Sanhedrin 100a (ק.) — the Talmud in English

Never

did they introduce for us an innovation that is not written in the Torah, as

they did not permit a raven for us, nor did they prohibit a dove for us

[they did not permit a raven, as it is written in the Torah that it is forbidden to eat it; and they did not prohibit a dove, as it is written in the Torah that it is permitted to eat it].

When they would bring before Rava an animal with a wound rendering it a tereifa from Bei Binyamin

[when the people of Bei Binyamin would bring before him a question concerning a tereifa],

when he saw in it a reason to permit it

[when he saw in that tereifa a reason for permitting it], he would

say to them: See, I am permitting a raven for you

[Look! I am permitting a raven for you!]. That is to say, here is a permission that is not written in the Torah, but was stated by the Sages.

When he saw it

[when he saw]

to have a reason to prohibit it,

he would

say to them: See, I am prohibiting a dove for you

[Look! I am prohibiting a dove for you!]. That is to say, here is a prohibition that is not written in the Torah, but was stated by the Sages.

Rav Pappa said: For example,

one who

says,

when referring to a particular Torah scholar:

“These Sages”

[that Torah scholar], which is a disparaging expression. He should have said: “Our Sages in such-and-such a place” .

Rav Pappa forgot

[he forgot], and

said

in this manner:

“For example, these Sages,”

which is a disparaging expression,

and he sat in a fast

[and he fasted on account of it].

Levi bar Shmuel and Rav Huna bar Ḥiyya were preparing wrappings for the Torah scrolls of the house of Rav Yehuda

[they were making wrappings for the Torah scrolls of the house of Rav Yehuda].

When they arrived

[when they reached] the making of a wrapping for

the Scroll of Esther, they said

[Levi bar Shmuel and Rav Huna bar Ḥiyya said, in the form of a question]:

“This is the Scroll of Esther”—

certainly

does not require a wrapping

like the other scrolls?

This too is a disparaging expression, for they should have phrased their question as follows: “Does the Scroll of Esther require a wrapping, or does it not require one?”

He said to them: Such an expression

[the expression you used]

also appears to be insolent

[it too appears heretical].

Rav Naḥman said:

An apostate is

one who calls

his

master by his name.

As Rabbi Yoḥanan said: For what reason was Gehazi punished?

Because he called

Elisha,

his master, by his name .

As it is stated: “And Gehazi said: My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.”

Yet Elisha was his master, and he called him by his name.

Rabbi Yirmeya was sitting before Rabbi Zeira, and he was sitting and saying: In the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring forth a stream from the Holy of Holies, and upon it will be every kind of delicacy

[sweet fruits].

As it is stated: “And by the stream, upon its bank, on this side and on that side, shall grow every tree for food; its leaf shall not wither, nor shall its fruit fail; every month shall it yield its first fruits”

[its fruits will ripen in every single month],

“because its waters issue from the Sanctuary, and its fruit shall be for food, and its leaf for healing.”

A certain elder said to him

to Rabbi Yirmeya:

“Well said!”

And so said

also

Rabbi Yoḥanan

as you have said.

Rabbi Yirmeya said to Rabbi Zeira:

Is

such a statement considered insolent?

He said to him: This

elder

is supporting you,

for he is telling you that Rabbi Yoḥanan too said as you did, and certainly there is no insolence in this!

Rather, if you have heard

something that appears insolent—

this

is what follows,

you have heard:

It is like that incident in which Rabbi Yoḥanan was sitting and expounding: In the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring precious stones and pearls that are

thirty

cubits by thirty cubits, and he will carve in them

an opening

ten

cubits wide, and

twenty

[cubits]

high

cubits,

and place them in the gates of Jerusalem.

As it is stated: “And I will make your windows of kadkod

[a type of precious stone],

and your gates of carbuncle stones, and so forth.”

This indicates that the Holy One, blessed be He, will carve into precious stones—as expressed by “carbuncle stones,” into which the Holy One, blessed be He, will drill as with a drill—and make the gates of Jerusalem from them.

That student mocked him

[Rabbi Yoḥanan]

and said: Now, we cannot find even a precious stone the size of a small bird’s egg

[for at present we cannot find a precious stone even the size of the egg of a small bird called a tsiltsala]; how could

we find anything so enormous

[that a stone so large could be found]?!

This was the insolence!

After some time, that student’s ship sailed

into the

sea. He saw

[he saw]

ministering angels who were sawing

[who were sawing]

precious stones and pearls.

He said to them: What are these for

[Why are you sawing these stones]?

They said

to him, the angels:

In the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will place them in the gates of Jerusalem.

When

the student returned from his journey,

he found Rabbi Yoḥanan sitting and expounding

[he found Rabbi Yoḥanan sitting and teaching].

He said to him: Rabbi, expound! It is fitting for you to expound.

For

just as you said—

so I saw

with my own eyes.

He said to him: Empty one, if you had not seen it—

would you not have believed it? You mock the words of the Sages!

He cast his eyes upon him

[he directed his gaze at him],

and turned him into a mound of bones

[and he died. For the dead become a mound of bones ].

The Gemara raises an objection:

It is written:

“And I will lead you upright.” Rabbi Meir says: “Upright” means two heights. That is, a height of

two hundred cubits, like the two heights of Adam the first man

[for the Gemara in tractate Ḥagiga says that the Holy One, blessed be He, reduced Adam the first man and established him at a height of one hundred cubits ].

Rabbi Yehuda says: “Upright” means

one hundred cubits, corresponding to the Sanctuary and its walls.

As it is stated: “Our sons are like plants grown up in their youth; our daughters like corner-pillars, fashioned after the pattern of a palace, and so forth.”

The length of all the walls of the Sanctuary was one hundred cubits . This is the interpretation of the verse: “Our sons are grown up,” meaning that in the future our sons will be grown like trees. “Our daughters like corner-pillars, and so forth,” meaning that our daughters will be grown like the walls of the Sanctuary.

In any event, the height of people in the future will be two hundred cubits or one hundred cubits. How, then, will they be able to enter an opening only twenty cubits high?

And we answer:

When Rabbi Yoḥanan said

that the openings would be twenty cubits high, he meant

for the windows of the house of wind

[for windows through which the sun and air enter]. But in truth, the gates will be higher.

What is the meaning of “and its leaf for healing”?

What is meant by the word “healing”?

They disagreed about this matter:

Rabbi Yitzḥak bar Avudimi and Rav Ḥisda.

One said: “Healing” means “opening the mouth.” Those leaves are beneficial

for

opening the upper mouth,

the upper opening of the human body—that is, opening the mouths of the mute, so that they will speak .

And one said: It means opening the lower mouth.

That is, opening and unblocking the womb of barren women [which is the lower mouth], so that they will conceive by eating from those leaves.

It was stated:

They also disagreed about this matter—Ḥizkiyya and bar Kappara—but they stated it explicitly, rather than by the allusive expressions “upper mouth” and “lower mouth”:

Ḥizkiyya said: To open the mouths of the mute.

Bar Kappara said: To open the wombs of barren women.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: “And its leaf for healing” means

for actual healing.

Those leaves heal a person.

What is the meaning of “for healing”?

What healing do they provide?

Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said:

They are beneficial

for beautifying the faces of those who use their mouths .

Rabbi Yehuda son of Rabbi Simon expounded: Whoever blackens his face over the words of Torah in this world—

the Holy One, blessed be He, will make his radiance shine in the World-to-Come. As it is stated: “His head, and so forth, his locks are curled, black as a raven,”

“His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars,” “His mouth is most sweet.”

And this is how the verse is expounded: “Black as a raven”—one who blackens his face over the words of Torah, and this is “His mouth is most sweet,” referring to words of Torah, which are sweet things he brings forth from his mouth. Ultimately, in the World-to-Come, he will merit having “an appearance like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.”

Rabbi Tanḥum bar Rabbi Ḥanilai said: Whoever starves himself over the words of Torah in this world—

the Holy One, blessed be He, will satisfy him in the World-to-Come. As it is stated: “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of Your house, and You shall give them drink from the stream of Your delights.”

That is, if they starve themselves and are satisfied with “the fatness of Your house,” studying Torah in the house of study, in this world, then “You shall give them drink from the stream of Your delights” in the World-to-Come .

When Rav Dimi came, he said: In the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will give every righteous person the full measure of His handful

[a handful full] of goodness.

As it is stated: “Blessed is the Lord day by day; He loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation forever” .

Abaye said to him: Is it possible to say so?

How can a person receive the full handful of the Holy One, blessed be He?

For it is already stated: “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and measured the heavens with a span,”

indicating that the entire world is no larger than the span between the thumb and the little finger of the Holy One, blessed be He. Where, then, could a person receive the full handful of the Holy One, blessed be He, which is larger than the entire world?!

He said

to him, Rav Dimi:

Why are you not familiar with aggadic teachings

[Why are you not immersed in aggadot]? If you were well versed in aggadot, you would not ask this question.

For they say in the West in the name of Rava bar Mari

In the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will give every righteous person three hundred and ten worlds. As it is stated: “To endow those who love Me with substance, and I will fill their treasuries” .

The word

“substance”

has the numerical value of three hundred and ten .

Thus, since every righteous person will have three hundred and ten worlds, he will have room to receive the full measure of the handful of the Holy One, blessed be He .

It was taught: Rabbi Meir says: With the measure that a person measures—

they measure for him.

If he measured out and gave a poor person a handful full, the Holy One, blessed be He, will return to him a handful full of goodness .

As it is written

in the Book of Isaiah:

“With measure, when she sends it forth, You contend with her” .

Rabbi Yehoshua said: Is it possible to say so?

If

a person gives a poor person his full handful in this world, will the Holy One, blessed be He, give him His full handful in the World-to-Come? But it is written: “He measured the heavens with a span”!

Where could a person receive the full handful of the Holy One, blessed be He, whose greatness is without limit? Rabbi Meir

said to him: And do you say so?

But

which is the greater measure: the measure of goodness or the measure of punishment?