Sotah 48b — the Talmud in English

As it is written:

Therefore ![](pamud.bmp "

exact page location")

the netherworld enlarged its soul,

measure for measure: since they enlarged their souls to drink much, so the netherworld will enlarge itself more than usual in order to receive the dead.

And it opened its mouth wide without measure

it will open itself without limit, to receive those whose indulgences had no limit.

And he descended

to the netherworld;

its honor

the honored ones of Jerusalem,

and its multitude

the multitude of its people,

and its tumult

the multitude that raises a voice of tumult and commotion,

and he rejoiced in it

and those who rejoiced in it—all of them will fall to the netherworld while still in their tumult and rejoicing.

We learned in the Mishna:

When the first prophets died,

the Urim ve-Tummim ceased.

And we explain:

Who are the first prophets? Rav Huna said: This is David, Samuel, and Solomon.

Rav Naḥman said: In the days of David, at times it rose

they succeeded in receiving an answer from the Urim ve-Tummim,

and at times it did not rise.

For

when David fled and departed from Jerusalem because of Absalom, and ascended the Mount of Olives, he sought to ask through the Urim ve-Tummim whether he would succeed in returning to Jerusalem and whether God would show him the Ark and His dwelling, and then

he asked Zadok, and it rose for him,

but

he asked Abiathar, and it did not rise for him.

As we expound from what

is stated

there: “And they set down—and stationed—the Ark of God,”

and Abiathar ascended

until all the people had finished crossing. And we explain that when David asked and saw that Abiathar was not answered, he understood that Samuel’s curse had been fulfilled upon him, to remove the priesthood from the descendants of Eli. Therefore Abiathar withdrew that same day from the High Priesthood, and Zadok the priest, who stood in his place, asked David’s question and was answered through the Urim ve-Tummim.

Rabba bar Shmuel objected: “And it was to inquire of God in the days of Zechariah, who understood through visions of God.” What, is it not

the meaning of the verse that they inquired of God

through the Urim ve-Tummim?

And it implies that they still existed in the days of Zechariah, who lived at the end of the Second Temple period. And we answer:

No,

the meaning is not that they inquired through the Urim ve-Tummim, but rather

through the prophets.

Come and hear:

Until when did the Urim ve-Tummim exist?

When the First Temple was destroyed, the levitical pasture-cities ceased

these are the cities of the Levites, for whom pasturelands must be left before them; some of the Levites moved to other cities [but did not build in the pasturelands, since the prohibition is from the Torah and did not cease, Rashash].

And the Urim ve-Tummim ceased

and a king from the house of David ceased.

And if a person should whisper to you, saying:

How is it possible to say that the Urim ve-Tummim ceased then, when the verse says, in the account of Ezra’s ascent after the Babylonian exile,

“And the Tirshatha said”

he is Nehemiah, who was permitted to drink wine of libation in the king’s house—

“to them”

to the priests from the sons of Barzillai, who did not find their genealogical records—

“that they should not eat of the most holy things”

sin-offerings and guilt-offerings

“until a priest should arise for the Urim ve-Tummim,”

and establish through them whether they were fit priests. And it implies that the Urim ve-Tummim existed when they returned and built the Second Temple.

Say to him

that the meaning is not “until there should be Urim ve-Tummim in the Second Temple,” but rather that he said to them that they should not eat sacred food until the coming of the Messiah,

like a person who says to his fellow, “Until the dead live and the Messiah son of David comes.”

In any event, it is explained in this beraita that the Urim ve-Tummim existed at least until the end of the First Temple, and not only in the days of David and Solomon, and this is not in accordance with Rav Huna.

Rather, Rav Naḥman bar Yitzchak said: Who are the first prophets?

All the prophets who lived until the Second Temple,

to exclude Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi,

who lived during the Second Temple,

for they are the later ones,

and in their time the Urim ve-Tummim no longer existed.

And the proof that these prophets are called the later ones is:

The Sages taught: When Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi died, the holy spirit departed from Israel,

and nevertheless

they still heard the word of God, for

they would use

a heavenly voice.

seated in an upper room of the House of Gurya in Jericho, a heavenly voice came upon them from heaven and said: “There is among you one person worthy for the Divine Presence to rest upon him, but his generation is not worthy of it.” When they heard this, they considered who among them was worthy of this, and

And as we find

that once there were

the Sages of Israel

seated in the upper chamber of the house of Gurya in Jericho, a heavenly voice came upon them from heaven and said: “There is among you one person who is fit for the Divine Presence to rest upon him, but his generation is not worthy of this.”

