Nedarim 49b — the Talmud in English

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According to whom do we pray for the sick and for the weak

[According to whom do we hold that we pray every day, and not only on Rosh Hashanah, for the sick people (in the blessing “Heal us”), who are sick, and for the Sages (“and for the remnant of their scribes”), who are weak]?

According to whom? According to Rabbi Yose

who holds in tractate Rosh Hashanah (16a) that a person is judged every day.

But according to the Rabbis, there is no reason to pray every day for the sick and for the Sages, since they hold that a person is judged on Rosh Hashanah, and after their judgment has already been concluded, prayer does not benefit them.

And

from the fact that

Rava said,

“sick and weak,”

and he referred to the Sages as “weak,” which is the translation of “sick”.

Learn from this

that Rava holds that the Sages are called sick.

“Sick” —

that is, the sick who are confined to their beds. And they were called “sick,” because they are

literally sick,

for their breath is short on account of their illnesses.

“Weak” —

that is,

the Sages

who are frail and weakened in strength, whose eating and sleeping are limited, while their labor is great.

We learned in the Mishna: “A vow-offering, a cooked dish, etc.”

And he is permitted thick [food]:

And the Gemara explains:

Our Mishna,

our Mishna, which permits one who vows against a cooked dish to eat a thick cooked dish, is because their custom was not to eat bread together with it, and

not like

the custom of

the Babylonians.

For Rabbi Zeira said: “Babylonians, they are fools,”

because

“they eat bread with bread.”

For they eat a thick cooked dish, which is like bread, together with bread.

And according to this, a Babylonian who vows against a cooked dish is forbidden to eat a thick cooked dish, since it is the way of the Babylonians to eat it with bread; it is therefore called a cooked dish.

Rav Hisda was among the Babylonians who ate bread with porridge.

And therefore

Rav Hisda said: “We should ask”

[it is necessary to ask]

“them, those punctilious people of Hutzal”

[those people from Hutzal who are precise in their eating] —

“This porridge”

[this food of cooked wheat],

“how is it preferable to eat”

[how is it preferable to eat it]?

Is it preferable to eat porridge

of wheat, with

together with

wheat bread. And

porridge

of barley with barley bread.

Or perhaps,

conversely, it is preferable to eat porridge

of wheat with

together with bread

of barley, and

porridge

of barley with

together with bread

of wheat.

Rava, he ate it

[he would eat] his bread

with

together with

roasted barley flour

[flour of roasted grains (barley kernels that had not reached one-third of their growth, which were dried in an oven)].

Rabba bar Rav Huna found Rav Huna

[Rabba bar Rav Huna found Rav Huna]

eating porridge with his fingers

[he was eating porridge with his fingers].

He said to him: “Why does the Master eat with his hands”

[why does the Master eat with his hands and not with a utensil]?

He said to him: “Thus Rav said: Porridge with a finger is better”

[porridge is more excellent when it is eaten with a finger].

And all the more so with two, and all the more so with three

[and all the more so is it more excellent if one eats it with two or three fingers].

Rav said to Hiyya, his son

[his son],

and likewise Rav Huna said to Rabba, his son

[his son]:

If they

invite you

[you]

to eat porridge,

go

as far as one parasang

in order to eat it.

And if they invite you

to eat ox meat

[beef], go

as far as three parasangs

[three parasangs] in order to eat it.

Rav said to Hiyya, his son, and likewise Rav Huna said to Rabba, his son: Every thing

[everything that you have put into your mouth]

you shall not spit out before your teacher

[you shall not spit it out before your teacher], because of his honor, since one who spits before his teacher is liable to death.

Except for

[apart from]

gourds

[pumpkins]

and porridge, which are

hard on the body, and

resemble a lead wick

[a lump of lead], which is not digested in the body, and there is danger to life in them.

And therefore one must spit them out, even before his teacher,

and even before

[before]

Shapur the King,

one must

spit out

them from the mouth, because of the danger.

Rabbi Yose and Rabbi Judah

ate porridge together from one bowl,

one ate porridge with his fingers, and one ate with a splinter

[with a piece of bark].

He said to him,

the one

who was eating

[who was eating]

with the splinter, to

the one

who was eating

[who was eating]

with his fingers: “How long will you feed me your excrement

that is beneath your fingernails”?!

