Sanhedrin 103b (קג:) — the Talmud in English

“Because he desires Me, I shall deliver him; I shall exalt him because he knows My Name. He will call upon Me, and I shall answer him; I am with him in distress. I shall rescue him and honor him. I shall satisfy him with long life, and show him My salvation.”

And this verse applies only to the Holy One, Blessed be He, who says: Whoever desires Me—I shall deliver and rescue him.

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “He withholds light from the wicked, and the arm raised high is broken”?

Why

is the letter

ayin in

the word

resha'im suspended,

rather than written upright with the rest of the line, so that it appears as though “rashim,” without the letter ayin, is written?

Once a person becomes poor below,

meaning that he has enemies and people are displeased with him—

he becomes poor

also

above.

For it is certain that he is also hated above. Therefore, “rashim” is written, implying two authorities: that he is poor both below and above.

And we raise an objection: If so, why was the letter ayin written?

Let it not be written

the letter ayin

at all,

and let the verse explicitly read “rashim”!

And we say:

Rabbi Yohanan and Rabbi Elazar

explained the matter.

One

of them

said:

The matter was not written explicitly

for the honor of David.

For David had many enemies, and they would say that he too was hated above!

In truth, this is not so, for this rule does not apply to the righteous.

And one

of them

said: For the honor of Nehemiah, son of Hacaliah.

For he too had many enemies.

The Sages taught: Manasseh would expound fifty-five aspects in Torat Kohanim

the Book of Leviticus; he would renew his interpretation of it every year and derive it through his own dialectical analysis,

corresponding to the years of his reign

for he reigned fifty-five years.

Ahab—

would expound

eighty-five

aspects in Torat Kohanim.

Jeroboam—

would expound

one hundred and three

aspects in Torat Kohanim.

It was taught: Rabbi Meir would say: Absalom—

has no share in the World-to-Come

as it is stated: “And they struck

Absalom and killed him.” And the verse is expounded as follows:

“And they struck him”—

in this world.

“And killed him”—

in the World-to-Come.

It was taught: Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar said in the name of Rabbi Meir:

The kings

Ahaz and Ahaziah, and

so

all the kings of Israel

about whom it is written: “And he did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord,” do not live

in the World-to-Come with the righteous—

and

they also

are not judged

in Gehenna with the wicked.

It is written:

“And Manasseh shed much innocent blood, until he filled Jerusalem from end to end, apart from his sin with which he caused Judah to sin, to do what was evil in the eyes of the Lord.”

Here in the West they explained:

That which is written in the verse, that Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, does not mean that he killed many people. Rather, it means

that he killed

the

prophet Isaiah,

who was considered equivalent to many people, as follows.

In the West they say: He made an idol

that was extremely heavy,

the burden of one thousand people, and every single day

that idol

would kill

them

all

all its bearers—for they would be split open by the weight of the burden.

According to whose view is that which Rabba bar bar Hana said: The soul of one righteous person is equivalent

to the entire world?

According to the one who says: He killed Isaiah.

And this is what is stated: “Until he filled Jerusalem from end to end,” meaning that the soul of a righteous person is equivalent to one who filled Jerusalem with corpse after corpse.

It is written

concerning Manasseh: “And he placed the

graven image

of the idol that he had made in the House of God.” Thus, he made one graven image.

And

on the other hand,

it is written: “And he set up the Asherot and the

graven images,”

the idols,

indicating that he made many idols!

Rabbi Yohanan said: At first he made for it

the idol

one face. Ultimately, he made it four faces, so that

the

Shekhinah

would see it from whichever direction it entered the Courtyard—

and become angry.

Ahaz set it up

the idol

in an upper chamber, as it is stated: “And the altars that were upon the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, and so on.”

Manasseh set it up in the Sanctuary, as it is stated: “And he placed the Asherah idol that he had made in the House of which the Lord said

to David and to Solomon his son: In this House and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I shall place My Name forever.”

Amon brought it

the idol

into the Holy of Holies, as it is stated: “For the couch is too short to stretch out upon, and the covering too narrow to gather oneself in.”

What is the meaning of “For the couch is too short to stretch out upon”?

Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: For the couch is too short

—

this

Temple—is

too short for two companions to rule over it simultaneously,

namely, the Shekhinah and the idol.

What is the meaning of “And the covering is too narrow, and so on”?

Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said: When Rabbi Yonatan reached this verse—

he would weep. Can the One of whom it is written, “He gathers the waters of the sea like a mound,”

652, be given a narrow covering?

That is, as though He were a woman who has become a rival to another woman?

Ahaz abolished the sacrificial service and sealed the Torah, as it is stated: “Bind up the testimony; seal the Torah among My disciples”.

Manasseh erased the Divine Names and destroyed the altar.

Amon burned the Torah and brought a gecko onto the altar.

