Menachot 99b — the Talmud in English

A. He nullified:

Reish Lakish said: Sometimes! ![](pamud.bmp "

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the nullification of Torah,

such as when he nullifies Torah in order to accompany the dead and to escort a bride,

this is its foundation,

that is, he receives reward as though he sits and establishes it and engages in it,

as it is written: “

Which you broke,”

and he did not say this to him in a language of anger, learn from it:

Thus

the Holy One, blessed is He, said to

Moses: “

Your strength is approved, for you broke them,”

the דעת of the Divine Presence agreed with him when he nullified Torah and broke them, since he intended for the good.

B. He sinned:

And Reish Lakish said:

A Torah scholar who sinned, one does not disgrace him publicly, as it is stated

Hosea 4]: “

You will stumble today, and the prophet with you will stumble at night”—

To teach:

Cover him [

do not disgrace the prophet who stumbled publicly ]

like the night [

which became dark and no person sees ].

C. And he forgot:

And Reish Lakish said:

Any Torah scholar who forgot one thing from his learning, transgresses a negative commandment, as it is stated

Deuteronomy 4:9]: “

Only

guard yourself and guard your soul exceedingly, lest you forget the things

that your eyes saw, and lest they be removed from your heart all the days of your life ... the day on which you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb ... [This refers to the verse above it, ‘that your eyes saw ... the day on which you stood at Horeb, when you saw the voices and the torches,’ Rashi]”—

And

the words of Reish Lakish, that he transgresses a negative commandment, are

in accordance with Rabbi Avin said in the name of Rabbi Ila'a! For Rabbi Avin said in the name of Rabbi Ila'a:

Every place where it is stated

in the Torah in the language of

“guard”

or

“lest”

or

“do not,”

it is only a prohibition,

Ravina said:

He transgresses two prohibitions,

A.

“Guard”;

B.

and

“lest.”

Rav Nahman bar Yitzhak said:

He transgresses

three prohibitions, for

behold it is

stated: “

Guard yourself” [

that is one ], “

and guard your soul exceedingly” [

that is two ], “

lest you forget the things” [

that is three ].

One might think even

one who forgets

because of circumstances beyond his control; the verse teaches

in the continuation of the verse: “

and lest they be removed from your heart”—

behold,

Scripture speaks of one who removes them from his heart.

Rabbi Dostai bar Yannai said:

One might think even if his learning became difficult for him,

so that he cannot maintain his version,

the verse teaches: “

Only guard yourself”; and every “only” is an exclusion.

take heed for yourself”; and every instance of “only” indicates a limitation.

Rabbi Yohanan and Rabbi Elazar both said:

The Torah was given in forty

days [

during which Moses remained on the mountain ], and the soul was formed in forty

days [ from the time of conception ]:

Whoever guards

the

Torah of his

so as not to forget it,

his soul is guarded, and whoever does not guard the Torah, his soul is not guarded.

The Tanna of the school of Rabbi Ishmael:

A parable to a person who entrusted a free bird to his servant; he said

to him:

Do you imagine that if you lose it, I will take from you

only

an issar for its value!?

Not so; rather,

I will take your soul from you.

Mishna:

There were two tables—

they were in the Hall [

which was before the Sanctuary ]

inside, at the entrance of the House [

adjacent to the entrance of the Sanctuary ]:

One table

one

was

of marble, and

one table

one

was

of gold, on which they placed the bread through its arranging and removal, as follows:

On

the table

of marble,

they

placed

the

showbread upon its entry,

by way of the priests’ entry into the Sanctuary, to arrange the bread on the table in the Sanctuary.

And on

the table

of gold

they would place the bread

upon its departure,

by way of the priests’ exit from the Sanctuary when they removed the bread from the table; and the bread would remain there until the bowls were burned.

For one ascends in sanctity and does not descend,

and therefore upon entry they would place it on the marble table, and afterward ascend in sanctity and place it on the table in the Sanctuary, which was of gold; whereas upon departure they would not place it on the marble table, so as not to descend from the golden table in the Sanctuary to the marble one.

And

one table

of gold inside,

inside the Sanctuary,

on which

is arranged

the showbread always.

And this was the order of arranging the bread on the table in the Sanctuary and removing it:

And four priests enter

the Sanctuary at the time of arranging the bread:

Two

of the priests carry

in their hands two arrangements

of bread, six loaves for each priest.

And two

of the priests carry

in their hands two bowls,

with frankincense, one bowl for each priest.

And four

priests

precede them:

Two

of the priests precede in order

to take two arrangements,

whose time it is to be removed from the table.

And two

of the priests precede in order

to take two bowls.

The priests

who brought them in stood—

at the time of removing the bread and arranging it beside the table, which according to our Mishna stood from east to west—

in the north

of the table,

with their faces to the south.

And

those

who took them out stood in the south

of the table

with their faces to the north.

These pull away

the bread and the bowls from the table

and

before those who pull away have managed to take everything from the table,

these place

the new bread and bowls—

and the handbreadth of one beside the handbreadth of the other.

To fulfill what

is stated [

Exodus 25:30 ]: “And you shall place upon the table showbread

before Me always.”

Rabbi Yosei says:

Even

if these

were

the ones removing

taking

the bread,

and these

the ones arranging come after them and

placing it, and they would not be particular about one handbreadth of this being beside one handbreadth of that,

and they would not be particular that one handbreadth of this be beside one handbreadth of that,

this too was “

continually.”

The Mishna continues to explain the order of removing the bread:

And they shall place them—

the lechem ha-panim that they removed from upon the table—

upon the golden table that was in the Hall,

and, as was explained at the beginning of the Mishna, they would leave them there until they burned the frankincense in the bowls.

When they burned

the

—

frankincense that was in the

bowls—

then

the loaves are divided among the priests,

for the burning of the bowls permits the bread to be eaten, just as the burning of the handful of a meal-offering permits the remainder for the priests.

And if

Yom Kippur happened to fall on Shabbat,

and the loaves are not fit to be eaten on that day:

then

the loaves are divided in the evening

at the conclusion of Yom Kippur.

And if

Yom Kippur

happened

to fall on Friday,

then the

goat of Yom Kippur—

that goat upon which the lot for the Lord came up, to be a sin-offering—

is eaten in the evening

on Friday night.

And the Babylonians eat it—

when Yom Kippur falls on Friday—

while it is raw,

without cooking it,

because their disposition is fine,

and they are not disgusted by eating meat while it is raw.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: Rabbi Yosei says: Even if these take and those place, this too was continual:

It was taught: Rabbi Yosei says:

Even if he removed the

arrangement

of the old

one

in the morning, and

did not

arrange the new one

except

in the evening [between the evenings],

[between the evenings],

there is nothing in this.

Rather, how do I fulfill “

continually before Me,”

that the table should not spend the night without bread.

Rabbi Ami said: From Rabbi Yosei’s words we learn:

Even if a person studied nothing but one chapter in the morning and one chapter in the evening, he has fulfilled the mitzva of [Joshua 1]: “

Joshua 1]: “

This Torah scroll shall not move from your mouth.”

Rabbi Yohanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai:

Even if a person read nothing but the recitation of the Shema

in the morning and in the evening, he has fulfilled “

the Torah scroll shall not move from your mouth.”

And this matter—

that we said—

is forbidden to say in the presence of unlearned people,

lest he say: It is enough with the recitation of the Shema, and he will not accustom his sons to Torah study.

And Rava said:

On the contrary,

it is a mitzva to say it in the presence of unlearned people,

for he will understand: If, because of the recitation of the Shema, one receives such a great reward—and as the continuation of the verse says, “For then you will prosper in your ways and then you will have understanding”—then if he engages in Torah all day, all the more so is his reward great, and he will accustom his sons to Torah study.

Ben Dama, the son of Rabbi Yishmael’s sister, asked Rabbi Yishmael:

For example, I, who have learned the entire Torah, what is

that it should be permitted for me

to study Greek wisdom?

He recited over him—

Rabbi Yishmael over his sister’s son—

this verse: “

This Torah scroll shall not move from your mouth, and you shall contemplate it day and night”

; go out and investigate

and find

an hour that belongs neither to the day nor to the night, and study Greek wisdom during it.

And it disagrees—

with this teaching of Rabbi Yishmael, who holds that there is an obligation to study all day—with

Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani! For Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachmani said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan:

This verse—“

shall not move...”—

is neither an obligation nor a mitzva, but a blessing;

for:

the Holy One, blessed is He, saw Joshua, that words of Torah were exceedingly dear to him, as it is stated, “And his attendant Joshua, son of Nun, a young man, would not move from within the tent,”

therefore

the Holy One, blessed is He, said to him:

Joshua! So exceedingly dear are words of Torah to you,

I am about to bless you, that “

this Torah scroll shall not move from your mouth.”

The tanna of the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught:

Words of Torah should not be an obligation upon you,

like a person who has a debt and says, “When will I repay it and be free of it?” So a person should not say, “I will study one chapter and be free of it,”

and

because

you are not permitted to exempt yourself from them.

Hezekiah said:

What is the meaning of that which is written

in the words of Elihu to Job concerning the afflictions that came upon him: “

And”

[this too, an additional great thing the Lord did for you through these afflictions, that He]

has enticed you away from the mouth of distress, which is broad and has no narrowness beneath it

[he proceeds to explain that this means Gehinnom], “and the repose of your table is full of fatness [he proceeds to explain that this means the World to Come]”:

Come and see: unlike the attribute of the Holy One, blessed is He, is the attribute of flesh and blood:

The attribute of flesh and blood:

when he entices, he

entices his fellow from paths of life to paths of death,

as [Deuteronomy 13:6]: “When your brother, the son of your mother, entices you... saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods...’”

But the Holy One, blessed is He, entices a person from paths of death to paths of life,

so that he will study Torah,

as it is stated, ‘And He has enticed you away from the mouth of distress,’”

that is:

from Gehinnom, whose mouth is narrow, so that its smoke will be gathered ![](pamud.bmp "

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within it,

and the smoke will not go outside, so that the wicked will be judged both by fire and by smoke.