Bava Metzia 85b (פה:) — the Talmud in English

This matter

the Sages said, but did not explain.

The Sages asked why the Land of Israel was destroyed in the destruction of the First Temple [as it is stated: “Who is the wise man”].

The prophets said, but did not explain.

The prophets, too, asked this question [as it is stated: “That the mouth of the Lord spoke to him”].

Until the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself explained

the reason for the destruction.

As it is stated

there, verse 12: “

And the Lord said: Because they abandoned My Torah, which I placed before them.”

Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: Because they did not recite a blessing over the Torah first.

The punishment came because they did not recite the blessing over the Torah before studying. By doing so, they revealed that the Torah was not sufficiently important to them for them to acknowledge God and thank Him for it.

Rav Ḥama said: What is the meaning of that which is written

in the Book of Proverbs, verse 14:33: “

Wisdom rests in the heart of the understanding, but it is made known among fools.” “

”beforehand: They did not first bless themselves and take pride in Torah, but first did so regarding the other branches of wisdom. The truth is expressed in the verse, “Toward the face of the menorah shall the seven lamps give light”: Opposite the light of Torah, all seven branches of wisdom should shine, serving it as assistants, as Maimonides wrote. Rabbi Elazar Menachem Man Shach, of blessed memory, asked: If the sin was something that even the Sages and Prophets did not discern, then what claim can be made against ordinary people for failing to realize that they were sinning in this way? He answered that since the soul of a person is “a portion of God above,” whatever the Holy One, blessed be He, recognizes as taking place in a person’s soul, a person can and is able to recognize within himself as well. For what a person knows about himself is in the category of “And the Lord said...”

! “

Wisdom rests in the heart of the understanding” —

This is a Torah scholar who is the son of a Torah scholar.

Wisdom rests tranquilly in his heart, and he does not reveal it to one who is unworthy of it. “

But it is made known among fools” —

This is a Torah scholar who is the son of an ignoramus.

He comes from a family of fools, and he tells everyone about his wisdom and takes pride in the crown of Torah.

Ulla said: This is what people say: A single coin in a jug goes clink-clink.

When there is only one coin inside the jug, it rattles and makes a sound; but if it were full of coins, it would not make a sound. So too, this Torah scholar, who is the only Torah scholar in his family, makes his wisdom known to everyone.

Rabbi Yirmeya said to Rabbi Zeira: What is the meaning of that which is written

in the Book of Job, verse 3:19: “

Small and great are there”

[there, in the World-to-Come, it is recognizable who is important and who is lowly],

and a servant is free from his master”?

And the difficulty arises:

Do we not know

that

small and great are there?

Rather, whoever makes himself small on account of Torah matters in this world becomes great in the World-to-Come.

And whoever makes himself like a servant on account of Torah matters in this world becomes free in the World-to-Come.

Reish Lakish would mark the burial caves of the Sages.

He would make a practice of marking the burial caves of the Sages so that the kohanim would not inadvertently pass over them and become impure, resulting in a mishap being caused by the righteous.

When he reached the cave of Rabbi Ḥiyya,

when he reached the vicinity of Rabbi Ḥiyya’s cave,

it disappeared from him,

it disappeared from his sight, and he could not find its location.

He was distressed.

Reish Lakish became distressed.

He said: Master of the Universe!

Is it possible that

I did not engage in Torah dialectics as he did,

so that I am not worthy of finding the place of his burial?

A Divine voice emerged and said to him: Indeed, you engaged in Torah dialectics as he did!

However,

you did not teach Torah as he did.

You did not teach it to others. Therefore, you are not worthy of finding the place of his burial.

When Rabbi Ḥanina and Rabbi Ḥiyya would argue,

when they would debate with one another,

Rabbi Ḥanina said to Rabbi

Ḥiyya: Are you arguing with me?

Do you really argue with me? Surely,

God forbid, if it were forgotten,

if the Torah were forgotten

from Israel, I could restore it through my dialectics,

I could restore it through my own Torah dialectics!

