Bava Metzia 84a (פד.) — the Talmud in English

And Rabbi Yishmael, son of Rabbi Yosei, too encountered

such an incident,

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

He encountered

him

Elijah.

He said to him

Elijah:

“How long will you continue handing over the people of our God to be killed?”

He said to him

Rabbi Yishmael, son of Rabbi Yosei:

“What can I do,

what am I to do?! For

the king’s command,

the king’s order,

is binding.”

He said to him

Elijah:

“Your father fled

your father ran away

to Asia.

You flee

you run away

to Lodkia,

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

When they would happen to meet,

when they would meet,

Rabbi Yishmael, son of Rabbi Yosei, and Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, with each other,

together, and would stand face-to-face,

an ox could pass beneath them between them,

it could pass between them, beneath their bellies,

and it would not touch them.

The ox would not touch them, because their bellies were so large.

A certain noblewoman

a gentile matron

said to them: “Your sons are not yours!”

for you are unable to engage in intercourse with your wives.

They said to her: “Theirs

the bellies of our wives,

are larger than ours.” [Another interpretation:

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

The noblewoman said to them: “If so, if their bellies are larger than yours,

all the more so

you are unable to engage in 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 engage in intercourse, they have intercourse with other men].

Some say: This is what they said to her:

They answered her in accordance with what is stated in the Book of Judges [8:21]: “

For his strength is like that of a man,”

meaning that just as large as his belly is, so large is his organ of intercourse.

Some say: This is what they said to her: Love overcomes the flesh.

And we raise an objection:

And why did they answer her?

Why did they answer her at all,

but it is written

in Proverbs [26:4]: “

Do not answer a fool according to his folly”?

And we answer: They did so

so as not to cast aspersions on their sons,

that they were not theirs.

Rabbi Yohanan said: His organ,

his organ of intercourse,

of Rabbi Yishmael, son of Rabbi Yosei,

its size

was like a jug holding nine kav.

Rav Pappa said: Rabbi Yohanan’s organ was like a jug holding five kav.

And some say

there are those who say:

a jug holding three kav.

That of Rav Pappa himself,

Rav Pappa’s own organ,

was like the branches of Harpuna,

as large as the leaves made in Harpanya.

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

I am descended from the beautiful people who lived in Jerusalem when it was in its glory.

One who wishes to see Rabbi Yohanan’s beauty,

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

should bring a silver cup from the silversmith,

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

and fill it with red pomegranate seeds.

And fill it with red pomegranate seeds.

And place a wreath of red roses around its mouth,

make a rim around the mouth of the cup from red roses,

and place it between sunlight and shade,

and place the cup between the sun and the shade.

That gleam,

the radiant appearance reflected from the cup onto the ground, is only

a semblance of the beauty of Rabbi

Yohanan,

and not yet all of his beauty.

And we challenge this:

Is that so?!

But was Rabbi Yohanan not a beautiful man at all?

But didn’t the Master say: The beauty of Rav Kahana is a semblance of the beauty of Rabbi Abbahu?

The beauty of Rabbi Abbahu is a semblance of the beauty of Jacob our forefather.

The beauty of Jacob our forefather is a semblance of the beauty of Adam the first man.

But Rabbi Yohanan is not counted among them,

Rabbi Yohanan is not listed among them at all, implying that he was not beautiful.

And we answer:

Rabbi Yohanan is different, as he did not have the splendor of a face.

He did not have a beard, and therefore he was not counted among them. But in fact, he was a beautiful man.

Rabbi Yohanan would go and sit at the entrance to the ritual immersion house.

He was accustomed to sit at the entrance to the women’s ritual immersion house.

He said: When they ascend

when they emerge,

the daughters of Israel from immersion for a mitzva and encounter me,

they will meet me and gaze at my beauty,

so that they will have,

so that they will give birth to

beautiful sons like me,

sons as beautiful as I am,

and learned in Torah like me,

sons who study Torah as I do.

The Sages said to him: “Does the Master not fear the evil eye?!”

Do you not fear the evil eye?

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

I am descended from Joseph,

upon whom the evil eye has no power,

whom the evil eye does not control.

As it is written

in the blessing of Jacob our forefather in Genesis [49:22]: “

Joseph is a fruitful son, a fruitful son by the eye.”

And Rabbi Abbahu said: Do not read “

by the eye”

but “

those above the eye,”

as they rise above the eye—the eye is below and they are above it, and it cannot control them.

Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina said: From here:

From this we learn that the descendants of Joseph are not controlled by the evil eye, from what is stated in the blessing of Jacob our forefather to Ephraim and Manasseh [ibid. 48:16]: “

And let them proliferate like fish within the land,”

and we derive:

Just as fish in the sea are covered by water and the eye has no power over them, so too, the descendants of Joseph are not controlled by the eye.

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 opposite side of the river,

and leaped into the Jordan after him,

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

Rabbi Yohanan said to him

Rabbi Yohanan:

“Your strength is suited for Torah!”

Your great strength is well suited to bearing the yoke of Torah.

Reish Lakish said to him

Reish Lakish:

“Your beauty is suited for women!”

Your beauty is fitting for women.

Rabbi Yohanan said to him

Rabbi Yohanan:

“If you repent,

if you return in repentance,

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

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

He accepted upon himself

Reish Lakish accepted upon himself that he would repent.

He wanted to return to retrieve his clothes,

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

but he could not!

He was unable to make the return leap, 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 study hall,

one day Rabbi Yohanan and Reish Lakish disagreed in the study hall concerning the law governing the susceptibility of utensils to ritual impurity, and this is how they disagreed:

The sword,

the sword,

the knife, and the dagger,

a knife with two blades,

the spear, and the hand sickle

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

and the harvesting sickle,

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

from when do they become susceptible to impurity?

From the time their production is completed.

And from when

is

their production completed?

Rabbi Yohanan said: From when one hardens them in a furnace,

from the time one places them in a furnace to strengthen them.

Reish Lakish said: From when one polishes them with water.

Rabbi Yohanan said to him

Rabbi Yohanan said to Reish Lakish:

“Bandit—

he knows about banditry.”

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

He said to him

Reish Lakish:

“And what have you gained me by this?”

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

“there,” they called me ‘Rabbi’;

even when I was a bandit, I was their leader,

here, they call me ‘Rabbi.’

That is, I am no more important now than I was then.

He said to him

Rabbi Yohanan:

“I benefited you,

I benefited you by this,

as I brought you

as I brought you

under the wings of the Divine Presence.”

Rabbi Yohanan’s mind was unsettled.

Rabbi Yohanan was distressed by Reish Lakish’s words to him.

Reish Lakish became ill.

Reish Lakish became ill because of Rabbi Yohanan’s displeasure with him.

His sister came and wept.

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

She said to him: “Act for the sake of my children!”

He said to her: [Jeremiah 49:11] “

Leave your orphans; I will sustain them.”

That is, I will attend to all their needs.

She said to him:

“Act for the sake of my widowhood!”

He said to her:

The continuation of the verse is: “

and let your widows trust in Me.”

I will care for you as well.

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish, Reish Lakish, died.

He died because of Rabbi Yohanan’s displeasure with him.

And Rabbi Yohanan grieved greatly over him,

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

The Sages said: “Who will go and restore his composure?

Who will go and settle Rabbi Yohanan’s mind?

Let

Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat

go, as his teachings are incisive,

as he is sharp.

He went and sat before him.

Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat went and sat before Rabbi Yohanan.

For every statement that Rabbi Yohanan would make,

for every novel point that Rabbi Yohanan would state,

he would say to him: “It is taught in a beraita that supports you!”

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

Rabbi Yohanan said

Rabbi Yohanan said to Rabbi Elazar ben Pedat:

“Are

you Reish Lakish?!”

Can you take Reish Lakish’s place?!

The son of Lakish,

Reish Lakish,

when I would state a matter,

for every novel point that I would state,

would challenge me

he would challenge me with

twenty-four difficulties

questions,

and I would answer him with

and I would resolve for him

twenty-four resolutions,

answers,

and thereby the matter would become clearer,

and through this the discussion would become clarified.

But you say, “It is taught in a beraita that supports you.”

Whereas you bring me proofs from beraitot.

Do I not know that I have stated something correctly,

do I not know that what I said is correct?

He would go about tearing his garments,

Rabbi Yohanan tore his garments,

and he would weep and say,

and he would cry and say:

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

Lakisha?!”

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

And he would cry out

this is how he would cry out

until his mind departed

from him,

until he became mentally deranged.

The Sages prayed for mercy concerning him,

the Sages prayed that he should die,

and he died

and Rabbi Yohanan died.