Moed Katan 16b (טז:) — the Talmud in English

Even words of Torah are [to be studied] in private,

and the words of Torah were likened in this verse to the thigh, at the end of the verse, where it is written, “the work of the craftsman”; and the reference is to Torah, which is “the work of the craftsman of the Holy One, blessed be He” [the wording of Rashi].

Rabbi Hiyya went out and taught the two sons of his brothers in the marketplace, Rav

[as he was both Rabbi Hiyya’s brother’s son and his sister’s son],

and Rabba bar bar Hana

[who was his brother’s son but not his sister’s son].

Rabbi heard

that Rabbi Hiyya had taught them in the marketplace, and

he became angry

with Rabbi Hiyya, because he had taught words of Torah outside.

Rabbi Hiyya came

to appear

before him,

to present himself before Rabbi.

He said to him

Rabbi:

Hiyya!

[a derogatory epithet] See

who is calling you outside!?

That is, go outside!

Rabbi Hiyya understood

from Rabbi’s words

that he had taken the matter to heart,

that he was angry with him and intended to reprimand him.

Rabbi Hiyya observed

for himself

self-imposed reprimand for thirty days,

thirty days.

On the thirtieth day,

on the thirtieth day itself, before thirty complete days of reprimand had elapsed,

he sent him

Rabbi to Rabbi Hiyya:

Come

to me!

He then sent him another message,

sending word

that he should not come,

that he should refrain from coming to him.

And the Gemara explains:

Initially,

at first, when Rabbi called Rabbi Hiyya on the thirtieth day to come to him,

what did he think?

Why did Rabbi think that Rabbi Hiyya was permitted to come to him, despite the fact that the thirty days of reprimand had not ended?

And ultimately,

when he told him not to come,

what did he think?

What was his reasoning for changing his mind?

Initially,

at first,

Rabbi thought

that

part of the day

is considered

as the entire day,

and it was as though the thirty days had already ended.

But ultimately Rabbi thought

that

we do not say that part of the day is like the entire day.

In the end,

indeed

Rabbi Hiyya came

to Rabbi on the thirtieth day.

He said to him

Rabbi Hiyya:

Why have you come,

why have you come now?

He said to him

Rabbi Hiyya: I came because

my master sent me word that I should come,

that I should come.

Rabbi said to him:

But I sent you word

afterward, sending a messenger to inform you

not to come!

Rabbi Hiyya said to him

Rabbi:

This one,

the first messenger,

I saw, but this one,

the second messenger,

I did not see.

Rabbi cited concerning him

Rabbi Hiyya the verse from Proverbs [chapter 16]:

“When the Lord favors a man’s ways,

even his enemies

will

be at peace with him.”

For he came against his will, following Rabbi’s instruction, despite the fact that Rabbi himself had sent him a second messenger telling him not to come.

And Rabbi asked Rabbi Hiyya:

Why did my master act in this manner,

teaching words of Torah outside!?

He said to him

Rabbi Hiyya:

As it is written [Proverbs 1]:

“

Wisdom

cries out

in the

streets.”

Rabbi said to him

Rabbi:

If you read—

you did not review it,

for had you reviewed what you had learned, you would not have come to err.

And if you reviewed it—

you did not

review it and

study it a third time.

And if you studied it a third time

and nevertheless erred, this is a sign that

they did not explain it to you

properly.

For this is the meaning of the verse

“

Wisdom

cries out

in the streets,”

as Rava said: Anyone who engages in Torah inside,

in private,

his Torah proclaims him outside.

And we refute this: Why should one not teach words of Torah outside?

But it is written [Isaiah 48]:

in Isaiah 48:

“I have not spoken from the beginning in secret”!

This proves that one should not teach words of Torah in secret; on the contrary, one should teach them openly, outside.

And we answer:

That

verse is speaking

of the days of gathering,

of a public discourse to which everyone assembles, which is conducted openly before a multitude, but not outside.

And we inquire about this:

And Rabbi Hiyya,

who taught outside,

this verse,

“

the curves of your thighs,” which proves that one should teach inside—

what does he do with it,

how does he expound this verse?

And we answer:

He applies it

by interpreting it

as referring to charity and acts of kindness,

which should be performed secretly, in private.

Now, after the Gemara has explained the dispute between Rabbi and Rabbi Hiyya, it raises the following difficulty:

Apparently, their reprimand lasts three days!