Rabbi Ḥiyya said to Rabbi Ḥanina: Are you arguing with me?

I act so that the Torah will not be forgotten from Israel.

I ensure that the Torah will not be forgotten from Israel!

What do I do?

How do I ensure that the Torah will not be forgotten from Israel?

I go and sow flax,

I sow flax,

and I weave nets,

and I weave nets from the flax,

and I hunt deer,

and I hunt deer,

and I feed their meat to orphans,

and I feed their meat to orphans,

and I prepare scrolls,

and from the hides I prepare parchment,

and I write

and I write on the parchment

five books of the Torah,

one book on each parchment.

And I go up to a town

and I go to a place where there are no teachers of young children,

and I teach five children to read

and teach five children

the five books of the Torah,

one different book to each child,

and I teach six children

and teach orally six children

six

six

orders

of the Mishna, a different order to each child.

And I say to them,

and I tell them:

Until I return and come back,

until I return to you,

study with one another

in the meantime, each one should teach the others his book,

and review with one another

each one should teach the others his order of the Mishna.

And this is how I act

and this is what I do

so that the Torah will not be forgotten from Israel!

This is the meaning of what Rabbi said: How great are the deeds of Ḥiyya!

Rabbi Yishmael, son of Rabbi Yosei, said to Rabbi

Is it possible that Rabbi Ḥiyya’s deeds are great

even more than

the deeds of

the Master,

your deeds?

He said to him

Rabbi said: Yes!

He asked him again:

Even

more than the deeds of

Father,

Rabbi Yosei?

He said to him

Rabbi said:

God forbid! Such a thing shall not be said in Israel!

Such a statement must never be made in Israel—that Rabbi Ḥiyya’s deeds were greater than your father’s deeds.

Rabbi Zeira said: Last night I saw

in a dream

Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina.

I said to him: With whom are you attached,

with whom do you sit in the heavenly academy?

He said to me: With Rabbi Yoḥanan.

I said to him:

And Rabbi Yoḥanan, with whom

is he attached?

He said to me:

With Rabbi Yannai.

I said to him:

And Rabbi Yannai, with whom?

He said to me:

With Rabbi Ḥanina.

I said to him:

And Rabbi Ḥanina, with whom?

He said to me:

With Rabbi Ḥiyya.

I said to him: And is Rabbi Yoḥanan not with Rabbi Ḥiyya?

Is Rabbi Yoḥanan not worthy of sitting with Rabbi Ḥiyya?

He said to me:

In a place of fiery sparks and burning torches,

in a place of sparks and torches of fire,

who can bring Bar Nappaḥa there!?

How could Rabbi Yoḥanan, who is called “Bar Nappaḥa,” enter there?

Rav Ḥaviva said: Rav Ḥaviva bar Surmaki told me:

He related:

I saw one of the Sages

I saw a certain Torah scholar

with whom Elijah was frequently present,

as Elijah the prophet was regularly in his presence.

In the morning his eyes were beautiful,

in the morning his eyes looked well,

but in the evening they looked as though they had been burned by fire,

and in the evening his eyes looked as though they had been scorched by fire.

I said to him,

I asked him:

What is this,

why do your eyes look this way?

And he said to me: Because I said to

him,

to Elijah: Show

show

me

the

Sages as they ascend to the heavenly academy,

when they enter the heavenly academy.

He said to me,

Elijah said to me:

You may look at all of them

you will be able to look at all the Sages there

except for the throne

apart from the throne

of Rabbi Ḥiyya; do not look at it,

for you are not permitted to look at him.

What is its identifying sign,

what is the identifying sign of Rabbi Ḥiyya’s throne?

With regard to all of them, angels accompany them when they ascend and descend.

All the Sages are accompanied by angels as they enter and leave the heavenly academy,

except for Rabbi Ḥiyya’s throne, which ascends and descends on its own.

Rabbi Ḥiyya alone enters and leaves the heavenly academy.

The Torah scholar continued and related to Rav Ḥaviva bar Surmaki:

I could not restrain myself

I could not hold myself back,

and I looked at it

and I looked at Rabbi Ḥiyya.

