Shabbat 118b — the Talmud in English

“And I shall mount you upon the high places of the land,”

“and I shall feed you” ![](pamud.bmp "

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“with the inheritance of Jacob your father.”

Not like

the inheritance of

Abraham,

which has boundaries, as

it is written [

Genesis 13]

“Arise, walk through the land along its length”

and its breadth”; that is, this land, and no more.

And not like

the inheritance of

Isaac,

which too is an inheritance with boundaries, as

it is written [

Genesis 26]

“For to you and to your seed I shall give all these lands,”

and no more.

Rather, like

the inheritance of

Jacob, concerning whom it is written [

Genesis 28]

“And you shall burst forth westward and eastward and northward and southward.”

Rav Nahman bar Yitzhak said: He is saved from the servitude of the kingdoms. Here it is written, “And I shall mount you upon the high places of

the land,” and there it is written [

Deuteronomy 33]

“And you shall tread upon their high places.”

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: Whoever delights in Shabbat, they grant him the desires of his heart.

As it is stated [

Psalms 37]

“And delight in the Lord” —

“and He shall grant you the desires of your heart.”

This delight—I do not know what it is.

When it says, “And you shall call Shabbat ‘delight,’” —

you must say: This is the delight of Shabbat.

With what does one delight in it?

Rav Yehuda, son of Rav Shmuel bar Shilat, said in the name of Rav: With a dish of spinach,

which is an important dish,

and large fish, and heads of garlic.

Rav Hiyya bar Ashi said in the name of Rav: Even a small thing, if he made it for the honor of Shabbat —

this is delight.

What is it,

a small thing?

Rav Pappa said: Kasa de-harsena.

A food of small fish fried in the oil of their entrails, together with flour.

Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: Whoever observes Shabbat according to its law,

even

if he was

an idolater like Enosh,

the grandson of Adam, the first man, in whose generation they began worshipping idols [while Adam, the first man, the handiwork of the Holy One, blessed is He, was still alive] —

they forgive him.

As it is stated [

Isaiah 56]

“Fortunate is the man”

who does

this:

one who observes Shabbat —

“from profaning it.”

Do not read: “from profaning it,” but rather: “it is forgiven him.”

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: Had Israel observed the first Shabbat,

no nation or tongue would have ruled over them.

As it is stated [

Exodus 16]

“And it was on the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather.” And it is written

after it,

in the following section —

“And Amalek came.”

This teaches that had they observed the first Shabbat, Israel’s enemies would no longer have been able to wage war against them.

Rabbi Yohanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai: Had Israel observed two Shabbatot according to their law —

they would be redeemed immediately.

As it is stated [

Isaiah 56]

“So says the Lord concerning the eunuchs who observe My Shabbatot.” And it is written after it

“And I shall bring them to My holy mountain.”

Rabbi Yose said: May my portion be among those who eat three meals on Shabbat.

Rabbi Yose said: May my portion be among those who complete Hallel every day.

And we raise an objection:

Is that so?

But the Master said: One who recites Hallel every day —

behold, he is blaspheming and reviling!

Since the recitation of Hallel was instituted by the early prophets to be said at specific times and when the community was saved from distress. One who says it every day is like one who sings a song that people customarily sing constantly, and he is considered to be mocking, not one who praises and gives thanks.

And we answer:

When we say

that his portion is fortunate —

with

one who says the verses of praise in

the Pesukei de-Zimra,

who says, “Praise the Lord from the heavens,” and “Praise God in His sanctuary.” And they are sections of praise.

Rabbi Yose said: May my portion be among those who pray with the twilight of the sun,

in the morning, shortly after its rising, and in the evening, shortly before its setting, for at that time the heavens become very red; this is “the twilight of the sun.”

Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: It is a mitzva to pray with the twilight of the sun.

Rabbi Zeira said: What is the verse?

As it is written [

Psalms 72]

“They shall fear You”

with the rising of the

sun, and before

the setting of the

moon, throughout all generations.”

And Rabbi Yose said: May my portion be among

the people who

die

from

intestinal illness,

for through their suffering their sins are purged.

For the Master said: Most of the righteous —

die from intestinal illness.

And Rabbi Yose said: May my portion be among those who die on the way to a mitzva.

And Rabbi Yose said: May my portion be among those who bring in Shabbat in Tiberias

which is located in a valley, and Shabbat arrives there earlier,

and among those who bring out Shabbat in Sepphoris,

which is located on a mountain, and Shabbat ends there later.

