Ketubot 106a — the Talmud in English

He said

Rav Naḥman:

this—

the mitzva to honor Torah scholars is a mitzva of

positive commandment, and

also

this—

the mitzva to judge the orphans first according to the order of precedence, as it is said, “And you shall judge righteously,” is also a mitzva of

positive commandment.

And

the positive commandment of honoring Torah

which requires judging first the relative of Rav Anan

takes precedence

over the positive commandment of “And you shall judge righteously.”

He removed it,

he postponed

the case of the orphans

to a later time,

and he descended

and went down

to

judge

his case,

that of that person.

When his litigant saw

when that person’s litigant saw him

honor

the honor

that he was doing for him

Rav Anan—

his claim became blocked,

his arguments became blocked, because he despaired of being acquitted in the judgment.

And the Gemara relates that Rav Anan was punished because, on account of his recommendation of that person to Rav Naḥman, that person’s litigant’s arguments became blocked—

Rav Anan, Elijah was accustomed to come to him,

the prophet Elijah was accustomed to reveal himself to him,

for he would teach him

for he would repeat to him

“the Order of Elijah.”

When he did this,

when he recommended that person before Rav Naḥman so that he would judge him—

he withdrew

Elijah from him, and he no longer revealed himself to him.

He sat

Rav Anan sat

in fasting, and he requested

and asked for

mercy, and he came

Elijah came to him.

When he came,

when Elijah arrived,

he would frighten him with frightening,

he frightened Rav Anan.

And he made

a box

Rav Anan made a box, to protect himself from Elijah’s frightening him,

and he sat before him,

and he sat inside the box before Elijah,

until he brought out his order.

until he brought out and taught him the entire order of Elijah’s words.

And this is what people say

that there are two orders of Elijah:

the Order of Elijah the Great,

which he learned from Elijah before that incident, outside the box, and

the Order of Elijah the Small

which he learned from Elijah while he was in the box.

In the two

years of

Rav Yosef there was anger,

there was the anger of the Holy One, blessed is He, toward His creatures, and there was famine in the land.

The Sages said to Rav Yosef: Let the master request

ask

mercy

that the famine should pass!

He said to them

Rav Yosef: I do not have the power to effect anything through my prayer

! Now,

for—

And what of Elisha, when the Sages would take leave from before him,

when they would rise to leave the beit-midrash—

there would remain

some of them would remain in the beit-midrash

two thousand two hundred Sages,

and nevertheless,

in a time of anger—

he would not request mercy!

Elisha would not stand to pray and request mercy at a time of anger.

I—

should I request mercy?

And the Gemara discusses:

And from where [do we know] that this many would remain?

From where do we know that so many disciples would indeed remain after the time had come to leave the beit-midrash?—

For it is written

about Elisha [II Kings 4]:

“And a man came from Baal-shalishah and brought the man of God first-fruits bread, twenty loaves of barley, and [a loaf of] karmel in his sack [and altogether twenty-two loaves].

And he said [Elisha to his attendant]: Give [the twenty-two loaves] to the people, and let them eat!

And his attendant said: How shall I give this before one hundred men!?”

And the Gemara infers from the attendant’s wording:

What is “before one hundred men”?

If you say that all of them

the twenty-two loaves he gave

before one hundred men,

and each one received more than a fifth of a loaf, why did the attendant marvel at the small amount of bread? For

in years of famine

[and that year was a year of famine], such quantities of bread—

a great deal

much

there would be,

they are considered [to be]!

Rather, each and every one

of the twenty-two loaves he gave

before

before

one hundred men.

And each one received to eat only one one-hundredth of a loaf. And since there were twenty loaves of barley, as well as first-fruits bread and karmel in his sack, it follows that the quantity of twenty-two loaves was divided among the two thousand two hundred disciples of Elisha.

When the Sages took leave from the academy of Rav—

there would remain

they would remain in the beit-midrash,

one thousand two hundred Sages.

Whereas

from the academy of Rav Huna—

there would remain eight hundred Sages.

Rav Huna would expound

his discourse to the public of disciples,

with thirteen amoraim.

For the public was large, and he appointed thirteen “amoraim,” who would make his words heard aloud, each to a different group.

When the Sages would rise from Rav Huna’s academy and shake out their cloaks,

and shake out their garments,

the dust would rise

dust would rise,

and cover the day

and cover the daylight.

And

then

they would say in the West,

in the Land of Israel:

The Sages have risen

the Sages

from the academy of Rav Huna the Babylonian.

When the Sages took leave from the academy of Rabba and Rav Yosef—

there would remain four hundred Sages, and they called themselves “orphans,”

because they were few in comparison with their predecessors.

When the Sages would take leave from the academy of Abaye, and some say from the academy of Rav Pappa, and some say from the academy of Rav Ashi—

there would remain two hundred Sages, and they called themselves “orphans of orphans.”

And since the Gemara brought the matter of the payment given from the chamber donation to the judges of the decrees, the Gemara brings the matter of those who received payment from the chamber donation:

Rabbi Isaac bar Radifa said in the name of Rabbi Ami: The inspectors

of consecrated animals for

blemishes, who were in Jerusalem, would take their payment from the chamber donation.

Rav Judah said in the name of Samuel: Torah scholars who taught the laws of slaughter to the kohanim would take their payment from the chamber donation.

Rav Giddel said in the name of Rav: Torah scholars

who taught the laws of the removal of the handful to the kohanim would take their payment from the chamber donation.

Rabba bar bar Ḥana said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: The correctors of books in Jerusalem would take their payment from the chamber donation.

Rav Naḥman said in the name of Rav: Women who wove curtains

in the Temple,

would take their payment from the chamber donation.

And I say: [They were paid] from the funds for repairs of the Temple, since the curtains—

were made as part of the building,

and therefore their law is like that of the building, which was built specifically from money for repairs of the Temple.

He raised an objection

to Rav Naḥman in the name of Rav, from that which was taught in a beraita:

Women who wove curtains, and

also

the House of Garmo

who were appointed

over the making of the showbread, and the House of Avtinas

who were appointed

over the making of the incense—

all of them would take their payment from the chamber donation!

And we answer:

There

there it is speaking

of

curtains

of the gates,

of the gates of the Courtyard, which were not beneath the building.

For Rabbi Zeira said in the name of Rav: Thirteen curtains

curtains

were in the Second Temple:

Seven corresponding to the seven gates

of the Courtyard.

One at the entrance of the Sanctuary

[in which there were the table, the menorah, and the golden altar],

and one at the entrance of the Hall

[which was before the Sanctuary].

Two

curtains were

in the partition,

between the Sanctuary and the Holy of Holies.

There was one curtain adjacent to the Holy of Holies, and after it there was a space of one cubit, and after it there was another curtain, adjacent to the Sanctuary. And they did this because in the First Temple a wall one cubit wide separated the Sanctuary from the Holy of Holies, whereas in the Second Temple, which was very high, they could not erect the wall, and they left a space of empty area in place of the wall, and made two curtains on both sides of the empty space.

And

two

curtains were

corresponding to them—

in the upper chamber

above the partition and the Sanctuary, in order to delimit the area of the upper chamber above the Sanctuary and the area of the upper chamber above the partition, for the sanctity of the upper chamber is like the sanctity of the place beneath it.

The Sages taught: Women who raised their sons

in purity, so that their sons would be fit

for

the acts of

the red cow

red heifer,

would take their payment from the chamber donation.

Abba Shaul says: Distinguished women

generous women

in Jerusalem would hire them and support them.

Rav Huna asked Rav: