Emaciated Flesh and Bubbling Blood in the Ruins of Jerusalem

(ה) הָאֹֽכְלִים֙ לְמַ֣עֲדַנִּ֔ים נָשַׁ֖מּוּ בַּחוּצ֑וֹת הָאֱמֻנִים֙ עֲלֵ֣י תוֹלָ֔ע חִבְּק֖וּ אַשְׁפַּתּֽוֹת׃ (ס) (ו) וַיִּגְדַּל֙ עֲוֺ֣ן בַּת־עַמִּ֔י מֵֽחַטַּ֖את סְדֹ֑ם הַֽהֲפוּכָ֣ה כְמוֹ־רָ֔גַע וְלֹא־חָ֥לוּ בָ֖הּ יָדָֽיִם׃ (ס) (ז) זַכּ֤וּ נְזִירֶ֙יהָ֙ מִשֶּׁ֔לֶג צַח֖וּ מֵחָלָ֑ב אָ֤דְמוּ עֶ֙צֶם֙ מִפְּנִינִ֔ים סַפִּ֖יר גִּזְרָתָֽם׃ (ס) (ח) חָשַׁ֤ךְ מִשְּׁחוֹר֙ תָּֽאֳרָ֔ם לֹ֥א נִכְּר֖וּ בַּחוּצ֑וֹת צָפַ֤ד עוֹרָם֙ עַל־עַצְמָ֔ם יָבֵ֖שׁ הָיָ֥ה כָעֵֽץ׃ (ס) (ט) טוֹבִ֤ים הָיוּ֙ חַלְלֵי־חֶ֔רֶב מֵֽחַלְלֵ֖י רָעָ֑ב שֶׁ֣הֵ֤ם יָז֙וּבוּ֙ מְדֻקָּרִ֔ים מִתְּנוּבֹ֖ת שָׂדָֽי׃ (ס)

Lamentations 4:5-9

Those who feasted on delicacies
perish in the streets;
those who were brought up in purple
cling to ash heaps.

⁶For the chastisement^[a] of my people has been greater
than the punishment^[b] of Sodom,
which was overthrown in a moment,
though no hand was laid on it.^[c]

⁷Her princes were purer than snow,
whiter than milk;
their bodies were more ruddy than coral,
their hair^[d] like sapphire.^[e]

⁸Now their visage is blacker than soot;
they are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones;
it has become as dry as wood.

⁹Happier were those pierced by the sword
than those pierced by hunger,
whose life drains away, deprived
of the produce of the field. (NRSV translation)

גיטין נ״ו א:י״א-י״ד

מרתא בת בייתוס עתירתא דירושלים הויא שדרתה לשלוחה ואמרה ליה זיל אייתי לי סמידא אדאזל איזדבן אתא אמר לה סמידא ליכא חיורתא איכא אמרה ליה זיל אייתי לי אדאזל איזדבן אתא ואמר לה חיורתא ליכא גושקרא איכא א"ל זיל אייתי לי אדאזל אזדבן אתא ואמר לה גושקרא ליכא קימחא דשערי איכא אמרה ליה זיל אייתי לי אדאזל איזדבן הוה שליפא מסאנא אמרה איפוק ואחזי אי משכחנא מידי למיכל איתיב לה פרתא בכרעא ומתה קרי עלה רבן יוחנן בן זכאי (דברים כח, נו) הרכה בך והענוגה אשר לא נסתה כף רגלה איכא דאמרי גרוגרות דר' צדוק אכלה ואיתניסא ומתה דר' צדוק יתיב ארבעין שנין בתעניתא דלא ליחרב ירושלים כי הוה אכיל מידי הוה מיתחזי מאבראי וכי הוה בריא מייתי ליה גרוגרות מייץ מייהו ושדי להו כי הוה קא ניחא נפשה אפיקתה לכל דהבא וכספא שדיתיה בשוקא אמרה האי למאי מיבעי לי והיינו דכתיב (יחזקאל ז, יט) כספם בחוצות ישליכו