That is, he completely abolished the service of the Temple, until spiders wove their webs over the altar.

Ahaz permitted forbidden sexual relations.

Manasseh had intercourse with his sister.

Amon had intercourse with his mother, as it is stated: “For Amon increased guilt.”

Rabbi Yohanan and Rabbi Elazar

disagreed concerning the meaning of the verse, “increased guilt”:

One said: He burned the Torah.

And one said: He had intercourse with his mother.

His mother said to him: Do you derive any pleasure from the place from which you emerged?

He said to her:

Indeed, I derive no pleasure from it. Rather,

why do I act—

only to anger my Creator!

When Jehoiakim came, he said: My predecessors did not know how to anger

the Omnipresent; the earlier kings who preceded us did not know how to anger the Omnipresent.

We shall anger Him

! Why do we need

the Holy One, Blessed be He—

except for His light,

for we need the sun to shine for us? We have

Parvaim gold,

which shines especially brightly,

and we use it.

Let the Holy One, Blessed be He, come and

take away its light! His contemporaries said to him

Jehoiakim’s contemporaries: How can you say that you do not need the Holy One, Blessed be He?

For silver and gold,

which you say you will use for illumination,

belong to Him, as it is stated: “The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine, declares the Lord of Hosts”! They said to them

Jehoiakim

has already given them to us,

the Holy One, Blessed be He.

As it is stated: “The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, but the earth He has given to human beings.” Rava said to Rabba bar Mari: Why did they not count Jehoiakim

among those who have no share in the World-to-Come? Did they not count him

because it is written of him

such wicked words:

“And the other matters of Jehoiakim, and his abominations that he did, and that which was found upon him”?

Since the Gemara mentions this verse, it brings the dispute of the Sages concerning its interpretation.

What is the meaning of “and that which was found upon him”?

They disputed its meaning:

Rabbi Yohanan and Rabbi Elazar. One

of them

said: He had the name of an idolatry engraved on his organ,

because he was so devoted to it.

And one

of them

said: He had the Divine Name engraved on his organ,

in order to disgrace it.

The Gemara now returns to Rava’s question: Why did they not count Jehoiakim?

He said to him

Rabba bar Mari said to Rava:

Regarding

the

kings

who have no share in the World-to-Come,

I have not heard

why Jehoiakim was not mentioned.

But

regarding

the

ordinary people

who have no share,

I have heard

why Micah was not mentioned among them [who made an idol for idolatry]:

Why did they not count Micah?

Because his food was available to wayfarers,

who all lodged with him,

as it is stated: “Everyone who passed by and returned to the Levites”.

“And he passed through the sea of trouble, and struck waves in the sea”

. Rabbi Yohanan said: This refers to Micah’s idol.

That is, when Israel left Egypt, Moses wished to take Joseph’s coffin with him, as it lay deep in the Nile. He wrote the Name and cast it into the Nile, and then the coffin floated. Micah saw this and secretly took the Name.

And this is the meaning of that which is stated: “And he passed through the sea of trouble”—when the Holy One, Blessed be He, brought Israel through, Micah passed through with them, with the Name in his hand, in order to make the calf.

It was taught: Rabbi Natan says:

The place of Micah and his idol was at a place called Garav.

From Garav to Shiloh,

where the Tabernacle of the Lord was located, was a distance of

three mil. And the smoke of the arrangement,

which rose from Shiloh,

and the smoke of Micah’s idol,

which rose from Garav,

would mingle with one another.

The ministering angels sought to cast him down,

Micah.

The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to them: Leave him,

because

his food is available to wayfarers.

And on account of this matter,

because Israel did not protest against Micah,

the people of the incident of the concubine at Gibeah were punished.

Forty thousand Israelites were killed in that incident.

For

the Holy One, Blessed be He, said

to Israel:

For My honor

that is, for the desecration of My honor when Micah made his idol—

you did not protest.

And now,

for the honor of flesh and blood—

you protested?!

Rabbi Yohanan said in the name of Rabbi Yosei ben Kisma: Great is a meal

the food with which guests are fed,

which distanced two families,

Ammon and Moab,

from Israel.

As it is stated: “An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord, and so on,

on account of the fact that they did not greet you with bread and water

on the way when you went out of Egypt.”

on the way when you went out from Egypt” .

Rabbi Yohanan said this in the name of Rabbi Yosei ben Kisma.

And Rabbi Yohanan himself

himself

said:

The meal—

distances those who are near and brings near those who are far,

causes the eyes to overlook the wicked

meaning that it causes the Holy One, Blessed be He, as it were, not to see the wicked person’s deeds and not to repay him according to the fruit of his deeds,

causes the Shekhinah to rest upon the prophets of the Baal,

and causes an inadvertent act to be regarded as deliberate.

That is, even if he did not feed someone inadvertently, it is considered deliberate for him, and he is punished for it.