Sotah 41b — the Talmud in English

Therefore

the Merciful One wrote: “

When all Israel comes to see the face of the Lord your God,” for it implies at the time of their coming, and this is

and this is

from when the festival begins

at the beginning of the festival, on the first day of the festival, which is the time of the coming of all Israel to the Temple .

We learned in the Mishna:

And the synagogue attendant takes the Torah scroll and gives it to the head of the synagogue:

And it entered our mind that they do this in order to honor the head of the synagogue, the deputy, and the high priest; and therefore the attendant did not give it immediately to the king.

And the Gemara infers:

Can you learn from this

from the anonymous statement of our Mishna that the halakha is in accordance with the one who says [Bava Batra 119b]:

one accords honor to the student in the presence of the teacher,

for all of them, in the presence of the king, are like students in the presence of the teacher, and nevertheless they accord them honor?

Abaye said:

There is no proof from here, for

the entire matter

everything that they do there is

on account of the honor of the king,

for through this the king is honored, as they show his ranks, one above the other.

We learned in the Mishna:

And the king stands and receives, and reads while sitting; King Agrippa stood and received, and read while standing:

And we infer: Since we learned that the king stands

standing in order to receive the Torah scroll, and likewise regarding Agrippa we learned: “He stood and received,”

to receive the Torah scroll, and likewise regarding Agrippa we learned: “He stood and received it,”

by inference

until now he had been

sitting!?

And

there is a difficulty, for

the Master said:

There is no sitting in the Temple courtyard except for the kings of the House of David.

And from where [do we know] that sitting in the Temple courtyard was permitted for the kings of the House of David? For we find sitting among them,

as it is stated [שמואל ב ז יח]

[II Samuel 7:18]

And King David came and sat before the Lord

before the Ark that was in the City of David

and he said:

“Who am I, Lord God, and what is my house, that You have brought me to this point?”; thus, David was permitted to sit “before the Lord,” and the same law applies that he is permitted to sit in the Temple courtyard.

And if so, there is a difficulty: Agrippa was not of the kingdom of the House of David, so how was sitting permitted to him!? And we answer:

As Rav Hisda said

regarding the high priest, whose reading was

in the Women’s Courtyard; here too

regarding the king

in the Women’s Courtyard

he was reading, and it was non-sacred, and it was permitted to sit in it.

We learned in the Mishna: King Agrippa stood and received, and read while standing,

and the Sages praised him:

And we ask: From the fact that they

praised him, by inference

necessarily

he acted properly

Agrippa did well!?

And

did Rav Ashi not say: Even according to the one who says:

A prince who waived his honor, his honor is waived,

but

a king who waived his honor, his honor is not waived, as it is stated:

You shall surely set a king over you.

And from the fact that the Torah warned Israel with many expressions [“You shall surely set”], we learn:

that his fear shall be upon you,

and if he waived his honor, his honor is not waived.

And we answer: It was a mitzva in this, that Agrippa read while standing, since he waived his honor for the honor of the Torah; and although in general a king may not waive his honor, regarding

a mitzva it is different,

and he could properly waive it.

We learned in the Mishna:

When he reached “

You will not be able to appoint

“over you a foreign man,” his eyes shed tears. They said to him: Do not fear; you are our brother, you are our brother:

A tanna taught in the name of Rabbi Natan: At that time

when they said this to Agrippa,

the enemies of Israel became liable [Israel, as a euphemism]

Israel, in euphemistic language

to destruction—

Because

they flattered Agrippa!

for they answered him contrary to the law, since in truth he was not fit for kingship; and although he was not considered a “foreign man,” since his mother was from Israel, nevertheless, on his father’s side he was a slave, and therefore he may not be appointed king, because the matter is demeaning.

Rabbi Shimon ben Halafta said:

From the day that the fist [the power]

the power

of flattery

in that they answered Agrippa in this manner:

the judgments became distorted,

for the judges learned from this to flatter the litigants and did not decide the law according to its truth.

and the deeds became corrupted,

for the great ones saw transgressors and did not protest against them because of flattery—

and

from then on

a person cannot say to his fellow: My deeds are greater than your deeds!

for since the great ones did not protest against transgressors, the later generations learned from their evil deeds, and all were found to be transgressors.

Rabbi Judah of the West expounded, and some say

and some say

Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi

expounded as follows:

It is permitted to flatter the wicked in this world.

As it is stated:

“The vile shall no longer be called noble, and the miser shall not be called a lord,”

“miser” means one who constantly desires to drink wine, from the expression “my soul pines”; and in the future they will not flatter him, and they will not call him “lord.”

And since concerning the World to Come an expression of negation and prohibition is stated regarding flattery,

by inference, in this world it is permitted

to flatter.

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: From here

we derive that it is permitted to flatter a wicked person in this world:

From what Jacob said to Esau: “For therefore I have seen your face

like seeing the face of a divine being, and you were gracious to me,”

for seeing your face is precious to me like seeing the face of an angel; and he intended to flatter Esau.

And Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish disagrees

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish disagrees with what

that

said

Rabbi Levi.

For Rabbi Levi said:

Jacob did not intend to flatter Esau by this;

rather

The parable of Jacob and Esau: to what is this comparable?

To a man who invited his fellow

to him,

and the guest recognized

the guest

in him that

he invited him because he

sought to kill him, the guest said to him:

the guest:

The taste of this dish that I am tasting

now, behold it is

like the dish that I tasted in the king’s house!

And through this he saved himself from death.

Because

the host said

the inviter in his heart: This guest is frequently in the king’s house, and

the king knows him

the king knows him, and through this

the master of the house fears

the master of the house fears lest the king learn that he killed him,

and

therefore

he does not kill him

and he will no longer kill him.

And this too was Jacob’s intention: he wished to intimidate Esau and inform him that he was accustomed to seeing the faces of angels; and through this Esau would fear him and not kill him.

A mnemonic

for Rabbi Elazar’s statements concerning flattery: a.

anger; b.

anyone who has flattery in him

fetus; c.

“They will not cry out, for He has bound them.”

Gehinnom; d.

f.

in his hand; e.

b. Pregnant women:

excommunication; f.

As it is stated:

exile;

Rabbi Elazar said:

a. Anger:

Anyone who has flattery in him brings

the wrath of

anger upon the world.

As it is stated:

“And the flatterers of heart bring anger.”

And furthermore, but rather

anyone who has flattery in him,

his prayer is not heard. As it is stated:

“They will not cry out, for He has bound them”!

When suffering comes upon them, their cry will not help them.

And Rabbi Elazar said:

b. Fetus:

Anyone who has flattery in him—even fetuses in their mother’s womb curse him.

As it is stated:

“He who says to the wicked, You are righteous, shall be cursed by

peoples; nations shall be angry with him,”

and

“curse”

means nothing other than a curse, as it is stated

in Balaam’s prophecy: “How can I curse

one whom God has not cursed.”

And

“nation”

means nothing other than fetuses, as it is stated

concerning Rebecca: “Two nations are in your womb,

and one nation shall become stronger than the other”!

And this is what is written: the flatterer who says to the wicked, “You are righteous,” will be cursed by nations, that is, fetuses.

And Rabbi Elazar said:

c. Gehinnom:

Anyone who has flattery in him,

he

falls into Gehinnom.

As it is stated:

“Woe to those who say of evil, good, and of good, evil.”

They put darkness for light and light for darkness; they put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.” That is, those who flatter the wicked and say about him that he is good.

And

what is written

in the verse

after it—

“Therefore, as straw is consumed by fire, and stubble sinks before the flame,

their root shall be as rot, and their blossom shall rise as dust,” for they will be punished in the fire of Gehinnom.

And Rabbi Elazar said:

d. In his hand:

Anyone who flatters his fellow, in the

in the

end falls into his hand

of the one who was flattered,

and if he does not fall into his hand, he falls into the hands of his sons; and if he does not fall into the hands of his sons,

in the end

he falls into the hand of his grandson.

As it is stated

concerning Hananiah the false prophet, who prophesied falsely concerning the exile of Jeconiah and the Temple vessels, that after two years the Lord would return them from their place of exile:

“And Jeremiah said to Hananiah: Amen, so may the Lord do

the

the Lord establish

your words”!

And this is flattery, for Jeremiah should have said to him: You are prophesying falsely.