Gittin 56a:11-14

With regard to this famine it is related that Marta bat Baitos was one of the wealthy women of Jerusalem. She sent out her agent and said to him: Go bring me fine flour [semida]. By the time he went, the fine flour was already sold. He came and said to her: There is no fine flour, but there is ordinary flour. She said to him: Go then and bring me ordinary flour. By the time he went, the ordinary flour was also sold. He came and said to her: There is no ordinary flour, but there is coarse flour [gushkera]. She said to him: Go then and bring me coarse flour. By the time he went, the coarse flour was already sold. He came and said to her: There is no coarse flour, but there is barley flour. She said to him: Go then and bring me barley flour. But once again, by the time he went, the barley flour was also sold. She had just removed her shoes, but she said: I will go out myself and see if I can find something to eat. She stepped on some dung, which stuck to her foot, and, overcome by disgust, she died. Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai read concerning her a verse found in the section of the Torah listing the curses that will befall Israel: “The tender and delicate woman among you who would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground” (Deuteronomy 28:56). There are those who say that she did not step on dung, but rather she ate a fig of Rabbi Tzadok, and became disgusted and died. What are these figs? Rabbi Tzadok observed fasts for forty years, praying that Jerusalem would not be destroyed. He became so emaciated from fasting that when he would eat something it was visible from the outside of his body. And when he would eat after a fast they would bring him figs and he would suck out their liquid and cast the rest away. It was one such fig that Marta bat Baitos found and that caused her death. It is further related that as she was dying, she took out all of her gold and silver and threw it in the marketplace. She said: Why do I need this? And this is as it is written: “They shall cast their silver in the streets and their gold shall be as an impure thing; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord; they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels” (Ezekiel 7:19).

גיטין נ״ו ב:ה׳-ז׳

אמר ליה מיזל אזילנא ואינש אחרינא משדרנא אלא בעי מינאי מידי דאתן לך אמר ליה תן לי יבנה וחכמיה ושושילתא דרבן גמליאל ואסוותא דמסיין ליה לרבי צדוק קרי עליה רב יוסף ואיתימא רבי עקיבא (ישעיהו מד, כה) משיב חכמים אחור ודעתם יסכל איבעי למימר ליה לשבקינהו הדא זימנא והוא סבר דלמא כולי האי לא עביד והצלה פורתא נמי לא הוי אסוותא דמסיין ליה לרבי צדוק מאי היא יומא קמא אשקיוה מיא דפארי למחר מיא דסיפוקא למחר מיא דקימחא עד דרווח מיעיה פורתא פורתא

Gittin 56b:5-7

Vespasian then said to Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai: I will be going to Rome to accept my new position, and I will send someone else in my place to continue besieging the city and waging war against it. But before I leave, ask something of me that I can give you. Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai said to him: Give me Yavne and its Sages and do not destroy it, and spare the dynasty of Rabban Gamliel and do not kill them as if they were rebels, and lastly give me doctors to heal Rabbi Tzadok. Rav Yosef read the following verse about him, and some say that it was Rabbi Akiva who applied the verse to Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai: “I am the Lord…Who turns wise men backward and makes their knowledge foolish” (Isaiah 44:25), as he should have said to him to leave the Jews alone this time. And why didn’t Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai make this request? He maintained that Vespasian might not do that much for him, and there would not be even a small amount of salvation. Therefore, he made only a modest request, in the hope that he would receive at least that much. The Gemara asks: What was he requesting when he asked for doctors to heal Rabbi Tzadok? How did they heal him? The first day they gave him water to drink that contained bran [parei]. The next day they gave him water containing flour mixed with bran [sipuka]. The following day they gave him water containing flour. In this way they slowly restored his ability to eat, allowing his stomach to broaden little by little.

