Bava Metzia 83b — the Talmud in English

The time taken by a

worker

to go to the workplace and from there to his home is divided:

Upon his entering,

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

from his own,

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

But

upon his leaving,

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

at the employer’s expense,

at the expense of the employer’s time, since the worker may leave his house for the field only at sunrise, which is already the beginning of the work time. Since the walking is for the employer’s needs, it is therefore permitted to do it at his expense.

As it is stated

in Psalms [104:22]: “

The sun shines,

they gather [the animals],

and to their resting places they lie down.

And then

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

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

And we raise a difficulty concerning it: What relevance is there at all to ruling the law regarding the work time of the workers?

And let us see how they are accustomed!?

Let us examine what the custom of the place is and act according to it, as we learned in our Mishna: “Everything is according to the custom of the country”!

And we answer: Reish Lakish came to rule the law

in a new city,

where a custom regarding the workers’ work time had not yet been established.

But the Gemara still asks:

And let us see from where they come?

Let us examine where most of the people of this new city came from and act according to the custom of that place? And we answer:

Among gatherers.

They did not all come from one place, but gathered from many places having different customs. Nothing remained but to act according to what is implied by the verse in Psalms.

Alternatively, if you wish, say:

This law concerns a case

in which he said to them,

the employer said to his workers:

You are hired by me,

I want you to be hired by me

as a worker according to Torah law,

as is proper to act according to the Torah, and not according to the custom.

Rabbi Zeira expounded, and some say,

some say,

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

[there, verse 20]: “

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

It 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

of this world,

who resemble the beast in the forest,

for they are allowed from Heaven to conduct themselves wickedly in this world, and they are not punished. “

The sun shines; they gather, and to their resting places they lie down.” “

The sun shines” —

for the righteous

in the World to Come. “

They gather” —

the wicked to Gehinnom. “

And to their resting places they lie down”

[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 was appointed by the king to search for thieves and apprehend them.

He said to him,

Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon said to him:

How are you able to overcome them?

How can you discover the thieves’ schemes, and are they

not like beasts?

For they are compared to beasts, which 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 said to him this verse [there, verse 19]: “

He lies in wait secretly like a lion in his den,”

for the thieves lie in ambush secretly, and it is difficult to apprehend them.

And if so,

perhaps you have taken the righteous and left the wicked.

Perhaps those whom you apprehend are righteous, while you do not succeed at all in apprehending the thieves?

He said to him,

the official said to him:

And what shall I do?

What am I to do?

It is the king’s command!

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

He said to him,

Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon said to him:

Come, I will teach you what to do,

come and I will teach you how to act!

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,

and holding his cup in his hand and dozing,

and holding the cup in his hand while dozing,

inquire 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 for his study.

For he rose while it was still night for his learning.

If he is a worker,

if he is a day laborer, he is dozing because

he rose early and did his work,

he rose early for his labor.

And if his work is at night,

if they tell you that he works at night, nevertheless you must 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 and making needles,

he is engaged in making needles from copper and iron wires, work that makes no noise at all.

And if not,

if he is not one of these,

he is a thief,

and apprehend him!

It is a sign that he is a thief: he is awake at night in order to ambush travelers or tunnel beneath houses. And you must apprehend him.

The matter became known in the king’s house,

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

They said

from the king’s palace:

The reader of the letter —

let him be the messenger!

The writer of the letter shall also be the messenger to deliver it. Therefore, he who proposed the suggestion shall also carry it out.

They brought Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon,

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

and he was apprehending a thief and going.

And he indeed succeeded in apprehending the thieves.

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

that is, a wicked son of a righteous man,

how long will you deliver the people of our God to be killed!

For Israelites were also among the thieves.

He sent to him,

Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon sent to him:

I am clearing thorns from the vineyard!

He sent to him,

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korha sent to him:

Let the owner of the vineyard come and clear his thorns!

That is, the Holy One, blessed is 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 clear away 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 the thieves.

He said,

Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon said:

Since he is so insolent,

since he is so insolent,

infer from this that he is wicked!

He said to them,

to the king’s men:

Apprehend him!

And they indeed

apprehended him

and placed him in prison.

After his anger subsided,

afterward, when Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon’s anger subsided,

he went after him to release him.

He went and tried to remove him from imprisonment.

But he could not

and did not succeed.

He recited concerning him,

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

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

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

They hanged him,

they hanged the launderer.

He stood beneath the gallows and wept.

Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon stood beneath the hanging tree and wept.

They said to him: Rabbi! Let it not pain you

that he was hanged.

For

indeed

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

Their punishment was stoning. And all those who are stoned are hanged after the stoning. Thus he received his punishment.

He placed

Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon,

his hand upon his intestines.

He said: Rejoice, my intestines, rejoice! And if your doubts are thus,

such as this launderer, concerning whose wickedness I had not been certain, but because he acted insolently toward me, and in the end his wickedness was revealed,

your certainties,

such as those who doze in shops, who are almost certainly thieves,

all the more so

that I acted properly by handing them over to the authorities.

I am assured concerning you

my intestines

that no worm or maggot shall rule over you!

And even so, his mind was not settled,

Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, was still not at ease over the fact that he had caused the launderer’s death.

They gave him a sleeping potion to drink,

they gave him an anesthetizing drug to drink,

and they brought him into a marble house,

and brought him into a house made of marble,

and they split open his abdomen

they opened his belly.

They would take out of him baskets upon baskets of fat,

they removed from his belly baskets full of fat, since he was very corpulent,

and placed them in the sun,

they placed them in the sun,

in Tammuz and Av,

in order to test whether it would become foul and raise worms.

And they did not become foul!

And we raise an objection:

Does not all fat also fail to become foul?

For ordinarily all fat does not become foul unless it is together with meat?

And we answer:

All fat

indeed

does not become foul,

but

the red streaks,

the red portions in it, which are a kind of meat,

do become foul.

Here,

in the case of Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon,

although there are red streaks, it does not become foul.

He applied to himself

Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, recited concerning himself the verse in Psalms [16:9],

“Even my flesh shall dwell securely”!