Bava Batra 121b (קכא:) — the Talmud in English

For the Master said: Until the generation of the wilderness had died out

there was no speech with Moses

face to face as at first; rather, when he needed to speak, He spoke through an angel or by means of the Urim VeTummim.

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

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

[that is, the guards]

whom Jeroboam had stationed along the roads so that the Israelites would not ascend for the pilgrimage festival.

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

As Rav Mattana said: On the very day that the slain of Betar were given burial, they instituted in Yavne

the recitation of the blessing of

“Who is good and bestows good”

in Birkat HaMazon.

“Who is good,” because they did not decompose.

“And bestows good,” because they were given burial.

Therefore, they rejoiced on that day, because they had merited burial and the bodies had not decomposed.

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

As explained below, they rejoiced that 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 fifteenth of Av:

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

and

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

did not chop wood for the arrangement.

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

That is, the day when the axes were broken, since there was no longer any need to chop wood.

From this point onward,

since the day grows shorter, whoever

adds

to his study at night

will add

to his days.

But whoever

does not add will be cut off.

What does “will be cut off” mean?

Rav Yosef taught: His mother will bury him.

That is, he will die in the middle of his life, may I be forgiven for saying so.

The Sages taught

Seven

men

spanned

the entire world [that is, surrounded it]:

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.

The Gemara raises an objection: Did

Ahijah the Shilonite see Amram?

But it is written

regarding those who left Egypt,

“And there was not a man left of them, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun,”

and Ahijah the Shilonite was one of those who left Egypt?

Rav Hamnuna said: The decree was not imposed upon the tribe of Levi.

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

Anyone whose counting was from twenty years old was included; this excludes the tribe of Levi, whose counting was from thirty years old.

The Gemara raises an objection: Were there

none from the other tribes who entered

[that is, did no additional people from the other tribes besides Joshua and Caleb enter the Land]?!

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 they did not die until Israel entered the Land.

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

And it was taught in a baraita: Thirty-six literally; this is the statement of Rabbi Judah.

Rabbi Nehemiah said to him: Is “thirty-six” stated? Is it not stated only as “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 Aḥa bar Yaakov said: The decree was imposed neither upon one younger than twenty nor upon one older than sixty.

It was not imposed upon one younger than twenty, as it is written: “From twenty years old and upward.”

And it was not imposed upon one older than sixty: He derives the term “and upward”

stated here from

“and upward”

stated

in

the passage

of valuations.

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 apportioned:

They raised a dilemma

[the scholars of the academy were uncertain]: Was

the Land of Israel apportioned among the tribes,

that is, was it divided into twelve equal portions, after which each tribe divided its inheritance according to its members,

or perhaps according

to

the number of men, was it apportioned,

so that everyone received an equal share ?