Bava Batra 74b (עד:) — the Talmud in English

He descended

a diver

[diver]

to bring it, and the shark was startled and became agitated and sought to tear apart his thighs; he cast a flask of vinegar, and he descended.

[A diver descended into the water in order to bring the chest; the shark was startled and became agitated

and sought to cut the diver’s thighs; the diver cast a flask of vinegar, drove the shark away by means of the smell of the vinegar, and continued on his way toward the chest].

A Divine Voice emerged and said to us: What have you to do with the chest of the wife of Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa,

for she is destined to place tekhelet in it for the righteous in the World-to-Come.

[A Divine Voice emerged and said to us: What have you to do with the chest of the wife of Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa, in which she is destined to conceal threads of tekhelet for the mitzva of tzitzit,

for the garments of the righteous in the World-to-Come] .

4.

Rav Yehuda of Cush related: Once, we were traveling in a ship, and we saw a certain precious stone in the water, around which a dragon was circling.

A diver descended into the water to bring that precious stone; that dragon became frightened and agitated and sought to swallow the ship.

[Rav Yehuda of the land of Cush related: Once, we were traveling in a ship, and we saw a precious stone in the water, around which a dragon was circling].

A diver descended to bring it. That dragon came, became agitated, and sought to swallow the ship.

[A diver descended into the water to bring that precious stone. That dragon became startled and agitated and sought to swallow the ship].

A female raven came

[female raven]

and severed its head,

cutting off the dragon’s head; and from the abundance of blood

the water changed and became blood.

The dragon’s mate came,

the dragon’s companion came,

took it,

took the precious stone,

and hung it on him,

hanging it on the wounded dragon,

and he revived,

the wounded dragon revived through that precious stone.

He came again and sought to swallow the ship; a bird came again and severed his head.

[The dragon returned and sought to swallow the ship, and a bird came again and severed his head].

They took that precious stone, threw it into the ship, and there were these birds salted with us. They placed it upon them; they took it and flew away with it.

[The people of the ship took the precious stone and threw it into the ship. There were birds on the ship which, after being slaughtered, had been salted so that they would be preserved; they placed

the stone upon them to test whether the birds would indeed revive. The birds arose, took the stone with them, and flew away].

The Sages taught: There was an incident involving Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua, who were coming,

traveling,

in a ship, and Rabbi Eliezer was sleeping while Rabbi Yehoshua was awake.

Rabbi Yehoshua was shaken,

startled and frightened,

and Rabbi Eliezer awoke.

He said to him,

Rabbi Eliezer to Rabbi Yehoshua:

What is this,

Yehoshua? Why were you shaken?

He said to him,

Rabbi Yehoshua to Rabbi Eliezer:

I saw a great light in the sea,

and I was startled.

He said to him,

Rabbi Eliezer to Rabbi Yehoshua:

Perhaps

it is possible that

you saw the eyes of the Leviathan;

for the eyes of the Leviathan shine exceedingly brightly,

as it is written

about the Leviathan [Job 41:10]:

“His eyes”

shine and radiate

like the eyelids of dawn.

Rav Ashi said: He said,

related,

to me: Huna bar Natan said: Once we were traveling in the desert,

once we went through the desert.

And we had a thigh

[thigh]

of meat with us. We opened,

the thigh,

and removed,

the fat and the sciatic nerve in it,

and placed it on the grass. When we brought wood,

to roast the thigh

, the thigh healed,

the cuts in the thigh joined together,

and we roasted it.

[We had a thigh of an animal in our possession. We opened it and removed the fat and the sciatic nerve in it, and placed it upon grass until we brought wood to roast the thigh. The cuts in the thigh joined and adhered to one another, and we roasted it].

When we returned there after twelve months, we saw those embers

coals,

which were still glowing.

[When we returned to that place after twelve months, we saw the coals that had remained from the wood upon which we had roasted the thigh, and behold, they were still “whispering,” and the fire within them had not been entirely extinguished].

When I came before Ameimar

and related this incident to him,

he said to me: That grass

upon which you placed the cut thigh

was samtheri,

a grass that joins cuts in flesh.

And

those coals

whose fire had not gone out, despite twelve months having passed over them—coals

of the ritema tree they were,

which do not go out until a long time has passed.

