Gittin 56b (נו:) — the Talmud in English

Your answer:

Indeed, you are a king, for if you were not a king, Jerusalem would not have been delivered into your hands.

Indeed, you are a king, for otherwise Jerusalem would not have been delivered into your hands.

As it is written: “

And Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one,”

and

“mighty”

means nothing other than a king, as it is written

Jeremiah 31:21]: “

And his mighty one shall be from him;

and his ruler shall emerge from within him,”

and

“Lebanon”

means nothing other than the Temple, as it is stated: “

Let me cross over, please, and see the good land that is across the Jordan,

that good mountain and Lebanon.”

b.

And as for what you said: If I am a king, why did you not come to me!?

And regarding what you further said: If I am a king, why did you not come to me until now!?

Your answer:

The zealots among us did not allow us to do so.

The zealots among us did not allow me to come to you.

Vespasian said to him,

Rabban Yohanan, concerning his final words: But

if

there were

a barrel of honey with a dragon coiled around it,

a snake attached to it and craving it, would they

not break the barrel in order to get rid of the dragon

so that it would go away!?

That is to say: You should have destroyed the city wall and burned it with fire in order to cast those zealots out of the city.

Rabbi Yohanan fell silent,

and had no response.

Rav Yosef recited concerning him—

Rabbi Yohanan—

and some say

that it was

Rabbi Akiva

who recited the verse: “

He turns sages backward, and makes their knowledge foolish.”

For

Rabbi Yohanan should have

said to

him,

to Vespasian:

We would not have done this to the barrel. Rather:

We would have taken tongs, seized the dragon, killed it, and left the barrel intact.

We would have taken tongs, seized the dragon with them, and killed it, while leaving the barrel intact.

That is to say: We were waiting, hoping that perhaps we would be able to remove them from the city without destroying the city, and then come to reach an accord with you.

Meanwhile, a messenger arrived from Rome to him.

In the meantime, a messenger arrived from Rome to Vespasian.

He said to him,

the messenger to Vespasian:

Arise! The emperor has died, and the distinguished men of Rome have said that they will appoint you at their head.

Arise, to honor the decision of the council of Rome’s leading men, for the emperor has died, and the distinguished men of Rome have decided to appoint you king over them.

Vespasian—

Vespasian—

had put on one shoe and sought to put on the other, but it would not go on.

Vespasian had put on one shoe, and when he heard the news he wanted to put on the other, but he could not, because his bones had expanded from the joy of the news.

Conversely,

when

Vespasian

sought to remove

even

the other shoe, he could not take it off.

Conversely, when Vespasian sought to remove the shoe he had put on, he could not remove that one either.

Vespasian said:

Vespasian:

What is this

what is happening!?

Rabban Yohanan said to him,

Rabban Yohanan to Vespasian:

Do not be distressed,

for nothing has happened to you; rather,

good news has come to you,

it has come to you,

as it is written: “

Good news makes the bones flourish,”

and this is what caused you to be unable either to put on or to remove your shoes.

Vespasian asked Rabbi Yohanan:

But what is its remedy,

what is my remedy?

Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai said to him:

Let someone whom you cannot tolerate come and pass before you.

Let someone whom you cannot stand come and pass before you, and because of this your foot will contract.

As it is written: “

And a broken spirit dries the bones.”

Vespasian did so,

and

his foot entered

the shoe.

Vespasian did so, and indeed his foot entered the shoe.

Vespasian said to him,

Vespasian to Rabban Yohanan:

And since you are so wise, why did you not come to me until now?

Since you are such great sages, why, then, did you not come to me until now?

Rabban Yohanan said to him,

Rabban Yohanan:

And

did you not

I tell you

did I not already answer you about this!?

Vespasian said to him,

Vespasian:

I too have answered you

I too gave you a response to your response!

Vespasian said to him,

Vespasian:

I am leaving, and I will send someone else in my place; but ask me for something that I can give you.

I am leaving here and will send someone in my place; but ask me for something, and I will give it to you.

Rabban Yohanan said to him,

Rabban Yohanan:

Give me Yavne and its sages, and the chain

of the

house of Rabban Gamliel,

the Nasi, so that they not be killed, in order that the sovereignty of the House of David not come to an end,

and physicians who can heal Rabbi Zadok

physicians who would heal Rabbi Zadok.

Rav Yosef recited concerning him—

Rabban Yohanan—

and some say Rabbi Akiva

recited the verse:

He turns sages backward and makes their knowledge foolish.

For

Rabban Yohanan should have

said to

him,

to Vespasian:

Leave them this time, and he—

Rabban Yohanan—

thought: Perhaps he will not do all this, and there will not even be a partial salvation.

Leave Israel this time. Rabban Yohanan, however, did not make this request because he thought: Perhaps he will not agree to such a great request, and consequently he will do nothing at all, and there will not even be a partial salvation.

The Gemara explains:

What were the physicians who healed Rabbi Zadok

that is to say: How did the physicians heal Rabbi Zadok, whose intestines had contracted from his many fasts, to the point that he could not swallow food?

This is what the physicians did to expand his intestines:

On the first day, they gave him water in which bran had been soaked; the next day, water with bran; the next day, water with flour, until his intestines expanded little by little.

On the first day, they gave him water in which bran had been soaked; on the next day, they gave him water with a little bran and flour; and on the following day, they gave him water with flour, until his contracted intestines expanded little by little.

Vespasian went

Vespasian went to Rome, and

sent Titus

against Jerusalem.

Vespasian went to Rome and sent Titus in his place.

