(10) Anyone who performs a single commandment is bestowed with goodness, his days are lengthened, and he inherits the Land. And anyone who does not perform a single commandment is not bestowed with goodness, his days are not lengthened, and he does not inherit the Land. Anyone who is [involved in] Scripture, the Oral Law, and proper social behavior will not easily [come to] sin, as it is stated, "And the three-ply cord is not quickly severed" (Ecclesiastes 4:12). Anyone who is not [involved in] Scripture, the Oral Law, and proper social behavior is not part of civilization.

R. Tobi son of R. Kisna pointed out a contradiction to Raba: We learnt: HE WHO PERFORMS ONE PRECEPT IS WELL REWARDED; hence, only if he [actively] performs it, but not otherwise. But the following contradicts this: If he sits and commits no transgression he is rewarded as though he has fulfilled a precept! — Said he to him: There it means, e.g., that he was tempted and successfully resisted.

As in the case of R. Hanina b. Pappi, whom a certain matron urged [to immorality]. He pronounced a certain [magical] formula, whereupon his body was covered with boils and scabs; but she did something and he was healed. So he fled and hid himself in a bath-house in which when [even] two entered, even in daytime, they would suffer harm.The next morning the Rabbis asked him, ‘Who guarded you?’ Said he to them, ‘Two...

Imperial [armour] bearers guarded me all night.’ Said they to him, ‘Perhaps you were tempted with immorality and successfully resisted?’ For it was taught: He who is tempted with immorality and successfully resists, a miracle is performed for him. [Bless ye the Lord, ye messenger's of his:] Ye mighty in strength, that fulfil his word, hearkening unto the voice of his word.

E.g., R. Zadok and his companions. R. Zadok was summoned by a certain matron [to immorality]. Said he to her, ‘My heart is faint and I am unable; is there anything to eat?’ She answered him, ‘There is unclean food.’ ‘What am I to deduce from this?’he retorted: ‘that he who commits this [immorality] may eat this.’ She then fired the oven and was placing it [the forbidden meat] therein, when he ascended and sat in it. Said she to him, ‘What is the meaning of this?’ ‘He who commits the one [immorality] falls into the other [the fire — of Gehenna]’, was his reply. ‘Had I known that it is so heinous,’ said she, ‘I would not have tormented you’.

R. Kahana was selling [work-] baskets, when a certain matron made [immoral] demands upon him. Said he to her, ‘I will first adorn myself.’ He [thereupon] ascended and hurled himself from the roof towards earth, but Elijah came and caught him. ‘You have troubled me [to come] four hundred parasangs’, he reproved him. ‘What caused me [to do it],’ he retorted; ‘is it not poverty?’ so he gave him a shifa [full] of denarii.

(12) One man may not be secluded with two women, but one woman may be secluded with two men. Rabbi Shimon says, "Even one man may be secluded with two women when his wife is with him; and he may sleep with them in an inn, because his wife is watching him." A person may be secluded with his mother or with his daughter, and may [even] sleep with them in bodily contact. And if they grow up, this one should sleep in her garment, and this one should sleep in his garment.

Avin said: "The weakest part of the year [is the] festival." Those captive women who arrived at Naharda', they brought them up to the [attic of] the house of Rav Amram the Pious, and removed the ladder from before them. As one of them was passing [before the opening], a light fell upon the opening [because of her great beauty]. Rav Amram took the ladder that ten were not able to move, and moved it by himself. He went and ascended; when he got halfway up the ladder he spread [his feet to steady himself], and raised his voice: "Fire in the house of Amram!" The rabbis came. They said to him: "You have embarrassed us!" He said to them: "It is better you should be embarrassed in the house of Amram in this world and you will not be embarrassed because of him in the World to Come." He made (the evil inclination) swear to leave him, he left him as a pillar of fire; he said to him: "Look, you are fire and I am flesh, and I am better than you."

R. Meir used to scoff at transgressors.One day Satan appeared to him in the guise of a woman on the opposite bank of the river. As there was no ferry, he seized the rope and proceeded across. When he had reached half way along the rope, he [Satan] let him go saying: ‘Had they not proclaimed in Heaven, "Take heed of R. Meir and his learning," I would have valued your life at two ma'ahs.’R. Akiba used to scoff at transgressors. One day Satan appeared to him as a woman on the top of a palm tree. Grasping the tree, he went climbing up: but when he reached half-way up the tree he [Satan] let him go, saying: ‘Had they not proclaimed in Heaven, "Take heed of R. Akiba and his learning," I would have valued your life at two ma'ahs.’

Every time R. Hiyya b. Abba fell upon his face he used to say, ‘The Merciful save us from the Tempter.’

One day his wife heard him. ‘Let us see,’ she reflected, ‘it is so many years that he has held aloof from me: why then should he pray thus?’ One day, while he was studying in his garden, she adorned herself and repeatedly walked up and down before him. ‘Who are you?’ he demanded. ‘I am Harutha, and have returned to-day,’ she replied. He desired her. Said she to him, ‘Bring me that pomegranate from the uppermost bough.’ He jumped up, went, and brought it to her.

When he re-entered his house, his wife was firing the oven, whereupon he ascended and sat in it. ‘What means this?’ she demanded. He told her what had befallen. ‘It was I,’ she assured him; but he paid no heed to her until she gave him proof.‘Nevertheless,’ said he, ‘my intention was evil.’

That righteous man [R. Hiyya b. Ashi] fasted all his life, until he died thereof. Even as it was taught: Her husband hath made then, void, and the Lord shall forgive her: of whom does the Writ speak? Of a woman who made a nazirite vow and her husband heard of it and annulled it; but though she was unaware that her husband had annulled it , she drank wine and defiled herself through the dead.

When R. Akiba came to this verse, he wept. If of him who intended to eat swine's flesh but chanced upon sheep's flesh, yet the Torah decreed that he requires atonement; how much more so of him who intended to eat swine's flesh and actually ate swine's flesh! Similarly, you read: Though he knew it not, yet he is guilty, and shall bear his iniquity. When R. Akiba came to this verse, he wept. If of him who intended to eat shuman but chanced upon heleb, yet the Torah said: ‘though he knew it not, yet he is guilty, and shall bear his iniquity’: how much more so of him who intended to eat heleb and actually ate heleb! Issi b. Judah said: ‘Though he knew it not, yet he is guilty, and shall bear his iniquity’ — for this thing all grief-stricken must grieve.