Gittin 57a — the Talmud in English

With what he decreed upon himself!

:

Every day they gather

his ashes, judge him, burn him, and scatter them over the seven days.

They judge me with what I decreed upon myself: every day they gather my ashes, judge me, and again burn me, and scatter my ashes over the seven seas.

On went

Onkelos

and raised Balaam by means of necromancy. He said to him: Who is esteemed in that world?

He said to him: Israel!

Onkelos again raised Balaam by necromancy and asked him: Who is esteemed in the upper world? And Balaam answered him: Israel!

Onkelos continued and asked Balaam:

What of cleaving to them?

Would it be worthwhile to cleave to them and convert?

He said to him

Balaam to Onkelos in the language of the verse: “

You shall not seek their peace or their good” —

of Israel —

all the days!

For indeed, in the upper world Israel are the esteemed ones, but in this world, the physical one, Israel are afflicted with sufferings, and so too are converts; therefore, it is worthwhile for him to refrain from seeking the peace and good of Israel, if he is comfortable with a life of license and pleasures.

He said to him

Onkelos to Balaam:

With what is that man judged?

With what do they judge you in Heaven?

Balaam said to him

to Onkelos:

With boiling semen

they judge me! Measure for measure, because through Balaam’s counsel the people began to commit fornication with the daughters of Moab.

He went and raised Yeshu

by means of necromancy,

and

said to him: Who is esteemed in that world?

Onkelos again raised Yeshu the Nazarene by necromancy and asked him: Who is esteemed in that world?

The transgressor said to him

to Onkelos:

Their good

of Israel

seek,

but

do not seek their evil,

for

anyone who touches them is as though he touches the apple of His eye.

He said t

o

him: With what is that man judged?

He said to him: With boiling excrement, for the Master said: “

Anyone who mocks the words of the Sages is judged with boiling excrement.”

The Gemara adds to this account of Onkelos:

Come and see

Come and see:

what is the difference between

that Yeshu, who is among

the sinners of Israel, and the prophets of the nations of the world,

who worship idolatry.

For that Nazarene, although he sinned and caused others to sin, was an Israelite, and recognized the truth that there is goodness only for one who does good to Israel; but Balaam, although he was a prophet, was a wicked gentile, and gave Onkelos counsel to harm Israel.

And the Gemara further brings a beraita concerning the incident of bar Kamtza:

It was taught: Come and see how great is the power of shame, for the Holy One, blessed be He, assisted bar Kamtza

who was shamed,

and

destroyed His House and burned His Sanctuary.

And concerning this incident of bar Kamtza, from which the account of the destruction of Jerusalem unfolded, I apply the verse: “

Fortunate is the person who is always fearful, but one who hardens his heart will fall into evil,” for if they had directed their hearts to foresee what would come and to worry lest a great mishap result from their actions, they would not have acted as they acted.

And the second matter to which I apply this verse is:

b.

Because of a rooster and a hen, Mount the King was destroyed:

Because of a rooster and a hen, Mount the King was destroyed.

And how did the events unfold?

They were accustomed, when

when

they would bring out

they would take out

the bridegroom and bride, to bring a rooster and a hen out before them.

They were accustomed in that place to bring out a rooster and a hen before the bridegroom and bride when they brought them out to the wedding canopy.

That is to say: Be fruitful and multiply like roosters.

There was a hint in this custom: they would bless the bridegroom and bride that they should be fruitful and multiply, like roosters, which are exceedingly fruitful and multiply.

One day, a

in that place

Roman troop was passing,

and

they seized them from them.

At a wedding held one day, a troop of Roman soldiers passed there and snatched the rooster and hen from them.

The sons

of Mount the King

fell upon them,

and

struck them.

The sons of Mount the King attacked the troop and struck them.

And concerning this matter too I apply the verse: “Fortunate is the person who is always fearful, but one who hardens his heart will fall into evil”; that is to say, fortunate is the person who is concerned to foresee what will come, lest a mishap occur because of his actions.

For they should not have been so insistent upon their custom, and they did not foresee what would result from their attacking the troop of soldiers.

