Bava Batra 121b — the Talmud in English

For the Master said: Until the generation of the wilderness had completely died out ![](pamud.bmp "

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there was no speech with Moses

face to face as at the beginning; rather, if he needed to speak about something, he would speak through an angel, or through the Urim ve-Tummim.

As it is stated: “And it was, when all the men of war had finished dying from among the people,” and adjacent to it: “And the Lord spoke to me, saying”; the speech was to me.

Ulla said: The day on which Hoshea ben Elah abolished the pardesאות

[guards]

that Jeroboam had stationed on the roads so that Israel would not go up for the pilgrimage.

Rav Mattana said: The day on which the slain of Beitar were given burial.

For Rav Mattana said: On that very day on which the slain of Beitar were given burial, they instituted in Yavneh

to say the blessing of

“the good and the beneficent”

in the blessing of the food.

“The good,” because they did not decompose.

“And the beneficent,” because they were given burial.

And therefore they rejoiced on that day, because they merited burial and did not decompose.

Rabba and Rav Yosef both said: The day on which they stop chopping wood for the arrangement on the altar.

As below; and they rejoiced because they had completed this important mitzva.

The Gemara brings the source for the fact that they would stop chopping wood for the arrangement on the altar on the fifteenth of Av:

It was taught in a baraita: Rabbi Eliezer the Great says: Once the fifteenth of Av arrived, the strength of the sun weakened ,

and

it no longer dried the wood sufficiently; moisture remained in it, which produces smoke, and worms; and therefore they again

would not chop wood for the arrangement on the altar.

Rav Menashe said: And they called it “the day of the breaking of the axe.”

That is, the day of the breaking of the axes, for there was no further need for them to chop wood.

From then onward,

since the day grows shorter, whoever

adds

to his study at night

will add

to the length of his days.

And whoever

does not add, will be cut off.

What is “will be cut off”?

Rav Yosef taught: His mother will bury him.

That is, he will die in the middle of his days, may the Merciful One spare us.

The Sages taught

Seven

men

spanned

[that is, surrounded]

the entire world: Methuselah saw

the

first Adam

.

Shem saw

the

Methuselah.

Jacob saw Shem.

Amram

the father of Moses

saw Jacob.

Ahijah the Shilonite saw Amram.

Elijah saw Ahijah the Shilonite.

And he still exists.

It follows that these seven men spanned the world from its beginning to its end.

And the Gemara raises an objection: But

did Ahijah the Shilonite see Amram?

But it is written

concerning those who left Egypt,

“And no man remained of them, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun,”

and Ahijah the Shilonite was among those who left Egypt?

Rav Hamnuna said: The decree was not issued against the tribe of Levi.

As it is written: “In this wilderness shall your carcasses fall, and all your counted ones, according to all your number, from twenty years old and upward.”

Whoever was counted from twenty years old—excluding the tribe of Levi, whose counted ones were from thirty years old.

And the Gemara raises an objection: But

did no one from the other tribes enter

[did no additional people from the other tribes enter the Land apart from Joshua and Caleb]?!

But it was taught in a baraita: Jair the son of Manasseh and Machir the son of Manasseh were born in the days of Jacob, and did not die until Israel entered the Land.

As it is stated: “And of them the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men.”

And it was taught in a baraita: Thirty-six literally—these are the words of Rabbi Judah.

Rabbi Nehemiah said to him: Is “thirty-six” stated? But it is stated only “about thirty-six”!

Rather, this is Jair the son of Manasseh, who was equivalent to the majority of the Sanhedrin.

It follows that Jair the son of Manasseh entered the Land even though he was born in the wilderness, and he was not from the tribe of Levi?

Rather, Rav Aha bar Yaakov said: The decree was issued neither against one younger than twenty nor against one older than sixty.

Not against one younger than twenty, as it is written: “From twenty years old and upward.”

And not against one older than sixty: he derives “and upward”

stated here from

“and upward”

sta

ted

in

Arakhin.

Just as there, one older than sixty is like one younger than twenty, so here, one older than sixty is like one younger than twenty.

The Gemara returns to discuss how the Land was divided:

It was asked of them,

[the members of the academy were uncertain]: whether

the Land of Israel was divided according to the tribes,

that is, it was divided into twelve equal portions, and afterward each tribe divided its inheritance according to its people,

or perhaps according to

the

heads of men it was divided,

and all were equal in the division ?