Bava Batra 17a — the Talmud in English

The Sages taught: The Holy One, blessed be He, caused three to taste in this world ![](pamud.bmp "

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a foretaste of the World to Come; these are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob .

And the Gemara explains: From where do we know that the Holy One, blessed be He, caused

Abraham

to taste a foretaste of the World to Come?

For it is written concerning him: “

And the Lord blessed Abraham

with everything.”

And “with everything” also includes a taste of the World to Come.

And likewise,

Isaac

the Holy One, blessed be He, caused to taste a foretaste of the World to Come,

for it is written concerning him: “

And I eat

of everything.”

And likewise

Jacob, for it is written concerning him: “

And since I have

everything” .

Three were not ruled over by the evil inclination. These are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ,

as

it is

written concerning them

that they were blessed: “

with everything, from everything, and everything,”

as explained above; and since they were blessed with everything, we learn that they were also blessed with not being ruled over by the evil inclination .

And some say: Even David

the king was not ruled over by the evil inclination.

For it is written

in Psalms [Psalm 109]: “

And my heart is hollow within me.”

The evil inclination is dead within me, and behold, it is hollow [dead] within me.

And the other one,

the one who holds that the evil inclination ruled over David: How does he interpret the verse, “And my heart is hollow within me”?

He is mentioning his suffering.

King David was expressing his suffering and saying: My heart has died and become like a corpse within me, from the abundance of troubles.

The Sages taught: Six were not ruled over by the angel of death,

but died the death of a kiss according to the word of the Divine Presence ,

and these are: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

And the Gemara explains: From where do we know that the angel of death did not rule over

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?

For it is written concerning them

that they were blessed: “

with everything, from everything, and everything,”

as explained above; and from this verse we learn that all the blessing and all the honor that exist in the world rested upon them. And from this one can learn that they died the death of a kiss, for Moses, Aaron, and Miriam died the death of a kiss, as explained below; and if we say that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did not die the death of a kiss, it follows that there is an honor in the world with which they were not honored .

And from where do we know that the angel of death did not rule over

Moses, Aaron, and Miriam?

For it is written concerning them

that they died

“according to the word of the Lord,”

as it is stated concerning Aaron [Numbers 33:38]: “And Aaron the priest went up to Mount Hor according to the word of the Lord, and he died there”; and concerning Moses it is stated [Deuteronomy 34:5]: “And Moses, servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab according to the word of the Lord.”

And we raise an objection:

But concerning Miriam it is not written, “according to the word of the Lord,”

and if so, from where do you learn that she died by a kiss?

Rabbi Elazar said: Miriam also died by a kiss, for it is derived

by means of a gzera shava

“there, there,” from Moses.

For concerning the death of Moses it is stated, “And Moses died there,” and likewise concerning the death of Miriam it is stated [Numbers 20:1], “And Miriam died there”; and from this we learn: Just as Moses died by a kiss, so Miriam died by a kiss.

And

if you ask,

Why was it not said concerning her

in the case of Miriam that she died by a kiss

“according to the word of the Lord”?

Your answer is:

Because it is disgraceful to say

about a woman that she died by a kiss according to the word of the Lord.

The Sages taught: Seven were not ruled over by worms and maggots

after their deaths,

and these are: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; Moses, Aaron, and Miriam; and Benjamin son of Jacob .

And the Gemara explains: From where do we know that worms and maggots did not rule over

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? For it is written

concerning them

that they were blessed

with everything, from everything, and everything.

And included in this is the blessing that worms would not rule over them.

And likewise worms did not rule over

Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, for it is written

concerning them

that their death was

“according to the word of the Lord,”

and it was explained above that they died the death of a kiss; from here, that worms did not rule over them, for the worm comes from the bitter drop that drips from the knife of the angel of death, as is explained in tractate Avoda Zara [20b]: From that drop a person dies, and from that drop he also stinks, and from it his face turns green. But they died by a kiss and not through the angel of death, and therefore worms and maggots did not rule over them .

And from where do we know that worms and maggots did not rule over

Benjamin son of Jacob? For it is written: “

And concerning Benjamin he said: The beloved of the Lord shall dwell

securely beside him.”

And this is how they expound the verse: Benjamin shall dwell securely when he is adjacent to the affection of the Divine Presence .

And some say: Even David

was not ruled over by worms and maggots,

for it is written

in Psalms [Psalm 16]: “

Even my flesh shall dwell securely.”

And the other one,

the one who does not derive from this verse that worms and maggots did not rule over David: How does he interpret the verse?

That one: He is requesting mercy.

In this verse David requested mercy that worms and maggots should not rule over him, but there is no proof from here that his prayer was accepted.

The Sages taught: Four

men were altogether not fit to die, because they had never sinned, and

died

only

because of the serpent,

because of the curse with which the Holy One, blessed be He, cursed the offspring of the man who listened to the counsel of the serpent, and at that time death was decreed upon the world.

