The Oral Talmud with Benay Lappe and Dan Libenson Episode 170

From now, in a place where there is a House of Study one should not read, at a place where there is no House of Study one should read. You only have what Rebbi Neḥemiah stated, as Rebbi Neḥemiah stated, why may one only read sacred writings after afternoon prayers? Because of persons’ documents. Because if you were telling him that it is permitted, then he would say, there is nothing wrong if I would occupy myself with my documents. Since you are telling him that it is forbidden, then he will say, since sacred writings are forbidden, so much more private documents. This implies that Mishnah has precedence over Bible. This supports what Rebbi Simeon ben Yoḥai stated, as Rebbi Simeon ben Yoḥai stated, he who studies the written Torah does himself good that is not so good; he who studies Mishnah is occupied in an endeavor which deserves reward; he who studies Talmud could not endeavor anything greater than this, always a person should pursue Mishnah more than Talmud. Rebbi Yose ben Rebbi Abun said, this was before Rebbi incorporated most of the Mishnah in the Talmud, but since Rebbi incorporated most of the Mishnah in the Talmud, a person should pursue Talmud more than Mishnah.

And thus is it written (Deuteronomy 29:9) "You are standing this day, all of you, before the Lord your God, your heads of your tribes, your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel." If not for (all of) these, who stood and fulfilled Torah in Israel, would Torah not have been forgotten in Israel? And if Shafan had not arisen in his time (viz. II Kings 22) and Ezra in his time and R. Akiva in his time, would Torah not have been forgotten in Israel? And it is written (Proverbs 15:23) "A word in its time — how good!" The word that this one (i.e., each one of those in his time) said is over and against all!

...[W]hen Torah was forgotten from Israel, Ezra ascended from Babylonia and established it. It was again forgotten, and Hillel the Babylonian ascended and established it. It was again forgotten, and Rabbi Ḥiyya and his sons ascended and established it.

...Rabbi Akiva stated a principle: Any prohibited labor required for the offering of the sacrifice that can be performed on the eve of Shabbat does not override Shabbat; slaughter, which cannot be performed on the eve of Shabbat, overrides Shabbat.

GEMARA: The Sages taught a baraita with regard to the basic halakha governing the eve of Passover that occurs on Shabbat: This law was forgotten by the sons of Beteira, who were the leaders of their generation. The fourteenth of Nisan once occurred on Shabbat, and they forgot and did not know whether the Paschal lamb overrides Shabbat or not.

They said: Is there any person who knows whether the Paschal lamb overrides Shabbat or not? They said to them: There is a certain man in Jerusalem who came up from Babylonia, and Hillel the Babylonian is his name. At one point, he served the two most eminent scholars of the generation, Shemaya and Avtalyon, and he certainly knows whether the Paschal lamb overrides Shabbat or not.

The sons of Beteira sent messengers and called for him. They said to him: Do you know whether the Paschal lamb overrides Shabbat or not? He said to them: Have we but one Paschal lamb during the year that overrides Shabbat? Do we not have many more than two hundred Paschal lambs, i.e., sacrifices, during the year that override Shabbat? They said to him: From where do you know this? He said to them: “Its appointed time” is stated with regard to the Paschal lamb and “its appointed time” is also stated with regard to the daily offering, for the verse says: “Command the children of Israel and say to them, My offering, the provision of My sacrifice made with fire, for a sweet savor to Me, shall you observe to offer Me at its appointed time” (Numbers 28:2). From here we learn that the daily offering is brought even on Shabbat. Thus, the daily morning and afternoon offerings are brought on more than fifty Shabbatot over the course of the year, and two sheep are offered every Shabbat as additional offerings, for a total of more than two hundred sacrifices a year that override Shabbat. Just as the expression “its appointed time,” which is stated with regard to the daily offering, indicates that it overrides Shabbat, so too “its appointed time,” which is stated with regard to the Paschal lamb, indicates that it overrides Shabbat. And furthermore, it is an a fortiori inference: If the daily offering, the neglect of which is not punishable by karet, overrides Shabbat, is it not right that the Paschal lamb, the neglect of which is punishable by karet, should override Shabbat?