איכה רבה א׳:ל״א

אֲמַר לֵיהּ אַסְפַּסְיָאנוּס לְרַבָּן יוֹחָנָן בֶּן זַכַּאי שְׁאַל לִי שְׁאֵלָה וַאֲנָא עָבֵיד, אֲמַר לֵיהּ אֲנָא בָּעֵי דְּתִירְפֵּי הֲדָא מְדִינְתָּא וְתֵיזֵיל לָךְ. אֲמַר לֵיהּ כְּלוּם אַמְלִיכוּנִי בְּנֵי רוֹמִי דְּנִרְפֵּי לַהֲדָא מְדִינְתָּא. שְׁאַל לִי שְׁאֵלְתָּא וַאֲנָא עָבֵיד. אֲמַר לוֹ בָּעֵי אֲנָא דְּתִרְפֵּי לְפִילֵי מַעַרְבָאָה דְּהִיא אָזְלָא לְלוּד, דְּכָל בַּר דְּנָפֵיק עַד אַרְבָּעָה שָׁעִין יְהֵא לְשֵׁיזָבָא. מִן דִּכְבָשַׁהּ אֲמַר לוֹ אִי אִית לָךְ דִּרְחֵים לָךְ, אוֹ בַּר נָשׁ דְּאַתְּ קָרֵיב לֵיהּ, שְׁלַח וְאַיְתֵיהּ עַד דְּלָא יֵיעֲלוּן אֻכְלוּסַיָא. שָׁלַח לְרַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר וּלְרַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ לַאֲפוּקֵי לְרַבִּי צָדוֹק, אָזְלִין וְאַשְׁכְּחוּנֵיהּ בְּבָבָא דִּמְדִינָה, מִן דַּאֲתָא קָם מִן קוֹמוֹי רַבָּן יוֹחָנָן, אֲמַר לֵיהּ אַסְפַּסְיָאנוּס מִן קֳדָם הָדֵין סָבָא צוּתְרָא אַתְּ קָאֵים. אֲמַר לָךְ חַיֶּיךָ אִי הֲוָה חַד דִּכְוָותֵיהּ וַהֲוָה עִמָּךְ אֻכְלוּסִין בְּכִיפְלָא לָא הֲוֵית יָכֵיל כָּבֵישׁ. אֲמַר לוֹ מָה חַיְילֵיהּ, אֲמַר לֵיהּ דְּאָכֵיל חַד גַּמְזוּז וּפָשֵׁיט עֲלוֹהִי מְאָה פִּרְקִין. אֲמַר לֵיהּ לְמָה חֲשִׁיךְ כֵּן, אֲמַר לֵיהּ מִן חֵילֵיהוֹן דְּצוֹמַיָּיא וְתַעֲנִיתַיָּא. שְׁלַח וְאַיְיתֵי אַסְוָותָא וַהֲווֹ מוֹכְלִין לֵיהּ צִיבְחַר צִיבְחַר, וּמַשְׁקִין לֵיהּ צִיבְחַר צִיבְחַר, עַד דַּהֲדַר גּוּפֵיהּ עֲלוֹי. אֲמַר לֵיהּ אֶלְעָזָר בְּרֵיהּ, אַבָּא הַב לְהוֹ אַגְרַיְיהוּ בְּעָלְמָא הָדֵין, דְּלָא תֶיהֱוֵי לְהוֹ זְכוּתָא עִמָּךְ בְּעָלְמָא דַּאֲתֵי, וִיהַב לְהוֹ הָדֵין חוּשְׁבְּנָא דְּאֶצְבַּע, וְהָדֵין קַרְצְטָיוֹנָא.

Eikhah Rabbah 1:31

Vespasian said to Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai: Ask me a question and I will do it. He said to him: I want you to heal this city and go away. He said to him: Did the Romans crown me for me to heal this city?! Ask me a question and I will do it. ...When he conquered it he said to him: If you have someone dear to you, or someone you are close to, send and bring him...He sent to Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua to bring Rabbi Zadok. They went and found him at the gate of the city. When he came Rabban Yohanan stood before him. Vespasian said to him: You stand up before this shrivelled old man?! He said to him: Upon your life--if there had been one more like him and you had double the troops you would not have been able to conquer. He said to him: What is his strength? He said to him: He eats one fig and expounds upon it 100 chapters. He said to him: Why is he thus darkened? He said to him: From the power of the fasts and afflictions. Vespasian send and brought doctors and they fed him little by little, until his body returned upon him. Elazar his son said to him: Father! Give them their reward in this world, so that they will not have merit with you in the world to come. He gave them counting by fingers and the Roman balance scale ...

איכה רבה ד׳:י״א

(יא) ... לֹא נִכְּרוּ בַּחוּצוֹת, אָמַר רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר בְּרַבִּי צָדוֹק אֶרְאֶה בְּנֶחָמָה אַף עַל פִּי כֵן שֶׁהָיָה אַבָּא כָּל אוֹתָן הַשָּׁנִים אַחַר חֻרְבָּן לֹא חָזַר גּוּפוֹ עָלָיו כְּמוֹת שֶׁהָיָה, לְקַיֵּם מַה שֶּׁנֶּאֱמַר: צָפַד עוֹרָם עַל עַצְמָם יָבֵשׁ הָיָה כָעֵץ. [ספרים אחרים: לא נכרו בחוצות, אמר רבי אליעזר בר צדוק מעשה בעני אחד שבא ועמד על פתח בית אבא, אמר לי אבא צא וראה שמא מבני ירושלים הוא, הלכתי ומצאתי אותה אשה שנשל שערה, ולא היה אדם יודע אם זכר אם נקבה היא, ולא היתה תובעת אלא דבלה, לקים מה שנאמר: לא נכרו בחוצות צפד עורם על עצמם).

Eikhah Rabbah 4:11

They are unrecognizable in the streets...(Lam. 4:8). Rabbi Eliezer son of Rabbi Zadok said: May I see the consolation--for though my father lived on all those years after the destruction, his body never returned to the way it was, to fulfill that which was written: ...their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become dry as wood.

