The Oven of Akhnai = BT Bava Metzia 59a-b

MISHNA

[=Mishnah Bava Metzia 4:10]:

Just as there is a prohibition against exploitation [ona’a] in buying and selling, so is there ona’a in statements, i.e., verbal mistreatment. One may not say to a seller: For how much are you selling this item, if he does not wish to purchase it. He thereby upsets the seller when the deal fails to materialize. If one is a penitent, another may not say to him: Remember your earlier deeds. If one is the child of converts, another may not say to him: Remember the deeds of your ancestors, as it is stated:

GEMARA:

The Sages taught:

The baraita explains:

The verse is speaking with regard to verbal mistreatment.

Do you say that it is speaking of verbal mistreatment, or perhaps it is speaking only with regard to monetary exploitation?

When it says:

Monetary exploitation is explicitly stated. How then do I realize the meaning of the verse:

It is with regard to verbal mistreatment.

...

Rabbi Yoḥanan says in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai:

Greater is the transgression of verbal mistreatment than monetary exploitation,

as with regard to this, verbal mistreatment, it is stated:

But with regard to that, monetary exploitation, it is not stated:

And Rabbi Elazar said:

This, verbal mistreatment, affects one’s body;

but that, monetary exploitation, affects one’s money.

Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani says:

This, monetary exploitation, is given to restitution; but that, verbal mistreatment, is not given to restitution.

A Tana taught a baraita before Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak:

Anyone who humiliates another in public, it is as though he were spilling blood.

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said to him:
You have spoken well, as we see that the red leaves his face and pallor comes in its place, which is tantamount to spilling his blood.

Abaye said to Rav Dimi:

In the West, i.e., Eretz Yisrael, with regard to what mitzva are they particularly vigilant?

Rav Dimi said to him:

They are vigilant in refraining from humiliating others, as Rabbi Ḥanina says: Everyone descends to Gehenna except for three.

...

...

And these are they:

One who engages in intercourse with a married woman;

and one who humiliates another in public;

and one who calls another a derogatory name.

...

Rabba bar bar Ḥana says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says:

It is preferable for a person to engage in intercourse with a woman whose married status is uncertain and not humiliate another in public.

...

...

It is more comfortable for a person to cast himself into a fiery furnace, than to humiliate another in public.

...

...

Rav says: A person must always be careful about mistreatment of his wife. Since her tear is easily elicited, punishment for her mistreatment is immediate.

Rabbi Elazar says: Since the day the Temple was destroyed the gates of prayer were locked.

...

Yet, despite the fact that the gates of prayer were locked the gates of tears were not locked.

...

Rav Ḥisda says: All the gates of Heaven are apt to be locked, except for the gates of verbal mistreatment.

...

Rabbi Elazar says: All transgressions are punished by a messenger of God, except for mistreatment [ona’a].

...

We learned in a mishna there

[=Mishnah Kelim 5:10]:

If one cut an oven into segments, and placed sand between each and every segment, Rabbi Eliezer deems it ritually pure.

And the Rabbis deem it ritually impure.

And this is known as the oven of Akhnai.

What is akhnai, a snake, in this context? Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said: It is the fact that the Rabbis surrounded it with their statements like this snake, and then declared it susceptible to impurity.

A Tana taught:

On that day, Rabbi Eliezer answered all answers in the world to support his opinion, but the Rabbis did not accept his explanations from him.

Rabbi Eliezer said to them:

If the halakha is in accordance with my opinion, this carob tree will prove it.

The carob tree was uprooted from its place one hundred cubits, and some say four hundred cubits.

The Rabbis said to him:

One does not cite halakhic proof from the carob tree.

Rabbi Eliezer then said to them:

If the halakha is in accordance with my opinion, the stream will prove it.

The water in the stream turned backward and began flowing in the opposite direction.

They said to him:

One does not cite halakhic proof from a stream.

Rabbi Eliezer then said to them:

If the halakha is in accordance with my opinion, the walls of the study hall will prove it.

