Shekalim 13b — the Talmud in English

Since the Gemara mentioned the virtues of those mentioned for praise and the virtue of the sages, the Gemara brought additional homilies dealing with the virtues of the sages.

Rabbi Yona said: It is written

in Isaiah 53:

“Therefore I shall apportion to him

[a portion and a lot]

among the many

[with the early patriarchs],

and with the mighty he shall apportion spoil,”

because he poured out his soul to death.

“I shall apportion to him” —

this is Rabbi Akiva, who established the exposition of the halakhot and the aggadot

that are expounded publicly.

And this one too, who delivers his soul to the Lord, will have a portion in the Torah of the Lord like Rabbi Akiva.

And some say: These,

the expositions of halakhot and aggadot,

were established by the Men of the Great Assembly,

for the exposition already existed from the days of the Men of the Great Assembly.

Rather, what did this one establish

[Rabbi Akiva]? —

General principles.

He would make general principles for the Torah, as we find in several places in the Talmud: “Rabbi Akiva stated a general principle.”

And

he likewise established

particulars.

For he would expound upon every thorn and every crown of the letters of the Torah heaps upon heaps of halakhot.

Rabbi Abbahu said: It is written

in Chronicles:

“The family of scribes who dwelt at Jabez.”

[The group of Jabez, over whom he ruled and whom he taught], and Jabez was Othniel son of Kenaz.

What does “scribes” teach?

That is, what greatness is there in this, that Scripture praises them for it?

Rather, they made the Torah into counted groups.

They gave signs to the Torah and assigned a number to all the halakhot, as we find in many places in the Mishna, where they counted the number of the halakhot.

And as we learned in tractate Terumot:

Five —

may not separate teruma.

And at the beginning of tractate Hallah we likewise learned:

Five matters are obligated in hallah.

And at the beginning of Yevamot we learned:

Fifteen women

who are forbidden because of forbidden sexual relations

exempt their rival wives

from yibbum. If one of them was married to his brother, and he had two wives, and his brother died without children, both are exempt from yibbum and from halitza, as it is derived there from a verse.

And at the beginning of tractate Keritot we learned:

Thirty-six

cases carrying

karet

that we find

in the Torah.

And at the beginning of tractate Taharot we learned:

Thirteen matters were stated concerning the carcass of a pure bird.

And at the beginning of tractate Bava Kamma we learned:

Four primary categories of damages

there are.

And in tractate

Shabbat

we learned: The

primary labors forbidden to perform on Shabbat by Torah law are

forty minus one.

Rabbi Eliezer said: It is written

in Ezra [chapter 7]:

“To Ezra the priest, the scribe,

a scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord and His statutes for Israel.”

And we challenge: Since it already wrote “Ezra the scribe,”

what does it teach

by repeating “scribe”?

Rather, just as he was a scribe

and counted

in the words of Torah,

for he counted all the letters in the Written Torah and established the masoretic tradition,

so was he a scribe in the words of the Sages,

to give a number to the halakhot, as above.

Rabbi Haggai in the name of Rabbi Samuel son of Nahmani

said: The

early sages: they plowed and sowed, weeded, chopped, hoed, reaped, gathered sheaves, threshed, winnowed, sorted, ground, sifted, kneaded, shaped, and baked,

and after they finished preparing bread for us, still

we have no mouth with which to eat!

That is, although the early sages exerted themselves and arranged for us expositions of halakha and aggada, made the Torah into counted groups, and performed all these actions to make it easier for us to understand the Torah, it is still difficult for us to understand the words of Torah in their full clarity.

Rabbi Abba son of Zamina in the name of Rabbi Zeira

said:

If the early ones were angels

[if the early ones were like angels] —

we are human beings

[we are like human beings].

And if they were human beings

[and if they were like human beings] —

we are donkeys

[we are like donkeys].

There was an incident involving Rabbi Yirmeya, who sent a basket of figs to Rabbi Zeira, and it had not been rectified from the prohibition of demai, because Rabbi Yirmeya thought that Rabbi Zeira would not eat without tithe.

Conversely, Rabbi Zeira thought that Rabbi Yirmeya had certainly tithed them.

