Shavuot session II ~ The Power of Aggadah

MISHNA: One who sells a ship has sold along with it the toren, and the nes, and the ogin, and all of the equipment that is used for directing it. But he has not sold the slaves who serve as oarsmen, nor the packing bags that are used for transporting goods, nor the antikei on the ship. And when one said to the buyer: You are purchasing it, the ship, and all that it contains, all of these latter elements are also sold. GEMARA: The toren is the mast [iskarya]. And in this regard it states: “They have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts [toren] for you” (Ezekiel 27:5). The nes is the sail, and in this regard it states: “Of fine linen with richly woven work from Egypt was your sail, that it might be to you for an ensign [nes]” (Ezekiel 27:7). With regard to the meaning of ogin, Rabbi Ḥiyya teaches: These are the ship’s anchors, and so it states: “Would you tarry for them until they were grown? Would you shut yourselves off for them [te’agena] and have no husbands?” (Ruth 1:13). This demonstrates that the root ayin, gimmel, nun, means being shut up and held firmly in one place. The mishna teaches that the buyer acquires all the equipment used for directing the ship. Rabbi Abba says: These are the ship’s oars. And this is as it states: “Of the oaks of Bashan they have made your oars” (Ezekiel 27:6). Since a verse discussing ships focuses on its oars, evidently the oars are an integral part of the ship. And if you wish, say instead that it is demonstrated from here: “And all that handle the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships” (Ezekiel 27:29). The Sages taught: One who sells a ship has also sold the gangway [iskala] used for boarding the ship, and the water tank it contains. Rabbi Natan says: One who sells a ship has sold the ship’s boat [bitzit], which is used as a lifeboat or for fishing in shallow waters. Sumakhos says: One who sells a ship has sold the dugit, as explained below. Rava said: The bitzit is the same as the dugit. Rabbi Natan was a Babylonian, and therefore he called small boats butzit, as people say: The botziata, small boats, of Miashan. Sumakhos, who was from Eretz Yisrael, called these boats dugit, as it is written: “You shall be taken away with hooks, and your residue in fishing boats [duga]” (Amos 4:2).

§ The Gemara cites several incidents that involve ships and the conversation of seafarers. Rabba said: Seafarers related to me that when this wave that sinks a ship appears with a ray of white fire at its head, we strike it with clubs that are inscribed with the names of God: I am that I am, Yah, the Lord of Hosts, amen amen, Selah. And the wave then abates.

Rabba said: Seafarers related to me that in a certain place between one wave and the next wave there are three hundred parasangs, and the height of a wave is three hundred parasangs. Once, seafarers recounted, we were traveling along the route and a wave lifted us up until we saw the resting place of a small star, and it appeared to me the size of the area needed for scattering forty se’a of mustard seeds. And if it had lifted us higher, we would have been scorched by the heat of the star. And the wave raised its voice and shouted to another wave: My friend, did you leave anything in the world that you did not wash away, that I may come and destroy it? The second wave said to it: Go out and see the greatness of your Master, God, as even when there is as much as a string of sand on the land I cannot pass, as it is stated: “Will you not fear Me, said the Lord; will you not tremble at My presence? Who has placed the sand for the bound of the sea, an everlasting ordinance, which it cannot pass?” (Jeremiah 5:22).

Rabba said: I have seen the one called Hurmin, son of Lilith, when he was running on the pinnacles of the wall of the city of Meḥoza, and a horseman was riding an animal below him but was unable to catch up to him. Once, they saddled for him two mules and they stood on the two bridges of the river Rognag, and he jumped from this one to that one, and from that one to this one. And he was holding two cups of wine in his hands and was pouring from this one to that one, and from that one to this one, and not one drop fell to the ground. And that day was stormy, similar to the description in a verse dealing with seafarers: “They mounted up to the heavens, they went down to the deeps; their soul melted away because of trouble” (Psalms 107:26). He continued in this manner until word of his behavior was heard in the house of the king, and they killed him.

Rabba said: I have seen a day-old antelope [urzila] that was as large as Mount Tabor. And how large is Mount Tabor? It is four parasangs. And the length of its neck was three parasangs, and the place where his head rests was a parasang and a half. It cast feces [kufta] and thereby dammed up the Jordan.

And Rabba bar bar Ḥana said: I have seen a certain frog [akrokta] that was as large as the fort [akra] of Hagronya. And how large is the fort of Hagronya? It is as large as sixty houses. A snake came and swallowed the frog. A raven came and swallowed the snake, and flew up and sat in a tree. Come and see how great is the strength of the tree, which could bear the weight of that raven. Rav Pappa bar Shmuel said: If I had not been there and seen this, I would not believe it.

And Rabba bar bar Ḥana said: Once we were traveling in a ship and we saw a certain fish in whose nostril [be’usyeih] a mud eater [akhla tina], i.e., a type of insect, had sat and killed him. And the waters thrust the fish and threw it upon the shore. And sixty districts were destroyed by the fish, and sixty districts ate from it, and another sixty districts salted its meat to preserve it. And they filled from one of its eyeballs three hundred flasks of oil. And when we returned there after the twelve months of the year had passed, we saw that they were cutting beams from its bones, and they had set out to build those districts that had been destroyed.

And Rabba bar bar Ḥana said: Once we were traveling on a ship and we saw a certain fish upon which sand had settled, and grass grew on it. We assumed that it was dry land and went up and baked and cooked on the back of the fish, but when its back grew hot it turned over. And were it not for the fact that the ship was close by, we would have drowned.