The walls of the study hall leaned inward and began to fall.

Rabbi Yehoshua scolded the walls and said to them:

If Torah scholars are contending with each other in matters of halakha, what is the nature of your involvement?

The walls did not fall because of the deference due Rabbi Yehoshua, but they did not straighten because of the deference due Rabbi Eliezer, and they still remain leaning.

Rabbi Eliezer then said to them:

If the halakha is in accordance with my opinion, Heaven will prove it.

A Divine Voice emerged from Heaven and said:

Why are you differing with Rabbi Eliezer, as the halakha is in accordance with his opinion in every place?

Rabbi Yehoshua stood on his feet and said:

What is meant by:

Rabbi Yirmeya says:

Since the Torah was already given at Mount Sinai, we do not regard a Divine Voice, as You already wrote at Mount Sinai, in the Torah:

Since the majority of Rabbis disagreed with Rabbi Eliezer’s opinion, the halakha is not ruled in accordance with his opinion.

Rabbi Natan encountered Elijah the prophet and said to him:

What did the Holy One, Blessed be He, do at that time?

Elijah said to him:

The Holy One, Blessed be He, smiled and said:

My children have triumphed over Me;

My children have triumphed over Me.

They said:

On that day, the Sages brought all the ritually pure items deemed pure by the ruling of Rabbi Eliezer and burned them in fire, and the Sages reached a consensus in his regard and ostracized him.

And the Sages said:

Who will go and inform him?

Rabbi Akiva said to them:

I will go, lest an unseemly person go, and he would thereby destroy the entire world.

What did Rabbi Akiva do?

He wore black and wrapped himself in black, and sat before Rabbi Eliezer at a distance of four cubits, which is the distance that one must maintain from an ostracized individual.

Rabbi Eliezer said to him:

Akiva, what is different about today from other days?

Rabbi Akiva said to him:

My teacher, it appears to me that your colleagues are distancing themselves from you.

Rabbi Eliezer too, rent his garments and removed his shoes, and he dropped from his seat and sat upon the ground.

His eyes shed tears, the entire world was afflicted:

One-third of its olives were afflicted, and one-third of its wheat, and one-third of its barley.

And some say that even dough kneaded in a woman’s hands spoiled.

A Tana taught:

There was great anger on that day, as any place that Rabbi Eliezer fixed his gaze was burned.

And even Rabban Gamliel,

the Nasi of the Sanhedrin at Yavne, the head of the Sages who were responsible for the decision to ostracize Rabbi Eliezer,

was coming on a boat, and a large wave swelled over him and threatened to drown him.

Rabban Gamliel said:

It seems to me that this is only for the sake of Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus.

Rabban Gamliel stood on his feet and said:

Master of the Universe, it is revealed and known before You that neither was it for my honor that I acted, nor was it for the honor of the house of my father that I acted; rather, it was for Your honor, so that disputes will not proliferate in Israel.

The sea calmed from its raging.

Imma Shalom, the wife of Rabbi Eliezer, was the sister of Rabban Gamliel.

From that incident forward, she would not allow Rabbi Eliezer to lower his head and recite the taḥanun prayer,

which includes supplication and entreaties. She feared that were her husband to bemoan his fate and pray at that moment, her brother would be punished.

A certain day was the New Moon, and she inadvertently substituted a full thirty-day month for a deficient twenty-nine-day month,

i.e., she thought that it was the New Moon, when one does not lower his head in supplication, but it was not.

Some say that a pauper came and stood at the door, and she took bread out to him.

The result was that she left her husband momentarily unsupervised.

When she returned,

she found him and saw that he had lowered his head in prayer.

She said to him:

Arise, you already killed my brother.

Meanwhile, the sound of a shofar emerged from the house of Rabban Gamliel to announce that the Nasi had died.

Rabbi Eliezer said to her:

From where did you know that your brother would die?

She said to him:

This is the tradition that I received from the house of the father of my father:

All the gates of Heaven are locked, except for the gates of verbal mistreatment.