Avodah Zarah 18a — the Talmud in English

The Gemara explains why this was decreed upon him by the heavenly judgment.

For burning:

because of

his having ![](pamud.bmp "

exact page location")

pronounced the Name [

the Name of God]

with its letters—

he expounded it with forty-two letters and did with it whatever he wished . Therefore burning was decreed upon him by the heavenly judgment.

And we object:

But how did he do this?

How did he do so, when it is forbidden to do this?

And

this

we learned

in our Mishna:

These

are

those who have no share in the World to Come: one who says, “

There is no Torah from Heaven.”

And

so one who says, “

There is no resurrection of the dead from the Torah”—

that is, he acknowledges belief in the resurrection of the dead, but denies the expositions that the Sages expounded and proved from the verses.

Abba Shaul says: Also, one who pronounces the Name with its letters.

Thus it is forbidden to do this!

And we answer:

He did it in order to learn.

He did so for the purpose of learning, and in this manner it is permitted. Nevertheless, he was punished, because according to the greatness of his level it was considered a sin: he should have been concerned for the honor of Heaven . And the Holy One, blessed be He, is exacting with His righteous ones to the breadth of a hairsbreadth.

As it was taught:

The Gemara cites a beraita in which it is stated that in this manner it is permitted, and that beraita was taught regarding the prohibition of the ways of the nations and sorcery.

It is stated in the Torah [Deuteronomy 18], “

You shall not learn to do

like the abominations of those nations.” And we expound “to do”— \-

but you may learn in order to understand and instruct

your sons to refrain from this, or in order to test a false prophet and a sorcerer.

And likewise Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion held that it is permitted to pronounce the Name in order to understand and instruct.

And we object:

But

if so, since he acted permissibly—

for what reason was he punished?

Why was he punished?

And we answer:

Because he was pronouncing the Name publicly

—that was the case.

We learned:

And regarding his wife,

the decree was decreed from Heaven

for execution,

because

she did not protest against him.

From here they said,

the Sages:

Anyone who has

the power

to protest but does not protest—

is punished for it.

And

it was decreed

upon his daughter to sit in a brothel.

For Rabbi Yohanan said: Once his daughter was walking before the Roman nobles.

They said, “

How beautiful are the strides of this young woman

young woman

this.”

And when she heard that they were praising her,

she immediately measured her strides,

to take beautiful strides. This is not among the ways of Israelite daughters, the daughters of kings, as it is stated [Psalms 45], “All the glory of the king’s daughter is within” .

And this accords

with what

Reish Lakish said: What

is the meaning

of what is written [

Psalms 49], “

The iniquity of my heels shall surround me”?

And we expound:

The iniquities that a person tramples with his heel in this world,

treading upon them with his feet, such as the careful measuring of the strides of the daughter of Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion,

surround him for the Day of Judgment. [

Another explanation: “tramples with his heel”: a person tramples them with his feet, meaning that they are not important in his eyes as a transgression.]

And the Gemara continues to relate:

When the three of them went out,

this one for burning, that one for execution, and that one to a brothel,

they justified the judgment upon themselves,

accepting the heavenly decree with love and willingness.

He,

Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion,

said this verse [Deuteronomy 32]: “

The Rock, His work is perfect, for all His ways are justice.”

And his wife said

the conclusion of the verse: “

God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He.”

His daughter said [

Jeremiah 32], “

Great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, to give a man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds,”

Great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are open to all the ways of the sons of man, to give each person according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds,”

and she intended to say: “to all the ways,” referring to the careful measuring of her strides.

When Rabbi heard this story,

Rabbi said: How great are these righteous ones, that three verses of justification of the judgment were occasioned for them—

at the time of the justification of the judgment!

And the Gemara continues to relate the burning of Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion.

The Sages taught: When Rabbi Yose ben Kisma fell ill,

Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion went to visit him.

He said to him,

Rabbi Yose ben Kisma said to him:

Hanina, my brother! Do you not know that this nation,

the Romans,

was enthroned by Heaven?

And the proof of this is:

that

behold, it

destroyed His house,

the house of the Holy One, blessed be He,

, burned His Sanctuary, killed His pious ones, and destroyed His best ones—

and it still exists—

And I have heard about you that you sit and engage in Torah

against the decree of the kingdom,

and gather congregations publicly, with a Torah scroll lying in your lap?!

He said to him,

Rabbi Hanina said to him:

Heaven will have mercy!

He said to him,

Rabbi Yose ben Kisma said to him:

I am telling you words of reason,

that this nation was enthroned by Heaven—and

you say to me: “Heaven will have mercy”?! I wonder whether they will not burn you and your Torah scroll in fire!

He said to him,

Rabbi Hanina said to him:

Rabbi! What is my status regarding the life of the World to Come?

He said to him,

Rabbi Yose ben Kisma said to him:

Has any deed come to your hand?

