Shabbat 32b (לב:) — the Talmud in English

And

they were

entrusted to amei haaretz—

for we rely on amei haaretz with regard to the separation of challa, and terumot and tithes, since according to Torah law [before the enactment concerning demai] they were trustworthy regarding their separation.

And with regard to consecrated property, we do not fear acquiring their possessions, lest they have consecrated their own objects. [And Rashi cited another interpretation].

It was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Natan says: On account of the sin of vows, a man’s wife dies. As it is stated: “If you have nothing with which to pay

what you vowed [for offerings or consecrated property]—

why

make a vow at all, thereby causing God to

take your bed

, your wife,

from beneath you.”

Rabbi says: On account of

the failure to fulfill

vows—

children die while they are young.

As it is stated: “Do not let your mouth

make a vow, thereby

causing your flesh to sin

, obligating your children to die.

And do not say before the angel

, meaning the treasurer of consecrated property,

“It was an error,”

my vow, and I will not fulfill it. For

“why should God be angry at your voice”

with which you vowed? And as punishment for this,

“and destroy the work of your hands.”

What is the work of a person’s hands?

You must say:

These are

a person’s sons and daughters.

The Sages taught: Children die on account of the sin of vows; this is the statement of Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon.

Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi says: On account of the sin of neglecting Torah study

they die.

And we raised a difficulty:

Granted, according to the one who says

that they die

on account of vows

, this is

as we said

above, based on the verses.

But according to the one who says

that they die

on account of neglecting Torah study—

what is the verse?

From where does he derive it?

And we bring a proof:

As it is written: Is it possible that

“I have struck your children

for naught

”? Rather, it is because

discipline

, meaning Torah,

“they did not accept.”

They did not study [and study is expressed by the term “accepting”].

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said:

Even

according to the one

who says that they die

on account of vows, he too derives it from here

.

And this is how he expounds it:

“I have struck your children for naught”:

for matters of falsehood

, as they lie in their vows, [which resembles a vain oath].

And we challenge this:

Since [indeed]

it is

Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, this is Rabbi.

And

here

Rabbi says, “On account of vows

children die,”

he said

in the first beraita, whereas here he says that they die on account of neglecting Torah study?

And we answer: At first Rabbi said that it was on account of neglecting Torah study. But

after he heard it from Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi

Shimon

, who had heard from Rabbi Shimon, his father [who was Rabbi’s teacher], that the punishment is on account of vows, he too adopted his view.

Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba and Rabbi Yose disagreed.

One said:

Children die

on account of the sin of mezuzah.

And one said: On account of neglecting Torah study.

children die children die children die children die children die

And over what do they disagree?

According to the one who says that it is on account of mezuzah

, he holds that the

verse

that states, “So that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied,”

is expounded with regard to what precedes it

, namely, the adjacent phrase, “And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house.”

But it is not

expounded with regard to the verse that is

before what precedes it

, namely, the statement, “And you shall teach them to your children.”

And according to the one who says that it is on account of neglecting Torah study

, he holds that the

verse

“So that your days may be multiplied”

is expounded with regard to what precedes it, and

it is also expounded with regard to what is

before what precedes it

, as it does not apply only to mezuzah, but also to the sin of neglecting Torah study.

Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda disagreed.

One said: On account of mezuzah

children die.

And one said: On account of the sin of ritual fringes.

HaBayit HaLevi ( (D'rush 11) wrote that from the words of the Tosafot it appears they sinned when they made tzadaki so that they would not have four corners and would not be obligated to place tzitzit on them, but they did not wear a four-cornered garment without tzitzit. And one must explain how it is implied And one must explain how it is implied by the verse "also in your fringes" that it refers to such a sin; perhaps it refers to one who transgresses and truly nullifies the commandment of tzitzit. HaBayit HaLevi explained that the meaning of the verse is "in your fringes" and not "in the thread", meaning that they did not make corners to be obligated in tzitzit.

And we raised a difficulty:

Granted, according to the one who says that it is on account of mezuzah

, this is because

it is written, “And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house,” and it is written immediately afterward

in the adjacent verse:

“So that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied.”

But according to the one who says that it is on account of ritual fringes—

what is his reason?

And we explain:

Rav Kahana said, and some say Sheila Mari

said:

As it is written: “Even on your wings the blood of the souls of the innocent poor was found.”

And the meaning of the verse is: “Even on your wings”—because of the mitzva of ritual fringes on the corner—“was found” upon you the liability for “the blood of the innocent poor,” namely, young children who had not sinned.

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: According to the one who says that it is on account of mezuzah, he too derives it from here

from the latter part of this verse.

As it is written: “I did not find them in a tunnel,”

that they made

their

doorways

like a tunnel

without a mezuzah. And concerning this the verse concludes: “For all these things I struck your children.”

Reish Lakish said: Anyone who is meticulous in

the mitzva of

ritual fringes merits that in the future

there will

serve him 2,800 servants.

As it is stated: “So said the Lord of Hosts: In those days, ten men from all the languages of the nations shall take hold, and they shall take hold of the corner of a Jewish man, saying: Let us go with you

for we have heard that God is with you.”

And the calculation is as follows: At each of the four corners, ten men from each of the seventy nations of the world will take hold, making 700 men at each corner; and for four corners, this makes 2,800.

Mnemonic: He hated challah, teruma was robbed, judgment, oath, reversal, revelation, and repulsiveness.

It was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Neḥemya says: On account of the sin of baseless hatred

, whereby one hates another person even though there was no sinful matter in him, the punishment is

great strife within a person’s home; his wife miscarries; and his sons

and daughters die while they are young.

And this is measure for measure: In return for the hatred with which he hated his fellow, he has strife in his home, his young children die, and his love is taken from him [Rashi].

Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Yehuda, says: On account of the sin

of failing to separate

challah, there is no blessing

that rests

upon what is stored away

—in stores of wine and oil.

And

as a result,

a curse is unleashed upon the markets

, as prices rise and merchants sell at high prices.

And they sow seeds, while others eat

them, the produce that grows from them.

As it is stated: “I too shall do this to you, and I shall appoint upon you panic: consumption and fever—

consuming the eyes and causing anguish of soul. And you shall sow your seed in vain

, and your enemies shall eat it.”

And this is how he expounds it:

Do not read “panic” but “with challah”

, on account of the sin of challah.

And if they give

challah,

the stores are blessed

of wine and oil.

As it is stated: “And the first of your kneading troughs you shall give to the priest—

“to place a blessing within your house.”

On account of neglecting

the separation of

terumot and tithes, the heavens are withheld from bringing down dew and rain. And

as a result of the lack of rain,

there is inflation, wages are lost, and people pursue their livelihood but do not attain it

there.

As it is stated: “Drought and heat consume the snow waters; Sheol is the sin of those who have sinned.”

What is the inference?

The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught:

“Drought,” from a term denoting a command,

means: Because of the things that I commanded you

to perform

in the summer

, namely, the separation of terumot and tithes,

and you did not perform

them,

the waters of the snow will be taken from you in the rainy season.

And if

you

give

terumot and tithes, you

will be blessed, as it is stated: “Bring all the tithe to the storehouse, and test Me now with this, says the Lord of Hosts: If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without limit.”

What

does it

mean, “without limit”?

Rami bar Ḥama said: Until

your lips become worn out,

from saying, “Enough,”

because of the abundance of goodness.

On account of the sin of robbery, the locust

—a species of locust—

ascends

, and

as a result

there is famine, and people eat the flesh of their sons and daughters.

As it is stated: “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan who are on Mount Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy

”.