Shabbat 89b (פט:) — the Talmud in English

d.

The wilderness of Paran

that Israel should be fruitful and multiply there

, for each man's wife conceived a male child after the giving of the Torah, in fulfillment of the mitzva: “Return to your tents.”

e.

The wilderness of Sinai

—because hatred descended upon the gentiles on account of it.

And what was

the actual name of Mount Sinai

? Its name was Horeb!

And this disagrees with the opinion of Rabbi Abahu, as Rabbi Abahu said: Its name was Mount Sinai, and why was it called Mount Horeb?

Because desolation descended upon the gentiles on account of it.

We learned in the Mishna:

From where is it derived that one ties a strip of crimson wool

around the head of the scapegoat that is sent away? As it is stated: “Though your sins be like scarlet, they shall become white as snow.”

And we raised a difficulty concerning this: Why is it written

“like scarlet”

in the plural?

It should have said “like a scarlet,”

analogous to “like snow,” which is not written “like snows.”

And we resolve it:

Rabbi Yitzḥak said: The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Israel:

even

if your sins are like scarlet

[scarlet threads themselves],

like those that have been arranged and have come into being from the six days of Creation until now,

nevertheless

they shall become white as snow.

Rava taught: What is the meaning of that which is written

in Isaiah:

“Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord”?

This is difficult: Why is it written

“Come now,”

when

it should have said “Come here”?

And there is an additional difficulty: Why is it written

“says the Lord”

in the future tense, when

it should have said “the Lord said”

?

Rather,

in the future, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will say to Israel: “Go now to your forefathers, and let them rebuke you.”

And they will say

Israel

before Him: “Master of the Universe! To whom shall we go?”

Is it

to Abraham, to whom You said, “Know with certainty

that your offspring shall be strangers in a land that is not theirs,”

and he did not plead for mercy on our behalf?

Or

to Isaac, who blessed Esau, saying, “And it shall be when you grow restive

and you shall break his yoke from upon your neck,”

and he did not plead for mercy on our behalf?

Or

to Jacob, to whom You said, “I will descend with you to Egypt,

and I will also surely bring you up again”? The word “also” is an addition, hinting to him here at all four exiles,

and he did not plead for mercy on our behalf?

To whom shall we go?

Now—

“the Lord shall say”!

You Yourself state the rebuke, for we trust in You to vindicate us.

The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to them: Since you have placed yourselves in My hands,

the conclusion of the verse will be fulfilled for you:

“If your sins be like scarlet

—they shall become white as snow.”

Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said that Rabbi Yonatan said: What is the meaning of that which is written

in Isaiah:

“For You are our Father; for Abraham does not know us,

and Israel does not recognize us. You, Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer;

from everlasting is Your name.”

In the future, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will say to Abraham: “Your children have sinned against Me!”

He will say before Him: “Master of the Universe! Let them be obliterated for the sanctification of Your name!”

Thus Your name will be sanctified when You pass judgment upon those who transgress Your word.

He said,

the Holy One, Blessed be He:

“Tell Jacob

that his children have sinned against Me,

for he experienced the pain of raising children.

Perhaps he will ask mercy for them.”

He said to him,

to Jacob:

“Your children have sinned!”

He said before Him: “Master of the Universe! Let them be obliterated for the sanctification of Your name!”

The Holy One, Blessed be He, said:

“There is no counsel

—that is, from Abraham, the elder—

in the elders, nor

—that is, from Jacob, the younger—

in the young.”

The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to him

:

“Isaac, your children have sinned against Me!”

He said before Him: “Master of the Universe!

Are they

my children

children

and not Your children?!

After all, when they preceded You by declaring, “We will do” before “We will hear,” You called them “My firstborn son.”

[This is stated in the portion of Exodus; He called them by the name of their future status, for it was revealed before Him that they would eventually say, “We will do and we will hear,” accepting the yoke out of love, like sons. Rashi.] But

now

You say that they are

my children and not Your children?!

And furthermore, how much did they sin?

How many are a person's years?

