Kiddushin 82b (פב:) — the Talmud in English

Rav Yehuda said:

a maker of needlework in the form of furrows

["Telamita" needlework, whose stitches are made in rows, like furrows].

It was taught in a baraita: Rabbi says: There is no occupation that disappears

[ceases to exist]

from the world.

For whether it is clean or whether it is repulsive, it is needed. And if this person does not engage in it, another will engage in it.

However,

fortunate is one who sees his parents

[those who brought him into the world, and his children] when they engage

in an excellent occupation.

And

woe to one who sees his parents

when they engage

in a deficient occupation.

The world cannot exist without perfume sellers

[one who sells perfumes],

and

it cannot exist

without tanners

[one who processes hides].

However,

fortunate is one whose occupation

is

perfume selling,

for he always gives off a pleasant scent.

And woe to one whose occupation

is

tanning,

for he always gives off a foul odor.

The world cannot exist without males and without females.

However,

fortunate is one whose sons are males, and woe to one whose children are females.

Rabbi Meir says: A person should always teach his son a clean occupation

[one in which there is no concern of theft and no financial loss],

and an easy one.

And

he should not say: There is no such work that can support its practitioners. Rather,

he should ask for mercy from Him to whom wealth and possessions belong,

so that blessing may rest upon the work of his hands.

Since

poverty

does not

come

from

an occupation, and

wealth

does not

come

from an occupation.

Rather,

the source of wealth belongs

to Him to whom wealth belongs.

As it is stated:

“The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine, says the Lord”

of Hosts.

We learned in the Mishna:

Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says:

Have

you ever seen

an animal or bird that has an occupation?!

It was taught in a baraita: Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: In all my days I have never seen a deer who was a fig-drier

[one who dries figs in the field],

a lion who was a porter, or a fox who was a shopkeeper.

And

nevertheless,

they are sustained

[their food comes to them]

without hardship.

And

is this not a kal va-chomer inference:

They were created only to serve me, and

if

I was created to serve my Creator.

And if so,

if these, who were created only to serve me,

are

sustained without hardship, then I, who was created to serve my Creator, should certainly be sustained without hardship?!

Rather, I corrupted my deeds, and

thereby

I forfeited my livelihood.

As

it is stated: “Your iniquities have turned”!

We learned in the Mishna:

Rabbi Nehorai says: I set aside every occupation

in the world, and I teach my son only Torah.

It was taught in a baraita: Rabbi Nehorai says: I set aside every occupation in the world, and I teach my son only Torah.

Because

every occupation in the world does not stand a person in good stead

except

during his youth.

But during his old age,

when he no longer has the strength to engage in it,

he lies in hunger.

But Torah is not so.

Rather,

it stands a person in good stead

during his youth, and gives him a future and hope during his old age.

What does it say regarding his youth

[Isaiah 40:31]:

“But those who hope in the Lord

shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles.”

What does it say regarding his old age

[Psalms 92:15]:

“They shall still be fruitful in old age; they shall be full of sap and freshness.”

We will return to you, chapter “Ten Classes of Lineage,” and the tractate Kiddushin is concluded