Sotah 47a (מז.) — the Talmud in English

Rav and Shmuel disagreed: One said: There was one miracle

in this incident,

and the other said: There was a miracle within a miracle.

And we explain: The one who said that there was one miracle

holds that indeed

there was a forest

there, but

there were no bears,

and they came by means of a miracle. [For had there been bears in the forest, the children would have been afraid to approach him — Maharsha].

And the one who said that there was a miracle within a miracle holds that there were neither a forest nor bears,

and everything was created miraculously solely in order to punish the boys. And we challenge this: If it was a miracle,

let there be

only

bears and let there not be a forest,

and for what purpose was it necessary to create the forest, which is considered a miracle for Elisha? And we answer that the forest was necessary for the bears, because without it they would not have attacked the boys, since

the bears would have been afraid

to attack a person when they had no nearby place to flee. Therefore, the creation of the forest was part of the miracle of the bears, all of which was created to punish the boys. [ And the Maharsha explained that had there been no forest, the boys would have seen the bears approaching from a distance, become frightened, and fled; therefore the forest was necessary to conceal the bears].

Rabbi Hanina said: Because of the forty-two sacrifices that Balak, king of Moab, offered, forty-two children were torn away from Israel.

And we challenge this:

Is that so? But Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: A person should always engage in Torah and mitzvot, even when not for their own sake, because from acting not for their own sake one comes to act for their own sake,

and his proof is:

Because of the forty-two sacrifices that Balak, king of Moab, offered, he merited that Ruth descended from him, from whom Solomon descended, concerning whom it is written: “Solomon offered up a thousand burnt offerings.”

This indicates that he received reward for his sacrifices. And we explain how Ruth descended from Balak:

And Rabbi Yosei ben Honi said: Ruth was the daughter of Eglon, the son of Balak.

If so, it is difficult: Why did forty-two children die because of his sacrifices, which were a good deed even though they were not performed for their own sake? And we answer:

His intention, at least, was for cursing

as he wished to curse and diminish Israel, and here his intention was realized.

We return to explain the beginning of Elisha’s incident in Jericho:

“And the men of the city said to Elisha: Behold, please, the situation of the city is good, as my lord sees, etc.”

This is apparently puzzling:

Once

they complained

that the water was bad and the land caused bereavement, what was good about it?

On the other hand, they said that the situation of the city was good.

Rabbi Hanin said: A place finds favor in the eyes of its inhabitants,

and despite its shortcomings, it appears good to those who live there.

Rabbi Yohanan said: There are three instances of favor: A place finds favor in the eyes of its inhabitants; a woman finds favor in the eyes of her husband

even if she is unattractive, she finds favor in his eyes;

a purchase finds favor in the eyes of its purchaser,

after he has purchased it, he does not see its shortcomings.

The Sages taught: Elisha became ill with three illnesses, one

because of the sin

that he incited bears against children,

and he was punished because they were harmed on his account, as it says: “Punishment of the righteous is not good”;

and one

because

he pushed Gehazi away with both hands,

as stated below;

and one from which he died. And

we derive that he became ill with three illnesses from

what is stated: “And Elisha became ill,”

the first illness;

“with his illness,”

the second illness;

“with which he would die,”

which was the final illness.

The Sages taught: Let the left hand always push away, and

at that same time let the

right hand draw near,

and

not

should one act

like Elisha, who pushed Gehazi away with both hands,

pushing him away from him completely, as stated below,

and not like Joshua ben Perahya, who pushed one of his students away with both hands. And

we explain:

What is the incident involving Elisha? As it is written: “And Naaman said”

the commander of the army of Aram, who was a leper and whom the king sent to Elisha so that he would heal him. Elisha told him to immerse himself in the Jordan seven times. When he did so, his flesh returned like the flesh of a young child and he was healed. He returned to Elisha and wished to give him a reward, but Elisha refused to accept it. Naaman went home and believed in Him.

While he was on the way, Gehazi, Elisha’s attendant, ran after him and requested in Elisha’s name a talent of silver and changes of clothing for the sons of the prophets. Naaman said to him:

Please

swear that Elisha sent you,

and take talents.

He gave him two talents and changes of clothing as he had requested. When Gehazi returned to Elisha, who asked him where he had come from, he replied: “Your servant did not go anywhere.”

And it is written: “And he said to him,”

Elisha said to Gehazi:

“Did not my heart go”

and my thoughts go with you? I knew

“when the man turned from his chariot to meet you,”

that Naaman had seen him turn from the chariot to greet him. And was this

the time

when a miracle had been performed, to derive benefit from it,

to take money, and to take clothing, olive groves, vineyards, sheep, cattle, male slaves, and female slaves?