It is stated in the Torah [Genesis 1:21]:

“And God created the great sea creatures”; here,

in Babylonia,

they translated

and interpreted this verse: The great sea creatures are

sea re’emim—“wild oxen” of the sea

—“wild oxen” in the sea.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: This is the Leviathan “the crooked serpent” and the Leviathan “the twisting serpent,”

the great sea creatures are the male Leviathan and the female Leviathan. The male Leviathan is erect and straight like a bar, while the female encircles the entire world.

These creatures were already mentioned in Scripture,

as it is stated

[Isaiah 27:1]:

“On that day, the Lord will punish with His harsh

and great and mighty sword the Leviathan, the crooked serpent, and the Leviathan, the twisting serpent, and He will slay the dragon that is in the sea.”

A mnemonic

for Rav Yehuda’s three statements in the name of Rav:

kol, sha’a, Yarden.

The Maharsha wrote: Know that we must believe all these matters according to their plain sense, and that these statements do not depart from their literal meaning. [Although they certainly also allude to profound matters].

a.

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: Everything

that the Holy One, blessed be He, created in His world, He created male and female.

And the Leviathan, the crooked serpent, and the Leviathan, the twisting serpent, He created male and female

the Holy One, blessed be He, from the outset.

And had it not been that,

if these Leviathans

mated with one another

and produced offspring, offspring would have been born to them, large and numerous, which would have

destroyed

the

entire world.

What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do?

He castrated the male,

so that he would not mate with the other fish in the sea,

and He killed

the

female

so that she would not become pregnant from the other fish in the sea

, and He salted her,

salting her flesh so that it would be preserved

for

the meal of the

righteous in the future.

As it is stated

[Isaiah 27:1]: “On that day the Lord will punish with His harsh and great and mighty sword the Leviathan, the crooked serpent, and the Leviathan, the twisting serpent,

and He will slay the dragon that is in the sea.”

And thus this verse is interpreted: In the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will punish and kill the male Leviathan—the crooked serpent—as He did to the female Leviathan—the twisting serpent—for He killed the dragon, the female, that is in the sea.

It is stated in Psalms [50:10]: “For every beast of the forest is Mine, the Behemoth on a thousand mountains. I know every bird of the mountains, and the moving creature of the field is with Me.” The Sages interpreted this “Behemoth” as the wild ox, which feeds each day on the pasture of a thousand mountains.

And also “the Behemoth on a thousand mountains,” He created male and female

the Holy One, blessed be He.

And had it not been that,

if they had

mated with one another,

engaging in intercourse and producing many offspring, as large as themselves, they would have

destroyed the entire world.

What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do?

He castrated

the

male

so that he would be unable to reproduce with any animal,

and He cooled

the desire of

the female

so that she would not desire any male,

and preserved her for the righteous in the future.

As it is stated [Job 40:15–16]: “Behold now Behemoth, which I made with you; he eats grass like an ox. Behold now, his strength is in his loins, and his power is in the muscles of his belly.”

“Behold now, his strength is in his loins”—this is

the

male

who never emitted seed in his lifetime.

“And his power is in the muscles of his belly”—this is

the

female

who never gave birth in her lifetime.

And we challenge this:

There as well,

with regard to the Leviathan,

let Him castrate the male and cool the female,

just as the Holy One, blessed be He, did with the “Behemoth”!

And we answer:

Fish are uninhibited;

they are more unrestrained in their desire than animals, and cooling the female would not help, for even if they cooled the female, she would mate with the male. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, killed her.

And we challenge: Why did the Holy One, blessed be He, castrate the male and kill the female?

Let Him do the reverse,

killing the male and castrating the female!?

And we answer:

Alternatively, the salted female is preferable:

more choice than if they were to salt the male.

And

alternatively: since it is written [Psalms 104:28]:

Psalms 104:28:

“This Leviathan You formed to frolic with,”

and it is stated concerning the Leviathan [Job 40:29]: “Will you play with it like a bird?” Therefore, He killed the female and left the male, because

together with [that is,

together with]

a female, it is not proper

to be with the Divine Presence.

And we wonder: Why did the Holy One, blessed be He, cool the female “Behemoth”?

Here too, He should have salted the female,

as He did with the female Leviathan; what purpose is there in keeping her alive and cooling her!?

