Bava Batra 74b — the Talmud in English

A diver descended ![](pamud.bmp "

exact position on the page")

a bar amora

diver

to bring it, and the shark was frightened and agitated and sought to cut off his thigh, so he threw a wineskin of vinegar, and descended.

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

and sought to cut the diver’s thigh; the diver threw a wineskin of vinegar, drove away the shark by means of the smell of the vinegar, and continued on his way to the chest].

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

which is destined to place sky-blue wool 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 Hanina ben Dosa, who is destined to conceal in it threads of sky-blue wool for the mitzva of tzitzit,

for the cloaks of the righteous in the World to Come ].

4.

Rav Judah of India related: Once, we were traveling in a ship, and we saw a certain precious stone 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 bird came

a female raven

and cut off its head,

she cut off the dragon’s head, and from the abundance of the blood

the water changed and became blood.

The dragon’s companion came,

the dragon’s companion came,

took it,

took the precious stone,

and hung it on him,

and hung it on the wounded dragon,

and he lived,

the wounded dragon lived through that precious stone.

He returned and sought to swallow the ship; the bird returned and cut off his head.

The dragon returned and sought to swallow the ship, and again a bird came and cut off his head.

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

The people of the ship took the precious stone and cast it into the ship; there were birds in the ship which, after they had been slaughtered, had been salted so that they would endure, and they placed

the stone upon them to test whether the birds would indeed live again; the birds revived, took the stone with them, and flew away].

The Sages taught: An incident involving Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Joshua, who were coming,

traveling,

on a ship; Rabbi Eliezer was sleeping and Rabbi Joshua was awake.

Rabbi Joshua was shaken,

frightened and startled,

and Rabbi Eliezer awoke.

He said to him,

Rabbi Eliezer to Rabbi Joshua:

What is this,

Joshua? Why were you shaken?

He said to him,

Rabbi Joshua to Rabbi Eliezer:

I saw a great luminary in the sea,

and I was frightened.

He said to him,

Rabbi Eliezer to Rabbi Joshua:

Perhaps,

it may be that

you saw the eyes of the Leviathan;

for the eyes of the Leviathan shine exceedingly,

as it is written concerning the Leviathan, [Job 41:10]:

about the Leviathan [Job 41:10]:

His eyes,

shining and giving light

like the eyelids of dawn.

Rav Ashi said: Huna bar Nathan said,

related,

to me: Once we were traveling in the desert,

once we traveled in 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 grass until we brought wood,

to roast the thigh

; the cuts of the thigh joined together,

the cuts of the thigh joined together,

and we roasted it.

We had under our hand a thigh of an animal; we opened it and removed the fat and the sciatic nerve in it, and placed it upon grass until we brought wood in order to roast the thigh; the cuts of the thigh joined and adhered, and we roasted it.

When we returned after twelve months, we saw those coals,

coals,

which were whispering.

When we returned to that place, after twelve months, we saw those coals that 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 completely extinguished.

When I came before Ameimar

and related this incident before him,

he said to me: That grass,

upon which you placed the cut thigh —

was samteri,

which is 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 ritema they were,

which are extinguished only after a long time.

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

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

in Babylonia,

they translated

and explained this verse: the great sea creatures are

the arzilei of the sea — “

wild oxen of the sea.”

Rabbi Yohanan said: This is the Leviathan, “the fleeing serpent,” and the Leviathan, “the crooked serpent”,

the great sea creatures are the male Leviathan and the female Leviathan; the male Leviathan is upright and straight like a bar, and the female encircles the entire world.

These creatures have already been mentioned in Scripture,

as it is stated [Isaiah 27:1]:

Isaiah 27:1:

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

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

A mnemonic

for three statements of Rav Judah in the name of Rav:

“all,” “hour,” “Jordan.”

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

A.

Rav Judah said in the name of Rav: Everything

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

And also the Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and the Leviathan, the crooked serpent: He created them male and female

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

And had it not been that,

if these Leviathans

mated with one another

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

destroyed

the

entire world.

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

He castrated the male,

so that it would not mate with the other fish of the sea,

and He killed

the

female

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

, and He salted her,

He salted her flesh so that it would endure

for the

the meal of the

righteous in the future.

As it is stated [Isaiah 27:1]:

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

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

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

In Psalms [50:10] it is stated: “For every animal of the forest is Mine, the Behemot upon a thousand mountains. I know every bird of the mountains, and the creature of the field is with Me.” And the Sages explained that this “Behemot” is the wild ox, which is nourished each day by the pasture of a thousand mountains.

And also “Behemot upon a thousand mountains”: He created it male and female

the Holy One, blessed is He.