And we ask:

Did he take

Gehazi from Naaman

all that,

for Elisha enumerated eight things? But he took only

money and clothing,

and we answer:

Rabbi Yitzhak said: At that time Elisha was engaged in

studying the chapter

“Eight Creeping Creatures,”

and therefore he

said to him

Gehazi, who had abandoned his studies in order to take money and clothing from Naaman:

“Wicked one, the time has come to take the reward for ‘Eight Creeping Creatures,’”

that you should receive the reward for your Torah in this world. He intended to tell him that the Holy One, blessed be He, had arranged for him to receive much money from Naaman, so that he could purchase these eight things as payment for studying the chapter “Eight Creeping Creatures.”

Elisha concluded by cursing Gehazi:

“And the leprosy of Naaman shall cleave to you and to your offspring forever,”

and it was so, as we find that it is stated:

“And there were four men who were lepers.” Rabbi Yohanan said: This is Gehazi and his three sons,

and through this he pushed him away with both hands. From that time onward, Gehazi went and caused the masses to sin, and he was not granted assistance from Heaven to repent, as they expounded:

“And Elisha went to Damascus.” Why did he go? Rabbi Yohanan said: He went to restore Gehazi to repentance, but he did not repent. He said to him: “Repent.” He said to him:

Gehazi said:

“This is what I have received from you as a tradition: Whoever sins and causes the masses to sin, they do not enable him to repent.”

And we explain:

What did he do,

that Gehazi caused the masses to sin?

Some say: He suspended a lodestone

a type of stone that raises metal from the ground

for the sin of

Jeroboam

the calf that Jeroboam had erected in Bethel and Dan

around its neck, and set it between heaven and earth

so that people would believe in it.

And some say: He engraved the Divine Name for it

for Jeroboam’s sin

on its mouth, and it would say: “I am

the Lord your God;

“there shall not be”

other gods for you,” as though it were warning against other deities.

And some say

that he caused the masses to sin when

the Sages pushed away from him

from before Elisha. And this is indicated by

what is written

after Elisha had pushed him away:

“And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha: Behold now, the place where we dwell before you is too cramped for us.” This indicates that until now

as long as Gehazi had been there

it had not been cramped,

but once he pushed away the students, and the students whom he had pushed away returned, the place became cramped for them.

And we explain:

Joshua ben Perahya,

who pushed one of his students away—

what is the incident? When King Yannai was killing the Sages, Shimon ben Shetah’s sister hid him.

Shimon ben Shetah’s sister, who was Yannai’s wife, hid her brother in order to save him from her husband. At that time,

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perahya went to Alexandria in Egypt. When there was peace,

when Yannai ceased killing the Sages,

Shimon ben Shetah sent him

a letter, in which he wrote:

“From me,

from me—

Jerusalem, the holy city, to you,

Alexandria of Egypt, my sister, my husband

is Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perahya, who was the Nasi of Israel [as explained in Hagiga 16a, in the Mishna],

residing within you, while I sit desolate.”

When Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perahya read the letter,

he said: We can infer from this that there is peace,

and he set out to return to Jerusalem.

When he arrived, he came to a certain inn. They rose before him with proper honor,

they honored him appropriately,

they accorded him great honor,

and showed him very great respect.

He sat and praised how attractive

her deeds were,

this innkeeper

who honored Torah scholars.

One of his students said to him: Rabbi,

here is the innkeeper’s wife;

“her eyes are bleary,”

round and unattractive.

He said to him: Wicked one, is this what you are occupied with

that you are looking at a married woman?

He sounded four hundred shofar blasts

he made a proclamation with four hundred shofar blasts

and excommunicated him.

Every day he came

that student

before him, but he did not accept him. One day he was reciting

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perahya

the recitation of the Shema, and he came before him.

On that day

he intended to accept him; he gestured to him with his hand

signaling to him with his hand to wait until he finished reciting the Shema, at which point he would accept him. But the student did not understand the gesture, and

thought

that his teacher was signaling to him that

he was pushing him away,

and he thought that he had been rejected outright. Therefore he rebelled, and immediately

went and set up a brick

for idolatry.

He worshipped it

and served it.

He said to him

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Perahya said to him:

“Repent.” He said to him: “This is what I have received from you as a tradition: Whoever sins and causes

the masses to sin, they do not enable him to repent,” as the Master said: [

Jesus? ]

He practiced sorcery, incited, led astray, and caused Israel to sin.

It was taught: Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: The inclination

for sexual relations should be pushed away with regard to its improper aspect, but should be brought near with regard to the proper aspect, so that one will not desist from procreation;

a child

should not be pushed away completely, lest he flee and destroy himself;

and a woman,

whose mind is light, and if one pursues her she may turn to an improper way, therefore

let the left hand push away and the right hand draw near.