Two fiery sparks came

two sparks of fire appeared,

and struck that man

and struck me,

and blinded his eyes.

and blinded my eyes.

The next day he went and prostrated himself at the cave

the next day I prostrated myself at Rabbi Ḥiyya’s grave,

saying:

and said:

I teach my master’s teachings,

I regularly study the Tosefta arranged by my master [for Rabbi Ḥiyya was the arranger of the Tosefta], and by virtue of this I pray that my eyes be healed.

And I was healed

my prayer was accepted and I was healed.

Elijah was frequently present in Rabbi’s academy.

Elijah the prophet would regularly come to Rabbi’s academy.

One day, it was the first of the month,

one day, on the first of the month,

he was late for him and did not come.

Elijah the prophet was late in arriving at the academy.

He said to him

Rabbi said to Elijah:

Why was the Master late

why were you late in coming today?

He said to him

Elijah said to him:

I was occupied with raising Abraham,

I was occupied with raising Abraham our forefather,

and washing his hands and praying,

and I washed his hands and he prayed,

and putting him back to sleep.

and afterward I put him back to sleep.

And similarly

I did

for Isaac, and similarly

I did

for Jacob,

and therefore I was late. Rabbi said to him:

Why not raise them all together

why did you raise them one after another rather than together?

Elijah said to him:

Do you think

that I was afraid lest

they prevail through their prayers

and increase their prayer

and bring the Messiah before his time

and bring the Messiah before his time? Therefore, I am not authorized to make them stand together.

Rabbi said to him:

And

because

are there counterparts of them

—of the Patriarchs—

in this world

whose prayer would be heard?

Elijah said to him:

Elijah:

There are

indeed, there are

Rabbi Hiyya and his sons.

Rabbi decreed a fast

once, because of a drought,

and brought down

Rabbi Hiyya and his sons before the ark as prayer leaders

Rabbi Hiyya and his sons.

Rabbi Hiyya

said: “

Who makes the wind blow

” during the repetition of the Eighteen Benedictions,

and the wind blew

immediately.

He said: “

Who makes the rain fall,”

and the rain came

and rain immediately fell.

When he reached the point of saying

when he reached the end of the blessing, to say

“Who revives the dead” ,

the world trembled

the world was shaken, for the time for the revival of the dead had not yet arrived.

They said in heaven

they asked in heaven:

Who revealed the secret in the world

who revealed to the world the secret of how great the power of Rabbi Hiyya and his sons was in prayer?

They said

they replied:

Elijah!

They brought Elijah

they brought Elijah

and struck him with sixty fiery lashes

and flogged him with sixty fiery blows.

He came

Elijah came

and appeared to them as a fiery bear

and presented himself to them as a bear of fire ,

in their midst

and entered between them, in the middle of the prayer,

and disrupted them

and disrupted the order of their prayer.

Shmuel Yarchina'a

He was Shmuel, Rav’s colleague, who was expert in the secret of intercalating the months .

He was Rabbi’s physician

he was Rabbi’s physician.

Rabbi became ill in his eyes

Rabbi’s eyes became ill.

He said to him

Shmuel said to Rabbi:

Shall I put medicine in your eyes

shall I place a remedy in your eyes?

He said to him

Rabbi said to him:

I cannot

I cannot, because of the pain.

Shmuel said to him:

Shall I apply ointment

perhaps I should place ointment on the eye?

He said to him

Rabbi said to him:

I cannot

I cannot do that either.

He would place it in a tube of medicine and put it beneath his pillow

Shmuel put the medicine into a hollow tube and placed it beneath Rabbi’s pillow, so that the power of the medicine would penetrate the skull and brain and reach the eyes.

And he was healed

Rabbi was healed.

Rabbi would trouble himself to ordain him

Rabbi exerted himself and sought to ordain Shmuel, so that he would be called “Rabbi,” since he was a great scholar,

but the matter did not succeed

but he did not succeed, as various obstacles continually arose or the sages did not assemble.