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

Today’s gem is the rabbis proving their interpretation of a verse by showing that a certain members of a town who keep Torah law, but not rabbinic law had their town destroyed three years earlier than the rest of Jerusalem. It reminds us of two thing. The first is that it’s hard to understand Torah without the wisdom of those who have come before us. The second is that the rabbis have a lot of self interest in us believing that their interpretations are the correct ones.

But isn’t it taught in a baraita: For what reason were the shops of Beit Hino, a town near Jerusalem, destroyed three years before the destruction of Jerusalem itself? It was because they based their practices strictly on matters of Torah, i.e., they did not adhere to the rabbinic safeguards. The baraita explains that they would say that a buyer need not tithe the produce he purchases, as derived from the verses: “You shall tithe all the produce of your planting, which is brought forth in the field year by year, and you shall eat before the Lord, your God” (Deuteronomy 14:22–23). They claimed that the phrases “you shall tithe…and you shall eat” indicate that only the one who eats the produce must tithe it, but not the one who sells it. Likewise, the phrase “the produce of your planting” teaches that the one who performs the planting must separate tithes, but not the one who buys it. Rather, the obligation of a buyer to separate tithes applies by rabbinic law, and the verse is cited as a mere support for this halakha. The residents of Beit Hino did not adhere to this rabbinic law and did not observe the halakha requiring the buyer to separate tithes

Great gem today- let your actions speak for you.

The Gemara continues analyzing the same passage. It is written: “And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and satisfy your heart” (Genesis 18:5), and it is written: “And Abraham ran to the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good” (Genesis 18:7). Rabbi Elazar said: From here we learn that the righteous say little and do much, whereas the wicked say much and do not do even a little.

Wow, it’s rare that the sad have so much aggadah (story telling). But today’s dad talks about Rabbi bar Nahmani and the miracles that happen because of his righteous. We see a man’s face turn backward, God and the rabbis in heaven seek him out for the answer to a debate, birds create an umbrella to protect his body, Heavenly voices talking to make sure he is respected and finally, unreal weather threatening to destroy the earth because he has died.

It reminds us how unfair the world is in that bad things often happen to good people. It reminds us of how the world feels upside down when we experience a senseless loss. And it reminds us that, for the rabbis, heaven is a place where you get to debate matters of Torah with God.