It is written

Deuteronomy 32:37]: “

And he will say: Where are their gods, the rock in whom they took refuge?”

And who is the one saying this?

It is the wicked Titus, who blasphemed and reviled Heaven.

What did he do?

He took a prostitute by the hand and entered the Holy of Holies, and spread

spread

a Torah scroll

on the floor of the Sanctuary,

and engaged in intercourse upon it.

And he took a sword and cut

cut

the curtain, and a miracle occurred, and blood began to seep out

and emerge

from it,

and Titus thought that

Titus thought that he

had killed Him

this is a euphemistic expression used concerning Heaven—

As it is stated: “

Your foes roared in the midst of Your appointed place

in the place where You convene,

they set up their signs as signs,”

as they said: Whose sign is this blood, if not that we have killed Him?

Abba Hanan says: “

Who is like You, O Lord, among the mighty,”

who is like You, mighty and forbearing, that You hear the blasphemy and reviling of that wicked one and remain silent!

The tanna of the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: “

Who is like You among the gods, O Lord,”

who is like You among the mute

O Lord!

What did

Titus

do?

He took the curtain

and made it like a large basket,

and brought all the vessels in the Temple, placed them inside it, and put them on a ship to sail and boast

to boast

in his city.

As it is stated: “

And so I saw the wicked buried, and they came, and from the holy place they walked, and they were forgotten in the city where they had acted thus”;

and the verse is expounded as follows:

Do not read: “

buried,”

but rather “

gathered.”

And

do not read: “

and they were forgotten,”

but rather “

and they were praised”

before their people for their evil deeds.

Some say: “

Buried”

is meant literally, for even things that were hidden were revealed to them

even buried and concealed things—treasures of money—were revealed to them.

A wave of the sea rose against him

against Titus

to drown him.

Titus said

Titus:

It seems to me that the god of these people has power only in water!

For

Pharaoh came and drowned in water, Sisera came and drowned in water,

the Kishon River swept away Sisera and his army,

and he too stands over me to drown me in water—

and

if He is mighty, let Him come up onto dry land and wage war against me!

A Divine Voice emerged

from Heaven

and said to him: “

Wicked one, son of a wicked one, descendant of Esau the wicked,”

there is a lowly creature

that I have in My world, and its name is a mosquito—

and the Gemara explains:

Why is it called a lowly creature

why is the mosquito called this, since

it has an opening for intake

this creature has a mouth through which to take in food

but has no opening for excretion

it has no place through which to expel waste—

go up

you

onto dry land and wage war against it!

He went up

Titus

onto dry land, and the mosquito came

and

entered his nose and gnawed at his brain for seven years.

One day, Titus was passing

Titus

by the door of a blacksmith, and he heard

the mosquito

the sound of a hammer,

and

it fell silent.

One day, when Titus passed by the doorway of a blacksmith and the mosquito heard the sound of the hammer, the mosquito fell silent and did not gnaw.

Titus said

Titus: If so,

there is a remedy! Every day they should bring a blacksmith and have him strike before me—

If so, I have a remedy. They would bring a blacksmith to him every day, and he would strike with a hammer before him.

This is how Titus conducted himself with the blacksmiths: To

a

blacksmith

who was a gentile, he gave

Titus

four zuz; to a

blacksmith

who was a Jew, he said: It is enough for you that you see the distress of your enemy.

He paid a gentile blacksmith four zuz per day,

whereas he paid a Jewish blacksmith nothing, saying to him: It is enough for you that you see the distress of your enemy.

For thirty days he did

Titus

this; thereafter, once it became accustomed—

it became accustomed.

For thirty days Titus did this, and it benefited him; thereafter, the mosquito became accustomed to the sound of the hammer and continued its gnawing.

It was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Pinhas ben Arova said:

I was

in Rome

among the leading men, and

I remember that

when

Titus

died, they split open his brain and found in it something the size of a fledgling sparrow, weighing two sela.

In the baraitha

in the beraita,

it was taught:

They found in it

something the size of a year-old pigeon, weighing two liters.

Abaye said: We have a tradition

that

its mouth

the mosquito’s mouth

was made of copper, and its claws of iron.

When he was about to die, he said

Titus:

Burn that man and scatter his ashes over the seven seas, so that the God of the Jews will not find him and bring him to judgment.

As Titus’s soul was departing, he commanded that after his death they burn him and scatter his ashes over the seven seas, so that the God of the Jews would not find him and bring him to judgment.

The Gemara recounts Titus’s wickedness even after his death:

For

Onkelos bar Kelonikos, the son of Titus’s sister, sought to convert. He went and raised

Titus

through necromancy—

Onkelos, who was Titus’s nephew, sought to convert and raised Titus from the dead.

Onkelos said to him,

Onkelos to Titus:

What do you say about cleaving to them,

among Israel—that is, converting?

Titus said to him,

Titus to Onkelos:

Their matters

of Israel

are numerous, and you will not be able to fulfill them! Onkelos asked Titus: Is it worthwhile to cleave to Israel, that is, to convert? Titus answered him: Their mitzvot are numerous, and you will not be able to withstand them!

Titus further said:

Go and provoke them in that world, and you will become its leader.

Go and incite the Jews, and you will become their leader.

As it is written: “

Her oppressors have become the head,”

everyone who oppresses Israel becomes a leader

in this world, so that people will not say that the Holy One, blessed be He, delivered His children into the hands of a lowly nation.

Onkelos further asked Titus:

Onkelos said to him,

Onkelos to Titus:

What is the judgment of that man

Titus

like?

How are you judged in Heaven?

Titus said to him,

Titus to Onkelos: