Ketubot 106a (קו.) — the Talmud in English

Rabbi Nahman said:

Rabbi Nahman: ")

This

mitzva of honoring Torah scholars is a

positive commandment, and

also

this

mitzva of judging the orphans first, in accordance with the order of precedence, as it is stated: “And you shall judge righteously,” is likewise a

positive commandment.

And

the positive commandment of honoring Torah

which requires that the relative of Rav Anan be judged first

takes precedence

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

He removed it,

he deferred

the case of the orphans

to a later time,

and descended

and proceeded

to

judge

his case,

that of that man.

When the litigant of that man saw

that the litigant of that man

was accorded

the honor

that Rav Anan was showing him

Rav Anan,

his arguments were stifled,

as he became convinced that he would not prevail in the case.

The Gemara relates that Rav Anan was punished because, as a result of his recommendation of that man to Rav Nahman, the man’s litigant’s arguments were stifled—

Rav Anan was accustomed to have Elijah come to him,

as Elijah the Prophet would regularly reveal himself to him,

for he would teach him

he would teach him

the “Order of Elijah.”

When he did this,

when he recommended that man to Rav Nahman so that he would judge him,

Elijah withdrew

from him and no longer revealed himself to him.

He sat

Rav Anan sat

in a fast and requested

and asked

for mercy, and Elijah came

to him.

When he came,

when Elijah arrived,

he would frighten him terribly,

he would frighten Rav Anan.

And he made

a chest

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

and sat before him,

and sat inside the chest before Elijah,

until he brought him through his order.

until he had presented and taught him the entire order of Elijah’s teachings.

And this is what people mean when they say

that there are two orders of Elijah:

the Order of Elijah Rabbah,

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

the Order of Elijah Zuta,

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

During the two

years

of Rav Yosef, there was wrath,

the Almighty was angry with His creatures, and there was famine in the land.

The Sages said to Rav Yosef: Let the Master request

ask

for mercy

that the famine should cease!

He said to them,

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

! Now,

for—

What of Elisha, when the Sages would take leave of him,

when they would rise to leave the house of study—

there would remain

some of them would remain in the house of study,

two thousand and two hundred Sages,

and nevertheless,

during a time of wrath—

he would not pray for mercy!

Elisha would not stand and pray for mercy during a time of wrath.

I—

should I pray for mercy?

The Gemara discusses this:

And from where do we know that that many remained?

From where do we know that so many students remained after the time had come to leave the house of study?

As it is written

concerning Elisha [II Kings 4]: “

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

And he [Elisha] said [to his servant]: Give [the twenty-two loaves] to the people, that they may eat!

And his servant said: How can I set this before one hundred men!?”

The Gemara infers from the servant’s wording:

What is the meaning of “before one hundred men”?

If you say that all of

the twenty-two loaves were given

before one hundred men,

and each person received more than one-fifth of a loaf, why was the servant astonished at the small amount of bread? After all,

in years of famine [

and that year was a year of famine] quantities of bread such as these

are a great deal,

a great amount

they were,

they were considered substantial!

Rather, each and every one

of the twenty-two loaves was given

before

each

of one hundred men.

Thus, each person received only one one-hundredth of a loaf to eat. Since there were twenty barley loaves, one loaf of the first fruits, and the karmel in his sack, it follows that the quantity of twenty-two loaves was divided among two thousand two hundred students of Elisha.

When the Sages took leave from Rav’s house—

there would remain

they would remain in the house of study

one thousand two hundred Sages.

Whereas

from Rav Huna’s house—

eight hundred Sages would remain.

Rav Huna would deliver his lecture

to the assembled students

with thirteen amora’im.

The audience was large, and he appointed thirteen “interpreters,” who would announce his words 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,

dust would rise

dust would rise

and cover the daylight,

and conceal the light of day.

And

then

they would say in the West,

in Eretz Yisrael:

The Sages have risen

the Sages

from Rav Huna’s Babylonian academy.

When the Sages took leave from Rabbah’s and Rav Yosef’s houses—

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

as they were few in comparison with their predecessors.

When the Sages took leave from Abaye’s house—and some say, from Rav Pappa’s house, and some say, from Rav Ashi’s house—

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

Since the Gemara had mentioned the matter of payment from the collection of the Temple treasury to the judges of the decrees, the Gemara cites the cases of those who received payment from the collection of the Temple treasury:

Rabbi Yitzhak bar Radifa said that Rabbi Ami said: The inspectors

of consecrated animals for

blemishes in Jerusalem would take their payment from the collection of the Temple treasury.

Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said: Torah scholars who taught the laws of slaughter to the priests would take their payment from the collection of the Temple treasury.

Rav Giddel said that Rav said: Torah scholars

who taught the laws of the removal of a handful to the priests would take their payment from the collection of the Temple treasury.

Rabba bar bar Hanna said that Rabbi Yohanan said: The proofreaders of sacred books in Jerusalem would take their payment from the collection of the Temple treasury.

Rav Nahman said that Rav said: The women who wove the partitions

in the Temple

would take their payment from the collection of the Temple treasury.

And I say: From the funds for the repair of the Temple, since the partitions—

were made as part of the structure,

and therefore their status is like that of a structure, which is built specifically from funds for the repair of the Temple.

Meytivi

to Rav Nahman, who said that Rav said this, from that which was taught in a beraita:

The women who wove the partitions, and

also

the House of Garmu,

who were appointed

over the preparation of the shewbread, and the House of Avtinas,

who were appointed

over the preparation of the incense—

all of them would take their payment from the collection of the Temple treasury!

And we answer:

There,

there it is referring

to

partitions

of the gates,

of the gates of the Temple courtyard, which were not part of the structure.

As Rabbi Zeira said that Rav said: Thirteen partitions

curtains

were in the Second Temple:

Seven corresponding to the seven gates

of the Temple courtyard.

One at the entrance to the Sanctuary [

where the Table, the Menora, and the golden altar were located],

and one at the entrance to the Entrance Hall [

which was in front of the Sanctuary].

Two

partitions were

in the innermost chamber,

between the Sanctuary and the Holy of Holies.

There was one partition adjacent to the Holy of Holies, followed by a space one cubit wide, and after it there was another partition, adjacent to the Sanctuary. 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 tall, they could not construct such a wall; they therefore left an empty space in place of the wall and made two partitions on either side of the empty space.

And

two

partitions were

opposite them—

in the upper chamber,

above the innermost chamber and the Sanctuary, in order to demarcate the upper area above the Sanctuary and the upper area above the innermost chamber, because the sanctity of the upper area is equal to the sanctity of the place beneath it.

The Sages taught: Women who raised their sons

in ritual purity, so that their sons would be fit

for

the procedures of

the red heifer,

the red heifer,

would take their payment from the collection of the Temple treasury.

Abba Shaul says: Distinguished women

generous women

in Jerusalem would provide them with wages and sustain them.

Rav Huna asked Rav: