Bava Batra 10a (י.) — the Talmud in English

And the Gemara explains:

people of wisdom, as it is written:

“Pursuing righteousness and kindness”

“will find life,”

and from here it follows that he will have wise sons, for with regard to wisdom it is written: “For whoever finds me finds life.”

And likewise, he will have sons

who possess wealth, as it is written:

“Pursuing righteousness and kindness will find life,

righteousness.”

And from here it follows that his sons will be wealthy and will perform acts of charity with their money.

And likewise, he will have sons

who possess knowledge of Aggada, as it is written: “Pursuing righteousness and kindness will find life

and honor,”

and honor means only the honor accorded to the Sages, as

it is written here:

“and honor,”

and it is written there,

in Proverbs:

“The wise shall inherit honor.”

Thus, the honor mentioned is the honor of the Sages; and among the Sages, the greatest honor is accorded to those versed in Aggada, because they draw the hearts of their listeners through their exposition, and everyone honors them. And from here it follows that the “honor” mentioned with regard to those who give charity means that they will merit sons versed in Aggada.

It was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Meir would say: A litigant has the right,

a

wicked person or a gentile

to challenge you and say to you: If your God loves the poor, why does He not provide for them?

Say to him:

The Holy One, blessed be He, does not provide for the poor

so that

we will give them charity, and through this

we will be saved through them from the judgment of Gehinnom.

Charity saves one from Gehinnom, as explained later in the discussion.

And

this

question

the

wicked Turnus Rufus asked Rabbi Akiva,

and he asked as follows:

If your God loves the poor, why does He not provide for them?

He said to him: So that we will be saved through them from the judgment of Gehinnom!

Turnus Rufus said to him,

Turnus Rufus,

on the contrary,

this charity

that

you give

makes you liable for Gehinnom,

for if the Holy One, blessed be He, made a person poor, it is because He wants him to have no money, whereas you give him charity against His will.

I will tell you a parable. To what is this matter comparable? To a flesh-and-blood king who became angry with his servant, imprisoned him, and ordered that he not be given food or drink. Then one person went and fed him and gave him drink. When the king heard,

what?

Would he not be angry with him?

And

after all,

you are called servants, as it is stated:

“For the Children of Israel are servants to Me,”

so how can you transgress His will?

Rabbi Akiva said to him: I will tell you a parable. To what is this matter comparable? To a flesh-and-blood king who became angry with his son, imprisoned him, and ordered that he not be given food or drink. Then one person went and fed him and gave him drink. When the king heard,

what?

Would he not send him a gift?

That is, surely the king would rejoice that his son had eaten and drunk—

And Rabbi Akiva said to Turnus Rufus:

But we,

the People of Israel,

are called sons, as it is written:

“You are sons of the Lord your God.”

Accordingly, although the Holy One, blessed be He, decreed that the poor should have no food or drink, He certainly rejoices when we feed His sons.

Turnus Rufus said to him:

Nevertheless, you are not obligated to give charity, for on the one hand

you are called sons,

as it is stated, “You are sons of the Lord your God,”

and

on the other hand

you are called servants,

as it is stated, “For the Children of Israel are servants to Me.” And nevertheless this is not a contradiction, because

when you perform the will of the Omnipresent, you are called sons, and when you do not perform the will of the Omnipresent, you are called servants.

Turnus Rufus argued to Rabbi Akiva:

And

after all,

now you are not performing the will of the Omnipresent,

for you are in exile; thus you are like servants, and when a master orders that his servant not be fed, he does not want someone else to come and feed him.

Rabbi Akiva said to him:

Rabbi Akiva,

it says:

“Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring the poor who are cast out into your house?”

And who are these “poor who are cast out”? They are the wicked who rule over Israel and cry out against them, demanding their money. And Rabbi Akiva said to Turnus Rufus:

When

is the time when the verse is fulfilled in our regard,

“that you bring the poor who are cast out into your house”?

Is it not

now,

at this time, when the wicked rule over us?

And

concerning this

the verse says:

the verse,

“Is it not to share with the hungry

your bread?” Thus, even when Israel does not perform the will of the Omnipresent, they are nevertheless obligated to give charity.

