Kiddushin 30a — the Talmud in English

And if I had married at fourteen

precise page location

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 lest he cause me to sin. ,

And the Gemara returns to deal with what we learned in the beraita, that a person is obligated to teach his son Torah:

Rava said to Rabbi Natan bar Ami: As long as your hand is upon

the necks of your children,

be careful to teach your son admonitions 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 years until twenty-two years. For before the age of sixteen he does not have sufficient understanding to accept admonitions, and it is not appropriate to burden him with ethics and admonitions; and after the age of twenty-two there is concern lest he rebel against everything.

And some say,

and there are those who say that the time is

from eighteen

from eighteen

until twenty-four.

And this dispute is

like the dispute of tannaim,

like the dispute of the tannaim in the beraita below:

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

“Train a child according to his way

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, train him in it during his youth.

And when is the time of “his youth”?

Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Nehemiah

disagreed about the matter:

One

of them

said: From sixteen until twenty-two,

from the age of sixteen until twenty-two years.

And one said: From eighteen [

from eighteen]

until twenty-four.

To what extent,

how great is the obligation that

a person is obligated to teach his son Torah?

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel:

Until

for example, Zevulun ben Dan,

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

The Gemara now understands that Shmuel brought the example of Zevulun ben Dan in order to teach us two things: A. Not only is the 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 Written Torah, but he is obligated to teach him even Mishna and Talmud, halakhot and aggadot.

Meitivi

a contradiction to Shmuel’s words from a beraita:

For it was taught:

If his father taught him

Scripture,

he does not teach him Mishna.

For the father is obligated to teach his son only Scripture, whereas the son must study Mishna and the other matters himself.

And

concerning this

Rava said: Scripture

that was mentioned here

means Torah

alone, and not Prophets or Writings.

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

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

like Zevulun ben Dan

in one matter,

but not like Zevulun ben Dan

in another matter. As follows:

Like Zevulun ben Dan, whose grandfather taught him,

and similarly every person is obligated to teach his son’s son.

But not like Zevulun ben Dan, for there

there his grandfather taught him

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

every person is obligated to teach his son only

Scripture

a

lone. ,

And we raise a difficulty concerning Shmuel’s words:

And is his grandfather obligated?

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

For it was taught,

it is stated [Deuteronomy 11:19]:

“And you shall teach them to your sons.”

And the tanna deduces from the verse: specifically “your sons,”

and not

“the”

sons of your sons.”

From here, a person is not commanded to teach Torah to his son’s son.

And

since a person is not obligated to teach his son’s son,

how do I understand

how can I establish the verse [Deuteronomy 9:19]:

“And you shall make them known

[the words of Torah]

to your sons ‘and to your sons’ sons’”?

This verse

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

And we answer:

He

[Shmuel],

who said

that a person is obligated to teach his son’s son, holds

like this tanna,

like the tanna who taught the following beraita:

For it was taught:

It is stated

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

the possibility of deriving from here

but

“your”

“sons.” From where [do I derive] your sons’ sons?

From where can we derive that a person is obligated to teach even his son’s son?

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

From here, a person is obligated to teach even his son’s son.

And since a person is obligated to teach his sons’ sons,

what does the verse come to teach

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

sons”?

This verse comes to exclude:

“Your sons,” and not your daughters.

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

And incidentally, since we brought the verse “And you shall make them known to your sons,” the Gemara brings a teaching that Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi expounded from this verse:

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Whoever teaches his son’s son

Torah, Scripture considers it for him as though he received it at Mount Sinai.

For it is stated: “And you shall make them known to your sons and to your sons’ sons,” and adjacent to it

and immediately afterward it is stated

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

The juxtaposition of the verses comes to teach us that Scripture considers it for him as though he received it at Mount Sinai.

Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba found

he found

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

for he had cast a sheet over his head so as not to walk with his head uncovered, and because he was hurrying he had not managed to wrap himself in a cloth suitable for covering the head,

and was bringing a child to the synagogue

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

He said to him,

Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba:

Why all this,

why did you hurry so much that you did not manage to cover your head with the covering that suits you?

He said to him,

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi replied:

Is what is written a small matter,

is the statement of Scripture small in your eyes,

“And you shall make them known to your sons,” and adjacent to it, “the day on which you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb,”

and Scripture considers it for him as though he received it at Mount Sinai. And if so, is it a small matter in your eyes that I should run and hurry for this?!

And when Rabbi Hiyya bar Avin heard this answer,

from that point onward Rabbi Hiyya bar Avin did not taste a piece of roasted meat until he read with the child, and added to him.

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

Rabba bar Rav Huna did not taste a piece of meat until he brought the child to the beit-midrash,

he would not taste meat roasted over coals until he brought the child to the beit-midrash to study.

And now the Gemara brings several statements concerning the mitzva of Torah study:

Rav Safra said in the name of

[in the name of]

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hanania: What is the meaning of that which is written

[Deuteronomy 6:7]

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

Why was it not stated, “And you shall repeat them to your sons”?

Do not read “veshinantam,” but “veshilashtam.”

That is:

A person should always divide his years into thirds.

A third

of them he should engage

in Torah, a third in Mishna,

and

a third in Talmud.

And immediately we raise a difficulty: How can a person know how much time is 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 not necessary; [it refers] to the days.

The verse comes to teach that a person should divide the days of the week into three: two days in Scripture, two days in Mishna, and two days in Talmud.

And the Gemara brings an additional statement:

Therefore,

for the following reason,

were called

the

early Sages “scribes,”

because

they would count

all

the letters in the Torah.

For they would say:

the letter

vav of

the word

“belly”

Leviticus 11:42 is

the midpoint of the letters of a Torah scroll,

that is: 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

“he inquired, he inquired”

Leviticus 10:16 are at

the midpoint of

the

words

in the Torah scroll.

The verse

“and he shall shave”

Leviticus 13:33 is at the midpoint

of the verses.

And likewise it is said [Psalms 80:14]:

“The boar from the forest gnaws at it.”

The letter

ayin of “forest”

is

at the midpoint of

the letters in the book of

Psalms.

And the verse [Psalms 78:38]

“But He, being compassionate, forgives iniquity”

is

the midpoint of the verses

in Psalms.

Rav Yosef asked

asked

Rav Yosef: The vav of gahon,

is it

on this side, or on that side?

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

He said to him,

Abaye

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!

Did [

is it that ]

not

so

Rabba bar bar Hana say: The Sages did not move

the Sages of the earlier generations

from there [

it was 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,

in the earlier generations, were

expert in “deficient” and “full” spellings,

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 asked:

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

“Ve-hitgalah: on this side or on that side?”

Does “ve-hitgalah” 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 we are unable to count the letters, but

at least let us bring the verses and count them,

for at least we can bring the verses before us and count them!

Rav Yosef answered:

We are not expert even in the verses

Even in the division of the verses of the Torah we are not expert, and it is possible that there is one verse that we mistakenly divide into two, and the like.

And proof of this is:

when

when

Rav Aha bar Adda

came from the Land of Israel to Babylonia,

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

in the Land of Israel 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: Five thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight verses are the verses of the Torah scroll.

The book of

the book

Psalms

has

eight

verses more than it.

The book of

the book

Chronicles

is lacking

eight

verses from it.

The Sages taught:

The word

“and you shall teach them incisively”

comes to teach

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

That is: review them and teach them incisively, and examine them in depth, until

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

an answer after stammering,

but say to him

an answer

immediately.