Another version: They are unrecognizable in the streets... (Lam. 4:8) Rabbi Eliezer bar Zadok said: There was a poor person who came and stood at the door of my father's house. My father said to me: "Go and see! Perhaps he is one the people Jerusalem." I went and I found that she was a woman. Her hair had fallen out and there was no person who knew whether she was woman or man and she asked for nothing but a single dried fig to fulfill that which was written: their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become dry as wood. (Lam. 4:8) (translation by Julia Watts Belser, Rabbinic Tales of Destruction)

במדבר ל״ה:ל״ג-ל״ד

(לג) וְלֹֽא־תַחֲנִ֣יפוּ אֶת־הָאָ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֤ר אַתֶּם֙ בָּ֔הּ כִּ֣י הַדָּ֔ם ה֥וּא יַחֲנִ֖יף אֶת־הָאָ֑רֶץ וְלָאָ֣רֶץ לֹֽא־יְכֻפַּ֗ר לַדָּם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר שֻׁפַּךְ־בָּ֔הּ כִּי־אִ֖ם בְּדַ֥ם שֹׁפְכֽוֹ׃ (לד) וְלֹ֧א תְטַמֵּ֣א אֶת־הָאָ֗רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֤ר אַתֶּם֙ יֹשְׁבִ֣ים בָּ֔הּ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֲנִ֖י שֹׁכֵ֣ן בְּתוֹכָ֑הּ כִּ֚י אֲנִ֣י ה' שֹׁכֵ֕ן בְּת֖וֹךְ בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ (פ)

Numbers 35:33-34

(33) You shall not pollute the land in which you live; for blood pollutes the land, and the land can have no expiation for blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. (34) You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I Myself abide, for I the LORD abide among the Israelite people.

גיטין נ״ז א:כ״ב-כ״ג

(איכה ב, ג) גדע בחרי אף כל קרן ישראל א"ר זירא א"ר אבהו א"ר יוחנן אלו שמונים [אלף] קרני מלחמה שנכנסו לכרך ביתר בשעה שלכדוה והרגו בה אנשים ונשים וטף עד שהלך דמן ונפל לים הגדול שמא תאמר קרובה היתה רחוקה היתה מיל תניא רבי אליעזר הגדול אומר שני נחלים יש בבקעת ידים אחד מושך אילך ואחד מושך אילך ושיערו חכמים שני חלקים מים ואחד דם במתניתא תנא שבע שנים בצרו עובדי כוכבים את כרמיהן מדמן של ישראל בלא זבל

Gittin 57a:22-23

It was in connection with the war that ensued that the Sages expounded the following verse: “He has cut off in His fierce anger all the horn of Israel” (Lamentations 2:3). Rabbi Zeira says that Rabbi Abbahu says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: These are the eighty thousand officers bearing battle trumpets in their hands, who entered the city of Beitar when the enemy took it and killed men, women, and children until their blood flowed into the Great Sea. Lest you say that the city was close to the sea, know that it was a mil away. It is similarly taught in a baraita that Rabbi Eliezer the Great says: There are two rivers in the Yadayim Valley in that region, one flowing one way and one flowing the other way. And the Sages estimated that in the aftermath of this war these rivers were filled with two parts water to one part blood. Likewise, it was taught in a baraita: For seven years the gentiles harvested their vineyards that had been soaked with the blood of Israel without requiring any additional fertilizer.

גיטין נ״ז ב:א׳-ה׳

אמר רבי חייא בר אבין אמר רבי יהושע בן קרחה סח לי זקן אחד מאנשי ירושלים בבקעה זו הרג נבוזראדן רב טבחים מאתים ואחת עשרה רבוא ובירושלים הרג תשעים וארבע רבוא על אבן אחת עד שהלך דמן ונגע בדמו של זכריה לקיים מה שנאמר (הושע ד, ב) ודמים בדמים נגעו אשכחיה לדמיה דזכריה דהוה קא מרתח וסליק אמר מאי האי אמרו ליה דם זבחים דאשתפוך אייתי דמי ולא אידמו אמר להו אי אמריתו לי מוטב ואי לאו מסריקנא לבשרייכו במסרקי דפרזלי אמרי ליה מאי נימא לך נבייא הוה בן דהוה קא מוכח לן במילי דשמיא קמינן עילויה וקטלינן ליה והא כמה שנין דלא קא נייח דמיה אמר להו אנא מפייסנא ליה אייתי סנהדרי גדולה וסנהדרי קטנה קטל עילויה ולא נח בחורים ובתולות קטל עילויה ולא נח אייתי תינוקות של בית רבן קטל עילויה ולא נח א"ל זכריה זכריה טובים שבהן איבדתים ניחא לך דאבדינהו לכולהו כדאמר ליה הכי נח בההיא שעתא הרהר תשובה בדעתיה אמר ומה אם על נפש אחת כך ההוא גברא דקטל כל הני נשמתא על אחת כמה וכמה ערק אזל שדר שטר פרטתא בביתיה ואגייר

