Avodah Zarah 5a (ה.) — the Talmud in English

To tell you:

It is the decree of the Holy One, blessed be He, to provide an opening for those who repent:

that if an individual sins, they say to him: “Go,

go

to an individual!”

And learn from him that the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, is open to accept you in repentance.

And if a community sins, they say to them: “

Go to a community!”

And learn from them to repent.

And it is necessary:

The Gemara explains why the divine decree was necessary with regard both to an individual and to a community —

For if it had taught us

only

with regard to an individual,

there would be room to say that this is why the Holy One, blessed be He, accepted him:

because his sin is not public,

and his sins do not desecrate the Name of Heaven.

But a community

that sins,

because their sins are public,

and their sins are public, and this involves desecration of the Name of Heaven,

we might say

that

their

repentance would not be accepted. Therefore it teaches us “a community.”

And if it had taught us

only

with regard to a community,

there would be room to say that this is why the Holy One, blessed be He, accepted them:

because their compassion is abundant [the version of the Bach:

their

merit is abundant],

for Heaven’s mercy upon them is abundant, since they possess the merit of the multitude.

But an individual, whose merit is not powerful,

whose individual merit is not strong,

we might say

that

his

repentance would not be accepted. Therefore it teaches us “an individual.”

And the Holy One, blessed be He, accepts the repentance of an individual as He accepts that of a multitude, and that of a multitude as He accepts that of an individual.

And

this exposition

is

the exposition

that

was taught by

Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani in the name of Rabbi Yonatan.

For Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: What

is the meaning of that

which is written

[II Samuel 23]:

“The utterance of David son of Yishai, and the utterance of the man who was raised on high”?—

Do not read, “who was raised on high,” but rather, “who raised the yoke.” And thus the verse says:

“The utterance of David son of Yishai, who raised the yoke of repentance” .

And now the Gemara cites another statement resembling the statement of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: “Every mitzva that Israel performs in this world comes and testifies on their behalf in the World-to-Come.”

And

another

Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: Anyone who performs a single mitzva in this world,

the mitzva

goes ahead of him and proceeds before him,

going before his bier and proclaiming on his behalf.

As it is stated

[Isaiah 58]:

“And your righteousness shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall gather you in.”

And anyone who performs a single transgression

[in this world],

the transgression

entwines itself around him,

wrapping itself around him like a garment,

and leads him

to the Day of Judgment. As it is stated

[Job 6]:

“They shall be entwined in their paths; they shall ascend into the void and perish.”

And we expound it as follows: “They shall be entwined”—they shall grasp them; “in their paths”—the transgressions committed by the wicked; “they shall ascend into the void”—with them; “and perish”—in the World-to-Come.

Rabbi Elazar

says:

The transgression

clings to him like

a

dog. As it is stated

with regard to Joseph the righteous and Potiphar’s wife [Genesis 39]:

“And he did not heed her, to lie beside her, to be with her.”

And we expound the repetition of the wording:

“To lie beside her”—

in this world. “To be with her”—

in the World-to-Come.

And now the Gemara cites a statement of Resh Lakish concerning the sin of the Golden Calf.

Resh Lakish said: Come, let us acknowledge the favor owed to our forefathers

who made the Golden Calf,

for had they not sinned,

if they had not sinned with the Calf and had remained in their status as angels at the time the Torah was given—

we would not have come into the world!

And from where do we learn that our forefathers attained the level of angels, and that as a result of the Golden Calf they returned to being like human beings?

As it is stated

[Psalms 82]: The Holy One, blessed be He, said: “I said, ‘You are divine beings, and all of you are sons of the Most High.’ [But from the time you sinned through the sin of the Calf,] indeed, ‘you shall die like a human being, and fall like one of the princes.’”

And we expound it as follows:

“I said, ‘You are divine beings, and all of you are sons of the Most High,’”

at the time the Torah was given. But

“you have corrupted your deeds,”

when you made the Calf. Therefore,

“indeed, you shall die like a human being,”

and you are like human beings, mortal beings.

And we challenge this:

Is that to say

that Resh Lakish means

that had they not sinned, they would not have procreated?

They would not have had children. But how can this be said,

as it is written

[Genesis 9] that the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded:

“And you, be fruitful and multiply”?

It follows that they were commanded regarding the mitzva of procreation!

And we answer: They would procreate only

until Sinai,

but not thereafter.

And we challenge this: But

at Sinai as well

they were commanded to be fruitful and multiply, for

it is written

[Deuteronomy 5] that the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses after the giving of the Torah:

“Go, say to them: ‘Return to your tents.’”

It follows that they were commanded then as well regarding the mitzva of procreation!

And we answer: They were not commanded then regarding procreation. Rather, the verse said that they should return

to the joy of conjugal relations—

to visit their wives at the appropriate time, for throughout the days of the giving of the Torah this had been forbidden to them, as it is stated [Exodus 19]: “Do not approach a woman.”

And we challenge this:

But is it not written

at Sinai [there]:

“So that it may be good for them and for their children forever”?

This evidently implies that they would have children?

And we answer: The reference is not to children who would subsequently be born to them, but

to those

who had already been born, and who were

standing at Mount Sinai.

And now the Gemara cites a statement of Resh Lakish himself, and of Rabbi Yosei, to refute Resh Lakish’s statement.

But Resh Lakish himself said: What

is the meaning of that which is written [Genesis 5]:

“This is the book of the generations of Adam,” and so on.

And one must ask:

But did the first man have a book?!

He should have said, “These are the generations of Adam.”

And the answer is that, indeed, he had a book —

It teaches

that the verse refers to

the Holy One, blessed be He, showing

the first man

each generation and its expounders, each generation and its sages, each generation and its leaders—

When he reached the generation of Rabbi Akiva, he rejoiced in his Torah and grieved over his death.

As it is stated in the chapter expounded with regard to the first man [Psalms 139]: “And to me, how precious are Your thoughts, O God; how great is the sum of them.”

The first man said

said

“And to me, how precious are Your thoughts, O God,”

referring to the generation of Rabbi Akiva, whose members were “God’s companions,” as it were, because they gave their lives for the sanctification of the Name .

It follows that even after the giving of the Torah they were destined to have children, and the Holy One, blessed be He, even showed Adam all the generations?

And there is another difficulty—

And Rabbi Yosei said

[another version:

Rav Asi]:

The son of David,

the messianic king,

will come—

only after

all

the souls in the body

have been exhausted. These are the souls found in the treasury of souls called “the body.” That is, all the souls were created during the days of Creation, and the Holy One, blessed be He, placed them there in the treasury [“the body”;] and until all the souls in the treasury have been exhausted by their being placed in human beings, the redemption will be delayed—

As it is stated

[Isaiah 57]: The Holy One, blessed be He, said:

“For I will not contend forever, nor will I be angry eternally

. For the spirit before Me would be faint, and the souls that I have made.”

And we expound it as follows: I will not delay the time of the redemption forever, nor will I remain angry forever instead of redeeming them. And as for the reason that the redemption is delayed from coming—“for the spirit before Me would be faint”: the souls that are still before Me in the treasury called “the body,” the souls that I have made, are what delay the redemption; and when they have been exhausted, I will then bring the redemption .

It follows that until the time of the redemption, they would still have children, and many souls would come into this world? And we answer:

Do not say

that Resh Lakish intended to say

“we would not have come into the world,”

for certainly they would have been destined to have more children—

Rather,

this is the intention of Resh Lakish’s statement:

“We would be as though we had not come into the world.”

That is, at that time they would have been elevated to the level of angels who live forever. And since they would still exist even now, it follows that we would have been of no account in comparison with them.

And we challenge this:

Is that to say

that Resh Lakish means

that had they not sinned

with the sin of the Calf,

they would not have died,

they would not have died? But how can this be said?!

And

it is written in the Torah,

the passage of levirate marriage and the passage of inheritances,

the laws of inheritance, whose mitzvot take effect as a result of death; and if they would not have died, why did the Torah write them?

And we answer: The Torah wrote them

conditionally.

If they would sin and death would be decreed upon them, they would observe the passage of levirate marriage and the passage of inheritances.

And this is what Resh Lakish said: Had they not sinned, they would not have died.

And we challenge this:

But are verses written conditionally?

Were passages written in the Torah as a possibility, conditionally?!

And we answer:

Yes,

indeed—

For this is what Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: What

is the meaning of that

which is written

[Genesis 1]:

“And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day”?—

It teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, stipulated with the works of Creation, and said: “If Israel accepts the Torah—

good; but if not—

I will return you to chaos and void!”

As explained above.

The Gemara raises an objection:

The Gemara challenges Resh Lakish, who said that had they not sinned with the Golden Calf they would not have died, from a beraita in which it is stated that even had they not sinned they would have died; rather, exile and the rule of the nations would have been removed from them.

As it was taught: It is stated in the Torah [Deuteronomy 5]:

“Would that they had such a heart to fear Me and observe all My mitzvot always, that it might be good for them and for their children forever.”

And what is that goodness?

The Holy One, blessed be He, said: Behold,

to remove the Angel of Death from them—

this is impossible,

since

a decree had already been issued

upon the first man: “For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”

This means

that we learn from here that

Israel did not accept the Torah

in order to receive reward in this world [such as not dying],

but rather so that no nation or tongue

of the gentiles

would rule over them .

And this is the goodness

of which it is stated: “That it might be good for them and for their children forever.”

It follows that death was not removed from them at the time the Torah was given, which is difficult for Resh Lakish. And we answer:

He,

Resh Lakish,

who said this,

holds

in accordance with this tanna,

as Rabbi Yosei expounded:

As it was taught: Rabbi Yosei says: Israel did not accept the Torah—

except so that the Angel of Death would not rule over them.

As it is stated

[Psalms 82], the Holy One, blessed be He, said:

“I said, ‘You are divine beings, and all of you are sons of the Most High,’ but you corrupted your deeds”—

“indeed, you shall die like a human being,”

which implies that before they corrupted their deeds, they would not have died.

And Resh Lakish holds in accordance with Rabbi Yosei.

And now the Gemara clarifies the expositions of the verses.

And Rabbi Yosei as well,

what will he answer?

But it is written, “That it might be good for them and for their children forever,”

and one should infer from here:

it is goodness that there would be,

only that it would be good for them, such as no nation or tongue ruling over them—

this

but

there is death,

and they would nevertheless die. How, then, does Rabbi Yosei expound that before they corrupted their deeds they were granted the reward of not dying?

And we answer:

Rabbi Yosei could say to you:

This itself is the goodness about which the Holy One, blessed be He, spoke:

since there is no

death—

there is no greater goodness than this.

And we clarify:

And as for the first tanna,

of the first beraita, who said that death was not removed from them,

also,

one must ask him: What will he answer?

But it is written, “Indeed, you shall die like a human being,”

which implies that before they corrupted their deeds, death was indeed removed from them?

And we answer:

What is the “death”

mentioned in the verse, “Indeed, you shall die like a human being”?—“

Poverty.”

For a poor person is considered like a dead person. That is, the Holy One, blessed be He, said: Since you have corrupted your deeds, a nation or tongue will rule over you and consume your wealth [as it is stated in Moses’ prophecy [Deuteronomy 28]: “And I will hide My face from them, and they shall be consumed,” which we expound to mean that the gentiles will consume the wealth of Israel].

Had they not sinned, they would have been wealthy, and would have been free to fear God and observe His mitzvot.

The Gemara cites the statement of the Sages that a “poor person” is considered like a “dead person.”

For the Master said,

as we learned in a beraita: There are

four

types of people who are

considered like

a

dead.

These are:

one who is

poor,

or

blind, a leper, or one who has no children.

A poor person—

from where do we learn that he is considered like a dead person?

As it is written

[Exodus 4], when the Holy One, blessed be He, told Moses to return from Midian to Egypt and not fear his enemies:

“For all the men who sought your life are dead.” And who are they?

Who were those men who sought Moses’ life? They were

Dathan and Abiram,

the ones who informed against Moses to Pharaoh when he said to them, “Wicked one! Why would you strike your fellow?” And this is difficult:

But did they die

in Egypt?! They died in the wilderness, in the assembly of Korah. Rather, we must answer:

They did exist,

indeed they were alive,

but they had become impoverished,

and therefore they were considered like dead people.

A blind person—

as it is written

[Lamentations 3]:

“He has made me dwell in dark places, like those who are eternally dead,”

which shows that a person placed in darkness and unable to see is considered like a dead person.

A leper—

as it is written

[Numbers 12] concerning Miriam when she became a leper:

“Let her not be like a dead person,”

which shows that a leper is considered like a dead person.

as though the Holy One, blessed be He, pleads with them to observe the Torah.