Nedarim 50b — the Talmud in English

And from the wife of Turnus Rufus

—the wicked Turnus Rufus would challenge Rabbi Akiva concerning the verses of the Torah, and Rabbi Akiva would defeat him, humiliate him before the emperor, and taunt him with words.

Once, Turnus Rufus came home angry and dejected.

His wife asked him: “Why are you so dejected?” He said to her: “Because Rabbi Akiva taunts me with words every day.”

She said to him: “Their God hates sexual immorality. Give me permission, and I will cause Rabbi Akiva to stumble in a sinful matter.”

The wicked Turnus Rufus gave her permission. She adorned herself and went to Rabbi Akiva.

When Rabbi Akiva saw her, he spat, laughed, and cried.

She said to him: “What are these three things that you did?”

He said to her: “I will explain two of the things that I did, but I will not explain the third. I spat because you came from a putrid drop. And I cried over that beauty which is destined to decay and rot in the earth.”

The reason he laughed was that, through divine inspiration, he saw that she was destined to convert and marry him, but he did not wish to tell her.

She said to him: “Do I have the possibility of repenting?”

He said to her: “Yes.”

She went and converted, and she married Rabbi Akiva and brought him a great deal of money.

And from Ketia bar Shalom

—he was sentenced to death because he had argued with the emperor on behalf of the Jews, and the emperor ordered, at the time of his execution, that all his property be given to Rabbi Akiva and his students.

Rav Gamda gave

four

dinars to sailors

who went down to the sea,

to bring him something with them

so that they would bring him some valuable object in exchange for the money.

They did not find anything

valuable, and instead of a valuable object

they brought him

what they had bought with the money:

a monkey

.

It escaped

from them,

and went into a hole

in the ground.

They dug after it

and

found it crouching on precious stones

.

They brought all of them to him

—they brought Rav Gamda all the precious stones.

Although strictly speaking they were not required to give him the precious stones, they nevertheless gave them to him beyond the letter of the law, since the treasure had been revealed through the monkey’s wanderings.

The emperor’s daughter said to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya,

whose skin was dark:

“How is it that

magnificent Torah

is found

in an unattractive vessel?”

He said to her

—Rabbi Yehoshua answered her:

Learn

this

from your father’s household!

In what do they place

the

wine

in your father’s household?

She said to him: In earthenware vessels

—in clay jars.

He said to her: Everyone

places wine

in

vessels of

earthenware

—clay vessels—

and you

also use

earthenware vessels?

It is not fitting for the emperor to use such simple and unattractive vessels. Rather,

you should place it in vessels of silver

and gold

—you should place the wine in silver and gold jars.

She went

the emperor’s daughter

and placed

the

wine

in

vessels of silver and gold

—silver and gold jars—

and the

wine

spoiled

—it fermented and turned sour.

Rabbi Yehoshua said to her

:

The Torah is likewise

—the Torah is like wine, for it flourishes only in a person who is like an earthenware vessel and is not as attractive as a silver or gold vessel.

The emperor’s daughter challenged him:

But there are attractive people who are accomplished in Torah

—there are beautiful people who are great in Torah!

He said to her: If they had been unattractive

,

they would have been even more accomplished

in Torah.

There was a certain woman who came

to

before

Rabbi Yehuda of Nehardea

Rav Yehuda of Nehardea for judgment, and she was found liable according to the law

.

She said to him

—the woman said to Rav Yehuda, who had judged her:

“This is how your teacher Shmuel judged?”

—this is how your teacher Shmuel used to judge?

He said to her

—Rav Yehuda said:

“Do you know him?”

Do you know Shmuel, that you know how he used to judge?!

She said to him: Yes

—I know Shmuel. He is

short

and

his belly is large

,

dark-complexioned

and

he has many teeth

.

He said to her:

“Is it for the sake of

coming to insult him

that you came?

Let that woman be placed under a ban

for having insulted a Torah scholar!”

She burst and died.

We learned in the Mishna: “One who vows not to derive benefit from cooked food

is permitted to eat a turmita egg.”