Seventy years!

Subtract

from them

twenty

of his early years,

for You do not punish for them.

As we find concerning the generation of the wilderness, that they died only if they were twenty years old or more.

There remain

there remain

fifty

years.

Subtract twenty-five nights,

during which a person sleeps.

There remain twenty-five.

Subtract twelve and a half for prayer

,

eating, and the lavatory;

there remain twelve and a half.

If You can bear all of them—

all the sins, that is—well and good; but if not,

half is upon me and half is upon You!

And if You should say that all of them are upon me, behold, I offered my soul before You

at the Binding.

Israel opened

and

said

about Isaac:

“For You are—

our Father!”

Isaac said to them: “Before you praise me, praise the Holy One, Blessed be He!” And Isaac indicated to them

that they should look toward

the Holy One, Blessed be He, with their eyes.

Immediately they raised their eyes heavenward and said: “You, Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer; from everlasting is Your name.”

Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Jacob our forefather should rightfully have descended to Egypt in chains of iron,

as is the way of all exiles, since he descended there because of the decree of exile.

But his merit caused him

not to descend in that manner.

As it is written

in Hosea:

“With the cords of man I drew them, with bands of love

[because of My love for man, I drew them to Egypt with ropes and not with chains]

and I was to them as those who lift a yoke from upon their cheeks

[like a person who assists his animal, supporting the yoke so that it will not weigh upon its neck],

and I bent toward him and fed him.”

I inclined toward them and gave them strength so that they could endure the harsh labor.

Mishna:

One who carries out wood

, its measure is

sufficient to cook

in it

a small egg

[as explained above, on page 80b: this is a hen's egg, which is easy to cook, and not the entire egg, but enough to cook an olive-bulk of the egg].

Spices—

enough to season a small egg.

And

all types of spices

combine with one another

to constitute the measure for carrying out.

Walnut shells

while they are still moist,

pomegranate shells, istis

, the root of a plant from which a sky-blue dye is made,

and madder

, the root of a plant from which a red dye is made—all of these have a measure of

enough to dye a small garment

placed in the

mouth of a hairnet

, a piece of cloth sewn onto the top of the hairnet, which is a net that women place over the hair of their heads.

Urine, natron, borit, kamulia, and alum

—all of these are substances used for cleaning and laundering; their measure is

enough to launder

with them

a small garment

for the

mouth of a hairnet.

Rabbi Yehuda says:

their measure is

enough to remove a stain

of menstrual blood found on a garment, which is laundered with these substances [Rashi. And Rambam and the Raavad explain that this is a stain found on a woman's garment, and it is unknown whether it is menstrual blood or dye. We learned in tractate Niddah that the garment is laundered with seven substances, five of which are those listed in our Mishna; if the stain does not disappear, it is certainly dye].

Gemara:

And we raised a difficulty concerning this: Why does the Mishna need to teach us the measure for wood? After all,

we already learned it once

, the measure of an item intended for kindling.

As we learned above [80b]:

A reed—

enough to make a quill.

If it was thick or cracked

, so that it was fit only for kindling, its measure is

enough to cook the smallest of eggs, beaten

, mixed with oil,

and placed in a pan.

And we resolve it:

You might have said that there, it is because the reed is not fit

for anything

for anything

other than kindling.

But wood, which is fit to make a key tooth

—I might have said that its measure is

even any amount.

It teaches us

that specifically the measure is enough to cook a small egg, since the primary use of wood is for kindling.

We learned in the Mishna:

Spices: enough to season a small egg,

and they combine with one another.

And we raise a contradiction:

We learned in tractate Orla:

Spices

of prohibited produce from

two or three names of one species

, such as white pepper, black pepper, and long pepper, all of which are one species of pepper, while each bears a different name ,

or

even if they are

from three species

, such as pepper, cumin, and cinnamon—

they are prohibited

because of orla

and combine with one another

. If one seasoned a dish with them, and none of them individually was sufficient to season it, but they were sufficient in combination, they combine to prohibit the dish .