Kiddushin 30a (ל.) — the Talmud in English

And if I had married at fourteen ,

I would have said to the Satan: “An arrow in your eye!”

If I had married at the age of fourteen, I would have been able to provoke the Satan and say to him, “An arrow in your eye,” and I would not have feared that he might cause me to sin. ,

The Gemara now returns to discuss what we learned in a beraita, that a person is obligated to teach his son Torah:

Rava said to Rabbi Natan bar Ami:

“While your hand is upon the neck of your children,”

be careful to teach your son rebuke as long as your hand is powerful over his neck. And when is this time?

From sixteen until twenty-two,

from the age of sixteen until the age of twenty-two. Before the age of sixteen, he does not yet possess sufficient understanding to accept rebuke, and it is not appropriate to burden him excessively with moral instruction and rebuke; after the age of twenty-two, there is concern that he may reject everything.

And some say

that the time is

from eighteen

from the age of eighteen

until twenty-four.

This dispute is

a dispute between tannaim,

like the dispute between the tannaim in the following beraita:

And so they taught in a beraita: It is stated [Proverbs 22:6]:

“Train a child according to his way

so that even when he grows old he will not depart from it.” That is: the proper way, from which he will not depart even when he grows old, should be instilled in him during his youth.

And when is the time of his “youth”?

Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Neḥemya

disagreed about this:

One

of them

said: From sixteen until twenty-two,

from the age of sixteen until the age of twenty-two.

And one said: From eighteen from the age of eighteen

from the age of eighteen]

until twenty-four.

How far,

to what extent is the obligation that

a person is obligated to teach his son Torah?

Rav Yehuda said that Shmuel said:

Up to the level exemplified by

Zevulun ben Dan,

whose grandfather taught him Scripture, Mishna, Talmud, halakhot, and aggadot.

The Gemara initially understands that Shmuel cited the example of Zevulun ben Dan to teach us two things: a. Not only is a father obligated to teach his son, but he is obligated to teach even his son’s son, his grandson.

b. Not only is he obligated to teach him the Written Torah, but he is obligated to teach him even Mishna, Talmud, halakhot, and aggadot.

Meytivi

an objection to Shmuel’s words from a beraita:

As it was taught:

If his father taught him

his son

Scripture, he need not teach him Mishna.

For a father is obligated to teach his son only Scripture, whereas the son must learn Mishna and the other subjects on his own.

And

concerning this

Rava said: “Scripture”

that is mentioned here

means Torah

alone, and not the Prophets or the Writings.

From here it follows that a person is not obligated to teach his son Mishna, Talmud, halakhot, and aggadot, contrary to Shmuel’s statement!

And we answer: Although Shmuel cited the example of Zevulun ben Dan, Shmuel did not intend to say that the obligation is entirely like the case of Zevulun ben Dan. Rather,

like Zevulun ben Dan

in one respect,

but not like Zevulun ben Dan

in another respect, as follows:

Like Zevulun ben Dan, whose grandfather taught him,

and similarly, every person is obligated to teach his grandson.

But not like Zevulun ben Dan, for there there, his grandfather taught him

there] his grandfather taught him

Scripture, Mishna, Talmud, halakhot, and aggadot, whereas here,

every person is obligated to teach his son only

Scripture

a

alone. ,

And we challenge Shmuel’s statement:

Is his grandfather obligated?

Is his grandfather indeed obligated to teach him Torah? But did we not learn the opposite in a beraita?

As it was taught,

it is stated [Deuteronomy 11:19]:

“And you shall teach them to your sons.”

The tanna derives from the verse: specifically, “your sons,”

and not

the

sons of your sons.

From here it follows that a person is not commanded to teach Torah to his grandson.

And

since a person is not obligated to teach his grandson,

how do I understand

how can I interpret the verse [Deuteronomy 4:9]:

“And you shall make them known

the words of the Torah

to your sons and to your sons’ sons”?

This verse

comes to tell you that whoever teaches his son Torah, the verse considers it as though he taught him, his son, and his son’s son, until the end of all generations.

And we answer:

He Shmuel,

Shmuel],

who said

that a person is obligated to teach his grandson, maintains

in accordance with this tanna,

like the tanna who taught the following beraita:

As it was taught:

It is stated

“And you shall teach them to your sons.” I have derived only

the possibility of deriving from here

“your sons.”

The

sons of your sons—from where?

From where can we learn that a person is obligated to teach even his grandson?

The verse states: “And you shall make them known to your sons and to your sons’ sons.”

From here it follows that a person is obligated to teach even his grandson.

And since a person is obligated to teach his grandsons,

why then does the verse say

why is it stated, “And you shall teach them to

your sons”?

This verse comes to exclude

“your sons,” but not your daughters.

It teaches us that a person is not commanded to teach his daughter Torah.

And apropos of the verse “And you shall make them known to your sons,” the Gemara cites a homily that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi expounded from this verse:

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Whoever teaches his grandson

Torah, the verse considers it as though he received it at Mount Sinai.

As it is stated: “And you shall make them known to your sons and to your sons’ sons,” and immediately afterward it says

and directly adjacent to it is stated

“the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb.”

The juxtaposition of the verses teaches us that the verse considers it as though he received it at Mount Sinai.

Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba encountered

and found

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, who had thrown a sheet over his head,

having placed it over his head so as not to walk bareheaded; because he was hurrying, he had not had time to wrap himself in a proper head covering,

and he was bringing a child to the synagogue

and taking his young son to the synagogue to study there.

He said to him,

Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said to him:

“Why all this haste?”

Why did you hurry so much that you did not have time to cover your head with an appropriate covering?

He said to him,

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi replied:

“Is what is written insignificant,

do you consider the statement of the verse insignificant:

‘And you shall make them known to your sons,’ and immediately afterward, ‘the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb,’

and the verse considers it as though he received it at Mount Sinai? If so, do you consider it insignificant that I should run and hurry for this purpose?!

When Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Avin heard this answer,

from that point onward, Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Avin would not taste a piece of roasted meat until he had recited with the child and added to it.

He would not taste meat roasted over coals until he had reviewed with the child what he had read with him the previous day and added one new verse for him.

Rabba bar Rav Huna would not taste a piece of roasted meat until he brought the child to the house of study,

he would not taste meat roasted over coals until he brought the child to the house of study to learn.

The Gemara now cites several statements concerning the mitzva of Torah study:

Rav Safra said in the name of

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya:

What is the meaning of that which is written

[Deuteronomy 6:7]

“And you shall teach them diligently to your sons”?

Why does it not say, “And you shall teach them a second time to your sons”?

Do not read, “And you shall teach them diligently,” but, “And you shall teach them a third time.”

That is:

A person should always divide his years into thirds:

one third

of them he should devote

to Torah, one third to Mishna,

and

one third to Talmud.

The Gemara immediately asks: How can a person know what constitutes one third of his life?

Who knows how long I will live,

does he know how long he will live?!

And we answer:

It is necessary only with regard to days.

The verse teaches that a person should divide the days of the week into thirds: two days for Scripture, two days for Mishna, and two days for Talmud.

And the Gemara cites an additional statement:

Therefore,

for the following reason,

the

early

sages were called “scribes,”

because

they counted

all

the letters in the Torah.

They would say:

the letter

vav of

the word

“gahon” [

Leviticus 11:42 ] ] is

the midpoint of the letters of a Torah scroll,

meaning: When we count the letters in the Torah scroll, we find that the letter vav of gahon stands at the midpoint of their number.

The words

“darosh darash” [

Leviticus 10:16 ] are

the midpoint of the

the

words

in the Torah scroll.

The verse

“vehitgaleḥ” [

Leviticus 13:33 ] is at the midpoint

of the verses.

And likewise, it is stated [Psalms 80:14]:

“The boar from the forest gnaws at it.”

The letter

ayin of “ya’ar”

is

at the midpoint of

the letters in the Book of

Psalms.

And the verse [Psalms 78:38]

“But He, being compassionate, shall forgive iniquity”

is

the midpoint of the verses

in Psalms.

Rav Yosef inquired:

He asked:

The vav of gahon,

is it

on this side or on that side?

Does that vav conclude the first half of the letters in the Torah scroll, or does it begin the second half?

Abaye said to him:

(see footnote 311):

Let us bring a Torah scroll and count them,

we will bring a Torah scroll and count its letters, and I will tell you where that vav of gahon is found!

Did

[does]

not

so

Rabba bar bar Ḥana say: The sages did not move

the sages of the preceding generations

from there

[it is not explained from which place they did not move ]

until they brought a Torah scroll and counted them?!

Rav Yosef said to him:

Rav Yosef:

They,

the sages of the preceding generations, were

expert in the “deficient” and “full” spellings,

and therefore they were able to count the letters in the Torah scroll, but

we are not expert.

And therefore we cannot count the number of letters in the Torah scroll precisely.

Rav Yosef asks another question:

Rav Yosef inquired:

Regarding what we said, “vehitgaleḥ is the midpoint of the verses,” one must ask:

Is “vehitgaleḥ” on this side or on that side?

Does “vehitgaleḥ” belong to the first half or to the second half?

Abaye said to him:

Indeed, we are not expert in deficient and full spellings and cannot count the letters, but

at least, let them bring the verses so that we can count them,

the verses, at any rate, we can bring before us and count!

Rav Yosef replied:

We are not expert even in the verses

We are not expert even in the division of the Torah into verses, and it is possible that there is a single verse that we mistakenly divide into two, or the like.

And there is proof of this:

When

when

Rav Aḥa bar Adda

came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia,

he said: In the West, they divide this verse into three verses,

in Eretz Yisrael they divide the verse before us into three verses:

“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold, I am coming to you in the thickness of the cloud,

so that the people may hear when I speak with you. And they will also believe in you forever.’ And Moses told the words of the people to the Lord” [Exodus 19:9].

The Sages taught: There are five thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight verses in the Torah scroll.

The Book of

Psalms

Psalms

has

eight

more verses.

The Book of

Chronicles

Chronicles

is short

eight

verses.

The Sages taught:

The word

“veshinantam”

comes to teach

that the words of Torah should be sharp in your mouth.

That is: Repeat them and hone them, and examine them in depth, until

if a person asks you something, you will not stammer and say to him

an answer after stammering,

but you will say to him

the answer

immediately.