And had it not been that,

if they had

mated with one another,

engaged with one another and produced many offspring, as large as themselves, they would have

destroyed the entire world.

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

He castrated

the

male

so that it could not produce offspring from 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]:

Job 40:15–16: “Behold now Behemot, which I made with you; it eats grass like an ox. Behold now its strength is in its loins, and its power in the muscles of its belly.”

“Behold now its strength is in its loins”: this is

the

male

that has never emitted seed in its life.

“And its power in the muscles of its belly”: this is

the

female

that has never given birth in its life.

And we raise a difficulty:

There too,

with regard to the Leviathan,

let Him castrate the male and cool the female,

just as the Holy One, blessed is He, did to “Behemot”

?! And we answer:

Fish are licentious,

they are more unrestrained in their desire than Behemot, and cooling will not help them, for even if He cooled the female, she would mate with the male; therefore the Holy One, blessed is He, killed her.

And we raise a difficulty: Why did the Holy One, blessed is He, castrate the male and kill the female,

and let Him do the opposite,

kill the male and castrate the female

?! And we answer:

If you wish, say: a salted female is superior:

more choice than if they were to salt the male.

And

if you wish, say: since it is written [Psalms 104:28]:

Psalms 104:28:

“Leviathan, which You created to sport with,”

and it was said concerning the Leviathan [Job 40:29]: “Will you sport with it as with a bird?” Therefore He killed the female and left the male, because

together with

together with

a female, it is not proper conduct

to be with the Shekhinah.

And we raise a difficulty: Why did the Holy One, blessed is He, cool the female “Behemoth”?

Here too, let Him salt the female

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

And we answer:

salted fish is superior, salted meat is not superior

Salted fish is choice, salted meat is not choice. Therefore the Holy One, blessed is 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 is He, wished to create the world, He said to the minister of the sea: Open your mouth and swallow all the waters of the world

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

The minister of the sea said

the minister of the sea

before Him

before the Holy One, blessed is He:

Master of the world: enough

of this

that

I shall swallow the waters in the area of the sea and

remain with my own.

Immediately,

when the minister of the sea did not carry out the command of the Omnipresent,

He kicked him

the Holy One, blessed is He,

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

Job 26:12:

“By His power He stilled

[He broke]

the sea, and by His understanding He struck down Rahab.”

Rabbi Yitzhak said: Learn from this: the name of the minister of the sea is “Rahab”

as it is said in that same verse, “and by His understanding He struck down Rahab.”

And had it not been that

the

waters

returned and

covered him,

the dead minister of the sea,

no creature could endure

before

his smell

for the dead stinks, and the smell of the stench of the dead minister of the sea would stink exceedingly, and no creature would be able to endure his smell.

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

Isaiah 11:9:

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

And it is impossible to interpret the verse according to its plain meaning, for the sea itself is water, so how did Scripture say that water covers the sea!?

Rather, necessarily,

do not read: “cover the sea”

according to its plain meaning,

but rather, “the minister of the sea”

the water

covers.

c.

And Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav:

The river

Jordan issues

at its beginning

from

the spring in

the cave of Pamyas

a place-name in the north of the Land of Israel.

It was taught

in a beraita

also thus,

in accordance with Rav’s statement:

The Jordan issues from the cave of Pamyas

and flows

and travels,

passes,

in the sea of Sibkhai and

so

in the sea of Tiberias

and rolls and descends

until it reaches

the Great Sea.

And it rolls

the Jordan

and descends until

it

reaches the mouth of Leviathan, as it is stated [Job 40:23]: “

Job 40:23:

He trusts that the Jordan will burst forth into his mouth.”

And the Gemara left it [understood] that this is what the verse said: The Leviathan trusts because the Jordan flows and enters into its mouth.

Therefore,

Rava bar Ulla raises an objection to it:

But does this verse speak of the Leviathan!? For

this

verse

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

Rather, Rava bar Ulla said:

Thus did Scripture say: “He trusts,”

when are “Behemoth” on a thousand mountains secure

that they will not die? “When the Jordan bursts forth into the mouth” of the Leviathan,

at the time

as long as

the Jordan bursts forth in 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.

[

Mnemonic

for the three statements that Rav Dimi said:

seas, Gabriel, hunger].

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]: “A psalm of David. To the Lord belongs the earth [the Land of Israel] and its fullness, the world and those who dwell in it [in the other lands].

For He founded it upon seas

[the Land of Israel],

and upon rivers He established it,”

which are the seas, and which are the rivers?

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 Sibkhai, the Sea of Spain,

and the Great Sea.

And these are the four rivers

and the Great Sea.

that surround the Land of Israel: the river

Jordan, and

the river

Yarmuk, and

the river

Kiromion, and

the river

Figa.

Piga.