The Gemara relates another story discussing the greatness of the Sages. Rav Kahana said: Rav Ḥama, son of the daughter of Ḥasa, told me that Rabba bar Naḥmani died due to the fear of a decree of religious persecution. The Gemara explains: His enemies accused him [akhalu beih kurtza] of disloyalty in the king’s palace, as they said: There is one man from among the Jews who exempts twelve thousand Jewish men from the king’s head tax two months a year, one month in the summer and one month in the winter. Since many people would study in Rabba’s study hall during the months of Adar and Elul, he was being blamed for preventing those people from working during those months. They sent a messenger [peristaka] of the king after him, but he was not able to find him. Rabba bar Naḥmani fled and went from Pumbedita to Akra, from Akra to Agma, from Agma to Shiḥin, from Shiḥin to Tzerifa, from Tzerifa to Eina Demayim, and from Eina Demayim back to Pumbedita. Ultimately, he was found in Pumbedita, as the king’s messenger arrived by chance at that same inn where Rabba bar Naḥmani was hiding. The inn attendants placed a tray before the messenger and gave him two cups to drink. They then removed the tray from before him and his face wasmiraculously turned backward. The attendants said to Rabba bar Naḥmani: What should we do with him? He is the king’s man, and we cannot leave him like this. Rabba bar Naḥmani said to them: Place a tray before him and give him one cup to drink, and then remove the tray from before him and he will be healed. They did this, and he was healed. The messenger said: I am certain that the man I seek is here, as this unnatural event must have befallen me on his account. He searched for Rabba bar Naḥmani and found out where he was. The messenger said that they should tell Rabba bar Naḥmani: I will leave this inn and will not disclose your location. Even if they will kill that man, i.e., me, I will not disclose your location. But if they will beat him, me, I will disclose your whereabouts, as I cannot bear being tortured. With that guarantee, they brought Rabba bar Naḥmani before the messenger. They took him into a small vestibule [le’idrona] and closed the door before him. Rabba bar Naḥmani prayed for mercy, and the wall crumbled. He fled and went to hide in a swamp. He was sitting on the stump of a palm tree and studying Torah alone. At that moment, the Sages in the heavenly academy were disagreeing with regard to a halakha of leprosy. In general, a leprous spot includes two signs of impurity, a bright white spot and a white hair. The basic halakha is that if the snow-white leprous sore [baheret] preceded the white hair then the afflicted person is ritually impure, but if the white hair preceded the baheret, he is pure. The heavenly debate concerned a case of uncertainty as to which came first, the spot or the hair. The Holy One, Blessed be He, says: The individual is pure, but every other member of the heavenly academy says: He is impure. And they said: Who can arbitrate in this dispute? They agreed that Rabba bar Naḥmanishould arbitrate, as Rabba bar Naḥmani once said: I am preeminent in the halakhot of leprosy and I am preeminent in the halakhot of ritual impurity imparted by tents. They sent a messenger from heaven after him to take his soul up to the heavenly academy, but the Angel of Death was unable to approach Rabba bar Naḥmani, as his mouth did not cease from his Torah study. In the meantime, a wind blew and howled between the branches. Rabba bar Naḥmani thought that the noise was due to an infantry battalion [gunda] about to capture him. He said: Let that man, i.e., me, die and not be given over to the hands of the government. The Angel of Death was therefore able to take his soul. As he was dying, he said in response to the dispute in heaven: It is pure; it is pure. A Divine Voice emerged from heaven and said: Happy are you, Rabba bar Naḥmani, as your body is pure and your soul left you with the word: Pure. A note [pitka] fell from heaven and landed in the academy of Pumbedita. The note read: Rabba bar Naḥmani was summoned to the heavenly academy, i.e., he has died. Abaye and Rava and all of the other Rabbis went out to tend to his burial; however, they did not know the location of his body. They went to the swamp and saw birds forming a shade and hovering over a certain spot. The Rabbis said: We can conclude from this that he is there. The Rabbis lamented him for three days and three nights. A note fell from heaven, upon which was written: Anyone who removes himself from the lamentations shall be ostracized. Accordingly, they lamented him for seven days. Another note fell from heaven, stating: Go to your homes in peace.

Shiva!! It concludes.

On that day when Rabba bar Naḥmani died, a hurricane lifted a certain Arab [taya’a] merchant while he was riding his camel. The hurricane carried him from one side of the Pappa River and threw him onto the other side. He said: What is this? Those present said to him: Rabba bar Naḥmani has died. He said before God: Master of the Universe! The entire world is Yours and Rabba bar Naḥmani is also Yours. You are to Rabba and Rabba is to You,i.e., you are beloved to each other. If so, why are You destroying the world on his account? The storm subsided.

Another beautiful text! One that I wrote about one Shabbat Shuvah (the Shabbat between Rosh haShanna and Yom Kippur). So, I will paste the text, then my sermon below 🙂

The Gemara relates: When Rabbi Ḥanina and Rabbi Ḥiyya would debate matters of Torah, Rabbi Ḥanina would say to Rabbi Ḥiyya: Do you think you can debate with me? Heaven forbid! If the Torah were forgotten from the Jewish people, I could restore it with my powers of analysis and intellectual acumen. Rabbi Ḥiyya said to Rabbi Ḥanina: Do you think you can debate with me? You cannot compare yourself to me, as I am acting to ensure that the Torah will not be forgotten by the Jewish people. Rabbi Ḥiyya elaborated: What do I do to this end? I go and sow flax seeds and twine nets with the flax, and then I hunt deer and feed their meat to orphans. Next I prepare parchment from their hides and I write the five books of the Torah on them. I go to a city and teach five children the five books, one book per child, and I teach six other children the six orders of the Mishna, and I say to them: Until I return and come here, read each other the Torah and teach each other the Mishna. This is how I act to ensure that the Torah will not be forgotten by the Jewish people. The Gemara notes that this is what Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said: How great are the deeds of Rabbi Ḥiyya! Rabbi Yishmael, son of Rabbi Yosei, said to Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi: Are his deeds even greater than the Master’s, i.e., yours? Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said to him: Yes.