Rabbi Yehuda, son of Rabbi Shalom, expounded: Just as a person’s sustenance is fixed for him from Rosh HaShana,

for at that time the amount of money that a person will earn during the year is decreed,

so too his losses

the loss of his money

a person’s

that he will suffer during that year

are fixed for him from Rosh HaShana.

And if

he merits,

he gives the money that he was destined to lose to the poor, and the verse is fulfilled:

“Is it not to share your bread with the hungry?”

But if

he does not merit,

the gentiles take this money from him, and the verse is fulfilled:

“And that you bring the poor who are cast out into your house,”

for this verse refers to the gentiles who take the money of Israel.

The Gemara brings an incident proving that when a monetary loss is decreed for a person, if he merits, he gives it to charity, and if not, he is compelled to give it to the gentiles.

This is like

the incident

of

that occurred with

the sons of Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai’s sister.

Rabbi Yohanan

saw them in a dream

he saw concerning them in a dream on the night after Yom Kippur

that they were destined to lose

that they were decreed to lose during that year

seven hundred dinars.

Rabbi Yohanan went and

persuaded them

with words throughout that entire year and

took charity from them.

He took money from them for charity, so that the money decreed for them to lose would go to charity. He thus took charity from them throughout the year, until the eve of Rosh HaShana of the following year, when

there remained with them

of those seven hundred dinars only

seventeen

seventeen

dinars,

which they had not given to charity.

When the eve of Yom Kippur arrived,

when the eve of Yom Kippur arrived,

the emperor’s household sent

soldiers from the emperor’s palace and

seized them,

taking seventeen dinars from them.

Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai said to them: Do not fear.

Do not be afraid, for they will take no more from you; they wanted only

the seventeen dinars that were with you,

and those seventeen dinars have already

been taken from you.

They will not take anything more from you.

They said to him: How did you know?

From where did you know that they were owed only seventeen dinars from us?

He said to them: I saw a dream about you.

I saw in my dream that you would lose seven hundred dinars. Since you gave six hundred and eighty-three dinars to charity, I knew that only seventeen dinars remained for you to lose.

They said to him: And why did you not tell us?

Why did you not tell us that you had dreamed this, so that

we could give them

the entire sum to charity?

He said to them: I reasoned

that I should not tell you,

so that you would perform

by giving your charity

a mitzva for its own sake.

Rav Pappa was ascending a ladder.

He was climbing a step when

his foot slipped and he was about to fall.

His foot slipped and he nearly fell.

He said: Now, if so,

if I had indeed fallen, this would prove that

one who hates me has become liable

that one who hates me had become liable [Rav Pappa was referring to himself, but expressed his curse as though it concerned another person],

like those who desecrate Shabbat and those who worship idols,

whose punishment is stoning; and they said [in Ketubot 30b] that one who became liable for stoning in the present era either falls from a roof or is trampled by a wild animal. If I had fallen, this would have proved that I had become liable for stoning.

Hiyya bar Rav of Difti said to Rav Pappa: Perhaps

the reason you nearly fell was that

a poor person came before you and you did not provide for him.

For it was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korha says: Anyone who averts his eyes from charity is as though he worships idols,

for

it is written here,

with regard to the mitzva of charity, “Beware lest there be a base thought in your heart,”

and it is written there,

with regard to idolatry,

“Certain men have gone out,”

worthless men.

And we derive:

Just as there

the word “worthless” is stated with regard to

idolatry, so here

where “worthless” is stated, it refers to

idolatry. And from here it follows that anyone who averts his eyes from charity is as though he worships idols. Since the punishment for idolatry is stoning, and charity is treated like idolatry, you nearly fell.

It was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Yosei, said: All the charity and kindness that Israel perform in this world

this charity produces

great peace and great advocates

defenders

between Israel and their Father in Heaven.

As it is stated:

The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Jeremiah:

“So said the Lord: Do not enter a house of mourning

a house of mourning

and do not go to mourn or console

lament

them, for I have gathered My peace from this people, together with kindness and mercy.”