And Rabbi Yose said: May my portion be among “those who seat the students in the study hall,”

whose task is to gather and bring the students every day,

and not among “those who establish the study hall,”

whose task is to announce the end of the studies because the time for eating has arrived.

And Rabbi Yose said: May my portion be among the collectors of charity,

who collect it from the public,

and not among the distributors of charity,

who may err in their judgment concerning how to distribute it fairly among the poor.

And Rabbi Yose said: May my portion be among those whom people suspect, but in whom there is nothing [wrong].

Rav Pappa said: As for me, they suspected me, but there was nothing in me.

Rabbi Yose said: I engaged in intercourse five times, and planted five cedars in Israel.

And who are they? —

Rabbi Yishmael son of Rabbi Yose, Rabbi Elazar son of Rabbi Yose, Rabbi Halafta son of Rabbi Yose, Rabbi Avtilas son of Rabbi Yose, and Rabbi Menahem son of Rabbi Yose.

And we challenge this:

But there is also

also

Verdimas,

the son of Rabbi Yose!?

And we answer:

This is Verdimas —

this is Menahem.

And why did he call him Verdimas? —

Because his face resembles a rose.

It follows from Rabbi Yose’s words that he had intercourse only five times.

And we wonder: Do we have

to say,

that is,

that Rabbi Yose did not fulfill the mitzva of marital intimacy,

which every husband is obligated to fulfill for his wife,

[that he] did not fulfill?

Rather, say

that this is what Rabbi Yose said:

“I engaged in intercourse five times and repeated it,”

meaning that it happened five times that I engaged in an additional act of intercourse after the first act, so that I would have male children. Through the additional act I merited these five plantings, as we say in tractate Eruvin: One who wishes to have male children should engage in intercourse and repeat it.

Rabbi Yose said:

Even in my ordinary conversation there is a lesson of wisdom:

“In all my days I did not call my wife” —

“my wife,” and my ox —

“my ox.” Rather,

“my wife,”

whom I called the foundation of the household, I called

“my house.”

And my ox,

which is the foundation of the field, through which it is possible to plow it so that it will produce grain, I called

“my field.”

Rabbi Yose said: In all my days I never looked at the organ

of mine,

out of modesty.

And we challenge this:

Is that so? For they said to Rabbi: Why did they call you Our Holy Rabbi?

He said to them: In all my days I never looked at my organ.

And if so, why was Rabbi Yose also not called “Our Holy Rabbi”?

And we answer:

In Rabbi —

there was another matter,

through which he was called holy:

he never put his hand beneath his belt,

toward the lower part of his body.

And Rabbi Yose said: In all my days the beams of my house never saw the hems of my garment,

which are sewn on the inner side of the garment.

That is, he conducted himself modestly when removing his garment. He did not open it and turn it inside out; rather, he first covered himself with a sheet and afterwards removed it from the head, in the manner in which he put it on.

And Rabbi Yose said: In all my days I never transgressed the words of my colleagues. I know about myself that I am not a koen,

but

if my colleagues say to me, “Go up to the platform,” —

I go up.

And Rabbi Yosei said: I have never said a thing

about another person in the presence of three people

and turned

backward.

For if I had spoken about a certain person a true matter in his presence, there would be no lashon hara in this. And if that person had come, I would not have taken back my words, but would have said to him that indeed I had said those true things about him .

Rav Naḥman said: May it come to me

[like: fortunate is my portion]

that I have fulfilled

that I fulfill the mitzva of

three

meals on Shabbat .

Rav Yehuda said: May it come to me, that I have fulfilled the consideration of prayer

that I prayed with complete intention.

Rav Huna son of Rav Yehoshua said: May it come to me, that I have not walked four cubits bareheaded .

Rav Sheshet said: May it come to me, that I have fulfilled the mitzva of tefillin,

for I do not walk four cubits without them .

And Rav Naḥman said: May it come to me, that I have fulfilled the mitzva of tzitzit,

for I do not walk four cubits without fulfilling the mitzva of tzitzit.

Rav Yosef said to Rav Yosef son of Rabbah: In what matter was your father especially careful?

He said to him: With tzitzit.

One day he was going up a stairway,

he went up the ladder,

a thread broke off from him

from his tzitzit.

And he did not descend and come

and he did not go down from the ladder,

as long

as

it was not attached,

for he had not hung the tzitzit threads on the garment.