And these are: Benjamin son of Jacob; Amram, the father of Moses; Jesse, the father of David; and Chileab, son of David.

And all of them,

all those listed above, have no source in the verses that they died only because of the serpent; rather,

it is a tradition,

it is received by us that there was no sin in their hands and that they died because of the serpent,

apart from Jesse, the father of David, concerning whom it is explained

in the verse

that he died only because of the serpent,

for it is written: “

And he placed Amasa there, Absalom’s son, in place of Joab over the army. And Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Ithra the Israelite, who came to Abigail, daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, the mother of Joab.”

And this verse requires explanation:

But is

Abigail

the daughter of Nahash?

But surely she is the daughter of Jesse, for it is written

in Chronicles, where the verse lists the sons of Jesse and adds: “

And their sisters, Zeruiah and Abigail.”

It follows that Abigail was the daughter of Jesse.

Rather,

the verse means to say that Abigail was the

daughter

of

one who died because of the serpent.

And from here, that Jesse died because of the serpent.

We shall return to you, chapter “The Partners.”

One who has a courtyard or a field adjacent to the courtyard or field of his fellow may not dig a pit adjacent to the boundary that separates his domain from his fellow’s domain, because by doing so he damages his fellow’s pit, which he dug within his domain.

And the Gemara explains in what manner this prohibition applies: whether when he comes to dig after the other has already dug, or even when the other has not yet dug, since he has the possibility of digging, or whether the prohibition applies when both of them come to dig at the same time.

Mishna:

A person may not dig a pit

in his own property,

adjacent to his fellow’s pit

which is located in his fellow’s property.

And not

dig

a ditch,

a long or short excavation [a “ditch” is like a pit, except that a “pit” is round, whereas a “ditch” is long and narrow],

and not a cave,

square and covered with roofing,

and not

shall he convey adjacent to his fellow’s pit the

water channel,

a trench in the ground through which water flows from the water source around the field, and from field to field,

and not

shall he make

a laundry pool,

a square excavation made in the ground into which rainwater gathers, and in which clothes are washed.

Unless:

a.

He distanced

the digging of his pit

three handbreadths from his fellow’s wall.

And it is explained in the Gemara that he must distance his pit by a distance of three handbreadths from the wall of his fellow’s pit, and not only from the hollow of the pit itself. And since the thickness of the wall of a pit is three handbreadths, it follows that he must distance himself six handbreadths from the hollow of his fellow’s pit: namely, the distance of three handbreadths of the wall of his own pit, plus the additional distance of three handbreadths of the wall of his fellow’s pit.

b.

And plaster it with plaster,

he must plaster the walls of his pit from within, because the plaster prevents the water in his pit from seeping through the walls into his fellow’s pit.

The reason for distancing and plastering the pit is because of “moisture,” the dampness of the water in the pit, which seeps through and causes damage to the walls of his fellow’s pit.

And now the law of distancing things that damage the walls of houses is explained in the Mishna: a person must distance them, within his own property, from his fellow’s walls [and from those located in his fellow’s property].

And one distances olive refuse,

the waste of olives after they have been crushed and pressed in the olive press; and when this waste is gathered together, it produces a very great amount of heat, and the heat can damage the walls adjacent to it.

And

one distances

manure, salt, plaster, and flint stones,

stones of fire, from which fire emerges,

from his fellow’s wall, three handbreadths, and plaster it with plaster.

Here we are speaking of a brick wall built upon the ground, and not of a pit wall in the ground. And the reason that one must distance all these things from his fellow’s wall is that they give off vapor, meaning heat, which damages the wall.

One distances seeds, the plow, and urine from the wall three handbreadths.

All these damage the wall. The seeds, by spreading out, and their roots loosen the wall.

And the plow damages when it is struck, for the blows loosen the wall. And urine dissolves the bricks in the wall.

And one distances millstones

from the wall

three

handbreadths

from the lower millstone, which are four from the upper millstone.

The shaking of the millstones shakes the ground and thereby loosens the foundations of the wall. And millstones are constructed of two parts, lower and upper. The lower one is wider by one handbreadth on every side than the upper one, which “rides” upon it. One must distance the lower one three handbreadths from the wall, and it then follows that he distances the upper one four handbreadths from the wall. And the reason is that the upper one causes the damage, by being rolled, and through the force of the impact it shakes the ground beneath the wall; therefore the upper part of the millstones must be distanced four handbreadths from the wall.

And the oven

is distanced from the wall

three from the base, which are four from the rim,

since the heat of the oven damages the wall.

The oven too is built of two parts: its lower part is called the “base,” and it serves as the foundation for its upper part, which is the main oven. The base exceeds the upper oven in width by one handbreadth on every side.

The base itself is made on a slope, wide below and narrow above, according to the measure of the oven. And one must distance four handbreadths from the oven. Therefore he must distance three from the base, and by doing so he distances four handbreadths from the rim, which is the body of the oven.