The Yad Ramah on Sanhedrin explained that the measure of drawing near should be greater than the measure of pushing away. The Maharsha there explained that the right hand alludes to mercy, while the left alludes to anger and judgment; therefore he said that one should push away through judgment and draw near through mercy. The Meshekh Hokhmah [Leviticus 14:15] explained that the right indicates wisdom and Torah, while the left indicates the human faculties. These are three forces: the inclination is desire, the child is nature, and the woman is necessity. One should bring all of them near for the sake of Torah, and not to one’s left side or one’s desire. The Yad Ramah added that what they have in common is that none of them should be brought near with both hands, for a woman and a child have a light mind; if one brings them near with both hands and does not discipline them, they will turn to an improper way.

Mishna:

If the murderer is found before the heifer is decapitated, it goes out and grazes among the herd

like other unconsecrated animals, since the tanna of our Mishna holds that the heifer becomes forbidden for benefit through its decapitation, and not from the time it descends to the rough valley [Rashi].

But if the murderer is found only

after the heifer has been decapitated, it is buried in its place,

since it is forbidden for benefit, and the laws of the egla arufa are not annulled even though the murderer was found, because

it was on account of uncertainty

that we did not know who had killed him

that you brought it from the outset.

They decapitated it to atone for Israel because of the uncertainty, and indeed

its uncertain atonement

fulfilled its purpose

and was completed.

Since the law of the egla arufa had been fulfilled with regard to it, it is forbidden for benefit. Even though the murderer was found and the sin became certainly known, and the murderer became liable to death, the heifer remains forbidden because it atoned for the uncertainty. As for the murderer’s punishment, even

if the heifer was decapitated and afterward the murderer was found, he is nevertheless put to death,

as it is stated at the end of the passage of the egla arufa: “And you shall remove the blood of the innocent from your midst”; the heifer’s decapitation does not atone for him [Jerusalem Talmud; see the Gemara].

The law of the egla arufa applies only when it is not known who struck him. However, if even one witness, or even a woman, testifies that he saw who struck him, the Torah accords that testimony the status of two witnesses, and the heifer is not decapitated. If two witnesses arrive simultaneously,

one witness says: “I saw the murderer”

at the time he killed the slain man,

and one witness says

regarding the witness who testifies that he saw him:

“You did not see,”

and likewise if two women came together,

one woman

says

“I saw,” and one woman

the second

says: “You did not see,” the heifer is decapitated.

For one witness who is contradicted by another is of no consequence, and the uncertainty remains as it was. However, if the witness who saw him came before the one who contradicted him, the Torah accords his testimony the status of two witnesses, and one witness can no longer contradict him, since one witness is not trusted against two witnesses; therefore the heifer is not decapitated, because it is known who struck him.

If one witness says: “I saw,” and two say: “You did not see,” the heifer is decapitated,

because it is not known who struck him, since the witness was contradicted by two witnesses, [and the Gemara explains that this refers to witnesses disqualified from testimony, so that it will not be difficult that even when one witness faces one witness, the heifer is decapitated].

If two say, and one says to them: “You did not see,” the heifer is not decapitated

because the two are more credible than the one who contradicts them, and on their basis it is known who the murderer is.

Once murderers became numerous, the law of the egla arufa was annulled,

because they knew among themselves who was accustomed to murder, and when there is someone in the world who knows who the murderer is, an egla arufa is not brought. This period began

when Elazar ben Dinai arrived,

who was a notorious murderer,

and

at first

he was called “Tahina ben Perisha”;

he would change his name from time to time so that people would not know who he was. When he committed many murders,

they went back to calling him Ben HaRatzhan

so that everyone would know that he was a murderer.

When adulterers became numerous, the bitter waters ceased,

for the bitter waters examine the sota only if her husband is free of sin,

and

therefore

Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai caused them to cease,

instructing that the women not be given to drink, because they would not examine the sota if her husband too had committed adultery,

as it is stated: “I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, for they

consort with the prostitutes”; meaning that God said that He would not examine them with the waters, since their husbands too would commit adultery like mules.

When Yose ben Yo'ezer of Tzereida and Yose ben Yohanan of Jerusalem died, the eshkolot ceased,

for they were men who contained everything: their Torah was complete, without the defects of forgetfulness and dispute , and we find that a person who is perfect in the eyes of God is called an “eshkol,”

as it is stated: “There is no eshkol to eat; my soul desires the first-ripe fruit.”

Yohanan the High Priest abolished the confession of tithes during his tenure

so that they would not make the declaration at the removal of the tithes, “I have removed the sacred portion from the house.” The reason is explained in the Gemara: Ezra penalized the Levites who did not go up with him from the exile, decreeing that they would not receive the tithes, but that they should give them to the priests. Therefore, during his tenure they could not complete the confession by saying, “And I have also given it to the Levite.”

He also abolished the arousers

—the Levites would say on the platform, “Awaken! Why do You sleep, O Lord?”—and he abolished them so that it would not appear, as it were, that there is sleep before the Omnipresent.

And the scratchers

—they would scratch the sacrificial animals before their slaughter so that blood would fall over their eyes and it would be easier to slaughter them—and he abolished them so that the animals would not appear blemished, and he arranged rings to hold the animal during the slaughter.