Menachot 53b (נג:) — the Talmud in English

“Son of the beloved” —

this is Abraham, as it is written: “What has My beloved to do in My house?”

as will be explained below.

“And he will build the beloved” —

this is the Temple, as it is written: “How beloved are Your dwelling places.”

“For the beloved” —

this is the Almighty, as it is written: “Let me sing now for my beloved.”

“In the portion of the beloved” —

this is Benjamin, as it is stated: “Of Benjamin he said: —

The beloved of the Lord shall dwell securely upon Him.”

“And the beloveds shall achieve atonement through it” —

these are Israel, as it is written: “I have placed the beloved of my soul in the hand of her enemies.”

Rabbi Ezra further expounded:

“Let the good one come and receive good from the Good One” —

for the good ones!

“Let the good one come” —

this is Moses, as it is written: “And she saw him, that he was good.”

“And receive good” —

this is Torah, as it is written: “For I have given you a good teaching.”

“From the Good One” —

this is the Almighty, as it is written: “The Lord is good to all.”

“For the good ones” —

these are Israel, as it is written: “Do good, Lord, to the good.”

Rabbi Ezra further expounded:

“Let this one come and receive this from This One” —

for this people!

“Let this one come” —

this is Moses, as it is written: “For this Moses, the man.”

“And receive this” —

this is Torah, as it is written: “And this is the Torah that Moses placed.”

“From This One” —

this is the Almighty, as it is written: “This is my God, and I will glorify Him.”

“For this people” —

these are Israel, as it is stated: “This people You have acquired.”

Rabbi Yitzhak said: When the Temple was destroyed, the Almighty found Abraham standing in the Temple. He said to him:

the Almighty said to Abraham:

“What has My beloved to do in My house?” He said to Him:

Abraham said to Him:

“I have come concerning the affairs of my children.” He said to him:

the Almighty said to him:

“Your children have sinned —

and they have been exiled!”

He said to Him:

Abraham said to Him:

“Perhaps they sinned unintentionally?!”

He said to him:

the Almighty said to him:

“They committed the scheme,

for their deeds were carried out with deliberate intent.

He said to Him:

Abraham said to Him:

“Perhaps

only

a minority of them sinned?”

He said to him:

the Almighty said to him:

“The majority

sinned.”

Abraham said to Him:

“You should have remembered the covenant of circumcision.”

He said to him:

the Almighty said to him: “

And holy flesh has passed away from you.”

He said to Him:

Abraham said to Him:

“Perhaps if You had waited for them, they would have repented?!”

He said to him:

the Almighty said to him: “

For when you are evil —

then you rejoice,”

when they are tranquil and joyous, they cling even more strongly to their evil deeds; therefore, waiting would only cause them to sin further.

Immediately, Abraham placed

his

hands upon his head and cried out and wept. And he said to

the Almighty:

“Perhaps, Heaven forbid, there is no remedy for them?!”

A Divine voice emerged and said to him: “A leafy olive tree, beautiful with handsome fruit, the Lord has called your name.” —

Just as the olive tree reaches its ultimate end at the end,

it is planted, and only after a long time does it produce abundant fruit,

so too Israel reaches its ultimate end at the end,

their end is that they will repent.

Now the Gemara expounds the continuation of those verses in the Book of Jeremiah.

This is what is written: “

At the sound of a great tumult He kindled a fire against it, and its branches were ravaged” —

Rabbi Ḥinena bar Pappa said: At the sound of the words of the spies —

the branches of Israel were broken.

That is, their proud strength was broken.

For Rabbi Ḥinena bar Pappa said: The spies uttered

a great statement

at that time: “

For he is stronger than we” — Do not read “than we” but “than Him,” as though even

the Almighty, who is

the Master of the house, cannot remove His vessels from there,

because they are stronger than He.

Rav Aḥa, son of Rabbi Ḥinena, challenged this: What is the meaning of the phrase “At the sound of a great tumult”?!

Why is it written in this form, when according to this interpretation,

“At the sound of a word”

would have been required

to be written?!

Rather,

this verse is expounded as follows:

The Almighty said to Abraham: “I have heard your voice, and I have had compassion on them. I said that they would be subjugated to four kingdoms,

and the subjugation by

each and every one

of the four kingdoms would last

for the measure of the four kingdoms

that currently exist. But

now,

since the Almighty heard the voice of Abraham our father and had compassion on us, the subjugation under each kingdom will not last as long as the measure of four kingdoms; rather,

each one

will subjugate us according to

whatever measure was allotted to it,

that is, for the duration of one kingdom.

And some say: I said

that you would be subjugated to the four kingdoms

one after the other; now,

after the Almighty heard the voice of Abraham our father, the exile under all four kingdoms will be

at one and the same time,

as the Children of Israel will be dispersed among all four kingdoms [Babylonia, Persia, Greece, Rome.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Why were Israel compared to an olive?

To say

to you: Just as the leaves of an olive tree do not fall, neither

in the summer nor in the rainy season, so too Israel will never cease to exist, neither in this world nor in the World-to-Come!

Rabbi Yohanan said: Why were Israel compared to an olive? To say to you: Just as an olive produces its oil only through crushing, so too Israel return to the right path only through suffering!

We learned in the Mishna:

Rabbi Meir says: The leaven —

he scoops out for them from within it and leavens them.

Rabbi Yehuda says: He brings the leaven from his house and places it into the measure.

They said to him: It too would have been deficient or excessive.

And we raised a difficulty:

What

was the circumstance in which it was

deficient, or

what was the circumstance in which it was

excessive?

And we answer:

Rav Ḥisda said: If the

dough of the

leaven

that he brought from his house was

thick,

because he made it in his house with only a small amount of water, and thus the leaven became thick and hard, then its volume now contains more flour than the volume of an equal measure of semolina that has not been mixed with water. Therefore, if he measures this leaven together with the semolina in the tenth-measure,

it turns out to be excessive

the amount of semolina of the meal-offering measured in

the tenth-measure.

Since the semolina mixed into the thick, hard leaven is compressed in volume, more semolina can be placed in the tenth-measure than could have been placed in it had he not mixed the leaven into dough.

But if the dough of the leaven was

soft,

because a large amount of water had been added to it, and consequently the volume of the leaven was greater than that of semolina that had not been mixed with water,

it turns out

that the semolina placed in the tenth-measure is

deficient,

for had the leaven dough not been mixed with water, he would have put more semolina into the measure.

The Gemara analyzes Rav Ḥisda’s answer: What difference does it make what the measure of the semolina would have been had the leaven dough not been mixed with water? And why can he not now measure the leaven together with the flour in the tenth-measure, since

in the end, when he measures

now, when he measures the semolina and the leaven together —

is he not measuring for a tenth-measure?!

And we answer:

Rabba and Rav Yosef both say: It is impossible to measure the leaven as it is now without taking account of its volume when it was semolina, because

“We assess it according to what it was.”

The measure of the leaven dough must be determined according to what it was when it was flour, and not according to its present state as leaven mixed with water.

Yet it remains difficult, according to both Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda:

Why not take a small amount

of semolina from the tenth-measure vessel after it has been measured,

and leaven it

that small amount thoroughly

outside,

outside the vessel [in a warm place, or by burying it in leavened dough until it becomes thoroughly leavened],

and bring it,

the thoroughly leavened leaven, back into the measuring vessel containing the semolina,

and knead it

and knead the semolina

with it,

together with the leaven. Why, then, did Rabbi Meir say that one scoops out leaven from within the tenth-measure itself, and why did Rabbi Yehuda say that he brings leaven from his house?

And we answer: The reason this is not done is

a rabbinic decree, lest one come

lest an observer, seeing that leaven is brought from outside and inserted into the vessel without being measured, err and conclude that one may add leaven to the tenth-measure, and that the leaven is not included in the measure of the tenth-measure; and he will come

to bring

leaven

from elsewhere,

and add it to the tenth-measure.

Therefore, according to Rabbi Meir it is preferable that he scoop it out from within the measure, whereas according to Rabbi Yehuda it is preferable that he bring it from his house.