And we answer:

The reprimand of a Nasi is different .

And the Gemara explains:

And our reprimand—

how long is it?

One day!

As we find an instance of a one-day reprimand:

As in the incident involving Shmuel and Mar Ukva:

Shmuel was greater in Torah, while Mar Ukva was like a student before a teacher in comparison with him; whereas Mar Ukva was the Nasi of the court. Therefore:

When they would sit

Shmuel and Mar Ukva and

study a halakhic discussion,

learn halakhic topics,

Mar Ukva would sit

he would sit

before Shmuel

like a student before his teacher,

at a distance of four cubits.

And when they would sit in judgment,

Shmuel would sit before Mar Ukva,

who was the Nasi of the court,

at a distance of four cubits,

out of deference to Mar Ukva, the Nasi of the court.

And they would carve out

and lower

a place

for

Mar Ukva

when he sat in judgment,

in a mat,

a mat,

and he would sit upon it, so that his words could be heard,

so that he could hear Shmuel, who was his teacher in Torah.

Every day he would escort him,

he would escort

Mar Ukva would escort Shmuel to his lodging,

[for it is customary to escort a person as an honor, walking behind the person whom one escorts], to Shmuel’s residence, out of respect for Shmuel.

One day Mar Ukva became preoccupied

Mar Ukva

with his legal case;

he was absorbed in his thoughts concerning the matter under discussion and forgot to follow Shmuel in order to escort him. Instead, he walked along in front, and

Shmuel was walking

behind him,

behind Mar Ukva.

When

Shmuel arrived

at his house,

Mar Ukva’s house,

he said to him

Shmuel said to Mar Ukva:

Is it not enough for you!?

Is it not enough that I followed you to your house!? Now

let my master release me from his company!

Permit me to turn back and return to my place!

Mar Ukva understood

that Mar Ukva

that Shmuel had taken

Shmuel

the matter to heart,

that he intended to reprimand him for walking behind him, and that Mar Ukva had not followed him.

Mar Ukva observed

Mar Ukva

self-imposed reprimand for one day.

And the Gemara cites another incident, in which Rav Naḥman instructed that a one-day reprimand be observed.

There was a certain woman who was sitting in the road.

There was a woman sitting in the middle of a path along which people passed,

and she had stretched out her leg

she was extending her leg,

and was waving vegetables,

a type of vegetable.

And a Torah scholar was passing by, but she did not move aside before him

to clear the way for him.

He said: How insolent that woman is!

She came

the woman

before Rav Naḥman

to clarify the meaning of his words concerning her and whether she needed to observe excommunication.

He said to her: Did you hear

that the Torah scholar had uttered

excommunication from his mouth?

She said to him: No.

He said to her

Rav Naḥman

Go, observe a one-day reprimand upon yourself.

Zutra bar Tuvya was reciting the weekly section

teaching passages from Scripture

before Rav Yehuda.

When he reached this verse [II Samuel 23]:

“

And these are the last words of David,”

and the expression “words” indicates words of prophecy.

He said to him,

Zutra asked Rav Yehuda: “‘The words of David

last’”—

by inference, there are “the words of David

first.”

The first” “The words of David

first”—

what are they?

Where do we find that David said words of prophecy apart from these latter words?

Where do we find that David uttered prophetic words besides these last words?

Rav Yehuda was silent

at his question

and did not say anything to him.

He asked him again,

and Zutra again asked him: “‘

Last’”—

by inference, there are first. “

First”—

what is it!?

Rav Yehuda became angry because he had asked him again after he had remained silent and not answered him:

He said to him

Rav Yehuda said to Zutra:

What do you think,

do you think

that

one who

does not know the meaning of this verse

is not a great man!?

Zutra understood

Zutra

that Rav Yehuda had taken

Rav Yehuda

the matter to heart.

He observed a one-day reprimand upon himself.

And the Gemara says:

And as for what we have addressed,

since we have brought this question of Mar Zutra,

at least

in any event, let us discuss it:

The verse states that these are “the last words of David.”

“Last”—

by inference, there are first!

And if so, the words of David

first—

what are they?

And the Gemara explains: These are the words of David written in the Book of II Samuel [chapter 22]:

“

And concerning these words

the Holy One, blessed be He, said to David:”

David,

is it so that

you are reciting a song over Saul’s downfall?

He was more righteous than you. And

if only

if

you

had been

Saul, and he

had been

David—

I would have destroyed several Davids because of him .

And this is what is written

in Psalms [chapter 7], where David spoke of his error concerning Saul: “

A Shiggaion

[words concerning an error]

of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning the words of Cush the Benjaminite.”

Was his name Cush?

Was his name not Saul!?

Rather, just as a Cushite is distinguished by his skin,

so too Saul was

distinguished

for the good from the rest of mankind

in his deeds,

for he was completely righteous.

Similarly, you say

concerning the verse about the incident involving Aaron and Miriam, when they spoke about Moses for separating from his wife Zipporah [Numbers 12]: “

concerning the Cushite woman whom he had taken”:

Was her name Cushite?

Was her name not Zipporah!?

Rather, just as a Cushite is distinguished by her skin,

so too Zipporah was distinguished by her deeds.

Similarly, you say [Jeremiah 38]: “

in Jeremiah 38:

And Ebed-melech the Cushite heard.”

Was his name Cushite?

Was his name not Zedekiah!?

Rather, just as a Cushite is distinguished by his skin,

so too Zedekiah was distinguished by his deeds.

Similarly, you say [Amos 9]: “

in Amos 9:

Are you not like the children of Cushites to Me, O children of Israel?”

Is their name Cushites?

Is their name not Israel!?

Rather, just as a Cushite is distinguished by his skin,

so too Israel is distinguished in its deeds from all the nations.

Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said that Rabbi Yonatan said: What is the meaning of that which is written

at the beginning of David’s last words,

“

The utterance of David, son of Jesse, and the utterance of the man raised up by”? This is its meaning: “

The utterance of David, son of Jesse”—

who established the yoke of repentance .

And David continued with a repetition of the wording: “

He said

to

me, God of Israel, to me

[my God],

the One who

spoke

of the Rock of Israel:

When one rules over man, he is righteous; when he rules, he has the fear of God.”

And the Gemara explains:

What is David saying?

David

Rabbi Abbahu said: This is what David is saying:

David:

He said

to

me, God of Israel, to me

my God,

the One who

spoke

of the Rock of Israel: I rule over man.

And

who rules over me—

a righteous man!

Because

I decree a decree, and

the righteous man

annuls it! “

These are the names of the mighty men who belonged to David, who sat in the session”

and so on,

what is he saying?

Rabbi Abbahu said: This is what he is saying:

And these are the names of David’s mighty deeds: “

Who sits in session”—

when he would sit in session, he would not sit upon cushions and pillows, but upon the ground .

For as long as his teacher was

David’s teacher,

Ira the Jairite, alive,

he would teach

Ira the Jairite

the Sages

his teachings while sitting

upon cushions and pillows.

When he died,

after Ira the Jairite passed away,

David would teach

in his place

the Sages, and he would sit upon the ground,

and he did not sit upon cushions and pillows as his teacher had.

They said to him

the Sages said to David:

Let

my master sit

upon cushions and pillows!

He did not accept this,

he did not agree to it. “

You make me wise”—

Rav said: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Since you have humbled yourself—

you shall be like Me! I decree a decree—

and you annul it! “

The chief of the three”—

you shall be chief of the three Patriarchs,

in that you will precede them in the World-to-Come. “

He is Adino the Eznite”—

when he would sit and engage in Torah study—

he would make himself delicate,

bending himself until his hands and feet were together,

like

a

worm.

But

when

he went out to war—

he would harden himself

with might

like a tree,

hard [and this is the explanation of “the Eznite”]. “

Over eight hundred slain at one time”—

he would shoot an arrow and bring down eight hundred slain at one time.

And he would sigh over the two hundred.

As it is written [Deuteronomy 32]: “

How could one pursue a thousand?”

A Divine voice emerged and said:

[I Kings 15]: “

Except for the matter of Uriah the Hittite.”

Because of the incident involving Bathsheba, the widow of Uriah the Hittite, he was prevented from killing one thousand at once .

Because of the incident involving Bathsheba, the widow of Uriah the Hittite, he was prevented from killing a thousand at once .

Rabbi Tanḥum, son of Rabbi Hiyya, of Kefar Akko, said that Rabbi Yaakov bar Aḥa said that Rabbi Simlai said.

And some say: Rabbi Tanḥum said that Rav Huna said.

And some say: Rav Huna alone said: