Bava Batra 10a — the Talmud in English

And the Gemara explains:

masters of wisdom, as it is written:

“He who pursues righteousness and kindness”

will find life,

and from here [we learn] that he will have sons who are masters of wisdom, for concerning wisdom it is written: “For whoever finds me finds life.”

And likewise he will have sons

who are masters of wealth, as it is written:

“He who pursues righteousness and kindness will find life,”

righteousness.

And from here [we learn] that his sons will be wealthy and will perform righteousness with their money.

And likewise he will have sons

who are masters of aggada, as it is written:

“He who pursues righteousness and kindness will find life

and honor,”

and there is no honor except honor given to sages, as

it is written here:

“and honor,”

and it is written there,

in Proverbs:

“Sages shall inherit honor.”

Thus, the honor is the honor of the sages, and among the sages, the greatest honor is given to masters of aggada, because they draw the hearts of the listeners through their exposition, and everyone honors them. And from here [we learn] that the “honor” stated concerning those who give righteousness is that they will merit sons who are masters of aggada.

It was taught: Rabbi Meir would say: A litigant has the right

—

a wicked person or a gentile

to answer you and say to you: If your God loves the poor, why does He not support them?

Say to him:

The Holy One, blessed is He, does not support the poor

so that

we will give them righteousness, and through this

we are saved through them from the judgment of Gehinnom .

For righteousness saves from Gehinnom, as is explained later in the sugya.

And

this

question

the

wicked Turnus Rufus asked Rabbi Akiva,

and this is what he asked:

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

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

Turnus Rufus said to him

Turnus Rufus,

on the contrary,

the righteousness

that

you give

makes you liable for Gehinnom,

for if the Holy One, blessed is He, made a person poor, that is because He wants him not to have money, whereas you give him righteousness against His will.

I will give you a parable. To what is the matter comparable? To a flesh-and-blood king who became angry with his slave, imprisoned him in the prison, and commanded concerning him not to feed him and not to give him drink. Then one person went and fed him and gave him drink. When the king heard,

surely

would he not be angry with him?

And

indeed

you are called slaves, as it is stated:

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

so how do you transgress His will?

Rabbi Akiva said to him: I will give you a parable. To what is the matter comparable? To a flesh-and-blood king who became angry with his son, imprisoned him in the prison, and commanded concerning him not to feed him and not to give him drink. Then one person went and fed him and gave him drink. When the king heard,

surely

would he not send him a gift?

That is to say, surely the king was happy that his son ate and drank—

And Rabbi Akiva said to Turnus Rufus:

And we,

the People of Israel,

are called sons, as it is written:

“You are sons to the Lord your God.”

And if so, although the Holy One, blessed is He, decreed concerning the poor that they should have no food or drink, nevertheless He is certainly happy that we feed His sons.

He said to him

Turnus Rufus: Nevertheless, you are not required to give righteousness, for on the one hand, indeed,

you are called sons,

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

and

on the other hand

you are called slaves,

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

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 slaves .

And Turnus Rufus argued to Rabbi Akiva:

And

indeed

now you do not perform the will of the Omnipresent,

for you are in exile ; and you are therefore like slaves, and a master who commands that his slave not be fed does not want another to come and feed him.

Rabbi Akiva said to him,

Rabbi Akiva,

behold, it says:

“Is it not to break your bread for the hungry, and poor wanderers shall you bring into the house?”

And who are those “poor wanderers”? These are the wicked who rule over Israel and cry out that they want their money . And Rabbi Akiva said to Turnus Rufus:

When

when is the time that the verse is fulfilled concerning us:

“Poor wanderers shall you bring into the house”?

Is it not

now,

at this time, when the wicked rule over us,

and

concerning this

the verse says:

“Is it not to break

for the hungry

your bread”? Thus, even when Israel do not perform the will of the Omnipresent, nevertheless they are obligated in righteousness .

Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabbi Shalom expounded: Just as a person’s sustenance is fixed for him from the beginning of the year

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

so his losses,

the loss of his money

of a person,

which he will lose that year,

are fixed for him from the beginning of the year.

And if

he merits,

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

“Is it not to break your bread for the hungry?”

And if

he does not merit,

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

“And poor wanderers shall you bring into the house,”

for this verse was stated concerning the gentiles who take the money of Israel.

And the Gemara brings an incident proving that when a monetary loss is decreed upon a person, if he merits, he gives it to righteousness, and if not, he gives it to the gentiles against his will.

As in this

as in the incident

that

occurred with

the sons of the sister of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai,

whom Rabbi Yohanan

saw in a dream

concerning them on the evening after Yom Kippur

that they were destined to lose

for it had been decreed that they would lose that year

seven hundred dinars.

And Rabbi Yohanan went and

made them

persuaded them with words throughout that entire year and

took from them for righteousness,

and took money from them for righteousness, so that the money decreed upon them to lose would go to righteousness. Thus he took righteousness from them throughout the entire year, until the following year, on the eve of Rosh Hashanah ,

there remained with them

of those seven hundred dinars only

seventeen

seventeen

dinars,

which they had not given to righteousness.

When the eve of Yom Kippur arrived,

when the eve of Yom Kippur arrived,

the emperor’s household sent,

they sent soldiers from the emperor’s household and

seized them,

and took seventeen dinars from them.

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

do not be afraid, for they will not take more from you; rather,

seventeen dinars belonging to you

they wanted to take, and those seventeen dinars they have already

taken from you,

and they will not take any more from you.

They said to him: From where did you know?

From where do you know that they have only seventeen dinars against us?

He said to them: I saw a dream concerning you,

I saw in my dream that you would lose seven hundred dinars, and since you gave six hundred and eighty-three dinars to righteousness, 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 would give them

so that we would give the entire sum to righteousness?

He said to them: I thought,

my opinion was not to tell you,

so that you would perform

so that through your giving of the righteousness you would perform

a mitzva for its own sake.

Rav Pappa was ascending a ladder,

he was going up a step,

his foot slipped and he was about to fall,

his foot slipped and he was almost falling.

He said: Now, yes,

if I indeed fell, this is proof that

one who hates us has become liable,

that the one who hates me has become liable [Rav Pappa intended himself, but attributed his curse to his fellow],

like those who desecrate Shabbat and those who worship idolatry,

whose judgment is stoning; and they said [in Ketubot 30b] that one who became liable for stoning in the present time either falls from the roof or an animal tramples him . And if I were to fall, this would be proof that I had become liable for stoning .

Hiyya bar Rav of Difti said to Rav Pappa: Perhaps

the fact that you almost fell was because

a poor person came to you and you did not support him .

For it was taught: Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korkha says: Whoever turns his eyes away from righteousness is as though he worships idolatry,

for

it is written here,

concerning the mitzva of righteousness:

“Beware lest there be a base thought in your heart,”

and it is written there,

concerning idolatry:

“There went out men,

base men.”

And we expound:

Just as there,

the word “base” was stated concerning

idolatry, so here,

that “base” is stated, it concerns

idolatry .

And from here [we learn] that whoever turns his eyes away from righteousness is as though he worships idolatry. And since the punishment for idolatry is stoning, and righteousness is like idolatry, therefore you almost fell.

It was taught: Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Yosei said: All righteousness and kindness that Israel perform in this world

this righteousness produces

great peace and great advocates

advocates of merit

between Israel and their Father in Heaven.

As it is stated:

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

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

a house of mourning

and do not go to eulogize and do not mourn

to lament

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

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

“Kindness”—this is acts of kindness; “mercy”—this is righteousness,

and since the People of Israel did not perform righteousness and kindness, the Holy One, blessed is He, gathered His peace from the People of Israel .

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

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

through this there will be

My salvation be near to come and My righteousness to be revealed'—

and from here [we learn] that charity brings the redemption near.

He would say: Ten difficult things

strong

were created in the world,

and each one of them has something stronger than it.

A mountain is difficult,

iron

cuts it; iron is difficult, fire

penetrates it,

softening it.

Fire is difficult, water extinguishes it; water is difficult, thick

clouds

bear them; thick clouds are difficult, wind scatters them; wind is difficult, the body withstands it,

for the body is full of wind, and the wind does not leave it;

the body is difficult, fear breaks it; fear is difficult, wine dispels it; wine is difficult, sleep awakens from it; and death is more difficult than all of them,

for there is nothing that stands against death;

and

if

charity saves from death, as it is written: ‘

And charity shall save from death’.

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

for behold,

the measure 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 if you should say

even on the side that they

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

But

if

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

rather,

a person

who

gives a coin to a poor person merits and receives the face of the Divine Presence, as it is stated: ‘

With righteousness I shall behold Your face; I shall be satisfied, upon awakening, with Your likeness’;

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

Rabbi Elazar gave

gave

a coin to a poor person and afterward prayed.

And only afterward did he pray. And his reason was—

he said, as it is written: ‘

With righteousness I shall behold Your face’;

that is to say, first “with 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 Nahman bar Yitzhak said: These are Torah scholars who banish sleep from their eyes in this world,

in order to study Torah,

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

And thus the verse is interpreted: in the merit of their awakening to rise from their sleep [“upon awakening,”], they merit “I shall be satisfied with Your likeness,” that is, to be satisfied from the radiance of the Divine Presence in the World to Come.

Rabbi Yohanan said: What is that which is written: ‘

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

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

were it not a verse that is written, it would be impossible

for it

to be said, as though

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

A borrower is a servant to a lender’.

Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said: Rabbi Yohanan posed a contradiction,

he raised a difficulty in the words of the verses:

It is written: ‘

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

And it is written: ‘

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

Why are these two [mentions of] charity [needed]?

For what purpose did the verse make known to us twice that “charity shall save from death”?

And we answer:

One

to teach us

that

the charity

saves him from an unusual death, and one that it saves him from the judgment of Gehinnom.

And which one is it

which verse deals with charity

that saves him from the judgment of Gehinnom?

That one in which

“wrath”

is written,

with regard to Gehinnom, ‘

The day of wrath is that day.’