Shabbat 55a (נה.) — the Talmud in English

And we raised an objection:

If the princes sinned

:

in what way did the elders sin?

Rather, say:

The Lord will enter into judgment

with the elders,

who were the Sanhedrin, because

they did not protest against the princes,

who were sinning.

Rab Yehuda was sitting before Shmuel. A certain woman came and cried out before him, but Shmuel did not

pay attention to her,

to her

, meaning that he did not respond to her cries.

Rab Yehuda said to him:

Does my master

not hold

the verse

“He who stops his ear from hearing the cry of the poor

—he too shall cry out, and shall not be answered

by the Lord”?

He said to him: Shinana

[Sharp one, which was Rab Yehuda’s appellation],

your head

[your teacher, meaning: I]—will be judged

with

cold

water!

This is a metaphor: I will not be burned or punished for not having paid attention to the woman’s dispute, since it is not within my power to save her.

But

the head of your head

[Mar Ukva, who was the teacher of your teacher, meaning: the head both for you and for me]—he will be burned

with hot water,

that is, he will be punished for this.

For Mar Ukva was sitting,

who was

the head of the court,

and it was within his power to save her.

For

it is

written: “House of David, thus says the Lord: Judge justice in the morning, and rescue the robbed from the hand of the oppressor, lest My wrath go forth like fire and burn, with none to quench it, because of the evil of their deeds.”

It follows that only one who has the power to judge and does not judge will be punished.

Rabbi Zeira said to Rav Simon: Let my master rebuke those of the house of the Exilarch

for their evil deeds!

Rav Simon said to him:

I do not rebuke them because

they do not accept it from me

, my rebuke.

Rabbi Zeira said to him:

Rabbi Zeira said:

Even though

you believe

that they will not accept

the rebuke, nevertheless

let my master rebuke them,

as perhaps they will nevertheless accept the rebuke.

For

it is

said by Rav Aha bar Rabbi Hanina: Never did a favorable attribute

[a favorable decree]

issue from the Holy One, blessed be He, and then He retract it for the worse

except in this matter:

except in this matter:

As it is written

in Ezekiel’s prophecy [chapter 9]:

“And the Lord said to him,

to the angel Gabriel:

‘Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and mark a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan

over all the abominations committed within it!’”

And so

the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Gabriel: Go and mark upon the foreheads of the righteous

in Jerusalem

a mark of ink,

so that

they will not be harmed by

those

destructive angels

whom I intend to send against the city.

And upon the foreheads of the wicked

you shall mark

a mark of blood,

so that

the destructive angels will harm them.

Then the Attribute of Justice said before the Holy One, blessed be He: Master of the Universe! Why are

these

people

who receive a mark of ink and are saved different

from those

people upon whose foreheads a mark of blood is placed, whom the destructive angels will harm?

The Holy One, blessed be He, said to her

the Attribute of Justice:

These

who will be saved are

entirely righteous, and

these

these

who will be punished are

entirely wicked!

The Attribute of Justice said before Him

the Attribute of Justice:

Master of the Universe!

But

it was within the power of

the righteous

to protest

against the wicked

and they did not protest!

The Holy One, blessed be He, said to her

the Attribute of Justice:

It is revealed and known before Me that even if they had protested against them, the wicked would not have accepted it from them

, their rebuke!

The Attribute of Justice said before Him

the Attribute of Justice:

Master of the Universe,

even

if it is revealed before You

that this is so,

who knows in their presence

that they would not accept it from them? Therefore, they should have protested. And because they did not protest, they should be held accountable for the sin of the wicked.

In the end, the Holy One, blessed be He, accepted the claim of the Attribute of Justice.

And this is what is written

at first, when the Lord said to the six destructive angels mentioned there:

“Kill old man, young man, and maiden, to destruction; and upon every man upon whom is the mark, do not approach,”

so that they would not kill the righteous.

But ultimately it is written:

“And from My Sanctuary

—from the people consecrated to Me, who are the righteous—

begin!”

And

indeed, at the end of the verse it is

written: “And they began with the elderly men

the righteous

who were before the House.”

Thus, in the end, the words of the accuser were accepted, and even the righteous were punished because they had not protested.

As

Rav Yosef taught:

This that is written, “And from My Sanctuary begin,”

do not read

“from

My Sanctuary

begin,”

but rather

“from

My holy ones

begin.”

These are people who fulfilled the entire Torah, from alef through tav,

and nevertheless they were punished first, because they had not rebuked the wicked.