They

the soldiers

said to the emperor: The Jews have rebelled against you

the Jews of Mount the King.

The emperor heard their words, and

came against them,

he came against them to wage war.

There was among them

among the Jews

that certain bar Deroma,

a man from the south whom they called “bar Deroma,”

who could leap a mil and kill among them.

Bar Deroma could leap in one jump a distance of a mil, and he did so: he leaped into the enemy camp and killed among them.

When the emperor saw the supernatural strength of that Jew,

the emperor took his crown and placed it on the ground.

The emperor took his crown from his head and placed it on the ground.

and

he said

in prayer:

Master of the entire world, if it is pleasing to You, do not deliver that man

that man — he was referring to himself

and him and his kingdom into the hand of one man,

namely, “bar Deroma.”

He prayed and said: Master of the entire world, if it is pleasing to You, do not deliver me and my kingdom into the hand of one man, namely, into the hand of bar Deroma.

His mouth caused bar Deroma to stumble

bar Deroma

His mouth caused him to say something improper.

And he said

toward Heaven in the language of the verse: “

Is it not You, God, who have rejected us, and You, God, do not go forth with our armies,”

and his intention was to say: We will prevail through the strength of our armies, and we have no need for Your assistance.

And we raise an objection: But

David also said this,

for this language, which bar Deroma said, is a verse in Psalms, and David said it; it cannot be an improper statement!?

And we answer:

David was expressing astonishment.

That is to say, bar Deroma did not say it as David said it, for David said it in the language of a question and astonishment: O God, why do You not go forth with our armies? But bar Deroma, in his error, said it calmly, as though to say that there was no need for His assistance.

After bar Deroma said this,

he went

bar Deroma

to the lavatory; a serpent came, struck his intestines, and bar Deroma died.

After bar Deroma said this, he entered the lavatory, and a serpent came and bit him in his intestines, and bar Deroma died.

The emperor said

the emperor:

Since a miracle has occurred for me, this

time

this time,

I will leave them

Israel; and indeed

he left them and went

to return to his place.

The emperor said, after bar Deroma had died: Since such a miracle occurred for me, therefore I will leave Israel to themselves; and indeed he left them to themselves and went to return to his place.

When the emperor went away,

the sons of Mount the King rejoiced greatly,

the sons of Mount the King,

and they ate and drank and lit lamps, until the image on the signet ring could be seen at a distance of a mil.

Once the emperor had gone, the sons of Mount the King leaped and danced out of joy; they ate and drank and lit candles, and illuminated the distance, so that one walking a mil away from the city could see the figure engraved on his ring.

When he saw the extent of their joy,

he said: The Jews are rejoicing over me mockingly,

that is to say, they are mocking me.

And therefore

he again came against them

he returned and came against them for war.

Rabbi Asi said: Three hundred thousand sword-drawers entered Mount the King.

Three hundred thousand sword-drawers entered Mount the King.

And they killed in it for three days and three nights.

And they were killing in Mount the King for three days and three nights.

And on this side there were weddings and celebrations, and they did not know of one another.

On one side they were killing, and on the other side there were weddings and celebrations; because of the great size of the province, the people on one side did not discern what was happening on the other side.

It is written in the Scroll of Lamentations [2:2]: “

The Lord has swallowed without pity all the habitations of Jacob.”

For when Ravin came

from the Land of Israel to Babylonia,

he said

in the name of

Rabbi Yohanan: “

The habitations of Jacob,” which the verse said:

These are the six hundred thousand cities that belonged to King Yannai in Mount the King,

in accordance with the words of Rav Yehuda,

for Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav Asi: Six hundred thousand

six hundred thousand

cities belonged to King Yannai in Mount the King, and each and every one

of these cities

had

six hundred thousand

like the number of

those who went out of Egypt,

except for three

cities

which had twice as many as those who went out of Egypt

one million two hundred thousand, and

these are they: Kfar Bish, Kfar Shihlayim, Kfar Dakhriya.

The Gemara expounds the names of these three cities: why they were called this.

Kfar Bish

evil — they were narrow-hearted, and their place was called this on account of

the fact that they did not give a house to a guest

who came to lodge.

