this occurs in the early hours of every day, God becomes angry at His world at that time every day.

So, you want to curse someone at that particular moment at dawn. Now, what happens when one of our rabbis uses this knowledge? Let’s read and find out:

There was a certain heretic who was in Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi’s neighborhood who would upset him by incessantly challenging the legitimacy of biblical verses. One day, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi took a rooster and tied it by its legs and sat and waited (when the roosters gullet is clear from sunlight, then it’s time to curse!). He said: When that moment of God’s wrath arrives, I will curse him. When that moment of God’s wrath arrived, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi dozed off. When he awakened, he said: Conclude from the fact that I dozed off that it is not proper conduct to curse even the wicked, as it is written: “Punishment, even for the righteous, is not good” (Proverbs 17:26). Even with regard to heretics, a righteous person should not state a curse in order to punish them.

Ha! So, don’t curse anyone, even if you think they deserve it.

Sanhedrin 104

Okay, there was too much to pick from. But I settled on just two. The first:

With regard to the phrase: “Great among the nations, and princess among the provinces” (Lamentations 1:1), Rava says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: Every place they go, when exiled among the nations, the Jewish people become princes to their masters due to their wisdom.

Okay, this is so true. How often in the history of the Jewish people have we seen Jews make it to number two positions (and never to #1)? From Joseph in Egypt to today, this is quite the observation.

The second is so beautiful. It’s doing a line by line interpretation of the book of Lamentations, which we read on the 9th of Av, Tisha B’Av, s we recall the destruction of the Temple, and many other evils that befell us.

“And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and the people cried that night” (Numbers 14:1). Rabba says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: That day that they heard the spies’ report was the evening of the Ninth of Av. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to the Jewish people: You cried an unwarranted cry, and so I will establish for you a reason to cry for generations.

This is why so many bad things happen to the Jews on this date in history. And yet, we get these lovely passages as alternative understandings:

Alternatively, the term “at night” indicates that with regard to anyone who cries at night, his voice is heard due to the ambient silence. Alternatively, the term “at night” indicates that in the case of anyone who cries at night, the stars and the constellations cry with him.

Ah! So beautiful! Heaven, cry with me.

Alternatively, the term “at night” indicates that in the case of anyone who cries at night, one who hears his voice is touched by his suffering and cries with him.

So, beautiful. How compassionate.

There was an incident involving one woman, the neighbor of Rabban Gamliel, whose son died, and she would cry over his death at night. Rabban Gamliel heard her voice and cried with her until his eyelashes fell out. The next day his students noticed that he had been crying, and they removed the woman from his neighborhood so that Rabban Gamliel could sleep.

Okay, I laughed out loud when I read this. Rabban Gamliel was so compassionate, but apparently his students only cared about him, not his grieving neighbor.

Sanhedrin 103

We might be familiar with the prophet Micah, but our daf today tells us of an evil Micah, the one from Judges 17. This Micah induced others to idol worship. In Judges 17:1-4 we read:

“There was a man in the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micah. He said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, so that you uttered an imprecation that you repeated in my hearing—I have that silver; I took it.” “Blessed of GOD be my son,” said his mother. He returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother; but his mother said, “I herewith consecrate the silver to GOD, transferring it to my son to make a sculptured image and a molten image. I now return it to you.” So when he gave the silver back to his mother, his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave it to a smith. He made of it a sculptured image and a molten image, which were kept in the house of Micah.”

On our daf, we have been reading about those who have no share in the world to come (meaning that these Jewish leaders do not get into heaven). So the daf asks, What about this Micah?

For what reason did the tanna’im not enumerate Micah among those with no share in the World-to-Come? After all, he crafted idols that the Jewish people worshipped (see Judges, chapter 17). It is due to the fact that his bread was available for passersby, as it is stated: All those who pass by the Levites. He would provide sustenance to all hosted in his house.

We get more details a few lines later:

It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Natan says: The distance from Gerav, where Micah resided, to Shiloh, where the Tabernacle was at that time, was three mil, and the smoke from the arrangement of wood on the altar in Shiloh and the smoke from the worship of the idol of Micah would intermingle with each other. The ministering angels sought to dismiss him from the world. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to them: Leave him, as his bread is available for travelers.

What’s our gem? Be good to one another. If feeding travelers was enough to override idolatry, something we should die rather than commit – imagine what good deeds can do for the rest of us!

Sanhedrin 102

Two little gems for you today. (Though the entire daf is interesting if you want to study Israel’s kings and how they went astray.)

Our first gem teaches us to say blessings and not to take anything for granted. If you take without blessing, it’s equivalent to theft.

Rabbi Ḥanina bar Pappa says: With regard to anyone who derives benefit from this world without reciting a blessing, it is as though he stole from the Holy One, Blessed be He, and the congregation of Israel, as it is stated: “Whoever robs his father and his mother and says: It is no transgression, he is the companion of a corrupter” (Proverbs 28:24).

So, kiddos, thank you parents for dinner. And for us grownups – thank God for everything.

Our second gem is a really good one:

Rav Pappa says that this is in accordance with the adage that people say: One who avenges due to his zealotry destroys his own house.

Wow! Love this so much. It reminds me of Samson pulling the palace down on himself in order to destroy the Philistines. And the Buddha quote that “holding on to anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”

We are not all Liam Neeson. As Elsa sings, “let it go.”

Sanhedrin 101

Yesterday was lasers coming out of the eyes. Today we have fire coming out of a penis. Again, who ever thought talmud was boring?

The daf takes a tangent today to discuss three people who misinterpreted signs of the future. The message? Don’t try and predict the future. Even if you’re given a message, you might read it wrong.

The Sages taught in a baraita: Three looked but did not see and as a result were mistaken in their prognostications. And these are they: Nebat, and Ahithophel, and the astrologers of Pharaoh. The Gemara elaborates: Nebat saw fire that emerges from his penis. He thought that it meant that he would rule. But that is not so. It meant that it would be Jeroboam who would emerge from him and rule. Ahithophel saw leprosy that glowed on his penis and he thought that he would rule. But it is not so. Instead from Bathsheba his daughter, i.e., his son’s daughter, came Solomon the king. The astrologers of Pharaoh saw and were mistaken, as Rabbi Ḥama, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, says: What is the meaning of that which is written: “These are the waters of contention” (Numbers 20:13)? These are the waters that the astrologers of Pharaoh saw, and they erred concerning them. As they saw in the stars that the savior of Israel would be stricken by water, Pharaoh said: “Every son that is born you shall cast into the river” (Exodus 1:22), assuming that any potential savior would be drowned. And they did not know that it was over matters involving the waters of Meribah that Moses would be stricken and would not be allowed to enter Eretz Yisrael.

Oh goodness. Why is it that fire from the penis or glowing leprosy on the penis is a good thing? Get these guys to the doctor! If I saw that, I would predict venereal disease.

Happy reading.