What is a turmita egg?

Shmuel said: A slave who can prepare it

—a slave who knows how to properly prepare a turmita egg—

is worth one thousand dinars.

And how is a turmita egg prepared?

They place it

—an egg—

one thousand times in hot water and one thousand times in cold water

alternately,

until it becomes so small that it can be swallowed

whole.

This egg is intended for the sick.

And if there is an ulcer

—if a sick person has a wound in his intestines—when he swallows the egg whole,

something clings to it

—some of the discharge from the wound adheres to the egg.

And when it leaves and comes out

of the body,

the doctor knows what medicine is required for him

from the appearance on the egg,

and by what he will be healed

from his illness.

Shmuel would examine himself

using

a kolḥa

—a turmita egg—. The egg would move through all his intestines, and he would become weak and faint,

until the members of his household tore out their hair over him

—they would pull out the hair of their heads— because of their great anguish and worry.

We learned there

in tractate Maasrot (2:8): A laborer who is working for an employer may eat from the produce that he gathers for the employer, as it is stated: “When you come into your fellow’s vineyard, you may eat grapes to your fill, but you may not put any into your vessel” (Deuteronomy 23:25). The verse is speaking about a laborer. And it is explained in tractate Bava Metzia that he may eat only from the same type of produce that he is gathering for the employer.

Therefore, the law is that if the laborer

was working

with

the

type of figs called

kalopsin, he may not eat

another, superior type of figs called

benot sheva.

Likewise, if he was working

with benot sheva, he may not eat kalopsin.

The novel point here is that although both kalopsin and benot sheva are types of figs, they are nevertheless considered two different types, and the laborer may eat only from the exact type with which he is working.

What are kalopsin?

A type of fig from which they make

a cooked dish called

lefadi.

A certain man gave his slave to another person

,

to teach him one thousand types of lefadi

—so that the other man would teach his slave to prepare one thousand varieties of lefadi.

In the end,

he taught him eight hundred

—the other man taught the slave to prepare only eight hundred varieties of lefadi.

He summoned him to judgment

because he had not taught his slave all one thousand varieties that they had agreed upon,

before Rabbi.

Rabbi was astonished that they were so knowledgeable about so many varieties of delicacies.

Rabbi said: “Our ancestors said, ‘We have forgotten what is good.’”

As it is stated in the Book of Lamentations (chapter 3): “I have forgotten what is good.” But

we have not even seen goodness with our own eyes

—we do not know how to prepare so many types of food.

Rabbi,

who was extremely wealthy,

made a wedding feast for Rabbi Shimon, his son

—he made a wedding for his son Rabbi Shimon.

He wrote on behalf of the wedding house

—he undertook financial responsibility for the “wedding house”—the sum of

twenty-four thousand ten-thousands of dinars, which would be spent

on

this wedding house

—for the expenses of the wedding house.

But he did not invite

Rabbi

bar Kappara

to the wedding, because bar Kappara was a humorist, and Rabbi was afraid that he might do something amusing.

Bar Kappara said to him

—bar Kappara said to Rabbi about not having invited him:

“If to those who transgress His will

the Holy One, blessed be He, grants so

much good, all the more so to those who fulfill His will

will the Holy One, blessed be He, grant good.”

In the end,

Rabbi invited him

.

Bar Kappara began praising Rabbi because he had invited him, and

said:

If

those who fulfill His will

have

in this world

so

much

good, then

in the World to Come, all the more so.

On the day that Rabbi would laugh

—the day on which Rabbi laughed—

calamity would come upon the world

—because Rabbi was the leader of the Jewish exile and ought to have grieved over the destruction of the Temple and the exile. Since he was extremely wealthy, when he laughed it appeared as though he did not care about the matter and did not grieve over it.

Rabbi said to

Rabbi

bar Kappara: “Do not make me laugh

—please do not amuse me—

and I will give you forty seah of wheat

—I will give you forty measures of wheat in return for not making me laugh.