Kfar Shihlayim,

it was called this on account of

the fact that their livelihood was from shihlayim

the name of a certain food.

Kfar Dakhriya,

a term referring to males,

Rabbi Yohanan said:

it was called this on account of

the fact that their wives first gave birth to males, then gave birth to a female, and ceased.

Ulla said: I myself saw that place, and it cannot hold even sixty myriad reeds.

I saw that place, which was called “Mount the King,” and this place is so small that it cannot hold even sixty myriad reeds.

That Sadducee said to Rabbi Hanina: You are uttering falsehood,

when you say that there were six hundred thousand cities in Mount the King, for its place cannot hold even sixty myriad reeds!

He said to him

Rabbi Hanina answered him: “

A land of deer”

is written concerning it

concerning it.

And it comes to teach us:

Just as a deer’s hide cannot contain its flesh,

for when its hide is removed, it contracts, and it is impossible to put it back over the deer’s flesh,

so too is the Land of Israel: when its inhabitants dwell upon it —

it expands

it expands,

but when its inhabitants do not dwell upon it —

it contracts

it contracts.

The Sages now come to explain the excellence and lofty spiritual level of the inhabitants of one city among the many cities that were in Mount the King, and the reason that their place was destroyed despite their extraordinary righteousness.

Rav Minyumi bar Halaqya, Rav Halaqya bar Tuvya, and Rav Huna bar Hiyya,

all three of them,

were sitting beside one another

they sat together.

They said: If there is someone who has heard a matter

who had heard something about the conduct of the inhabitants of

the village “

Sikhnaya of Egypt”

which was in Mount the King,

let him say it

let him state what he knows:

One of them began

one of the Sages

and said

to his companions:

There was an incident involving a betrothed man and his betrothed,

who were from that city; the betrothed woman was consecrated to him, and they were still before the wedding canopy.

They were taken captive among the gentiles, and

they

married them to one another.

She said to him

the betrothed woman:

Please, do not touch me,

since

I do not have a marriage contract from you,

and I am forbidden to you by rabbinic law, for the Sages prohibited a bride to her husband when she is without a marriage contract.

And

indeed

he did not touch her

the betrothed man

until the day of his death.

And when he died,

the betrothed man,

she said

the betrothed woman

to them

to the Jews who were attending his burial:

Eulogize this one who restrained himself

who held himself back

from his inclination more than Joseph,

the righteous man who stood the trial with Potiphar’s wife.

And in three matters he restrained himself from his inclination more than Joseph:

a.

For whereas Joseph had only one hour

one hour of trial,

this one

the betrothed man

had every single day.

b.

Whereas Joseph was not in one bed

he was not,

this one was in one bed

he was compelled to be with her, and nevertheless he did not touch her.

c.

Whereas Joseph’s was not his wife

she was not,

this one’s was his wife

she was his wife, but the Sages prohibited her, and he did not stumble through her.

Another one opened and said:

another sage

said:

There was an incident

that occurred in that village,

and the price stood

at which their price stood

at forty measures

measures of grain

per dinar; one measure’s price decreased,

and thirty-nine measures stood per dinar [a rise of approximately two percent per hundred].

The inhabitants of the place were aroused to investigate why this had happened to them, that the price had risen,

and they investigated and found

a wicked deed that had been among them:

A father and his son who had intercourse with a betrothed maiden on Yom Kippur.

And they brought them to the court,

and witnesses testified against them that they had done this thing, with witnesses and after warning,

and they stoned them.

And

immediately

the price returned

of the grain

to its place,

to be sold at forty measures per dinar.

Another one opened

the third sage

and said

to his companions:

There was an incident involving a certain man

who was in that village,

who set his eyes on divorcing his wife, and her ketובה was large;

and he could not rid himself of her without a ketובה, unless he spread an evil report about her, in which case the court would cause her to lose her ketובה.

What did he do? He went and invited his groomsmen

his friends,

and fed them and gave them drink

and

made them drunk

gave them drink until they became drunk,

and laid them down on one bed

with his wife.

And he brought egg white,

which resembles semen, in order to spread a report that they had intercourse with his wife.

