Berakhot 18b — the Talmud in English

And the Gemara broadens its explanation of the verse [and the proof from it]:

“A living man” —

but

are all people sons of the dead?

And the Gemara explains:

Rather, “a living man” —

who even in his death is called alive,

and from here is the source that the righteous in their death are called alive.

“A man of many deeds, from Kabzeel” —

who increased and gathered workers for Torah,

that is, he “gathered” students and teachers for the honor of the “God.”

“And he struck the two Ariels of Moab” —

who left no

great man

like him, neither in the First Temple

which was called “Moab,” because David built it,

nor in the Second Temple,

for all the Temples were called “Ariel.”

“And he went down and struck the lion in the midst of the pit on a snowy day” —

some say, that he broke the blocks of ice,

for he broke pieces of ice,

and descended and immersed himself

from his seminal emission in order to engage in Torah.

Some say, that he studied,

for he would study all of

the Sifra of the House of Rav,

the Torat Kohanim,

on a winter day,

on one wintry day, despite its being a short day.

And Rabbi Hiyya continued to expound the verse mentioned in Ecclesiastes:

“And the dead know nothing” —

these are the wicked who in their lifetime are called dead.

As

it is stated

concerning Zedekiah [Ezekiel 21:30]:

“And you, slain wicked one, prince of Israel,”

although he was still alive in the days of Ezekiel, nevertheless Scripture calls him “slain.”

And if you wish, say:

the source that the wicked in their lifetime are called dead is learned from the verse [Deuteronomy 17:6]:

“By the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses shall the dead be put to death.”

But at the time when they testify against him and judge him, he is still

alive,

and nevertheless Scripture calls him dead.

Rather,

the intention is that he is considered

dead

from the outset, since he is wicked and is called dead while alive.

The sons of Rabbi Hiyya went out to the villages

to engage in working their estates,

their learning became dear to them,

their learning became burdensome to them because of forgetfulness,

they distressed

themselves

to recall

what they had forgotten.

One said to his fellow:

Did

our father know,

our father Rabbi Hiyya, who had passed away,

of this distress?

The other said to him: How could he know? Is it not written

[Job 14:21]:

“His sons are honored, and he does not know”?

The other said to him: And

does he

not know?! Is it not written

[there 14:22]:

“But his flesh upon him shall hurt, and his soul within him shall mourn.” And Rabbi Isaac said:

the intention of Scripture is to say that

a worm is painful to the dead —

like a needle in the flesh of the living.

And the Gemara distinguishes:

They said: With their own distress

— the distress of their bodies, actually, such as the bite of the worm,

they know,

the dead; but

with another’s distress —

they do not know.

And the Gemara raises an objection:

And

does he

not

know the distress of others?!

But it was taught: There was an incident involving a certain pious man who

was poor, and

gave one dinar

that he had

to another poor man

on the eve of Rosh Hashanah during years of famine.

on the eve of Rosh Hashanah during years of famine. And his wife reproached him

for giving away all his money,

he went and spent the night

in

the cemetery on the second night of Rosh Hashanah.

And he heard two spirits

of two deceased girls,

speaking to each other.

One said to the other: My friend, come and let us roam through the world, and let us hear from behind the curtain,

which is a partition separating between the place of the Divine Presence,

and let us know what calamity is coming

this year

upon the world,

for the world is judged on Rosh Hashanah.

Her companion said to her: I cannot, for I am

a daughter of poor people, and I am

buried in a mat of reeds.

Rather, go yourself, and whatever you hear, tell me.

She went, roamed, and returned

back.

Her companion said to her: My friend, what did you hear from behind the curtain?

She said to her: I heard that whoever sows during the first rainy season,

during the early rains, on the seventeenth of Heshvan,

hail strikes him.

Hail is destined to fall close to the second rainy season, and what was already sown has hardened, and the hail breaks it. But what is sown during the second rainy season remains soft, and the hail does not break it.

He went and sowed during the second rainy season,

on the twenty-third of Heshvan.

The entire world’s crop was struck, but his was not struck. [And thereby he received reward for what he had given the poor man on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, Ein Yaakov.]

In the following year, he went and spent the night in the cemetery, and heard those two spirits speaking with each other.

One said to the other: Come and let us roam through the world, and let us hear from behind the curtain what calamity is coming upon the world.

She said to her: My friend, did I not tell you, “I cannot, for I am buried in a mat of reeds”? Rather, go yourself, and whatever you hear, come

and tell me.

She went, roamed, and returned.

Her companion said to her: My friend, what did you hear from behind the curtain?

She said to her: I heard that whoever sows during the second rainy season, blight strikes him.

He

went early

and sowed during the first rainy season.

In order that it should harden by the second rainy season, since blight strikes only a soft plant and not a hardened plant,

the entire world’s crop was burned, but his was not blighted.

His wife said to him:

Why was it that last year, the first year,

the entire world’s crop was struck but yours was not struck, and now the entire world’s crop was blighted, but yours was not blighted? —

He recounted all these matters to her.

They said: It was not many days before a quarrel broke out between the wife of that pious man and the mother of that girl

who had been buried in the mat.

She said to her—

the pious man’s wife to the mother of that girl—

Come and I will show you your daughter, who is buried in a mat of reeds,

for it is disgraceful, since only poor people are buried in one.

In the following year he went and spent the night in the cemetery, and heard those spirits speaking with each other.

She said to her: My friend, come and let us roam through the world,

and let us hear from behind the curtain what calamity is coming upon the world.

She said to her: My friend, leave me! Matters that were between me and you have already been heard among the living.

And from this the Gemara proves:

It follows that they know

the dead what occurs among the living, for she knew what they had said to her mother.

And the Gemara rejects this:

Perhaps another person died,

and his spirit went there after his death

and told them.

Come and hear, for Zeiri would deposit money with his innkeeper

who owned his lodging house.

Before he came and went to the house of Rav,

she died,

she passed away,

and he went after her to the courtyard of death

to the cemetery.

He said to her: The money

of the orphans—

where is it?

She said to him: Go and take it from beneath the threshold of the grass

—the hollow in the threshold around which the door turns—

in such-and-such a place,

in a certain place.

And

she requested of him one thing:

Tell my mother

my own that she should

send me my comb,

my comb,

and the kohl-stick,

the stick with which kohl is applied [and she said this out of anguish that she had died young],

together with

by means of

a certain woman

a certain woman,

who will come

tomorrow

for burial.

And from this the Gemara proves:

It follows that they know

what is done among the living, for she knew that there was a woman dying and near death.

The Gemara rejects this:

Perhaps “Duma,”

who is the angel appointed over the dead,

goes ahead and announces it to them.

He informs them that so-and-so will now come. But they do not know other matters among the living.

Come and hear,

a proof that the dead know what is happening in the world:

for Samuel’s father had money of orphans deposited with him. When he died, Samuel was not with him; they would call

Samuel

“the son of one who consumes the money of orphans”

[the son of one who consumes the money of orphans].

Samuel went

Samuel

after him to the courtyard of death,

to the cemetery, and the dead were revealed to him as though they were in a circle outside their graves.

He said to them: I seek “Abba,”

I am asking for my father, whose name was “Abba.”

They said to him

the dead:

“There are many ‘Abbas’ here.”

He said to them: I seek “Abba son of Abba.”

They said to him: “Abba son of Abba” too—there are many here.

He said to them: I seek “Abba son of Abba, Samuel’s father” —

where is he?

They said to him: He has gone up to the heavenly academy!

Meanwhile, he saw

Samuel

Levi

his deceased companion,

sitting outside,

for he was sitting outside the circle in which the dead were seated.

He said to him

Samuel to Levi:

Why are you sitting outside,

outside the circle, and also

for what reason have you not gone up

to the heavenly academy?

He said to him

Levi:

For they said to me: For as many years as these two

corresponding to the number of those years

that you did not go up to the academy

that you did not go up to Rabbi Afes’s academy,

and you caused him distress,

and thereby caused him anguish—

we do not admit you to the heavenly academy.

Meanwhile, in the meantime, his father arrived. He saw him

Samuel saw his father,

who was weeping and laughing.

He said to him

Samuel:

Why are you weeping?

He said to him

his father: Because

you have come to the threshing floor,

you will soon die and be buried.

Samuel continued and asked him:

Why did you laugh?

Why did you smile?

His father answered him:

Because you are important in this world

in this world,

very much.

He said to him: If I am important,

I ask that they take my request into consideration and

admit Levi

to the heavenly academy!

And

indeed,

they admitted Levi.

Samuel said to his father

Samuel to his father:

The money of the orphans —

where

is it located?

He said to him: Go and take it from the cubit of the millstone,

take it from the measure of the millstone; the money that you find there.

The upper and the lower,

that is money

of ours.

And the money

in the middle

belongs to the orphans.

Samuel said to him

Samuel:

Why did you do this?

He said to him:

I divided them in this way so that

if thieves steal, they will steal from ours.

For they will take the money that they find first, above. And conversely,

if the earth consumes,

the earth will ruin the coins from below,

it will consume from ours,

and the main thing is that the money of the orphans should not be lost.

And the Gemara concludes from this:

It follows that they know

which person is important among the living, for his father said to him, “For you are important in this world.”

The Gemara rejects:

Perhaps Samuel is different, since he was important, they went before him and proclaimed, “Make way

for Samuel,” and therefore his deceased father knew that his son Samuel was important in this world, even though the dead do not know what takes place among the living.

And Rabbi Yonatan also retracted.

From what he said [on folio a] that the dead know nothing.

For Rabbi Shmuel bar Nahmani said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: From where [do we know] that the dead converse with one another? As it is said

[Deuteronomy 34:4]

“And the Lord said to him

[to Moses, before his death]:

‘This is the land that I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying.’”

And Rabbi Yonatan inferred:

What is the meaning of “saying”?

To whom does Moses have to say [this], when he is going to die?

Rather, thus:

the Most High said to Moses:

Go after your departure from the world and

say to them—to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob: The oath that I swore to you—

I have already fulfilled it for your children.