Kiddushin 40a — the Talmud in English

He said to them: Two ![](pamud.bmp "

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I carry,

from the guard of

Caesar; they guarded me the entire night.

They said to him: Perhaps

a trial with

a matter of sexual transgression came to you, and you were saved from it?

For we learned: Anyone to whom a matter of sexual transgression comes, and who is saved from it, a miracle is performed for him.

And the Gemara explains: Concerning whom was it said:

“Mighty in strength, doing His word, to hear the voice of His word”?

For example, Rabbi Tzadok and his companions.

And as will be explained in the following incident, he overcame his inclination.

Rabbi Tzadok, that gentile matron desired him

for a transgression.

He said to her: My heart is weak, and I cannot.

I cannot perform the act because of the weakness of my heart from my hunger.

And she asked:

Is there something to eat,

do you have any food at all?

She said to him: There is something

of food

that is impure.

He said to her: What difference does it make

that it is impure food—for whoever

does this,

the act of transgression,

eat,

he eats

this,

also the impure thing.

She heated the oven, and placed it in it,

the gentile heated the oven and placed the impure thing in it in order to roast it.

He went up,

Rabbi Tzadok went up to the opening of the oven,

and sat inside it,

and entered and sat inside it.

She said to him: What is this?

He said to her: Whoever does this,

the one who performs this act of transgression,

falls into this,

into this fire, of Gehenna.

She said to him: If I had known all this,

that this transgression is so serious in your eyes,

I would not have caused you distress.

Rav Kahana used to sell baskets,

he was poor, and supported himself by selling baskets to women [in which they placed their spindles].

That gentile matron desired him

for a transgression.

He said to her: I will go and adorn myself,

I will prepare and adorn myself for this.

He went up,

Rav Kahana went up onto the roof of the building,

and threw himself from the roof,

he threw himself from the roof of the building,

to the ground,

toward the ground.

Elijah came

and came

to him and caught him,

and caught him in his arms before he fell to the ground.

He said to him,

Elijah

said to Rav Kahana: You have troubled me,

you made me exert myself in order to come and save you, from a distance of

four hundred parasangs.

He said to him,

Rav Kahana: Is it not that

what caused me

to have to sell baskets to women and come to this,

was it not poverty,

is it not the poverty in which I am!?

He gave him

Elijah gave Rav Kahana

a vessel [

a utensil ]

of denarii,

filled with gold coins.

Rava raised an objection to

challenged

Rav Nahman: We learned,

we learned at the beginning of tractate Peah:

“These are the matters whose fruits a person eats

in this world, while the principal remains for him in the World to Come.”

These are: honoring father and mother, acts of kindness, and making peace between one person and his fellow. And Torah study corresponds to them all. And Rava explains the source in the Torah for all these matters:

Concerning honoring father and mother it is written

[Deuteronomy 5]

“So that your days may be lengthened, and so that it may be good for you.”

And we expound: So that your days may be lengthened in the World to Come, and so that it may be good for you during your life in this world.

Concerning acts of kindness it is written

[Proverbs 21],

“He who pursues charity and kindness will find life, charity, and honor.”

And we expound: Life in the World to Come; charity and honor in this world.

And concerning making peace it is written

[Psalms 32]

“Seek peace and pursue it.”

And Rabbi Abbahu said: It comes,

we learn that also for making peace a person merits eating the fruits of the mitzva in this world while the principal remains for him for the World to Come, through a gezerah shavah from the mitzva of acts of kindness,

“pursuing, pursuing,”

It is written here,

in making peace between one person and his fellow,

“Seek peace and pursue it,” and it is written there,

in acts of kindness,

“He who pursues charity and kindness.”

Concerning Torah study it is written

[Deuteronomy 30]

“For it is your life and the length of your days.”

And we expound: Your life in this world, and the length of your life in the World to Come.