My sermon:

In his autobiography, Jeff Corwin shares that while filming an episode of The Jeff Corwin Experience in Namibia he was on set when a cheetah popped up in the grass.  The big cat was 15-20 feet away from Jeff and his producer.  It started walking towards them and Jeff’s producer warned, “There is no way we can outrun a cheetah.”  “I don’t need to;”  Jeff responded, “I only need to outrun you.”   

This was a joke cracked in a moment of fear.  But in reality, this is the way so many of us live our lives – believing that in order for us to survive, or thrive, or be appreciated, or special, or loved – others have to serve as cheetah food. 

It’s a false understanding of the idea of scarcity.  Yes, certain things are limited in life, like hours in the day, or m&m’s in a bag.  But the big things in life are not scarce at all.  Love, joy, accomplishment – these things have no bounds. 

To be a Jewishly religious person is to believe that God did not create a single one of us without a purpose.  God wants all of us to thrive – and our success is actually not contingent on looking good compared to others – it’s contingent on everyone succeeding together. 

Rabbi Barras talked about this last week when he highlighted that our HHD prayer book asks us to confess in the plural – ashamnu, bagadnu – al chet shechatanu – we have sinned – this is a group effort. 

Yes, an individual may be righteous in their own acts.  But that is not the ideal. 

A story is shared in the Talmud, Bava Metzia 85b that illustrates this: 

“Rabbi Hanina and Rabbi Hiyya used to quarrel.” This isn’t one of those standard Talmudic arguments where different rabbis give different opinions on a topic. There’s no topic at hand, and these two men are מינצוּ- a word that could equally well describe a fist-fight. This is the clash of two people who could never stand one another and are finally having it out. 

“Rabbi Hanina said to Rabbi Hiyya, ‘How dare you argue with me?! If, God forbid, the Torah were to be entirely forgotten from Israel, I could restore it from my own intelligence!’” 

Rabbi Hanina strikes the first verbal blow. His name means “Rabbi Grace”, has been graced by God with intellectual gifts that surpass anything his teachers and peers could have ever dreamed of.  

Had he gone to Miami public school, he no doubt would have been welcome in the “gifted and talented” program. I imagine he didn’t care much for study groups, and he probably loved being in classes graded on a curve. He dreams up the horrific scenario of the Torah’s being forgotten from Israel, and even though he appends a pious, “God forbid”, we have to wonder whether he doesn’t imagine this mass forgetting with a bit of relish, looking forward to the time when his talents would finally be fully appreciated.  

“Rabbi Hiyya said to Rabbi Hanina, ‘How dare you argue with me?! I devote myself to the Torah so that it not be forgotten from Israel. I plant and raise flax seeds. I then harvest them and weave them into nets, which I you to trap deer. I feed the meat of the deer to orphans, and I make the hides into five scrolls, and write one of the five books of Moses on each. Then I go to a town, and I find five children, and teach each one to read one of the five books. Then I find six more children, and teach each one to recite one of the six orders of the Mishna by heart. And I tell them, “By the time I’ve returned, I want each of you to teach the others to read what you can read, and to recite what you can recite.“’” 

Rabbi Hanina’s opposite is Rabbi Hiyya, “Rabbi Life.” He isn’t necessarily possessed of gifts of particular intelligence or creativity – he’s just got what we all have: life. His work is painstaking and selfless. Each year he plants flax, and harvests students. And not only students: In giving responsibility to his students to teach one another, he makes them experts!  And a team of teachers! 

But the two most exceptional dimensions of Rabbi Hiyya’s teaching go even beyond this. 

First – he takes the meat of the deer and feeds it to orphans – because he knows that study is not enough!  If you are really learning Torah you should be living out it’s principles – like feeding the hungry and protecting the orphan and those others who are out of our normal circle of care.  He fully absorbs and lives out God’s words – reproducing them through action.  

And second, he returns to his students. His parting words are “By the time I’ve returned, I want each of you to teach the others to read what you can read, and to recite what you can recite.” His return trip promises not only a renewal of the contact and care that were there in his first visit, but also renewed and expanded learning – and teaching – for his students.  

We can only imagine how many hundreds of students Rabbi Hiyya taught this way, and how many thousands of students were taught by those students. In the logic of the story (and I don’t care whether this is historically true), we all, if we trace back far enough, are students of Rabbi Hiyya’s. 

His is how to be a person in relation to other people, how to pursue a shared goal together. Rabbi Hiyya’s work is a model of being a parent, a child, and sibling; a neighbor and a co-worker and a boss; a spouse and a friend – a fellow congregant. 

While in many Talmudic passages there is a truth to both sides, this is not one of those passages. Here Rabbi Hiyya is the hero, and Rabbi Hanina is his foil. The bottom line of this story is a call to fight our impulse to be like Rabbi Hanina (and our impulse to reward others for being like Rabbi Hanina!).  To stop lacing up our sneakers trying to outrun the other guy and instead work together so we can both succeed.  To be more like Rabbi Hiyya. The Talmud concludes the story sharing, “This is what Rabbi Yehuda ha-Nasi was referring to when he said, ‘Hiyya’s works are so great!’”. Someone asked Rabbi Yehuda ha-Nasi, ‘Even greater than yours?’ He answered, ‘yes’.” 

While each of us has our own unique items on our cheshbon nefesh – our souls report card – that we need to work on in the year to come.  We should remember that this is not like other report cards – we are not being graded on a curve.  As Rabbi Jason Ruben of Machon Hadar has said, “There is no such thing as reaching redemption alone. If we don’t all get there, none of us will… No one here can arrive at next year’s Rosh Hashana whole and blessed without a host of friends and family and colleagues and neighbors who are also there with us.” 

“You don’t have to unscrew another person’s light bulb in order to shine”. We can all shine. And together- we can light up the whole world. 

After paragraphs about how beautiful Rabbi Yoḥanan is (so beautiful merely looking at him will help women have more attractive offspring), we are given the story of how Yoḥanan and Reish Lakish meet, basically fall in love, and their tragic end.

The Gemara relates: One day, Rabbi Yoḥanan was bathing in the Jordan River. Reish Lakish saw him and jumped into the Jordan, pursuing him. At that time, Reish Lakish was the leader of a band of marauders. Rabbi Yoḥanan said to Reish Lakish: Your strength is fit for Torah study! Reish Lakish said to him: Your beauty is fit for women!

Okay, this encounter is everything. Does Reish Lakish think Yohanan is a woman? Is he physically trying to get intimate with him? We don’t know, what we do know is that Yohanan think Lakish is strong and Lakish thinks Yohanan is beautiufl.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said to him: If you return (teshuvah!) to the pursuit of Torah, I will give you my sister in marriage, who is more beautiful than I am. Reish Lakish accepted upon himself to study Torah. Subsequently, Reish Lakish wanted to jump back out of the river to bring back his clothes, but he was unable to return, as he had lost his physical strength as soon as he accepted the responsibility to study Torah upon himself. Rabbi Yoḥanan taught Reish Lakish Bible, and taught him Mishna, and turned him into a great man. Eventually, Reish Lakish became one of the outstanding Torah scholars of his generation.

Okay, so Lakish marry’s Yohanan’s sister and gives up his marauding life. Yohanan teaches him Torah and Lakish becomes one of the finest rabbinic minds of the time. Elsewhere in the Talmud, we have seen them argue with one another – but they are the best of friends and love one another dearly.

One day the Sages of the study hall were engaging in a dispute concerning the following baraita: With regard to the sword, the knife, the dagger [vehapigyon], the spear, a hand sickle, and a harvest sickle, from when are they susceptible to ritual impurity? The baraita answers: It is from the time of the completion of their manufacture, which is the halakha with regard to metal vessels in general. These Sages inquired: And when is the completion of their manufacture? Rabbi Yoḥanan says: It is from when one fires these items in the furnace. Reish Lakish said: It is from when one scours them in water, after they have been fired in the furnace.

So, they are debating when a weapon becomes susceptible to impurity. Yohanan gives his ruling but Lakish disagrees and wins the argument. But it doesn’t stop there. Now comes their worst, and last, fight.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said to Reish Lakish: A bandit knows about his banditry, i.e., you are an expert in weaponry because you were a bandit in your youth. Reish Lakish said to Rabbi Yoḥanan: What benefit did you provide me by bringing me close to Torah? There, among the bandits, they called me: Leader of the bandits, and here, too, they call me: Leader of the bandits. Rabbi Yoḥanan said to him: I provided benefit to you, as I brought you close to God, under the wings of the Divine Presence.

Huge fight! We are never supposed to bring up someone’s past once they have done teshuvah (repented), but Yohanan does.

As a result of the quarrel, Rabbi Yoḥanan was offended, and he stops studyign with his friend, which in turn affected Reish Lakish, who fell ill. Rabbi Yoḥanan’s sister, who was Reish Lakish’s wife, came crying to Rabbi Yoḥanan, begging that he pray for Reish Lakish’s recovery. She said to him: Do this for the sake of my children, so that they should have a father. Rabbi Yoḥanan said to her the verse: “Leave your fatherless children, I will rear them” (Jeremiah 49:11), i.e., I will take care of them. She said to him: Do so for the sake of my widowhood. He said to her the rest of the verse: “And let your widows trust in Me.”

He keeps quoting verses to support his pig-headedness instead of making up with his friend.

Ultimately, Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, Reish Lakish, died.

He was sick, and his friend did nothing. Lakish died when they still had not forgiven one another.

Rabbi Yoḥanan was sorely pained over losing him. The Rabbis said: Who will go to calm Rabbi Yoḥanan’s mind and comfort him over his loss? They said: Let Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat go, as his statements are sharp, i.e., he is clever and will be able to serve as a substitute for Reish Lakish. Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat went and sat before Rabbi Yoḥanan. With regard to every matter that Rabbi Yoḥanan would say, Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat would say to him: There is a ruling which is taught in a baraita that supports your opinion. Rabbi Yoḥanan said to him: Are you comparable to the son of Lakish? In my discussions with the son of Lakish, when I would state a matter, he would raise twenty-four difficulties against me in an attempt to disprove my claim, and I would answer him with twenty-four answers, and the halakha by itself would become broadened and clarified. And yet you say to me: There is a ruling which is taught in a baraitathat supports your opinion. Do I not know that what I say is good? Being rebutted by Reish Lakish served a purpose; your bringing proof to my statements does not.

The rabbis try to give him a new study partner to console him, but nothing calms his broken heart.

Rabbi Yoḥanan went around, rending his clothing, weeping and saying: Where are you, son of Lakish? Where are you, son of Lakish? Rabbi Yoḥanan screamed until his mind was taken from him, i.e., he went insane. The Rabbis prayed and requested for God to have mercy on him and take his soul, and Rabbi Yoḥanan died.

He dies of a broken heart.

The entire page is gems!! I don’t know what to pick. So, I will have multiple posts. This first is about a fat rabbi. “How fat is he?” Get ready to find out as we see fat-shaming, witty responses, and men bragging about their dick sizes!

With regard to these Sages, the Gemara adds: When Rabbi Yishmael, son of Rabbi Yosei, and Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, would meet each other, it was possible for a pair of oxen to enter and fit between them, under their bellies, without touching them, due to their excessive obesity.

They are so fat that their tummies make a bridge.

A certain Roman noblewoman [matronita] once said to them: Your children are not really your own, as due to your obesity it is impossible that you engaged in intercourse with your wives.

Wow! You can’t possibly have fathered your kids. Reaction 1:

They said to her: Theirs, i.e., our wives’ bellies, are larger than ours.

They don’t mind that we’re fat – they’re fatter than us!

She said to them: All the more so you could not have had intercourse.

She responds – the mechanics make it impossible!

There are those who say that this is what they said to her: “For as the man is, so is his strength” (Judges 8:21), i.e., our sexual organs are proportionate to our bellies.

Yep, you think my stomach is big? Imagine how big my other part is!

There are those who say that this is what they said to her: Love compresses the flesh.

We make it work.

The Gemara asks: And why did they respond to her audacious and foolish question? After all, it is written: “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him” (Proverbs 26:4).

Why did they honor her with a reply?

The Gemara answers: They answered her in order not to cast aspersions on the lineage of their children.

so our kids won’t be thought to be illegitimate.