That is, I wish to hear how you acted.

Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion said to him:

Purim money

that I had set aside for the Purim meal

became mixed up for me with charity money—

and I distributed it to the poor,

thinking that it was charity money, and I did not reimburse myself from charity money.

He said to him,

Rabbi Yose ben Kisma said to him:

If so!

Since you relinquished your property, it is a great deed—would that

from your share

in the World to Come

my share may be

with you,

and from your lot may my lot be!

You are certainly destined for the World to Come.

They said,

the Sages related:

There were not

not even

a few days—

until Rabbi Yose ben Kisma died.

And all the Roman nobles went to his grave and delivered a great eulogy.

And on their return,

from the eulogy,

they found him,

Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion, sitting and engaging in Torah, gathering congregations publicly, with a Torah scroll lying in his lap.

They brought him,

to them,

wrapped him in a Torah scroll and surrounded him with bundles of branches

of vines,

and kindled in them

the branches

the fire,

fire.

And they brought sponges of wool, soaked them in water, and placed them upon his heart so that his soul would not depart quickly!

His daughter said to him: Father! Shall I see you in this state?

That is, is this the reward of Torah?!

He said to her,

Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion said to her:

If I were burned alone,

the matter would be difficult for me; now that I am burned with a Torah scroll, whoever seeks the dishonor of the Torah scroll—

he will seek my dishonor!

His students said to him: Rabbi! What do you see?

He said to them,

Rabbi Hanina said to them:

The parchment is burning, but the letters are flying away!

His students said to him:

You too, open your mouth, and let the fire enter you.

So that he would die quickly and not suffer torment.

He said to them,

Rabbi Hanina said to them:

It is better that He take it,

my soul—

the One who gave it,

the Holy One, blessed be He, who gave it to me,

and that He Himself not destroy it [

I]

Himself!

The executioner said to him,

the official appointed by the Romans to burn him:

Rabbi! If I increase the flame and remove the woolen sponges from your heart—

will

you bring me to the life of the World to Come?

He said to him,

Rabbi Hanina said to the official:

Yes!

He said to him,

the official said to him:

Swear to me!

He swore to him.

Immediately he increased the flame and removed the woolen sponges from his heart.

And his soul departed quickly.

He too,

the official,

leaped and fell into the fire.

A heavenly voice went forth and said: Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion and the executioner are both destined for the life of the World to Come!

When Rabbi heard this story,

Rabbi wept and said: There is one who acquires his world in one hour,

such as the official

. And there is one who acquires his world over many years!

And the Gemara continues to relate what happened to the daughter of Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion.

Berurya, the wife

of Rabbi Meir,

the daughter

of

Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion, was.

She was.

She said to him,

Berurya said to Rabbi Meir:

It is a degradation to me,

the matter is cheap, meaning, it is a diminution of honor for me,

that my sister sits,

that my sister is sitting

in a brothel,

and we must devise counsel how to bring her out from there.

He took,

Rabbi Meir took with him

three kav of dinars,

three kav of dinars,

and went

there.

He said,

he said to himself:

If no forbidden act has been performed with her,

if no forbidden act of prostitution has yet been performed with her,

a miracle will be performed,

a miracle will occur and I will be able to rescue her. But

if

already

she has committed a forbidden act—

a miracle will not be performed for her.

He went,

Rabbi Meir went,

and presented himself as a certain cavalryman,

he prepared himself so that he would appear to be a cavalryman, and came to the place where she was sitting.

He said to her,

Rabbi Meir said to her:

Make yourself heard to me,

for prostitution.

She said to him,

the daughter of Rabbi Hanina ben Teradion said to him:

I am menstruating!

I have the way of women.

He said to her: I will wait; I will wait!

I will wait for you until it ceases.

She said to him: There are very many, [

and there are very many here].

There are many prostitutes here

who are more beautiful than I ,

beautiful women, and it is not worthwhile for you to wait.

He said,

Rabbi Meir said to himself:

This proves that she has not committed a forbidden act!

Everyone who comes,

everyone who comes to her,

she says to him thus.

She says these words to him.

He went

Rabbi Meir went

to her guardian,

who guarded her.

He said to him,

to the guardian:

Bring her here,

bring her to me.

He said to him,

the guardian said to him:

I am afraid of the kingdom!

I fear the government!

He said to him,

Rabbi Meir said to him:

Take

take

three kav of dinars; half

of them

use as a bribe

to the authorities whenever they bring a charge against you,

and half shall be yours,

the other half will remain with you.

He said to him,

the guardian said to him:

But when they are finished,

when the dinars are exhausted,

what shall I do,

with what shall I bribe the authorities?

He said to him,

Rabbi Meir said to him: When you reach this situation,

say,

say:

“God of Meir, answer me!” And you will be saved,

and you will be rescued.