Bava Metzia 86a (פו.) — the Talmud in English

He said to him

Shmuel to Rabbi:

Do not be distressed, Master;

do not be distressed over this.

I myself was shown the book of Adam the first,

for I saw the book of Adam the first, in which the Holy One, blessed be He, showed him: “Each generation and its scribes, each generation and its interpreters, each generation and its leaders.”

And it is written in it

and written there about me: “

Shmuel Yarḥina’a

shall be called wise,”

they will call him “wise.” “

But Rabbi shall not be called,”

he will not be ordained for ruling until he is called “Rabbi.” “

And Rabbi’s healing shall be through him.”

And he will heal Rabbi from his illness.

And it is also written there: “

Rabbi and Rabbi Natan, the end of the Mishna.”

They were the last of the tannaim. Until their time, each tanna would recite his teachings in the beit-midrash, and they collected all the teachings of the tannaim of every generation and arranged them according to tractates. After them, only a small amount would be added. “

Rav Ashi and Ravina, the end of הוראה.”

They were the last of all the amoraim. Until their time, the Gemara had not yet been arranged systematically. When a question was asked in the beit-midrash concerning the reason for a Mishna or concerning a practical matter, each amora would state his opinion. Rav Ashi and Ravina arranged all the teachings of the amoraim and established them in the order of the tractates, placing each matter alongside the appropriate Mishna, in the style of “It challenged him,” “He challenged,” “And he contrasted it with the following,” and “They raised a dilemma.”

And your mnemonic is

a sign that Rav Ashi and Ravina were the end of הוראה, from the verse in Psalms [73:17]: “

Until I entered the sanctuaries of God; I understood their end”—

“The sanctuaries” alludes to Rav Ashi.

“I understood” alludes to Ravina. “Their end” alludes to the fact that they were the end of הוראה.

Rav Kahana said: Rav Hama bar the daughter of Hasa told

me

—

who was the son of Hasa’s daughter:

Rabba bar Naḥmani

—the famous Rabba, the disputant of Rav Yosef—

died because of the persecution

—he died out of fear of the authorities.

And this is what happened:

They informed against him to the king

and

said: There is one man among the Jews

—there is a certain Jewish man—

who prevents twelve thousand men of Israel

from twelve thousand men of Israel

for one month in the summer and one month in the winter

—one month in the summer and one month in the winter, in Nisan and Tishrei, when they gather to hear lectures concerning Passover and the Festivals—

by the king’s proclamation,

and thereby they evade paying the monthly tax, for when the king’s agents come to collect the tax, they are not at home.

The king sent an agent after him,

the king sent an agent to seize Rabba bar Naḥmani,

but he did not find him

and was unable to locate him.

He fled and went

because he fled from place to place,

from Pumbedita to Akra,

and

from Akra to the lake,

and

from the lake to Shaḥin,

and

from Shaḥin to Tzerifa,

and

from Tzerifa to Einayim of Water,

and

from Einayim of Water

back

to Pumbedita.

In Pumbedita he found him

there he found him.

And this is what happened:

The king’s agent happened to come to Rabba’s inn,

the king’s agent who was searching for Rabba happened to come to the same inn where Rabba was hiding.

They brought a table before him,

and the innkeepers brought a table before the agent,

and gave him two cups to drink

and gave him two cups of drink,

and removed the table from before him,

and immediately took the table away from him. They did not know that there was danger in the matter, for demons harm one who drinks pairs.

His face then turned backward

and indeed the agent was harmed: his face became distorted and turned backward.

They said to him

the innkeepers said to Rabba:

What shall we do for him

how can we save him? We are afraid, for

he is

the king’s agent

.

He said to them

Rabba said:

Bring the table before him

return the table before him

and give him one cup to drink

and give him another cup to drink, in order to counteract the pairs,

and remove the table before him

and immediately take the table away from him,

and he will be healed

and through this he will recover.

They did this for him, and he was healed

they did so, and he indeed recovered.

He said

the agent said:

I certainly know that the man whom I seek is here

I know that the very man whom I am seeking is hiding here.

He searched for him and found him

he searched for him in the inn and found him.

He said

the agent said to the innkeepers:

I am leaving from here

I am returning from here.

Even if they kill that man, I will not reveal him

and because Rabba saved me, I will not reveal where he is found, even if they kill me. But

if they torture me

if they afflict me with tortures and I cannot withstand them,

I will reveal him

only then will I reveal him.

They brought him before him

they brought Rabba before the agent.

He brought him into a room

he brought Rabba into a room

and slammed the door in his face

and locked the door before him, so that in the meantime he would not flee.

He prayed for mercy

Rabba prayed and asked for mercy.

and a miracle occurred for him: the wall of the room collapsed.

He fled and went to the lake

and he fled to the lake.

He sat on the stump of a felled palm tree,

Rabba sat on the trunk of a cut-down palm tree,

and was studying

and learned.

They were disputing in the heavenly academy

At that time, a dispute arose in the academy above concerning a law in the laws of leprosy:

The law is that although the appearance of white hair within the lesion is a sign of impurity, this is so only if the

baheret

was

prior to the white hair

and then he is

impure.

But

if

the

white hair

was

prior to the baheret

he is

pure.

And so it is explicitly stated in the Torah: “And behold, the white hair has changed within the baheret,” indicating that the baheret preceded the white hair.