And now to actually talking about dick sizes:

The Gemara continues discussing the bodies of these Sages: Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The organ of Rabbi Yishmael, son of Rabbi Yosei, was the size of a jug of nine kav. Rav Pappa said: The organ of Rabbi Yoḥanan was the size of a jug of five kav, and some say it was the size of a jug of three kav.

Oh daf.

Wow, what a daf! Sorry, the passage will be long – but it’s so good. It begins with Rabbi Shimon talking to an officer of the king. The officer seems to have a quota – he needs to arrest a certain number of people, but the rabbi challenges him that he might be arresting good people along with the bad.

The officer said to him: But what should I do? It is the king’s edict [harmana] that I must arrest thieves, and I am perform-ing my job to the best of my ability. Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, said to him: Come and I will instruct you how you should do it.

So now the rabbi is going to tell him how to recognize thieves.

At the fourth hour of the day enter the tavern. When you see someone drinking wine, holding his cup in his hand, and dozing, inquire about his background. If he is a Torah scholar and is dozing, assume that he rose early in the morning for his studies. If he is a daytime laborer, assume that he rose early and performed his work. And if his work is at night and no one heard him working, it is possible that this is because he draws copper wires, which is a form of labor that does not produce noise. And if he is none of these, he is a thief, and you should arrest him, as it can be assumed that he was awake the previous night because he was stealing, and that is why he is now dozing off.

Who are these day drinkers nodding off? This is where you can find the thieves.

This matter of the advice of Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, was heard in the king’s palace. The king’s ministers said: Let the reader of the letter be its messenger [parvanka], i.e., since Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, offered this advice, he should be the one to implement it.

So now he has the job of identifying thieves instead of the officer!

They brought Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, to the authorities who appointed him to this task, and he proceeded to arrest thieves. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥa sent Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, the following message: You are vinegar, son of wine, i.e., you are wicked in comparison to your father, the righteous Rabbi Shimon, just as vinegar is spoiled wine. Until when will you inform on the nation of our God to be sentenced to execution by a gentile king’s court?

So, he is forced to work for the king arresting thieves amongst the Jewish people and so he gets called out by Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥa for being a traitor and informant.

Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, sent a message back to him: I am merely eradicating thorns from the vineyard, i.e., I am removing the wicked from the Jewish people. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥa sent back to him: Let the Owner of the vineyard, i.e., God, come and eradicate His own thorns. It is not your place to do this.

Okay, already this is a gem!! It’s not up to us to weed out the thorns – that’s God’s job. But it gets even more interesting:

The Gemara relates: One day, a certain laundryman met Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, and called him vinegar, son of wine. Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, said: From the fact that this man acted so insolently by vilifying a Torah scholar, one can conclude that he is a wicked person. He told the authorities: Arrest that man. They arrested him and condemned him to death.

Wow! He calls out the rabbi so the rabbi has him arrested and condemned to death! Not very rabbinic . . .

After his mind settled, i.e., when his anger abated, Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, regretted his hasty decision. He went after the laundryman in order to ransom him and save him from execution, but he was unable to do so. He read the verse about him: “Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue, keeps his soul from troubles” (Proverbs 21:23). Ultimately, they hanged the laundryman. Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, stood beneath the gallows and wept.

Yep, his pride got this man killed. But it gets even more interesting!

Those who were present said to him: Our teacher, let it not be bad in your eyes that you caused his death, as this laundryman was a wholly wicked person; you should know that he and his son both engaged in intercourse with a betrothed young woman on Yom Kippur. Upon hearing this, Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, placed his hand upon his belly, over his innards, and said: Rejoice, my innards, rejoice! If your mere suspicions are so accurate, all the more so your certainties must be correct. I am assured about you, my innards, that worm and maggot will not affect you, which is a sign of a completely righteous person.

So, now he feels vindicated in sentencing this man to death! But he wants more proof that he is really fully righteous, to prove to himself and others that his “gut” on people is correct.

Nevertheless, his mind was not calmed. He decided to test himself. He arranged for people to give him a sedative to drink, and they brought him into a house of marble, where surgeries were performed, and cut open his belly. They removed baskets upon baskets of fat from it, placed them in the hot sun in the summer months of Tammuz and Av, and the fat did not putrefy. In this manner, Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, received proof that his decisions were correct and that he was a wholly righteous individual.

