איך יוצאים ממנגנון שעתוק פערים

Rabbi Akiva says: Anyone who takes a perutah from charity when he does not need to will not die before he comes to need help from others. He would also say: One who wraps rags around his eyes and around his thighs, and says, Give to this blind man, to this boil-infected man! – in the end his words will come true. He would also say: One who casts bread to the ground, or throws money around in anger, will not die before he comes to need help from others. He would also say: One who tears his clothes in anger, or breaks dishes in anger, in the end he will worship idols. For that is the craftiness of the evil urge: today it says to him, Tear your clothes! and then tomorrow it says to him, Worship idols! He would also say: Someone who looks at his wife and wishes that she will die so that he can inherit [from] her, or that she will die so that he can marry her sister, or someone who looks at his brother and wishes that he will die so that he can marry his [brother’s] wife, in the end he will be buried during their lifetimes. About such a person Scripture says (Ecclesiastes 10:8), “One who digs a pit will fall into it; one who breaks through a fence will be bitten by a snake.” There is a story of a man (who ignored the words of Rabbi Akiva) and pulled off a woman’s head covering in public. She came before Rabbi Akiva and he obligated the man to give her 400 zuz. He replied: Rabbi, give me time. He gave him time. (Then what happened?) His friend said to him: I will give you some advice. Don’t give her even one perutah. Then [the friend] said: Go take an issar’s-worth¹An issar is the equivalent one twenty-fourth of a zuz. of oil, and smash the jar on the woman’s doorstep. What did the woman do? She went out of her house and uncovered her head in public and started collecting oil and rubbing it on her head with her hand. He had witnesses who saw her, so he came before Rabbi Akiva and said to him: I have to give this shameful woman 400 zuz? For an issar’s-worth of oil, she is willing to dishonor herself. She came out of her house and uncovered her hair in public and was collecting oil and rubbing it on her head with her hand! [Rabbi Akiva] said to him: What you’re saying is meaningless. For although one is not allowed to do harm to himself, one is nevertheless free from punishment. But if others do harm to him, they deserve punishment. So she, who harmed herself, is free from punishment. But you, who harmed her – go and give her 400 zuz. Rabbi Dostai son of Rabbi Yannai says: If you decided to plant in the first quarter, go back and plant in the second quarter, for perhaps hail will come down upon the world, and the earlier ones will be destroyed while the later ones will survive. For you do not know which will succeed, this one or that one, or if both will survive (and they both are equally good) (or if both are equally bad); as it says (Ecclesiastes 11:6), “Sow your seed in the morning, and do not hold back your hand in the evening.” If you decided to plant in the first and second quarters, go back and plant in the third quarter, for perhaps a disease will come to the world, and the earlier ones will become diseased while the later ones survive; (as it says [Ecclesiastes 11:6]), “For you do not know which will succeed, this one or that one, or if both are equally good,” as it says, “Sow your seed in the morning.” Rabbi Yishmael son of Rabbi Yosei says: (Study Torah in your old age.) If you studied Torah in your youth, do not say: I don’t have to study in my old age. Rather, study Torah, for you do not know which [period of study] will be most beneficial. If you studied Torah at a time of wealth, do not turn away from it at time of poverty. If you studied Torah at a time of satiation, do not turn away from it at a time of hunger. If you studied Torah at a time of leisure, do not turn away from it at a time of stress. For it is better for a person to have one thing during a crisis than a hundred in the midst of abundance (as it says, “For you do not know if they will both be equally good”), as it says, (Ecclesiastes 11:6), “Sow your seed in the morning, and do not hold back your hand in the evening.”
Rabbi Akiva says: If you studied Torah in your youth (study Torah in your old age), do not say: I don’t have to study in my old age; for you do not know which will be the most beneficial, if both will stay with you, or if both will be equally good, as it says, “Sow your seed in the morning.”
Rabbi Meir says: If you studied with one teacher, do not say: That’s enough for me. Rather, go to another sage and study Torah. But do not go to just anyone. Rather, go to someone who has been close to you from the start, as it says (Proverbs 5:15), “Drink water from your own cistern, that which flows from your own well.”
Every person has an obligation to apprentice with three Torah scholars, such as Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, and Rabbi Akiva, as it says (Proverbs 8:34), “Happy is the person who hears me come early to my doors every day, and waits outside my opening.” Do not read it as “doors,” but “a door and two doors” [a total of three], for you do not know if two of them will work for you, or if two of them will be equally good, as it says (Ecclesiastes 11:6), “Sow your seed in the morning.”
