Eruvin 18b (יח:) — the Talmud in English

Why is this storehouse wide at the bottom and narrow at the top? In order to contain the produce

for if it were wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, when it was filled, the weight of the produce would bear heavily upon the walls of the storehouse and cause them to lean.

So too, a woman is wide at the bottom,

within the cavity of her womb,

and narrow at the top, in order to contain the fetus.

And since we have begun interpreting the verse, we interpret the entire verse:

It is written: “And the Lord God fashioned the rib that He had taken from the man into a woman

and He brought her to the man.”

This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, acted as a shoshbin for the first man

by taking pains with his marriage, rejoicing with him, and attending to the needs of his wedding feast.

From here it is derived that it is proper for an elder to act as a shoshbin for a younger person, and he should not be distressed

by having to attend to the needs of one who is younger than he.

And we need to ask:

But according to the one who says that they were a single figure,

and originally male and female were joined as one—

which of them

which of the two

went first,

did the male or the female walk at the front?

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: It is reasonable that the male went first.

As it was taught in a baraita: A person may not walk behind a woman on the road, even if she is his wife,

because walking behind a woman is disgraceful for him.

And if

he happened to encounter

a woman

on a bridge,

and she was walking ahead of him,

he should move past her

he should go around her

to the side,

from the side, until he has passed ahead of her.

And anyone who passes behind a woman [

a married woman]

in a river [

where she raises her garments and he looks at her]—

has no share in the World-to-Come,

if he is accustomed to doing so. This is because he will come to adultery, and ultimately he will descend to Gehinnom—Tosafot, Berakhot 61.

And apropos of the words of Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak, we proceed from one matter to another, while remaining with the same subject:

The Sages taught: One who counts [

counts]

money for a woman,

from his hand to hers or from her hand to his, in order to look at her—

even if that man resembles

that person

Moses our teacher, who received the Torah from Mount Sinai, he will not be cleansed of the judgment of Gehinnom.

And concerning him the verse states: “Hand to hand

one who counts money from hand to hand, even if he is like Moses, who received the Torah from the hand of the Holy One, blessed be He, into his own hand—

“evil will not be cleansed”; he will not be cleansed of the judgment of Gehinnom.

And now we return to the matter mentioned above by Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak:

Rav Naḥman said: Manoah,

the father of Samson,

was an ignoramus!

As it is stated,

“And Manoah arose, and he went after his wife.””

This shows that he had not learned the laws of proper conduct stated in the baraita above, which teaches: A person may not walk behind a woman on the road, even if she is his wife.

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak raised an objection to this: If so, regarding Elkanah [

who was a prophet—as it was taught in Seder Olam: “And a man of God came to Eli”—this is Elkanah. Ten prophets were called “a man of God,” and Elkanah was one of them—then what of

that which is written

“And Elkanah went after his wife”?

Would

we likewise

say that Elkanah was an ignoramus, although he was a prophet?!

And

so

regarding Elisha, for it is written

“And he arose and went after her” [

of the Shunamite woman—is

it likewise

to be said that he was an ignoramus?!

Rather,

necessarily, the meaning is that Elkanah went, and Elisha went

after her words and counsel.

If so,

likewise

with regard to Manoah, it can be explained that Manoah went

after the words and counsel

of his wife.

Rav Ashi said: And according to what Rav Naḥman said,

that Manoah went literally after his wife, and

Manoah was an ignoramus,

it must be said that

he did not even read in a schoolhouse [

with the schoolchildren—Rashi, Berakhot 61]

either.

For Manoah did not know the lesson derived from

that which is written

“And Rebekah and her maidens arose, and they mounted the camels, and they followed the man”

which implies:

and not ahead of the man!

Rabbi Yoḥanan said:

If a person is faced with the choice of walking after a lion or after a woman, he should walk

after a lion

despite the danger to his life,

and not after a woman [

a married woman].

And likewise, if he is unable to escape [Maharsha], he should walk

after a woman and not after

(idolatry)]

a house of heresy—the meaning of Rashi. For perhaps he will be drawn after her. And it is written: “Keep your way far from her.” And we say: This refers to heresy.

And if he cannot escape, walk

behind

(idolatry

))]

a house of heresy

and not behind a synagogue while they are praying,

as he appears to be a denier, standing behind the synagogue and not entering.

