Bava Metzia 83b (פג:) — the Talmud in English

The time spent by a

worker

walking to his place of work and from there to his home is divided:

When he enters,

when he finishes his work at the end of the day and enters the city from the field, he must do so

at his own expense,

on his own time. That is, he must finish his work when the stars emerge, which is the end of the workers’ workday, whereas the time spent walking home is at his own expense. Returning home is not for the employer’s needs but for his own, and therefore he may not deduct from the employer’s time for this purpose.

But

when he goes out,

when he goes out to his work in the morning, he may do so

at the employer’s expense,

on the employer’s time: the worker may leave his home for the field only at sunrise, which is already the beginning of the workday. Since the walk is for the employer’s needs, he may perform it at the employer’s expense.

As it is stated

in Psalms [104:22–23]: “

The sun rises,

they gather in [the animals],

and they lie down in their dens.

And then,

man goes out to his work and to his labor until evening.”

Thus, a person goes out to his work only at sunrise and works until darkness.

We raise a difficulty: What relevance is there at all to establishing a halakhic ruling concerning the workers’ work hours?

“Let us see how the custom is practiced!”

Let us examine the local custom and follow it, as we learned in our Mishna: “Everything follows the custom of the country”!

And we answer: Reish Lakish came to establish the halakha

in a new city,

where no custom had yet been established concerning the workers’ hours.

But the Gemara still asks:

“Let us see from where they came!”

Let us determine where most of the residents of this new city came from and follow the custom of that place? And we answer:

They were gathered from various places.

They had not all come from one place; rather, they had assembled from many places with different customs. Therefore, nothing remained but to follow what is implied by the verse in Psalms.

Alternatively,

this halakha concerns a case

in which he said to them,

the employer said to his workers:

“Let yourselves be hired by me,

I want you to be hired by me

as a worker according to Torah law,

according to what is proper under Torah law, rather than according to the custom.”

Rabbi Zeira taught, and some say

that they say

that Rav Yosef taught: What is the meaning of that which is written [

Psalms 104:20]: “

You appoint darkness and it becomes night; in it every beast of the forest creeps forth

”? This is expounded as follows: “

You appoint darkness and it becomes night”—

this is this world, which resembles night. “

“

In it every beast of the forest creeps forth”—

these are the wicked who are in it,

in this world,

who resemble the beast of the forest,

for Heaven allows them to conduct themselves wickedly in this world without punishing them. “

The sun rises; they gather in, and they lie down in their dens.” “

The sun rises”—

for the righteous

in the World-to-Come. “

They gather in”—

the wicked to Gehinnom. “

And they lie down in their dens”

[the righteous]—

there is no righteous person who does not have a dwelling according to his honor. “

“

Man goes out to his work”—

the righteous go out to receive their reward.

Which righteous? “

And to his labor until evening”—

the one who completed his labor until evening,

until the day of his death.

Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, encountered a certain government official who was apprehending thieves.

He met a man who had been appointed by the king to search for thieves and apprehend them.

Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, said to him:

Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon asked him:

“How can you overcome them?

How are you able to discern the thieves’ schemes? Are they not

like beasts?

They are compared to animals that hide during the day in concealed places,

as it is written: “

In it every beast of the forest creeps forth”?

Some say: He said this to him from this verse,

Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, cited to him this verse [Psalms 10:9]: “

He lurks in concealment like a lion in his den,

” for thieves lie in ambush in secret, making them difficult to apprehend.

And if so,

perhaps you have apprehended the righteous and left the wicked.

Perhaps those whom you apprehend are righteous, while you are altogether unable to apprehend the thieves?

The official said to him:

The official replied:

“What can I do?

What am I to do?

It is the king’s command!”

For I have been commanded to do so by the king.

Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, said to him:

Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon replied:

“Come, I will teach you what to do!”

Come and I will teach you how to conduct yourself.

“Enter the shops at the fourth hour,

enter the shops at the fourth hour of the day, when it is mealtime and everyone enters the shops to eat.

When you see a person drinking wine,

if you see a person drinking wine,

holding his cup in his hand and dozing,

holding the cup in his hand while dozing,

ask about him,

ask who he is.

If he is a Torah scholar and is sleeping,

if he is a Torah scholar, then he is dozing because

he rose early to study his learning.

He rose while it was still night to study Torah.

If he is a worker,

if he is a day laborer, he is dozing because

he rose early and did his work,

having risen early for his labor.

And if his work is performed at night,

if they tell you that he works at night, nevertheless you need not suspect him of being a thief, even if no sound of work is heard from his house at night, for perhaps

he is drawing out wire,

engaged in making needles from copper and iron wire, a craft that makes no noise at all.

And if not,

if he is none of these,

he is a thief,

and apprehend him!

This is an indication that he is a thief: he is awake at night in order to ambush travelers or break into houses. You must apprehend him.

The matter became known in the king’s court.

Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon’s, advice reached the king’s court.

They said

from the king’s court:

“The writer of the letter

shall be its messenger!”

[The one who writes the letter will also be the messenger who delivers it.] Therefore, the one who proposed the plan would also carry it out.

They brought Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon,

and appointed Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, to apprehend thieves,

and he was apprehending thieves and proceeding.

He indeed succeeded in apprehending the thieves.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korha sent him: “Vinegar, son of wine,

meaning, wicked son of a righteous man,

how long will you deliver the people of our God to execution!”

For Israelites were also among the thieves.

He sent back to him

Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon:

“I am removing thorns from the vineyard!”

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korha sent back to him

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korha:

“Let the owner of the vineyard come and remove his thorns!”

That is, the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself, who is the owner of the vineyard [as it is stated: “For the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the House of Israel”], will remove the wicked. Why should you cause them to be killed?

One day, a certain launderer encountered him.

One day, Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, met a man who was a launderer.

He called him

the launderer called Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon,

“Vinegar, son of wine!”

because he apprehended thieves.

Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, said:

Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon said:

“Since he is so brazen,

since he is so insolent,

infer from this that he is wicked!”

He said to them

the king’s men:

“Apprehend him!”

And they indeed

apprehended him

and placed him in prison.

After his anger had subsided,

afterward, when Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, had calmed down,

he went after him to free him.

He went and tried to release him from prison.

But he could not

and did not succeed.

He recited this verse about him,

Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, recited about the launderer the verse in Proverbs [21:23]: “

He who guards his mouth and his tongue guards his soul from troubles.”

For the launderer had brought this trouble upon himself by calling him “Vinegar, son of wine.”

They hanged him,

they hanged the launderer.

Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, stood beneath the gallows and wept.

Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, stood beneath the gallows tree and cried.

They said to him: “Rabbi, do not let it trouble you

that he was hanged,

for

after all,

he and his son had intercourse with a betrothed maiden on Yom Kippur!

Their punishment was stoning, and all those executed by stoning are hanged afterward. He had therefore received his punishment.

Postavil

Rabbi Elazar, syn Rabbi Shimon,

ruku na svoi vnutrennosti.

On skazal: «Raduytes, moi vnutrennosti, raduytes! I esli takovy vashi somnitelnye dela,]]

kak etot prachechnik, v kotorom ya ne byl uveren v ego nechestivosti, no poskolku on naglo vystupil protiv menya, a vposledstvii ego nechestivost otkrylas,

to tem bolee vashi opredelenno prestupnye dela,]] kak eti lyudi, dremlyushchie v lavkakh, kotorye pochti navernyaka yavlyayutsya vorami,

tem bolee

ya postupil pravilno, predav ikh vlastyam».

Ya uveren v vas

v moi vnutrennosti,

chto ni chervey, ni gniyushchikh lichinok ne vlastno nad vami!

I vse zhe ego razum ne uspokoilsya,]]

ego, Rabbi Elazara, syna Rabbi Shimon, razum vse eshche ne uspokaivalsya iz-za togo, chto on stal prichinoi smerti prachechnika.

Napoiili ego snomotvornym zeliem,]]

napoili ego usyplyayushchim zeliem,

vnesli ego v mramornyi dom,]]

i vnesli ego v dom, postroennyi iz mramora,

i vskryli ego zhivot

— vskryli emu zhivot.

Iz nego izvlekali korziny za korzinoi, polnye zhira,]]

izvlekali iz ego zhivota korziny, polnye zhira, tak kak on byl ochen tolstym,

i vystavlyali ikh na solntse,]]

kladya ikh na solntse,

v Tammuz i Av,]]

chtoby proverit, ne protukhnet li zhir i ne poyavyatsya li v nem chervi.

No zhir ne protukh!

I vozrazhaem:

Ved lyuboi zhir tozhe ne protukhaet!]]

Ved obychnyi zhir ne protukhaet, esli tolko ne nakhoditsya vmeste s myasom?

I otvechaem:

Vsyakii zhir]]

deistvitelno

ne protukhaet,]]

no

ego krasnye prozhilki,]]

krasnye prozhilki v nem, kotorye yavlyayutsya vidom myasa,

protukhayut.

Zdes zhe,]]

u Rabbi Elazara, syna Rabbi Shimon,

daже esli v zhira est krasnye prozhilki, on ne protukhaet.

On otnes k sebe

slova stikha iz Knigi Tehillim [16:9]: «

I moya plot takzhe prebyvaet v bezopasnosti»!