And Rabba bar bar Ḥana said: Once we were traveling in a ship and the ship traveled between one fin [shitza] and the other fin of a fish for three days and three nights. The fish was swimming in the opposite direction of the ship, so that it was swimming upward against the wind and the waves, and we were sailing downward. And if you would say that the ship did not travel very fast, when Rav Dimi came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia he said: In the short amount of time required to heat a kettle of water, that ship can travel sixty parasangs. And another demonstration of its speed is that a horseman shot an arrow, and yet the ship was traveling so swiftly that it outraced it. And Rav Ashi said: That fish was a sea gildana, which has two sets of fins.

And Rabba bar bar Ḥana said: Once we were traveling in a ship and we saw a certain bird that was standing with water up to its ankles [kartzuleih] and its head was in the sky. And we said to ourselves that there is no deep water here, and we wanted to go down to cool ourselves off. And a Divine Voice emerged and said to us: Do not go down here, as the ax of a carpenter fell into it seven years ago and it has still not reached the bottom. And this is not because the water is so large and deep. Rather, it is because the water is turbulent. Rav Ashi said: And that bird is called ziz sadai, wild beast, as it is written: “I know all the fowls of the mountains; and the ziz sadai is Mine” (Psalms 50:11).

And Rabba bar bar Ḥana said: Once we were traveling in the desert and we saw these geese whose wings were sloping because they were so fat, and streams of oil flowed beneath them. I said to them: Shall we have a portion of you in the World-to-Come? One raised a wing, and one raised a leg, signaling an affirmative response. When I came before Rabbi Elazar, he said to me: The Jewish people will eventually be held accountable for the suffering of the geese. Since the Jews do not repent, the geese are forced to continue to grow fat as they wait to be given to the Jewish people as a reward.

The Gemara provides a mnemonic for the items shown by an Arab man to Rabba bar bar Ḥana in the following stories: Like the dust of the sky-blue; the scorpion stung the basket. And Rabba bar bar Ḥana said: Once we were traveling in the desert and we were accompanied by a certain Arab who would take dust and smell it and say: This is the road to such and such a place, and that is the road to such and such a place. We said to him: How far are we from water? And he said to us: Bring me dust. We brought it to him, and he said: Eight parasangs. Later, we said this a second time, and gave him dust, and he said to us that we are at a distance of three parasangs. I switched the type of dust to test him, but I could not confuse him, as he was an expert in this matter. That Arab said to me: Come, I will show you the dead of the wilderness, i.e., the Jewish people who left Egypt and died in the wilderness. I went and saw them; and they had the appearance of one who is intoxicated, and they were lying on their backs. And the knee of one of them was elevated, and he was so enormous that the Arab entered under his knee while riding a camel and with his spear upright, and he did not touch him. I cut one corner of the sky-blue garment that contains ritual fringes of one of them, and we were unable to walk. The Arab said to me: Perhaps you took something from them? Return it, as we know by tradition that one who takes something from them cannot walk. I then returned the corner of the garment, and then we were able to walk. When I came before the Sages, they said to me in rebuke: Every Abba is a donkey, and every bar bar Ḥana is an idiot. For the purpose of clarifying what halakha did you do that? If you wanted to know whether the halakha is in accordance with the opinion of Beit Shammai or in accordance with the opinion of Beit Hillel, as to whether there are four or three threads and joints in ritual fringes, in that case there was no need to take anything with you, as you should have simply counted the threads and counted the joints. Rabba bar bar Ḥana continues his account. That Arab also said to me: Come, I will show you Mount Sinai. I went and saw that scorpions were encircling it, and they were standing as high as white donkeys. I heard a Divine Voice saying: Woe is Me that I took an oath; and now that I took the oath, who will nullify it for me? When I came before the Sages, they said to me in rebuke: Every Abba is a donkey, and every bar bar Ḥana is an idiot. You should have said: Your oath is nullified. The Gemara explains: And Rabba bar bar Ḥana did not nullify the oath because he reasoned: Perhaps God is referring to the oath that He will not flood the earth again. But the Sages would argue that if that were so, why say: Woe is Me? Rather, this must be referring to God’s oath of exile upon the Jewish people. Rabba bar bar Ḥana continues his account. The Arab also said to me: Come, I will show you those who were swallowed by the earth due to the sin of Korah. I saw two rifts in the ground that were issuing smoke. The Arab took a shearing of wool, and dipped it in water, and inserted it on the head of a spear, and placed it in there. And when he removed the wool, it was scorched. He said to me: Listen to what you hear; and I heard that they were saying: Moses and his Torah are true, and they, i.e., we in the earth, are liars. The Arab further said to me: Every thirty days Gehenna returns them to here, like meat in a pot that is moved around by the boiling water as it cooks. And every time they say this: Moses and his Torah are true, and they, i.e., we in the earth, are liars. This Arab also said to me: Come, I will show you the place where the earth and the heavens touch each other. I took my basket and placed it in a window of the heavens. After I finished praying, I searched for it but did not find it. I said to him: Are there thieves here? He said to me: This is the heavenly sphere that is turning around; wait here until tomorrow and you will find it.

O Man! You should know that the great archenemy you have in this world is your own yetzer (evil inclination). He is interwoven in the forces of your soul and intertwined in the organization of your spirit. He associates with you in the guidance of your physical and spiritual senses. He he rules over the secrets of your soul and of what is hidden in your heart. He is your advisor in all of your movements whether visible or invisible that you wish to do. He lies in wait, watching your steps to lead you astray. You are asleep to him but he is awake to you. You look away from him but he does not look away from you. He masks himself as your friend, and pretends to show love, he enters in your inner circle of close friends and advisors. From his gestures and signs it appears he is running to do your will but in fact he is shooting deadly arrows at you to kill and uproot you from the land of the living, as the verse speaks of one like this "like a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death; so is a man who deceives his friend and says, 'Am I not joking?'" (Mishlei 26:18).