Megillah 25a — the Talmud in English

“May the good bless You” ,

this is the way of heresy.

For he says that specifically the good should bless the Lord, and he does not include the wicked in the praise of the Omnipresent . And the Sages learned from the helbena, which Scripture counted among the ingredients of the incense despite its bad smell, that they must all be in one union .

One who says:

“For a bird’s nest Your mercies extend,”

that is, he says: just as Your mercies extend over a bird’s nest, so have pity and mercy upon us,

and

likewise one who says:

“For good may Your Name be remembered,”

that we should thank You specifically for Your goodness,

and likewise one who says:

“We give thanks, we give thanks,”

that he says “we give thanks” twice when bowing,

in all these cases—

they silence him.

And the reason is explained in the Gemara.

One who euphemizes the forbidden sexual relationships,

who says that the section of forbidden sexual relationships spoke by euphemism [and euphemism is language of reversal, for he reverses his speech for praise or for denigration], and it did not intend actual forbidden sexual relationships; rather, when Scripture said, “The nakedness of your father and the nakedness of your mother you shall not uncover,” -

the intention is one who uncovers his father’s disgrace and his mother’s disgrace, for Scripture commanded not to uncover a matter of disgrace that is in them —

they silence him.

One who says: “And from your offspring you shall not give to pass over to Molekh”—

you shall not give to pass over into Aramean women,

that is, he says that the intention of Scripture is to say that one should not have intercourse with a gentile woman and father a son for idolatry—

they silence him with a rebuke .

And the reason is that he uproots the verse from its plain meaning, for it is a statute of the Amorites to pass their sons through fire. And this translator, “You shall not give to pass over into Aramean women,” assigns karet to one who has intercourse with a gentile woman, and obligates a sin-offering for one who does so unintentionally, and execution by the court for one who does so intentionally [for this is what is written concerning one who gives of his offspring to Molekh]. But in truth this is not so .

Gemara:

And we raise an objection concerning this:

Granted,

the one who says:

“We give thanks, we give thanks,”

they silence him—because

when

he says this, it

appears as

one who gives thanks to

two authorities.

And

the one who says:

“For good may Your Name be remembered” also

they silence him, because

it implies: for good—

yes,

may Your Name be remembered;

but for evil—

no. And

this is not so, for

we learned: A person is obligated to bless over the evil

the blessing “Blessed is the true Judge”—

just as he blesses over the good

the blessing “Who is good and does good.”

Rather,

the one who says:

“For a bird’s nest Your mercies extend”—what is the reason

they silence him?

Two amoraim in the West disputed this: Rabbi Yosei bar Avin and Rabbi Yosei bar Zevida.

One said:

this is the reason:

because he casts jealousy into the work of Creation.

For he says that the Holy One, blessed is He, had pity upon the birds, but did not have pity upon the animals .

And one said: because he makes the attributes of the Holy One, blessed is He, mercy,

for he says that the Holy One, blessed is He, commanded this mitzva because He had mercy upon a bird’s nest.

But

in truth,

they are only decrees,

in order to place His yoke upon us, and to make known that we are His servants and the keepers of His mitzvot .

That one who descended

before the ark for prayer

before Rabba,

and

said

thus:

“You had pity upon a bird’s nest; have pity and mercy upon us.”

Rabba said: How much this scholar knows how to appease his Master!

Abaye said to him: But we learned, “They silence him”!?

And Rabba

who said this—

he asked it in order to sharpen Abaye,

for he wanted him to answer him thus. But in truth, he did not find it pleasing.

That one who descended before Rabbi Hanina said: “The great, the mighty, and the awesome, the majestic, the strong, and the courageous.”

Rabbi Hanina said to him:

Rabbi Hanina:

“Have you finished all the praises of your Master?!”

Now, these three: “the great, the mighty, and the awesome”—

“the great, the mighty, and the awesome,”

if Moses had not written them in the Torah,

as it is written: “The great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who shows no partiality,”

and the Men of the Great Assembly had come and established them

to say them thus [for this is what is written in the Book of Ezra: “And now, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, etc.”]—

we would not

have

said them

of our own accord.

And you said

of your own accord

all this?!

A parable:

To what is the matter comparable?

To a person who possessed a thousand times a thousand thousands of gold dinars, and they praised him

as possessing

silver dinars.

And

would this not be disgraceful for him?!

Rabbi Hanina said: Everything is in the hands of Heaven—

except fear of Heaven,

which is entrusted to a person

to prepare his heart for this

[even though the ability is in the hands of the Holy One, blessed is He, to prepare our hearts toward Him, as it is written: “Behold, as clay is in the hand of the potter, so are you in My hand, House of Israel.” Rashi].

As it is stated: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you, except to fear” .

And we wonder:

Does this imply that fear is a small matter!?

And we answer:

Yes. For Moses our teacher—

it is a small matter .

A parable:

To what is the matter comparable?

To a person from whom they request a large utensil, and he has

that very utensil; then

it appears to him like a small utensil.

But a person from whom they request a utensil, even a

small one—

and he does not have it, it appears to him like a large utensil.

Rabbi Zeira said: One who says, “Shema, Shema”—

is like one who says, “We give thanks, we give thanks” .

An objection was raised: One who recites the Shema and repeats it—

this is disgraceful.

It implies:

disgraceful is what it is,

but

silencing him—

we do not silence him!?

And we answer:

It is not difficult. This

case, where we said that it is disgraceful, is, for example,

where he says a word—

and repeats it,

that he says a word and repeats it; for this does not imply two authorities, but he is disgraceful and foolish.

But

this

case, where we say that they silence him, is, for example,

where he says a verse—

and repeats it .

Rav Pappa said to Rava: Perhaps initially he did not direct his intention, and now he directed his intention,

and for that reason he repeated the verse?

He said to him:

Does he conduct the practice of

companionship

[his fellow]

toward Heaven?!

That he speaks without intention, then repeats it, and shows Him that he did not have intention the first time?!

If he does not direct his intention—

we strike

[him]

with a blacksmith’s ax

[a pickaxe, a large hammer]—

until he directs his intention!

We learned in our Mishna:

“One who euphemizes the forbidden sexual relationships—they silence him.”

Rav Yosef taught:

that he translates, “The nakedness of your father and the nakedness of your mother,” as

“your father’s disgrace and your mother’s disgrace,”

so that he should not uncover a matter of disgrace that is in them.

We learned in our Mishna:

“One who says, ‘And from your offspring you shall not give to pass over, etc.’”

The school of Rabbi Ishmael taught

to explain the Mishna: that he says:

“It speaks of an Israelite who has intercourse with a Cuthean woman and fathers from her a son for idolatry”—

the verse speaks.

Mishna:

The account of Reuben,

that is the one written: “And he lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine”—

is read

in the synagogue,

but is not translated ,

because we are concerned for Reuben’s disgrace [and the Ran explained that we are concerned for Jacob’s disgrace ].

The account of Tamar

and Judah —

is read and translated.

The account of the first Calf,

that is, up to “and he burned it in the fire”—

is read and translated. And

the account of the

second

Calf, that is, what Aaron went back and recounted, as it is written there: “And I cast it into the fire, and this Calf emerged”—

is read but not translated.

Because we are concerned lest the unlearned err and say that there was substance in it, for it emerged by itself , and in truth they do not understand the verse.

The Priestly Benediction,

and

the account of David

and Amnon—

are read but not translated .

One does not recite as a haftara from

the account of

the Chariot .

And Rabbi Judah—

permits.

Rabbi Eliezer says: One does not recite as a haftara from “Make known to Jerusalem

her abominations” .

Gemara:

The Sages taught: There are

readings that

are read -

and are translated. And there are

that

are read -

and are not translated. And there are

that

are not read -

and are not translated .

These

readings that

are read and translated [

the mnemonic is Balat Akan Nashpa]:

the account of Creation -

is read and translated.

And we raise a difficulty:

Is it obvious!?

And we explain:

What might you say,

let us be concerned lest

people come

to ask:

what is above -

what is below,