And what is the law in a case of

doubt

where it is unknown whether the baheret preceded the white hair or the white hair preceded the baheret?

The heavenly academy disputed this matter:

The Holy One, blessed be He, says: Pure.

And the entire heavenly academy

and the entire academy above

says: Impure.

And they said

they said in the heavenly academy:

Who will be present

who will come here and decide this question?

Let

him come

Rabba bar Naḥmani

and decide.

For Rabba bar Naḥmani said: I am singular in the laws of leprosy! I am singular in the laws of tents!

They sent a messenger after him

they sent the Angel of Death from Heaven to bring Rabba bar Naḥmani to the heavenly academy.

He was unable

he was unable

for the Angel of Death to approach him

to come near him,

because

his mouth did not cease from his learning

for he was engaged constantly in Torah study.

Meanwhile, a wind blew and rustled among the reeds

suddenly the wind blew and caused the branches of the trees to rustle.

He thought

Rabba thought

it was a troop of cavalry

that the noise was from a troop of cavalry searching for him.

He said

Rabba said:

Let this man’s soul rest, rather than be delivered into the hands of the authorities

it is preferable to die than to fall into the hands of the authorities. [

And then, when he paused his study for a moment because of fear of the authorities, the Angel of Death succeeded in taking his soul, as the Gemara says above.]

When his soul was departing

when Rabba died,

he said

concerning the question in the laws of leprosy that had been debated in the heavenly academy:

Pure! Pure!

A Divine Voice went forth and said: Fortunate are you, Rabba bar Naḥmani, that your body is pure and your soul departed with “Pure”!

That is, while you were saying “Pure.”

A note fell from Heaven

a note fell from Heaven

in Pumbedita

where Rabba had been head of the academy, and it was written on it: “

Rabba bar Naḥmani has been summoned to the heavenly academy.”

Abaye and Rava and all the Sages went out to attend to him

Abaye, Rava, and all the sages of Pumbedita went out to attend to Rabba’s burial,

but they did not know his location

and did not know where his body was.

They went

they went

to the lake, and saw birds hovering and standing

there. They saw birds standing in the air and casting their shadows with their wings

They said: Infer from this: “

He is there!

He is certainly there.”

They eulogized him for three days and three nights

they eulogized him for three days and three nights, and wished to end the eulogies.

A note fell

from Heaven:

Anyone who withdraws

from the eulogies

shall be placed under a ban!

They eulogized him

they continued eulogizing him until

seven days.

A note fell: Go to your homes in peace!

On the day that his soul departed

on the day Rabba died,

a storm arose

a storm wind blew

and carried

that Arab rider as he was riding a camel

and it hurled the Arab camel rider

from this side of the Pappa River and cast him on the other side

from this side of the Pappa River to the opposite side.

He said: What is this

why is the wind raging so intensely?

They said to him

they said to him:

Rabba bar Naḥmani’s soul has departed

because Rabba died.

He said

the camel rider said

before Him: Master of the

universe,

the entire world is Yours

the entire world belongs to You,

and Rabba bar Naḥmani is Yours

he too belongs to You.

You are Rabba’s and Rabba is Yours

You love Rabba, and Rabba loves You

why are You destroying the world

why are You destroying the world?!

The storm subsided

the wind became calm.

Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta was corpulent

he was corpulent

One day he was hot

one day he felt hot.

He went up and sat on the slope of a mountain

he climbed up and sat on the side of the mountain.

He said to his daughter

to his daughter:

My daughter, fan me with a fan

make a breeze for me with a fan,

and I will give you

in return

loaves of nard

bundles of fragrant wood.

Meanwhile, a wind blew

in the meantime, the wind blew.

Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta said

Rabbi Shimon ben Ḥalafta said:

How many loaves of nard

are due

to the Master of this wind

to the master of this wind!

We learned in the Mishna: In a place where it is customary to provide food, one must provide food; to supply delicacies, one must supply delicacies.

Everything is according to the custom of the country.

And we raised a question about it: “

Everything,”

what does it come to include?

What does the Mishna come to include by the word “everything,” which is an expression of inclusion?

And we answer:

It comes to include a place where it is customary to wrap bread and drink anafaka.

The Mishna comes to say that if it is the local custom for laborers to eat bread and drink from a vessel containing a revi’it [“anafaka”] before beginning work,

for if he says to them,

if the employer says to them:

Come early and I will bring you

come early at dawn, and then I will give you food, so that you will finish eating before sunrise and not at the expense of the workday, which begins at sunrise,

they may say to him,

they may say to him:

You have no authority to do this!

You cannot compel us to rise before dawn and eat before sunrise. Rather, you must give us food at sunrise, which is the beginning of the workday, and only afterward will we begin working. We learned in the Mishna:

There was an incident involving Rabban Yoḥanan ben Matya, who said to his son: Go out and hire

laborers for us. He went and stipulated their food. When he came to his father, he said to him: My son, even if you were to prepare for them a meal like Solomon’s in his time, you would not have fulfilled your obligation toward them.

And we raised a question about it:

Does the incident contradict

the preceding statement? For the incident brought by the Mishna contradicts the statement that, regarding the food the employer must provide for his workers, everything follows the custom of the country. Yet the incident says that he told his son that even a meal like Solomon’s in his time would not suffice.

And we answer:

The Mishna is incomplete,

a passage is missing here from the Mishna,

and this is what it teaches:

Indeed, as a general rule, one follows the custom.