Bava Metzia 84a — the Talmud in English

And Rabbi Ishmael son of Rabbi Yose happened ![](pamud.bmp "

Precise folio location")

upon such an incident,

such an incident came before him: the king appointed him to apprehend thieves and robbers.

Elijah encountered him

met him

Elijah.

He said to him

Elijah:

Until when will you deliver the people of our God to killing!?

He said to him

Rabbi Ishmael son of Rabbi Yose:

What shall I do,

what am I to do!? For

the king’s command,

the king’s order,

it is.

He said to him

Elijah:

Your father fled

your father fled

to Asia.

You flee

you flee

to Laodicea.

So that you will not have to fulfill the king’s command.

When they would happen to meet,

when they would meet,

Rabbi Ishmael son of Rabbi Yose and Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Shimon with one another,

together, and they would stand face to face,

an ox could pass between them,

an ox could pass between them, beneath their bellies,

but it would not touch them.

And the ox would not touch them, because their bellies were exceedingly large.

That matron said to them

a gentile noblewoman:

“Your sons are not yours!”

For you are unable to have intercourse with your wives.

They said to her: “Theirs,

the bellies of our wives,

are larger than ours.” [An alternative interpretation: a woman’s desire is greater than that of a man].

A woman’s desire is greater than that of a man].

The matron said to them: “If so, their bellies are larger than yours,”

all the more so

you are unable to have intercourse? [According to the second interpretation, she asked: If the women’s bellies were so large, all the more so your sons are not yours, because since you are unable to have intercourse, they have intercourse with other men].

Some say: This is what they said to her,

they answered her according to what is stated in the Book of Judges [8:21]:

“For as the man is, so is his strength,”

for as the size of the belly, so is the size of his organ of intercourse.

Some say: This is what they said to her: “Love presses away the flesh.”

And we raised an objection to this:

And why did they answer her?

Why did they answer her at all,

for it is written

in Proverbs [26:4],

“Do not answer a fool according to his folly”?

And we answer: In order

not to bring disrepute upon their sons,

that they were not theirs.

Rabbi Yohanan said: His organ,

his organ of intercourse,

of Rabbi Ishmael son of Rabbi Yose,

its size,

was like a wineskin of nine kav.

Rav Pappa said: The organ of Rabbi Yohanan was like a wineskin of five kav.

And some say

there are those who say:

of three kav.

That of Rav Pappa himself,

the organ of Rav Pappa himself,

was like the date-palm leaves of Harpania,

large like the leaves made in Harpania.

Rabbi Yohanan said: I am one of the survivors of the beautiful ones of Jerusalem,

I am descended from the beautiful people who were in Jerusalem when it was built.

One who wishes to see the beauty of Rabbi Yohanan,

one who wishes to know what the radiance of the skin of Rabbi Yohanan’s face looked like,

should bring a silver cup from the silversmith,

take a cup of silver immediately after it emerges from the craftsman’s house, while it is still yellow in appearance from the blaze of the fire,

and fill it with red pomegranate seeds.

And fill it with red pomegranate seeds.

And make for it a wreath of red roses around its mouth,

make a lip around the mouth of the cup, from a red rose,

and place it between sunlight and shade,

and place the cup between the sun and the shade.

That gleam,

the appearance of the radiance reflected from the cup upon the ground, is only

a semblance of the beauty of Rabbi

Yohanan,

and still not all of his beauty.

And we object:

Is that so!

But Rabbi Yohanan was not at all a handsome man?

But did the Master not say: The beauty of Rav Kahana was a semblance of the beauty of Rabbi Abahu?

The beauty of Rabbi Abahu was a semblance of the beauty of Jacob our father.

The beauty of Jacob our father was a semblance of the beauty of the first man.

But Rabbi Yohanan was not counted among them,

Rabbi Yohanan was not counted among them at all. And it follows that he was not handsome.

And we answer:

Rabbi Yohanan is different, for he did not have facial majesty.

He did not have a beard. Therefore he was not counted among them. But in fact he was a handsome man.

Rabbi Yohanan would go and sit at the entrance of the immersion place.

He would customarily sit at the entrance of the women’s immersion house.

He said: When they ascend

when they ascend

the daughters of Israel from immersion for a mitzva, so that they encounter me,

they will meet me and look at my beauty,

so that they will have

so that they will give birth to

beautiful sons like me,

beautiful sons like me,

learners of Torah like me,

sons who study Torah like me.

The Sages said to him: Is the Master not afraid of the evil eye!?

Do you not fear the evil eye?

He said to them: I come from the seed of Joseph,

I am descended from Joseph,

upon whom the evil eye does not prevail

the evil eye does not prevail over them.

As it is written

in the blessing of Jacob our father in Genesis [49:22],

“A fruitful son is Joseph, a fruitful son beside the eye.”

And Rabbi Abahu said: Do not read

“beside the eye”

but

“those who rise above the eye,”

for they rise above the eye: the eye is below and they are above, and it cannot prevail over them.

Rabbi Yose son of Rabbi Hanina said: From here,

from here we learn that the evil eye does not prevail over the seed of Joseph, from what is said in the blessing of Jacob our father to Ephraim and Manasseh [ibid. 48:16]:

“And let them multiply like fish within the land,”

and we expound:

Just as with the fish of the sea, the waters cover them and the eye does not prevail over them, so too the seed of Joseph—the eye does not prevail over them.

One day, Rabbi Yohanan was bathing in the Jordan.

One day Rabbi Yohanan was bathing in the Jordan River.

Reish Lakish saw him,

Reish Lakish saw him, while he was still a bandit, from the other side of the river,

and leaped across the Jordan after him,

Reish Lakish leaped across the entire width of the river toward Rabbi Yohanan.

He said to him

Rabbi Yohanan:

Your strength is for Torah!

Your great strength is fitting for bearing the yoke of Torah.

He said to him

Reish Lakish:

Your beauty is for women!

Your beauty is fitting for women.

He said to him

Rabbi Yohanan:

If you return,

if you repent,

I will give you my sister, who is more beautiful than I.

I will give you my sister, who is more beautiful than I, as a wife.

He accepted it upon himself

Reish Lakish accepted upon himself to repent.

He wished to return to bring his garments,

Reish Lakish wished to leap back across the river in order to take his clothes from there,

but he could not!

He was unable to return by leaping, because as soon as he accepted upon himself the yoke of Torah, his strength weakened.

He then taught him Scripture and Mishna,

Rabbi Yohanan taught him Scripture and Mishna,

and made him a great man,

until he became a great person.

One day, they were disputing in the bet midrash,

one day Rabbi Yohanan and Reish Lakish disagreed in the bet midrash concerning the law of the susceptibility of vessels to impurity, and this is how they disagreed:

The sword,

the sword,

and the knife, and the dagger,

a knife with two edges,

and the spear, and the hand sickle

whose edge is smooth and which is made for breaking bones and cutting wood,

and the harvesting sickle,

with which grain is harvested and whose edge is full of notches like a saw—

from when do they become susceptible to impurity?

From the time their work is completed.

And from when

is

their work completed?

Rabbi Yohanan said: When he hardens them in the furnace,

from the time he places them in the furnace in order to strengthen them.

Reish Lakish said: When he polishes them in water.

He said to him

Rabbi Yohanan to Reish Lakish:

Bandit—

he knows through his banditry.

Because you were a bandit, you are expert in those implements used for banditry.

He said to him

Reish Lakish:

And what have you benefited me?

What have you benefited me by returning me to repentance? After all,

there, “Rabbi” they called me,

even when I was a bandit I was their leader,

here, “Rabbi” they call me.

That is, I am not more important now than before.

He said to him

Rabbi Yohanan:

I benefited you,

I benefited you by this,

by bringing you close

by bringing you close

beneath the wings of the Divine Presence.

Rabbi Yohanan’s mind was weakened.

Rabbi Yohanan’s mind was weakened by Reish Lakish’s words toward him.

Reish Lakish became ill.

Reish Lakish became ill because of Rabbi Yohanan’s anger at him.

His sister came, crying.

Rabbi Yohanan’s sister, who was Reish Lakish’s wife, came and cried before her brother, asking him to pray for her husband to recover from his illness.

She said to him: “Do it for my children!”

He said to her:

“[Jeremiah 49:11]

‘Leave your orphans; I shall sustain them.’”

That is, I will care for all their needs.

She said to him:

“Do it for my widowhood!”

He said to her:

The continuation of the verse is

“and your widows shall trust in Me.”

I will care for you as well.

Rabbi Shimon son of Lakish, Reish Lakish, died.

He died because of Rabbi Yohanan’s anger.

And Rabbi Yohanan was greatly distressed over him,

Rabbi Yohanan regretted having caused Reish Lakish’s death, because he did not find a student as important as he.

The Sages said: Who will go and settle his mind,

who will go and settle Rabbi Yohanan’s mind?

Let

him go

Rabbi Elazar son of Pedat, for his teachings are sharp,

for he is astute.

He went and sat before him.

Rabbi Elazar son of Pedat went and sat before Rabbi Yohanan.

Every matter that Rabbi Yohanan would say,

for every novel matter that Rabbi Yohanan said,

he would say to him, “A beraita supports you!”

Rabbi Elazar son of Pedat would bring him proof for it from a beraita.

He said

Rabbi Yohanan to Rabbi Elazar son of Pedat:

You—

are you Reish Lakish!?

Can you fill Reish Lakish’s place?!

The son of Lakish,

Reish Lakish,

when I would say a matter,

for every novel matter that I said,

he would raise against me

he would raise against me

twenty-four objections

objections,

and I would answer him,

and I would answer him

twenty-four resolutions,

resolutions,

and the matter would thereby become expansive,

and through this the matters would become clarified.

And you say, “A beraita supports you.”

But you bring me proofs from beraitot.

Do I not know that I speak well,

do I not know that what I said is correct?

He would go and tear his garments,

Rabbi Yohanan tore his garments,

and he would cry and say,

and he would cry and say:

“Where are you, son of Lakish? Where are you, son

of Lakish!?”

Where are you, Reish Lakish? Where are you, Reish Lakish!?

And he would cry out

thus he would cry out

until his mind departed

from him,

until his mind became deranged.

The Sages sought mercy for him,

the Sages prayed for him to die,

and he died

and Rabbi Yohanan died.