As a result, he ate them, and it turned out that he ate untithed produce [as explained in the first chapter of Demai].

Rabbi Mana said: At that moment they said,

at that time Rabbi Zeira said: We, who are like donkeys,

were not even like the donkey

[like the donkey]

of Rabbi Pinhas son of Yair

[we did not resemble it]. For no mishap like mine occurred with the donkey of Pinhas son of Yair, as in the following incident.

The donkey

[the donkey of]

Rabbi Pinhas son of Yair was stolen by bandits at night

[the bandits stole it at night].

And it remained hidden with them for three days and tasted nothing

[it was hidden with the bandits for three days and tasted nothing], because their produce had not been tithed.

After three days

[after these three days]

they decided to return it

[they resolved to return it].

They said: Let us take it out from here, lest it die with us

[they said to one another: Let us take it out of the cave, so that it should not die with us and cause the cave to stink].

They took it out.

[They brought it out.]

It went and stood at the gate of its master

[it went and stood at the entrance of the gate of its owner — Rabbi Pinhas son of Yair].

It began braying

[it opened its mouth and cried out].

He said to them

Rabbi Pinhas son of Yair to his students:

Open for this unfortunate one

[open the gate for this unfortunate one],

for it has been three days since it tasted anything

[for it has been three days since it tasted anything].

They opened for it and it entered,

[they opened for it and it entered].

He said to them

Rabbi Pinhas son of Yair to his students:

Give it something to eat.

[Bring it something that it can eat.]

They brought before it

[they brought before it]

barley, but it did not wish to eat

[and it did not want to eat them].

They said to him

his students:

Master, it does not wish to eat

[it does not want to eat].

He said to them

Rabbi Pinhas son of Yair to his students:

Are they rectified?

[Are the barley kernels rectified?]

They said to him: Yes

[yes], they are rectified and fit for eating, for they contain no waste.

He said to them: And have you removed the demai?

[Have you rectified this barley from the prohibition of demai?]

They said to him:

Master,

did our master not teach us thus

[did our master not teach us in the Mishna]:

One who purchases seed

from an am ha-aretz in order to feed it

to an animal,

or who purchased

flour

not for eating but

for skins

to process them, or who purchased

oil for a lamp is exempt from demai.

And we originally purchased this barley with the intention of giving it to an animal, so it follows that it is exempt from the rectification of demai.

He said to them

Rabbi Pinhas son of Yair to his students: Indeed, you are correct that this barley is exempt from demai. But

what shall we do

[do]

for this unfortunate one

[for this unfortunate one],

since she is very strict with herself

[since she is very strict with herself], and does not eat from it until they rectify it from the prohibition of demai. Therefore go and separate from the barley and rectify it from the prohibition of demai, so that she may eat it.

And they removed the demai

[and indeed they separated its demai]

and it ate,

[and they ate].

We learned in our Mishna:

Petahya

appointed

over the pairs of birds. Petahya was Mordecai. And why was he called Mordecai? Because he would open matters and expound them and know seventy languages.

Come and see how great was the ability of that man: He would open matters and expound them.

Come and see how great was the power of that man: he opened matters and expounded them.

For he was appointed over the pairs of birds, and had to understand and resolve the calculations of the pairs of birds, which people were obligated to bring in all kinds of doubts and different circumstances, as it is stated in tractate Kinnim.

We learned in our Mishna: Petahya was Mordecai, and

he knew seventy languages.

It was taught: A Sanhedrin in which there are two who can speak

seventy languages

and all of them are fit to hear,

meaning that they understand seventy languages although they do not know how to speak them and respond,

is fit to be a Sanhedrin,

under pressing circumstances.

And if there are

three

who can speak seventy languages, and all are fit to hear but not to speak,

this is

a Sanhedrin

of intermediate rank,

and superior to the preceding one.

And if there are

four

who know how to speak,

this is a wise

and excellent Sanhedrin.

And in the Sanhedrin that

was in Yavneh there were four

who knew how to speak seventy languages.

Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Ben Hakhinai, and Rabbi Elazar son of Mattitya, Rabbi Hisda said,

said:

Once the Land of Israel became dry,

for rain did not fall.