Rabbi Yehoshua says: Marry a woman in your youth, and marry a woman in your old age. Have children in your youth, and have children in your old age. Do not say: I will not marry a woman. Rather, marry a woman and have sons and daughters, and be fruitful and multiply greatly in the world. For you do not know if both of them will work out for you, or if both of them will be equally good, as it says (Ecclesiastes 11:6), “Sow your seed in the morning.” He would also say: If you give a perutah to a poor person in the morning, and then another poor person is standing before you in the evening, give to him as well. For you do not know if both of them will be sustained through you, or if both of them are equally good, as it says (Ecclesiastes 11:6), “Sow your seed in the morning.” There is a story of a certain saint who gave one [silver²Based on commentaries.] dinar to a poor person during a time of famine. His wife derided him. So he went and slept in the graveyard [on the eve of Rosh Hashanah] and heard two spirits [of dead girls] talking to one another. The first one said to the other: My friend, come and fly across the world with me and we will see what disasters are coming upon the world. The second one said: My friend, I cannot go, because I am trapped under a thicket of reeds. So you go, and tell me what you hear. She went and came back, and [her friend] said: My friend, did you hear anything behind the curtain about what disasters are coming upon the world? She said: I heard that hail will strike anyone who plants in the first quarter. [So the saint] went and planted in the second quarter. Hail struck everyone else, but did not strike him. The next year, he went and slept again in the graveyard, and he heard the two spirits talking to one another. The first one said to the other: Come, let us fly across the world and we will see what disasters are coming upon the world. The second one said: My friend, [didn’t I say to you] I cannot go, because I am trapped under a thicket of reeds. So you go, and tell me what you hear. She went and came back, and [her friend] said: My friend, did you hear anything behind the curtain about what disasters are coming upon the world? [She replied:] I heard that crop disease will strike anyone who plants in the second quarter. [So the saint] went and planted in the first quarter. Crop disease came upon the world. Everyone else’s crops became diseased, but his did not become diseased. He told [his wife] the whole story. One day, the saint’s wife got into an argument with the mother of [one of the dead] girls. [The saint’s wife] said to the mother: Come, I will show you your daughter, trapped under a thicket of reeds. The next year, [the saint] went and slept in the graveyard, and he heard the two spirits talking to one another. The first one said: My friend, come and fly across the world with me, and we will hear what they are saying behind the curtain. The second one replied to her: My friend, leave me be. For things that were spoken between us have been overheard by the living. There is a story of a certain saint who would regularly give charity. Once he went and sat on a boat, and a wind came along, and his boat sank into the sea. Rabbi Akiva saw it happen, and came before the court to testify that his wife was free to marry again. Before he had a chance to get up, that very man came in and stood before him. [Rabbi Akiva] said: Are you the one who sank in the sea? He replied: Yes. [Rabbi Akiva continued:] And who brought you up out of the sea? He replied: The charity I gave is what brought me up out of the sea. [Rabbi Akiva said:] How do you know that? He replied: When I went down into the depths of the abyss, I heard a voice coming from the roar of the waves, each one saying to the other, Come, let us crash together and raise this man up from the sea, for he gave charity all of his life. Immediately, Rabbi Akiva opened his mouth and said: Blessed is God, the God of Israel, who chose the words of the Torah and the words of the sages, for the words of the Torah and the words of the sages endure forever and ever! For it says (Ecclesiastes 11:1), “Send your bread forth upon the waters, for after many days, you will find it,” and it also says (Proverbs 10:2), “And charity saves from death.” There is a story of Benjamin the Righteous, who was in charge of the charity box. A woman came before him and said to him: Master, provide for me! He said to her: The fact is, there is nothing at all in the charity box. She said to him: Master, if you do not provide for me, I will surely die, along with my four children. So he provided for her from his own funds. After some time, Benjamin the Righteous became ill, and was in lying in bed in pain. The angels who serve God said before the Holy Blessed One” Master of the World! You said that anyone who sustains even one soul in Israel (Scripture regards them) as if they had sustained the whole world. And Benjamin the Righteous, who sustained a widow and her four children – all the more so! But there he lies in his bed in illness and pain. Immediately, they begged for mercy for him, they ripped up the scroll of his judgment, and they added twenty-two years to his life.