After Hillel brought these proofs, they immediately seated him at the head and appointed him Nasi over them, and he expounded the laws of Passover that entire day. He began rebuking them with words. He said to them: What caused this to happen to you, that I should come up from Babylonia and become Nasi over you? It was the laziness in you that you did not serve the two most eminent scholars of the generation, Shemaya and Avtalyon.

They said to Hillel: Our teacher, if one forgot and did not bring a knife on the eve of Shabbat and cannot slaughter his Paschal lamb, what is the law? He said to them: I once heard this halakha but I have forgotten it. But leave it to the Jewish people; if they are not prophets, they are the sons of prophets.

The next day, on Shabbat that was the eve of Passover, one whose Paschal offering was a lamb took the knife and stuck it in its wool; and one whose Paschal offering was a goat, which does not have wool, stuck it between its horns. Hillel saw the incident and remembered the halakha that he had once learned and said: This is the tradition I received from the mouths of Shemaya and Avtalyon.

Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: When Moses ascended on High, he found the Blessed Holy One sitting and tying crowns on the letters. He said before Him: Master of the Universe, who is holding You back? He said to him: There is a man who is destined to be after several generations, and Akiva ben Yosef is his name; he is destined to derive from each and every thorn mounds upon mounds of halakhot. He said before Him: Master of the Universe, show him to me. He said to him: Return behind you. He went and sat at the end of the eighth row and did not understand what they were saying. He felt faint. When he arrived at one matter, his students said to him: My teacher, from where do you derive this? He said to them: It is a halakha to Moses from Sinai. His mind was put at ease. He returned and came before the Holy Blessed One, and said before Him: Master of the Universe, You have a man like this and You give the Torah through me?! He said to him: Be silent; this is what arose in My mind. Moses said before God: Master of the Universe, You have shown me his Torah, now show me his reward. He said to him: Return. He went back and saw that they were weighing his flesh in a butcher shop [bemakkulin]. He said before Him: Master of the Universe, this is Torah and this is its reward? He said to him: Be silent; this is what arose in My mind.

The sons of Beteira -- as the Master said -- seated him at the head and appointed him Nasi over them...

The sons of Beteira also saw that Hillel was greater than they...

Once Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi arrived at the place of Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon. He said to them: Does that righteous person have a son? They said to him: He has a son, and any prostitute who hires herself for two coins hires him for eight. He brought him back with him, ordained him as a rabbi, and gave him over to Rabbi Shimon ben Isi ben Lakonya, the brother of his mother, to complete him. Each day, he would say: I am going back to my town. He said to him: You have been made wise, and a golden cloak has been spread over you, and you are called Rabbi, and yet you say: I am going back to my town? He said to him: I vow that this thought is abandoned. When he matured, he came and sat in the academy of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi. Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi heard his voice and said: This voice is similar to the voice of Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon. They said to him: It is his son. Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi read the verse about him: “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that is wise wins souls” (Proverbs 11:30). “The fruit of the righteous,” this is referring to Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, who was the son of a righteous individual and became a great scholar in his own right. When the verse states: “And he that is wise wins souls,” this is Rabbi Shimon ben Isi ben Lakonya, who successfully helped Rabbi Yosei reach his potential.

When Rabbi Ḥanina and Rabbi Ḥiyya would debate, 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 analyses. Rabbi Ḥiyya said to Rabbi Ḥanina: Do you think you can debate with me, for what I do ensures that the Torah will not be forgotten by the Jewish people in the first place! What do I do? I go and sow flax seeds, and I weave nets with the flax, and I hunt deer and feed their meat to orphans. I create parchment from their hides, and I write the five books of the Torah on them. I go to a town and teach five children the five books, and I teach six children the six orders of the Mishna, and I say to them: Until I return and come back, teach each other the Torah and teach each other the Mishna. And that's what I do to ensure that the Torah will not be forgotten by the Jewish people.