And now we return to the other statements of Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar:

B. Ostracized:

And Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar said: Throughout all those years

one hundred and thirty years

during which Adam the first man was ostracized—

he was rebuked when the Holy One, blessed be He, reprimanded him and said to him, “Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” and cursed him—

he fathered spirits, demons, and night-demons [

they are types of harmful beings].

As it is stated

“And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and he fathered in his likeness, after his image.”

By inference,

you learn from this

that until then—

he had not fathered in his image.

The Gemara raises an objection: Rabbi Meir would say: Adam the first man—

was exceedingly pious.

When he saw that death had been decreed because of him

for all human beings, when he ate from the Tree of Knowledge,

he fasted for one hundred and thirty years [

during the day].

And he separated from the woman for one hundred and thirty years, and placed belts of [

belts]

figs upon his flesh for one hundred and thirty years.

And now this is difficult: Since he separated from the woman, how can you say that he fathered during those years? And we answer:

When we say that

he fathered spirits, demons, and night-demons, it was

through an involuntary seminal emission [

an emission that he experienced involuntarily, from which spirits, demons, and night-demons were formed.

C. Praise:

And Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar said: Part of a person’s praise may be spoken in his presence, but all of it—

only in his absence.

That is to say: It is proper conduct that although a person may praise his fellow greatly in his absence, he should not praise him excessively in his presence, because he appears to be flattering him to his face. And perhaps the listener will become arrogant. Maharsha.

And there is proof of this:

Part of his praise may be spoken in his presence,

as is stated with regard to

that which is written

“For you alone have I seen to be righteous before Me in this generation.”

Thus the Holy One, blessed be He, said “righteous” to Noah in his presence, alone, and did not call him “righteous and wholehearted,” as He called him in his absence, in the verse cited below.

And he speaks of his

entire praise in his absence,

as is stated in

that which is written

“Noah was a righteous man; he was wholehearted in his generations.”

D. The dove:

Rav Yirmeya ben Elazar said: What is the meaning of that which is written

concerning the Flood: “And he waited yet another seven days, and sent forth the dove from the ark. And the dove came to him in the evening

and behold, an olive leaf plucked off was in its mouth”?

The dove said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the Universe, let my sustenance be as bitter as

the tree of

olive,

which is bitter [Tosafot],

and entrusted to Your hand.

And let it not be sweet as honey and dependent upon the hand of flesh and blood. [

As it had been dependent until now upon Noah, who sustained it in the ark.]

And this is what the verse means by “plucked off in its mouth”:

She requested with her mouth that the olive should be “plucked off,” her sustenance,

and the proof that “plucked off” is an expression for sustenance is:

Here it is written

with regard to the dove

“plucked off,” and there it is written: “Give me my allotted bread.”

E. A house:

And Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar said: Any house in which words of Torah are heard at night,

so that its voice is heard from afar,

will never again be destroyed.

As it is stated

in the verse that Elihu said to Job:

“And he did not say

he did not need to lament and say

“Where is

the God who made me?”—

the person who

utters songs

of Torah

at night.”

F. Two:

And Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar said: From the day the Temple was destroyed,

the priests ceased blessing with the Explicit Name [as stated in Hagiga],

it is sufficient for the world that it use

the Name of

two letters.

This is the Name Y-H, which is pronounced as it is written. But the four-letter Name is not pronounced as it is written; rather, it is pronounced as Adonai.

In the Temple, even the four-letter Name was pronounced as it is written—Rabbeinu Peretz.

Whether for praising Him or for one person to bless his fellow.

As it is stated

“Let every soul praise Yah—

Hallelujah.”

That is to say: This is the Name that every soul is fit to use.

But the four-letter Name was not given to every soul, but only to the priests, as it is written: “At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi … and to bless in His Name”; and it is written with regard to the Priestly Blessing: “And they shall place My Name”—the Name unique to Me.

G. Was cursed:

And Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar said: When Babylon was cursed—

its

also

neighbors were cursed,

by its curse, for woe to the wicked and woe to his neighbor.

But when

Samaria was cursed,

which is in the Land of Israel,

its neighbors were blessed

by its curse.

And the Gemara explains:

When Babylon was cursed, its neighbors were cursed—

as it is written “

And I will rise against them, says the Lord of Hosts, and I will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, offspring and descendant, says the Lord.”

“And I will make it a possession of the porcupine” [

as a possession of the porcupine]

and pools of water” [

as is the way of desolate places—Metzudot]; and there the wild animals go, harming the places that are adjacent to it as well.

When Samaria was cursed—

its neighbors were blessed [

Judah—Tosafot of the Rosh; see there].