And they did not know from where to bring

barley for the meal-offering of the

Omer.

For the mitzva of this meal-offering is that it come from produce grown in the Land of Israel.

And there was there

[there was]

one mute

[one mute person who neither heard nor spoke],

who placed one hand

[who pointed with one hand]

toward

the direction of the

roofs, and one hand

[and his other hand]

toward

the direction of the

huts. [“Huts” is the name of a booth made of willow branches without a roof, but pointed above.]

shacks. [“Shacks” is the name of a hut made from willow branches without a roof, but pointed at the top.]

They brought him before

[they brought him before]

Petahya

so that he would understand and explain the mute person’s intention through these gestures.

He said to them

Petahya:

Is there a place called

[is there a place called]

“Roofs of Huts” or “Huts of Roofs”? Go there and you will find barley for the Omer.

And Petahya understood this from the fact that this mute person placed one hand toward the roofs and one toward the huts.

They went there

They went there

[they went there] to search whether they would find barley,

and found it,

and indeed found barley for the meal-offering of the Omer.

Rabbi Yose son of Rabbi Bun said: Once all the entire world was struck by blight

[was afflicted by blight],

and they did not know from where to bring the Omer.

And there was there one

mute person who placed one hand over his eye

[who placed one hand over his eye]

and his hand

the other

over the bolt-hole

[the hole in the doorpost into which they insert the bolt to lock the door].

They brought him to Petahya

so that he would understand from him to which place he was referring.

He said to them

Petahya:

Is there a place called

[there is a place called]

“Spring of the Bolt-Hole” or “Bolt-Hole of the Spring,” and he learned this from the fact that the mute person placed one hand over his eye and one over the bolt-hole; there you will be able to find produce for the Omer.

And they went there, and found them.

It happened with

three women

who

brought their nests

to the priests to sacrifice them in the Temple.

One says:

I brought this nest

for my eye, and one says:

I brought this nest

for my sea, and one says: for my zavah.

The one who says

I brought

for my nest, they thought to say [the priests thought to say] that her intention

was

that she was flowing

with blood

like a spring,

and she wished to bring a nest for the purification of her zavah, one bird as a sin-offering and one bird as a burnt-offering.

He said to them

Petahiah [Mordecai], the one appointed over the nests: This one who said, “I brought this nest ‘for my eye,’

in the eye—

you endangered yourself.

Perhaps she had been in danger in her eye, and was healed, and voluntarily pledged a voluntary nest. And one who brings a voluntary nest brings two birds as burnt-offerings, and not one as a sin-offering and one as a burnt-offering.

And likewise,

this one who says

I brought “this nest

for my sea,”

the priests thought to say

that her intention was that she

was flowing

with blood

like the sea,

and she brings a mandatory nest for the purification of her zavah.

Mordecai said to them:

Perhaps her intention was not to say that she was a zavah. Rather, her intention was to say that

at sea she endangered herself,

that she was endangered at sea and was saved. And for that reason she voluntarily pledged a voluntary nest, and she must bring two birds as burnt-offerings, as is the law of a voluntary nest.

And likewise,

this one who says

I brought “this nest

for my zavah,”

the priests thought to say

that her intention was that she was

truly a zavah,

and she brings a mandatory nest.

Mordecai said to them

:

A wolf came to take her son,

and she vowed to bring a nest for the salvation of her son, and she must bring two burnt-offerings, as is the law of a voluntary nest.

We learned in our Mishna:

Ben Ahijah

was appointed over bowel illnesses.

And the Gemara explains: Why were there many priests with bowel illnesses?

And we say:

Because the priests walked barefoot on the floor, and ate the meat of

the sacred offerings,

and drank water

since they were forbidden to drink wine in the Temple courtyard,

they came to suffer from bowel illnesses.

And he knew

the one appointed over bowel illnesses

which

[which]

wine

[wine]

is good for the bowels

[good for the bowels],

and which wine is harmful

[harmful]

to the bowels.

We learned in our Mishna:

Nahonia

was

a digger of pits.

And we say:

He was one who dug

pits,

cisterns, and caves.