And this is what Rabbi Zeira said to Rav Simon: Even though they would not accept his rebuke, he should rebuke them. For because the righteous of Jerusalem did not rebuke the wicked among them, the Holy One, blessed be He, retracted His statement to Gabriel that the righteous would not be punished, and punished them—even though in any event they would not have accepted their rebuke.

And immediately: “And behold, six men came from the way of the upper gate, which faces north, each with his weapon of destruction in his hand; and one man among them was clothed in linen, with a writer’s inkwell at his waist. And they came and stood beside the copper altar.”

These were the six destructive angels, with the angel Gabriel among them.

And we ask: Was

there really a copper altar

in the days of Ezekiel? Did Solomon not conceal it when he built the eternal House? In its place he built a large stone altar, thirty-two cubits [square].

And we answer: Since the Levites would sing beside the altar with copper instruments, it was called “the copper altar.”

For the Holy One, blessed be He, said to them: Begin

the destruction with the Levites,

from the place where they sing before Me

with copper instruments!

And who are the “six men”

? Rav Hisda said:

These are the six destructive angels, who are called

“Wrath,”

“Anger,”

and

“Fury,”

and

“Destroyer,”

and

“Smiter,”

and

“Consumer.”

And what is different about

the letter

“tav”

from the other letters, such that specifically with it the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded Gabriel to mark the foreheads of the righteous and the wicked?

Rav said:

With the letter

“tav,”

the word

“you shall live” begins, and this is the sign for the righteous. And with the letter

which is its sign for the righteous. And the letter

“tav,”

the word

“you shall die” begins, and this is the sign for the wicked.

which is its sign for the wicked.

And Shmuel said: The letter tav is the beginning of the phrase

“the merit of the forefathers

has ended.”

And Rabbi Yohanan said:

The letter tav is the beginning of the phrase

“the merit of the forefathers will have compassion.”

And Reish Lakish said: The letter tav

is

the end of the seal of the Holy One, blessed be He,

whose seal is “truth.”

As Rabbi Hanina said: The seal of the Holy One, blessed be He

—it is

“truth”!

This is because the word “truth” is composed of the first letter of the alphabet, the last letter, and the middle letter, mem. This is based on the verse, “I am the first, and I am the last, and I am He.”

Rav Shmuel bar Nahmani said: “Tav” is an allusion to

these human beings,

the righteous,

who fulfilled the entire Torah, from alef through tav!

And we ask:

When did the merit of the forefathers end?

Rav said: From the days of Hosea son of Beeri, as it is stated

in the prophecy of Hosea:

“I will uncover her lewdness before the eyes of her lovers, and no man shall rescue her from My hand.”

This means that the merit of the forefathers would no longer stand for Israel, since they had already used it up and “consumed it.”

And Shmuel said: The merit of the forefathers ended in the days of Hazael, king of Aram

:

as it is stated: “And Hazael, king of Aram, oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. And it is written: ‘And the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion upon them, and He turned toward them for the sake of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was unwilling to destroy them, and He did not cast them from His presence’

—

until now!”

This implies that only “until now” did the covenant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob stand for them. But from then onward He cast them away and no longer turned to the covenant of the forefathers.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: The merit of the forefathers ended in the days of Elijah

:

as it is stated: “And it came to pass at the time of the evening offering,

that Elijah the prophet drew near and said: ‘Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel, and that I am Your servant

and

that

I have done all these things at Your word.’”

Since he said, “today let it be known,” this implies that only today, and no longer thereafter. From then on, the merit of the forefathers had ended.

And Rabbi Yohanan said: Since the days of Hezekiah

the merit of the forefathers ceased.

As it is stated: “To increase the authority, and for peace without end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to establish it and to support it through justice and righteousness, from now and forever; the zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall accomplish this!”

And this prophecy was said concerning Hezekiah. And the prophet Isaiah said in his prophecy that from then on, only the zeal of the Lord would sustain the kingdom of the House of David, and not the merit of the forefathers.

Rabbi Ami said: There is no death

that comes upon a person

without sin. And there is no suffering without iniquity!

There is no death without sin —

for

this is what is written:

“The soul that sins, it shall die; a son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and a father shall not bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him

and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him”!

There is no suffering without iniquity —

for

this is what is written:

“I will visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with plagues”!

And a rod and plagues are suffering. And he said that they come as a visitation for iniquity.