And he established witnesses for them

to this matter, that they had been on one bed, and they found something resembling semen on the bed.

And he came to the court,

to bring a charge against his wife.

And he thought that the court would tell him to divorce her without a ketובה, because they were righteous, and their practice was to rule according to halakha, that a woman leaves her husband when witnesses testify about disgraceful acts that she had committed.

There was there one elder, among the disciples of the elder Shammai, and his name was Bava ben Buta.

He said to them

Bava ben Buta said to the court:

Thus have I received as a tradition from the elder Shammai: egg white

when it is held opposite the light,

contracts

dries and congeals

from the light

because of the heat of the fire,

whereas

if

semen repels

is absorbed into the garment

from the light.

And if so, it can be checked whether it is indeed semen, or whether it is a false accusation and it is egg white that he placed among them.

They checked

the court

and found according to his words,

that this was nothing but egg white, and it emerged that he had been spreading an evil report about his wife.

And

therefore,

they brought him to the court, flogged him, and collected her ketובה from him

they collected her ketובה from him.

Abaye said to Rav Yosef: And since they were so very righteous

so greatly,

why were they punished?

He said to him: Because they did not mourn

they did not mourn

over Jerusalem.

As it is written

Isaiah 66:10: “

Rejoice with Jerusalem and exult in her, all those who love her; rejoice with her with joy, all those who mourn over her.”

We have therefore learned that only those who mourn over Jerusalem will rejoice with Jerusalem, and from here, that it is obligatory to mourn over Jerusalem.

And the third matter concerning which I read the verse, “Fortunate is a person who is always fearful”:

3.

Because of the sideboard of a carriage

because of the side of a women’s carriage

Betar was destroyed:

For they were accustomed

in Betar, that

when a male infant was born, they planted a cedar,

and when

a female infant

was

born, they planted an acacia.

They had a custom that when a male infant was born, they planted a cedar tree, and when a female infant was born, they planted an acacia tree .

And

when they were married, they cut them down and made a bridal canopy.

And when they were married, they would cut down the trees that they had planted at their birth and make from them a canopy for the couple.

One day, the emperor’s daughter was passing by; the sideboard of her carriage broke, they cut down a cedar and brought it to her.

One day, the emperor’s daughter passed there in her carriage, and the side of her wagon broke, and her servants cut down a cedar to repair the side of the wagon for her.

They came, fell upon them, and struck them

the inhabitants of the place came, attacked them, and struck them.

They did not imagine that this deed would cause the emperor to return to take revenge against them, and in this they transgressed what is written, “Fortunate is a person who is always fearful, but one who hardens his heart will fall into misfortune,” because they did not give thought to foresee what would come.

They said to the emperor: The Jews have rebelled against you, and he came upon them

the emperor came to wage war.

It is stated in the Scroll of Lamentations [2:3]: “

He cut down in fierce anger every horn of Israel,”

and this verse was fulfilled in the destruction that took place in Betar.

a.

Rabbi Zeira said in the name of Rabbi Abbahu, who said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan:

These were eighty thousand horns of war

heads of troop units who blow the horn and gather to themselves the members of their army.

who entered the city of Betar when they captured it.

And they killed in it men, women, and children,

and spilled their blood, and their blood was so abundant

until their blood flowed

and streamed like a river until it reached

and fell into the Great Sea.

Lest you say that it was near

Betar was near the Great Sea, and the blood was not so abundant?

That was not so; rather,

it was one mil away

two thousand cubits from the Great Sea.

It was taught in a metanita: Rabbi Eliezer the Great says: There are two streams in the Yadim Valley

the name of a place,

one

of them

draws in this direction

toward one side,

and one draws in this direction

toward the other side.

And the blood of the slain reached these streams and flowed into the Great Sea,

and the Sages estimated

that there were in the streams at that time

two parts water, and

one part

one

a third

blood.

In a metanita it was taught: For seven years the gentiles harvested their vineyards from the blood of Israel, without fertilizer,

because the blood absorbed into the soil served them as fertilizer for their fields for seven years, and they did not need to fertilize their fields according to their usual practice, each and every year.