And the Gemara explains the verse: The Holy One, blessed be He, caused His peace to rest upon the People of Israel on account of the “kindness and mercy” that were found among them:

“Kindness”—this is acts of kindness; “mercy”—this is charity.

Since the People of Israel did not perform charity and acts of kindness, the Holy One, blessed be He, gathered His peace away from the People of Israel.

It was taught: Rabbi Yehuda says: Great is charity, for it brings the redemption closer, as it is stated: ‘

So said the Lord: Observe justice and perform charity, for

through this

My salvation will soon come, and My righteousness will be revealed’—

and from here it follows that charity brings the redemption closer.

He would say: Ten difficult things

strong things

were created in the world,

and each of them has something stronger than itself.

A mountain is difficult;

the

iron cuts it, iron is difficult; fire

penetrates it

and softens it.

Fire is difficult; water extinguishes it. Water is difficult; thick

clouds

bear them. Thick clouds are difficult; wind disperses them. Wind is difficult; the body withstands it,

for the body is filled with wind, yet the wind does not leave it.

The body is difficult; fear breaks it. Fear is difficult; wine dispels it. Wine is difficult; sleep awakens one from it. And death is the most difficult of all,

for there is nothing that can withstand death.

And

if

charity saves from death, as it is written: ‘

And charity will save from death.’

Rabbi Dostai bar Rabbi Yannai expounded: Come and see that the attribute of the Holy One, blessed be He, is not like the attribute of flesh and blood,

for

the attribute of flesh and blood

if

a person brings a great gift to a king, it is uncertain whether they will accept it from him or whether they will not accept it from him; and even if you should say

that even in the event that they

accept it from him, it is uncertain whether he will see the king’s face or whether he will not see the king’s face.

But

if

the Holy One, blessed be He, is not so;

rather,

a person

who

gives a peruta to a poor person merits to encounter the Divine Presence, as it is stated: ‘

As for me, in righteousness I shall behold Your face; I shall be satisfied, upon awakening, with Your likeness.’

That is, through “righteousness,” which is charity, a person merits to behold the face of the Holy One, blessed be He.

Rabbi Elazar would give

a gift

to a poor person and then pray.

Only afterward would he pray. And his reason

was that he said, as it is written: ‘

As for me, in righteousness I shall behold Your face’—

that is, first “in righteousness,” and afterward “I shall behold Your face” in prayer.

What

is the meaning of the continuation of the verse: ‘

I shall be satisfied, upon awakening, with Your likeness’?

Rabbi Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: These are Torah scholars who banish sleep from their eyes in this world

in order to study Torah,

and the Holy One, blessed be He, satisfies them with the radiance of the Divine Presence in the World to Come.

And this is how the verse is interpreted: As a reward for awakening to rise from their sleep—“upon awakening”—they merit “I shall be satisfied with Your likeness,” that is, to be satiated by the radiance of the Divine Presence in the World to Come.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: What is the meaning of that which is written: ‘

One who is gracious to the poor lends to the Lord’?

The meaning of the verse is that one who is gracious to a poor person and gives him charity is considered as though he lent money to the Holy One, blessed be He, and

were it not written in Scripture, it would be impossible

for it to be

said, so to speak,

that the Holy One, blessed be He, is like a servant to the one who gives charity, for it is explained in Proverbs that a borrower is like a servant to the lender, as it is stated: ‘

A borrower is a servant to a lender.’

Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said: Rabbi Yoḥanan raised a contradiction,

he challenged the apparent contradiction between the verses:

It is written: ‘

Wealth will not avail on the day of wrath, but charity will save from death.’

And it is written: ‘

The treasures of wickedness will not avail, but charity will save from death.’

Why are these two references to charity needed?

Why did the verse tell us twice that “charity will save from death”?

And we answer:

One

to teach us

that

charity

saves him from an unusual death, and one saves him from the judgment of Gehenna.

And which one is it

which verse refers to charity

that saves him from the judgment of Gehenna?

It is the one concerning which it is written ‘

wrath,’

as it is written

concerning Gehenna: ‘

That day is a day of wrath.’