What?! He needs proof that his guts are good, so he has “baskets and baskets of fat” removed from his gut and puts them in the July/August sun to see if they putrify.

So, we learn that Rabbi Elazar ben Rabi Shimon was very fat, very judgmental, informed on our people to the authorities, had ancient liposuction, we also learn that he was righteous.

(That was all suppose to be very tongue and cheek.)

I love this passage on the daf. It reminds us that lending money is a true mitzvah. Without lending so much is out of reach for the vast majority of us. Buying a house, attending schools for higher education, having a car… so yes, it is a good and honorable thing to loan money! But, says the daf – not if you’re lending money because of what YOU will gain. If it’s just a way to exploit the poor- that’s no5 righteous.

As Rabbi Yitzḥak says: From where is it derived that a creditor acquires collateral given to him and is considered its owner as long as the item is in his possession? It is derived from a verse, as it is stated: “You shall return the pledge to him when the sun goes down that he may sleep in his garment, and bless you; and it shall be a righteousness for youbefore the Lord your God” (Exodus 24:13). Rabbi Yitzḥak infers: If the creditor does not acquire the collateral, then from where is the righteousness involved in returning it? In this case, the creditor would not be giving up anything of his own

We all feel stupid sometimes. Whether a student answering incorrectly in class or an adult putting our foot in our mouth – we have many moments in our lives where we feel dumb and are embarrassed. So, what happened when a rabbi makes a ruling that’s called into question?

The Gemara relates: There were certain ice plant dealers [ahaluyei], and every day one of them would have a turn to bake for the group. One day the others said to one of them: Go and bake for us. He said to them: Safeguard my cloak for me. Before he came back they were negligent with it and it was stolen. They came for judgment before Rav Pappa, and he deemed them liable to pay for the cloak. The Rabbis said to Rav Pappa: Why did you deem them liable to pay? This is akin to a case of negligence by a bailee while he is with the owners, as the owner of the cloak was baking for them at the time the cloak was stolen due to their negligence. Rav Pappa was embarrassed over his apparent mistake. Ultimately, it was discovered that at that time, when the cloak was stolen, the cloak owner was drinking beer and not baking. Since he was not doing work for them, this was not a case of safeguarding with the owner, and therefore Rav Pappa’s ruling was vindicated. The Gemara comments: This works out well according to the one who says that in a case of negligence by a bailee while he is with the owners he is exempt; due to that reason Rav Pappa was embarrassed. But according to the one who says that in a case of negligence he is liable even while he is with the owners, why was Rav Pappa embarrassed? Rather, this is what actually happened: That day was not his turn to bake, and they said to him: You go and bake for us, and he said to them: As payment for baking for you when it is not my turn, safeguard my cloak. In other words, they were paid bailees. 

Before he came back it was stolen. They came before Rav Pappa, who deemed them liable to pay. The Sages said to Rav Pappa: This is a case of safeguarding with the owners. Rav Pappa was embarrassed. Ultimately it was discovered that at that time the cloak owner was drinking beer and not baking, and therefore this was not a case of safeguarding with the owners.

Love this! Love how human Rav Pappa is and I also love that the later rabbis must make Rav Pappa correct – both in his ruling but also in his feelings of embarrassment.

My gem is that often we have no reason to be embarrassed- and yet we are.

Today’s daf reminds us not to exaggerate and it to talk trash.

In a case of one who sells a cow to another and says to him: You should know that this cow has defects, it is accustomed to goring, it is accustomed to biting, it is a kicker, it lies down habitually; but in reality it had only one defect and he inserted it among the list of defects that it did not have, this is a mistaken transaction, as the buyer saw that it did not have the other defects and therefore did not take seriously any of the defects the seller enumerated, including the one that the cow actually had. But if the seller stated: The animal has this defect, i.e., the defect that it in fact has, and other defects, without specifying what they were, this is not a mistaken transaction.

What a great passage. If we exaggerate (or lie while talking smack) and some aspect of what we’ve said is proven to be false – maybe people won’t believe anything we say.

It also reminds me of watching John Oliver… and watching his coverage of Israel. It was so wrong that I then stopped watching him all together – because if he got the situation so wrong, what else is he getting wrong? (I do miss the show.)