And we answer:

Salted fish is preferable; salted meat is not preferable:

salted fish is choice, whereas salted meat is not choice. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, preserved the female “Behemoth” for the righteous in the future, and did not kill her in order to preserve her through salting. b.

And Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: When the Holy One, blessed be He, sought to create the world, He said to the prince of the sea: “Open your mouth and swallow all the waters in the world,”

so that all the waters would gather within the area of the sea and the dry land would appear.

The prince

of the sea

said before Him,

before the Holy One, blessed be He:

“Master of the Universe: it is enough

with this

that

I swallow the waters in the area of the sea and

remain with my own.”

Immediately,

when the prince of the sea did not fulfill the command of the Omnipresent,

He struck him

the Holy One, blessed be He,

and killed him, as it is stated [Job 26:12]:

“By His power He stilled

“By His power He stilled

[that is, broke]

the sea, and by His understanding He crushed Rahab.”

Rabbi Yitzhak said: Learn from this that the name of the prince of the sea was “Rahab,”

as it is stated in that same verse: “And by His understanding He crushed Rahab.”

And were it not that

the

waters

returned and

covered him,

the deceased prince of the sea,

no creature could withstand

his

odor,

for a corpse stinks, and the stench of the dead prince of the sea would be especially foul, and no creature could endure its odor.

As it is stated: [Isaiah 11:9]:

Isaiah 11:9:

“They shall neither harm nor destroy throughout My holy mountain, etc., as the waters cover the sea.”

It is impossible to interpret the verse according to its plain meaning, for the sea itself is water; how, then, can Scripture say that water covers the sea!?

Rather, you are compelled to say:

Do not read: “cover the sea”

according to its plain meaning,

but rather: “cover the prince of the sea”;

the water

covers him.

c.

And Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav:

The

Jordan emerges,

at its source,

from

the spring in

the Cave of Paneas [

a place in the north of the Land of Israel].

It was taught

in a beraita

also thus,

in accordance with Rav’s statement:

The Jordan emerges from the Cave of Paneas

and flows

and proceeds,

passing

through the Sea of Sibkhi and

likewise

through the Sea of Tiberias

and rolls downward

until it arrives

at the Great Sea.

And the Jordan rolls

and

descends until it

reaches

the mouth of the Leviathan, as it is stated [

Job 40:23]: “

He is confident, for the Jordan surges into his mouth.”

The Gemara initially understood that this is what Scripture says: The Leviathan is confident because the Jordan flows and enters into his mouth.

Therefore,

Rava bar Ulla challenged this:

Is this verse speaking about the Leviathan!? After all,

this

verse

is written concerning the “Behemoth on a thousand mountains”!

Rather, Rava bar Ulla said:

This is what Scripture says: “He is confident”;

when is the “Behemoth on a thousand mountains” confident

that it will not die? “When the Jordan surges into the mouth” of the Leviathan;

during the time

that is, as long as

the Jordan surges into the mouth of the Leviathan.

And consequently you learn from it: The Jordan rolls and descends until it reaches the mouth of the Leviathan, in accordance with the beraita.

It follows that you can learn from this: The Jordan rolls and descends until it reaches the mouth of the Leviathan, in accordance with the beraita. [

Mnemonic

for the three statements said by Rav Dimi:

seas, Gabriel, famine].

a.

When Rav Dimi came

from the Land of Israel,

he said

in the name of

Rabbi Yohanan: What is the meaning of that which is written [

Psalms 24:1–2]: “Of David, a psalm. To the Lord belongs the earth [the Land of Israel] and all that fills it, the world and those who dwell in it [in the other lands].

For He founded it upon seas

[the Land of Israel],

and established it upon rivers”;

which seas are these, and which rivers are these?

These are seven seas and four rivers that surround

and encircle

the Land of Israel.

And these are the seven seas

that surround the Land of Israel:

the Sea of Tiberias, the Sea of Sodom, the Sea of Hailat, the Sea of Hailata, the Sea of Sibkhi, the Sea of Aspamia,

And these are the four rivers

and the Great Sea.

And these are the four rivers

that surround the Land of Israel: the

Jordan, and

the

Yarmuk, and

the river

Kirmiyon, and

the river

Piga.