And Rava asked: But

concerning the sending away of the mother bird it is also written, “So that it may be good for you, and you may lengthen your days,”

and if so, we should expound as above: so that it may be good for you in this world, and you may lengthen your days in the World to Come.

Therefore Rava asked Rav Nahman:

Let him also teach this,

the mitzva of sending away the mother bird, among the mitzvot whose fruits a person eats in this world while the principal remains for him in the World to Come.

And Rav Nahman answered him: The tanna did not enumerate all the matters, but

the tanna

taught what he taught in the Mishna,

and omitted

other matters that he did not teach; therefore he also did not teach the sending away of the mother bird.

And the Gemara is astonished at the answer:

The tanna taught “These are the matters,”

which implies only these matters and not other matters,

and

if

you say, “The tanna omitted”?

Rava said: Rav Idi explained it to me,

he explained to me why the tanna did not teach the sending away of the mother bird in the Mishna: because it is not included in the words of Scripture that teach about eating fruits in this world.

For the source for eating the fruits of a mitzva in this world is learned from that which is written in the Book of Isaiah [chapter 3]:

“Say of the righteous man that it is good, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.”

And these words of Scripture apparently require explanation:

Is there a righteous man who is “good,” and a righteous man who is “not good”?

Rather,

necessarily, this is what Scripture says: A righteous man who is

good to Heaven and to people—this is a good righteous man.

And concerning him Scripture says, “For they shall eat the fruit of their deeds,” for he merits eating the fruit of his good deeds in this world.

But a righteous man who is

good to Heaven and evil to people—this is a righteous man who is not good,

and concerning him Scripture did not say that he would eat the fruit of his deeds.

And since in the sending away of the mother bird there is no act of benefiting people, there is no reward of eating fruits for fulfillment of this mitzva; therefore the tanna did not teach it in the Mishna.

Similarly, you say

in explaining the verse [there],

“Woe to the wicked man who is evil, for the recompense of his hands shall be done

to him.”

Is there a wicked man who is evil, and one who is not evil?

Rather,

a wicked man who is

evil to Heaven and evil to people,

such as a murderer, or a thief, or a robber,

is a wicked man who is evil.

Evil to Heaven and not evil to people,

such as one who reveals forbidden sexual relations or eats forbidden foods,

this is a wicked man who is not evil:

And the Gemara brings the beraita [at the beginning of the Tosefta to tractate Peah], which adds to the words of the Mishna:

A merit

[the fulfillment of a mitzva]

has a principal, and has fruits.

As it is said: “Say of the righteous man that it is good,

for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.” And it is proven from the wording of Scripture that there is eating of fruits for performing a mitzva.

But

a transgression has a principal, but has no fruits. As it is said: “Woe to the wicked man who is evil,

for the recompense of his hands shall be done to him.” The meaning of Scripture is that it will be bad for him only according to the recompense of his hands, but he is not punished by eating bad fruits in this world.

But what shall I establish

the continuation of the verse,

“And they shall eat from the fruit of their way, and from their counsels they shall be satisfied,”

whose meaning is that there is also eating of fruits for an act of transgression? Thus said Scripture:

A transgression that produces fruits,

such as an important person who performs an act of transgression, and there is desecration of the Name in this, because he thereby influences many people negatively to do likewise,

has fruits.

And

a transgression that does not

produce fruits has no fruits,

and he is punished only according to his act.

A good thought, He joins

the Holy One, blessed be He,

to the deed.

As it is said [Malachi 3]:

“Then those who fear the Lord spoke each man to his fellow, and the Lord listened and heard, and a book of remembrance was written

before Him for those who fear the Lord and for those who think of His Name.”

What is “and for those who think of His Name”?

Rav Asi said: Even if a person thought to perform a mitzva, but was prevented and did not perform it, Scripture regards it for him as though he performed it.

A bad thought, the Holy One, blessed be He, does not join it to the deed. As it is said

in the Book of Psalms [chapter 66]:

“If I saw iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not hear.”

But what shall I establish, “Behold, I am bringing evil upon this people, the fruit of their thoughts,”

which makes clear that there is punishment also for a bad thought?

A thought that produces fruit,

which was carried out,

the Holy One, blessed be He, joins it to the deed,

so that he is exacted from also for the thought.

A thought that has no fruit,

from which he refrained from transgressing,

the Holy One, blessed be He, does not join it to the deed.

And

we ask:

But that which is written

in the Book of Ezekiel [chapter 14]:

“In order to seize

the house of

Israel in their heart,”

behold, it implies that they are punished for the thought of the heart!?

Rav Aha bar Yaakov said: That is written concerning

the thought of

idolatry.

For the Master said: Idolatry is severe, for anyone who denies it is like one who acknowledges the entire Torah

[and the Sages employed a euphemistic expression, saying that one who acknowledges it is like one who denies the entire Torah], and because of its severity they are liable to punishment even for thought alone.

Ulla said

to explain the words of the verse in Jeremiah, “Behold, I am bringing evil upon this people, the fruit of their thoughts,” which apparently implies that they are punished also for a bad thought,

in accordance with Rav Huna.

For Rav Huna said: Once a person has committed a transgression and repeated it, it becomes permitted to him.

“It becomes permitted to him”—does this enter your mind!?

Rather, it becomes

for

him like something permitted.

And Scripture speaks of one who transgressed twice and thought to transgress a further time, but refrained and did not transgress: he is indeed punished for the mere thought, since the third time he does not refrain from transgressing for the sake of Heaven, for the transgression has already become permitted in his eyes; rather, he did not transgress because he had no need to carry out his thought.

Rabbi Abbahu said in the name of Rabbi Hanina: It is preferable for him,

it is better for

a person to commit a transgression in private and not desecrate the Name of Heaven in public.

As it is said

[Ezekiel 2]:

“And you, house of Israel, so said the Lord: Each man, go serve his idols

and afterward

, if you do not listen to Me. But you shall not desecrate My holy Name!”

That is to say: Do not desecrate My Name in public, because one who sees this comes to diminish the honor of the Omnipresent; rather, it is preferable that you transgress in private.

And the Gemara brings a similar saying:

Rabbi Ilai the Elder said: If a person sees that his inclination is overcoming him, let him go to a place where they do not know him, and wear black garments and cover himself in black, and do what his heart desires ,

and let him not desecrate the Name of Heaven in public.

And we object:

That is not so!

How can you say that it is preferable for him to transgress in private, for the matter is not so, since:

And we learned

in tractate Hagiga [11a]:

Anyone who has no concern for the honor of his Maker is fitting not to have come into the world!

And there the Gemara explains that the amoraim disputed the explanation of the matter:

What is it?

Rabba said: This is one who gazes at the rainbow,

because it contains a manifestation of the honor of the Lord, and gazing at a manifestation of the Lord involves contempt for His honor.

Rav Yosef said: This is one who commits a transgression in private.

And we answer:

It is not difficult.

This refers to one who is able to subdue his inclination,

and since he is able to subdue his inclination, yet nevertheless goes and transgresses in private, he is like one who pushes away the feet of the Divine Presence, for he says in his heart: Who sees me, after all!?

And this refers to one who is unable to subdue his inclination,

for then it is preferable that he transgress in private and not desecrate the Lord by transgressing openly.

We learned there: There is no “postponement” in desecration of the Name, whether unwitting or intentional.

And the Gemara explains:

What is “there is no postponement”?

Mar Zutra said: That they do not act like a shopkeeper

who is prepared to sell on credit from time to time and wait for a period until payment, but rather they exact his punishment from him immediately.

Mar, son of Ravina, said: It means

that if his liabilities and merits were balanced, and

the

scale of his judgment

was balanced,

and among the transgressions there was a transgression of desecration of the Name, it

tips

the scale against him.