He said to him,

the one

who was eating with his fingers, to

the one

who was eating with the splinter: “How long will you feed me your saliva?!”

For it is not customary to wipe the splinter from the saliva before returning it to the bowl.

[Unlike the finger, which he would wipe from the saliva before returning it to the bowl]

Rabbi Judah and Rabbi Shimon, they brought before them

[they brought before them]

bluspin

[a type of fig that is hard to digest].

Rabbi Judah ate; Rabbi Shimon did not eat.

Rabbi Judah said to

Rabbi Shimon:

“Why does the Master not eat?”

Rabbi Shimon said to him,

these figs

“do not leave the intestines at all.”

Rabbi Judah said to him,

if so,

“all the more so that

we should eat them and

rely upon them

so that we will not need to eat another food

tomorrow,

for since they are not digested, they remain in the intestines, and as long as they remain there, they nourish the body.

Rabbi Judah was sitting

[he was sitting]

before

[before]

Rabbi Tarfon,

Rabbi Tarfon said to him: “Today your face is yellow,”

for he appeared well-fed.

He said to him

Rabbi Judah: The reason that my face is yellow today is because

yesterday

[the previous day]

“your servants went out to the field and brought us spinach, and we ate it without salt. And if we had eaten it with salt, all the more so our faces would have been yellow.”

That prominent Roman woman

[a prominent Roman woman]

said to Rabbi Judah: “A teacher and a drunkard”

[you are an authoritative teacher, and you become drunk]? Since his face was yellow, she thought that he had become drunk.

He said to her

Rabbi Judah:

“My faith is in the hands of that woman”

[I trust you],

“if I taste”

[for I do not taste wine throughout the year]

“except”

only at

Kiddush and Havdala,

“and the four cups of Passover”

[and the four cups of the Seder night].

“And I gird my temples”

[and I tie my temples, my forehead]

“from Passover until Shavuot” because of the headache that I have from that wine which I drink on the night of the Seder.

because of the headache I suffer from the wine I drink on the night of the Seder.

Rather,

the reason that my face is yellow is because

“a person’s wisdom makes his face shine.” (

Ecclesiastes 8).

That Sadducee said to Rabbi Judah: Your face

is yellow,

does it resemble

[or]

the interest collectors, or

[or]

the pig breeders,

for since they profit greatly, their faces are yellow?

Rabbi

Judah said to him: My face is not yellow because of this, for

among Jews

[for Jews]

both

[both raising pigs and lending at interest]

are forbidden.

Rather,

the reason that my face is yellow is because

“there are twenty-four lavatories”

[there are]

“for me from my house to the study hall, and every hour I enter each one and one.”

Rabbi Judah, when he went to the study hall

[when he would go to the study hall],

would take a jug on his shoulder

[he would carry a jug on his shoulder] so that he would have something on which to sit in the study hall.

He said: “Great is labor, which honors its owner.”

For because of this labor of carrying the jug to the study hall, he was able to sit upon it and did not need to sit on the ground.

Rabbi Shimon would take a basket

[he took a jar]

on his shoulder

to the study hall.

He said: “Great is labor, which honors its owner,”

so that he would not have to sit on the ground in the study hall.

The wife

[his wife]

of Rabbi Judah went out and gathered wool

[she left her house and brought wool],

and made a fine cloak

[she made a distinguished cloak from the wool].

When she went out to the marketplace

[when she would go out to the marketplace],

she was covered with it

[she would dress in it].

And when he went out

[and when he would go out]

Rabbi Judah to pray

[to pray],

he would dress in it and pray

[he would dress in it and pray].

And when he was dressed in it

[and when Rabbi Judah would dress in it],

he would bless, “Blessed is He Who has clothed me with a cloak,”

because the cloak was precious to him

like a silk cloak (which is called a cloak because of its superiority over the other garments).

One time

[once]

Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel decreed a fast

[a communal fast].

And their practice was to assemble at the Nasi’s place at every fast.

Rabbi Judah did not come

[he did not come]

to the place of the fast.

They said to him

[they told Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel that the reason Rabbi Judah did not come was because

he did not have a covering

[he had no garment with which to cover himself].

He sent him

[Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel sent him]

a cloak

so that he would have something to wear,

but he did not accept it.