(14) If, after you have entered the land that YHWH your God has assigned to you, and taken possession of it and settled in it, you decide, “I will set a king over me, as do all the nations about me,” (15) you shall be free to set a king over yourself, one chosen by YHWH your God. Be sure to set as king over yourself one of your own people; you must not set a foreigner over you, one who is not your kin. (16) Moreover, he shall not keep many horses or send people back to Egypt to add to his horses, since YHWH has warned you, “You must not go back that way again.” (17) And he shall not have many wives, lest his heart go astray; nor shall he amass silver and gold to excess. (18) And it shall be when he shall sit on the throne of his kingdom, he shall have a copy of this Teaching written for him on a scroll by the levitical priests. (19) Let it remain with him and let him read in it all his life, so that he may learn to revere YHWH his God, to observe faithfully every word of this Teaching as well as these laws. (20) Thus he will not act haughtily toward his fellows or deviate from the Instruction to the right or to the left, to the end that he and his descendants may reign long in the midst of Israel.

(1) (Devarim 17:18) "And it shall be when he shall sit on the throne of his kingdom": If he does all that is written in this regard, he is worthy of sitting on the throne of his kingdom.

(2) "that he shall write for himself the mishneh of this Torah": expressly for himself; he is not to "bedizen" himself with those of his ancestors. "

(3) mishneh": This tells me only of mishneh Torah ("the repetition of the Torah," i.e., the book of Devarim). Whence do I derive (that the mitzvah applies also) to the rest of the Torah? From (Ibid. 19) "to heed all the words of this Torah." If so, why is it written "the mishneh of this Torah"? Because it (i.e., the script) is destined to change (viz. Ezra 4:7 and Daniel 5:8).

(4) Others say: On the day of Hakhel (viz. Ibid. 21:12) only mishneh Torah (Devarim) is to be read (and it is to this Hakhel reading that our verse is alluding.)

(5) "on a scroll": and not on a tablet and not on paper, but only on a megillah (a scroll).

(6) "before the Cohanim, the Levites": from the scroll in the azarah (the Temple court).

The Sages taught: If one said to a woman: Be betrothed to me on the condition that I am literate, once he has read three verses in the synagogue, she is betrothed. Rabbi Yehuda says only when he reads and translates. Translates based on his own understanding? But isn’t it taught in a baraita (Tosefta, Megilla 3:21) that Rabbi Yehuda says: One who translates a verse literally is a liar, and one who adds is one who curses and blasphemes? Rather, to which translation is Rabbi Yehuda referring? Our translation. And this statement applies only if he said to her: I am literate. But if he said to her: I am a reader, she is not betrothed unless he reads the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings with precision.

If one said to a woman: Be betrothed to me on the condition that I study [shoneh], Ḥizkiyya says: halakhot, and Rabbi Yoḥanan says: Torah. The Gemara raises an objection to Rabbi Yoḥanan from a baraita: Which is Mishna? Rabbi Meir says: halakhot, Rabbi Yehuda says: midrash.

What is Torah? It is midrash on Torah. And this statement applies only if he said to her: I study [taneina]. But if he says to her: I am a tanna [tanna ana], she is not betrothed unless he studies halakha, Sifra and Sifrei, and Tosefta.

If a man says to a woman: Be betrothed to me on the condition that I am a student, one does not say like Shimon ben Azzai or like Shimon ben Zoma. Rather, anyone who is asked one matter in any topic of his studies, and he can say it -- and even in the tractate of Kalla. If a man says to a woman: Be betrothed to me on the condition that I am a scholar, one does not say like the scholars of Yavneh, like Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues. Rather, anyone who is asked about a matter of wisdom on any topic, and can say it.

(19) There are [scriptural passages] that are [publicly] read and translated [orally into Aramaic during the public reading], [others] that are read but are not translated, [and others] that are neither read nor translated.

The account of creation (Gen. 1), we read and translate. The account of Lot and his two daughters (Gen. 19) is read and translated. The account of Judah and Tamar (Gen. 38) is read and translated. The *first account of the [Golden] Calf is read and translated. [Note: The "first" account refers to the Torah's initial narrative of the sin of the Golden Calf, Ex. 31:1-20 (see Meg. 4:10).] The curses that are in the Torah are read and translated, but we may not permit one [reader] to start and another [reader] to finish, rather the one who starts is the one who finishes. The warnings and punishments that are in the Torah are read and translated. The account of Amnon and and Tamar (2 Sam. 13) is read and translated. The account of Absalom and his father's concubines (2 Sam. 15:16, 16:22) is read and translated. The account of the concubine of Gibeah (Judges 19-21) is read and translated. [The passage commencing with] "Proclaim to Jerusalem [her abominations (to'avoteha)]" (Ezek. 16:2) is read and translated.

And it so happened that someone was reading before Rabbi Eliezer "Proclaim to Jerusalem [etc.]" and he translated it. [Rabbi Eliezer] said to him, "Go and proclaim the abominations (to'avoteha) of your mother!"

The Divine Chariot (Ezek. 1), we read it to the masses.

The incident of Reuben [and Bilhah] is read but not translated. And it so happened with Rabbi Chananiah ben Gamaliel that he was reading in Akko, "And Reuben went and he lay with Bilhah, etc., and the sons of Jacob were twelve" (Gen. 35:22*), and he told the translator, do not translate this except for the end. The second account of the [Golden] Calf, from "And Moses said to Aaron, What did this people do to you?" until "And Moses saw that the people had become unrestrained" (Ex. 32:21-25), and also what is written after, "And God plagued the people, etc." (Ex. 32:35), from this said Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar, a person should not recount a disgraceful event, is it was due to Aaron's recounting to Moses that the apostates rebelled (i.e., Aaron's statement, "I threw [the gold] into the fire, and this calf emerged," appeared to acknowledge that the calf possessed divine power.

The account of David and Bathsheba is neither read nor translated. But the [Bible] teacher teaches [these passages] in his usual way.

(20) All the verses in the Torah which are written in obscene language are read in refined language, such as (Deut. 28:30), [which is written,] "You will betroth a woman, but another man will yishgalenah ('ravish her)," in every place where it is written yishgalenah, we read it as yishkavenah ("lie with her"); and such as (Deut. 28:27), [which is written,] "[God will strike you] with the boils of Egypt and with afolim ('hemmerhoids')," in every place where it is written afolim, we read it as tehorim ("tumors"); and such as (2 Kings 6:25-26), "a quarter of a kav of doves' divyonim ('excrement', considered softer than chiryonim, 'dung', as written) sold for five shekels," [and] (Is. 36:12), "to eat tzo'atam ('their own excrement', considered softer than chareichem, 'their own dung', as written) and drink their urine," [and] (2 Kings 10:27), "and they turned it (i.e., the temple of Ba'al) into motzaot ('latrines,' considered softer than chara'ot, 'outhouses', as written) until today." Rabbi Yehoshua ben Karcha says, [with respect to the last example,] "and they turned it into chara'ot," we read it as it is written because the thing itself (i.e., the temple of Ba'al) is obscene.

(21) [If] a passage is written in the singular, we *may change it to the plural. [If] in the plural, we do not change it to the singular.

Rabbi Yehuda says, one who translates a verse literally, behold, he is a liar, and one who adds [to what is written], behold, he is blasphemer. The interpreter who stands in front of a Sage [and transmits his teachings] is not permitted either to shorten or lengthen or change [what the Sage said], unless he is his father or his teacher.