Gittin 57b:1-5

§ With regard to the Babylonian exile following the destruction of the First Temple, Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Avin says that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥa says: An old man from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem related to me: In this valley that lies before you, Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, killed 2,110,000 people. And in Jerusalem itself he killed 940,000 people on one stone, until the blood of his victims flowed and touched the blood of Zechariah to fulfill what is stated: “And blood touches blood” (Hosea 4:2). The Gemara clarifies the details of what happened: Nebuzaradan found the blood of Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest, and saw that it was bubbling up from the ground, and he said: What is this? Those in the Temple said to him: It is sacrificial blood that had been poured there. He brought animal blood, compared it to the blood bubbling up from the ground, and saw that it was not similar to it. Nebuzaradan said to them: If you tell me whose blood this is, it will be well for you. But if not, I will comb your flesh with iron combs. They said to him: What shall we say to you? He was a prophet among us, who used to rebuke us about heavenly matters, and we rose up against him, and killed him (II Chronicles 24:20–22), and for many years now his blood has not settled. Nebuzaradan said to them: I will appease Zechariah. He brought the members of the Great Sanhedrin and of a lesser Sanhedrin and killed them alongside the bubbling blood, but it still did not settle. He then brought young men and virgins and killed them alongside it, but it still did not settle. He then brought schoolchildren and killed them alongside it, but it still did not settle. Finally Nebuzaradan said to him: Zechariah, Zechariah, I have killed the best of them. Would it please you if I destroyed them all? When he said this, the blood at last settled. At that moment Nebuzaradan contemplated the idea of repentance and said to himself: If, for the death of one soul, that of Zechariah, God punishes the Jewish people in this manner, then that man, that is to say, I, who has killed all of those souls, all the more so will be I be subject to great punishment from God. He fled, sent to his house a document detailing what was to be done with his property, and converted to Judaism.

גיטין נ״ז ב:כ״ב

רב נחמן בר יצחק אמר אלו תלמידי חכמים שממיתין עצמן על דברי תורה כדר' שמעון בן לקיש דאמר ר"ש בן לקיש אין דברי תורה מתקיימין אלא במי שממית עצמו עליהם שנאמר (במדבר יט, יד) זאת התורה אדם כי ימות באהל וגו' אמר רבה בר בר חנה א"ר יוחנן ארבעים סאה

Gittin 57b:22

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak says: These people in the verse are Torah scholars who kill themselves over the words of Torah, in accordance with the statement of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish. As Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish says: The words of the Torah endure only for one who kills himself over them, as it is stated: “This is the Torah, when a man dies in a tent” (Numbers 19:14). Rabba bar bar Ḥana says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: Forty se’a

גיטין נ״ח א:א׳-ג׳

קצוצי תפילין נמצאו בראשי הרוגי ביתר רבי ינאי ברבי ישמעאל אמר שלש קופות של ארבעים ארבעים סאה במתניתא תנא ארבעים קופות של שלש שלש סאין ולא פליגי הא דרישא הא דדרעא אמר רבי אסי ארבעה קבין מוח נמצאו על אבן אחת עולא אמר תשעת קבין אמר רב כהנא ואיתימא שילא בר מרי מאי קראה (תהלים קלז, ח) בת בבל השדודה אשרי שישלם לך וגו' אשרי שיאחז ונפץ את עולליך אל הסלע:

Gittin 58a:1-3

of phylactery boxes were found on the heads of those killed in Beitar. Rabbi Yannai, son of Rabbi Yishmael, says: There were found three large baskets each holding forty se’a of phylactery boxes. And it was taught in a baraita: There were forty large baskets each holding three se’a. The Gemara notes: And these Sages do not disagree: This Sage is referring to phylacteries of the head, whereas this Sage is referring to phylacteries of the arm, for owing to the different manners in which they are fashioned, they are also different in size. Rabbi Asi says: Four kav of brains from children whose skulls were smashed were found on one stone. Ulla says: Nine kav. Rav Kahana said, and some say that it was Sheila bar Mari who said: What is the verse from which it is derived? “O daughter of Babylon, marked for devastation; happy is he who shall repay you your recompense for what you have done to us. Happy is he who shall seize and dash your little ones against the rock” (Psalms 137:8–9).