And when they heard this, they considered who among them was fit for this, and

they directed their eyes toward Hillel the Elder, and when he died, they eulogized him

and said of him,

“Alas, pious one; alas, humble one; disciple of Ezra,”

for he was nasi like him and continued the transmission of the Torah from generation to generation.

And again, on another occasion they were seated in an upper chamber in Yavne, a heavenly voice came upon them from heaven and said to them: “There is among you one person who is fit for the Divine Presence to rest upon him, but his generation is not worthy of this.” They directed their eyes toward Shmuel the Small, [

who was called “the Small” because he was fit for prophecy, but it was withheld from him because of his generation],

and when he died, they eulogized him: “Alas, humble one; alas,

pious one; disciple of Hillel,”

as this was also said of him, as above.

And he too

Shmuel the Small,

said at the time of his death,

as something resembling prophecy: the end of Rabban

Shimon

the nasi

and

Rabbi

Yishmael

son of Elisha, who was the High Priest,

will be to the sword,

for the Greek king will bring them out to be executed.

And

the end of the other

colleagues will be disgrace,

to be killed by other unusual deaths, like Rabbi Akiva, whose flesh they combed with iron combs; Rabbi Ḥanania ben Teradion, who was burned with a Torah scroll; and Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava, into whom they drove three hundred iron spears and made him like a sieve.

And the rest of the people

their end

will be plunder—

plunder,

and many troubles—

and great troubles

are destined to come upon the people.

And concerning Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava as well they sought to say, “Alas, pious one; alas, humble one; disciple of Hillel,” but the moment was disrupted,

and they could not eulogize him with honor, since he was killed by the government; and the halakha is

that one does not eulogize those killed by the government.

We learned in the Mishna:

When the Temple was destroyed, the shamir ceased, and so on.

The Sages taught:

The

shamir ceased, with which Solomon built the Temple, as it is stated: “And the House, when it was being built, was built of whole stone carried up,”

built with whole stones as they brought them in their carried state from the place of their quarrying, and did not chisel them again with an iron tool.

The matters as they are written—

the words of Rabbi Yehuda.

This is indeed how it was: no additional chiseling was done on these stones, for they were quarried precisely and completely by means of the shamir.

Rabbi Nehemiah said to him: Can this be said? But it has already been stated

there,

“All these were precious stones, according to the measure of the saw, sawn with the saw,”

so it is explicitly stated that they sawed and chiseled them. Rather,

what does it teach

“a whole stone carried up was built,” and “neither hammer nor ax nor any iron tool was heard in the House when it was being built”?

It was prepared

the explanation is:

he would prepare

and chisel them

outside, and bring them inside,

and only inside the Temple was the sound of an iron tool not heard.

Rabbi said: The words of Rabbi Yehuda appear [correct] concerning Temple stones,

for they were not chiseled at all with an iron tool.

And

the words

of Rabbi Nehemiah appear [correct] concerning the stones of his house

of Solomon, for he chiseled them outside and not inside the House, and only concerning them is it stated, “precious stones, sawn with the saw.”

And we challenge:

And according to Rabbi Nehemiah, for what purpose did the shamir come?

If in any event he chiseled them with an iron tool outside the Temple, for what purpose did he need the shamir?

And we answer:

He needed it for that which is taught: These stones

the stones of the ephod and the breastplate

are not written

the names of the tribes that are upon them, not

with ink, because it is stated

concerning them, to engrave

“the engravings of a signet,” and one does not scratch them with a chisel, because it is stated, “in their full settings,”

and it implies that although there is a mitzva to engrave, they must remain whole and nothing may be missing from them.

Rather, one writes upon them with ink

the form of the letters that he wishes to engrave in them,

and he shows them the shamir from outside,

passing it over the ink,

and they split of themselves,

and they resemble

this fig that splits in the summer and nothing is missing from it, and like this valley that splits

its soil

in the rainy season and nothing is missing from it.

The Sages taught: This shamir, its creation

its size

was like a barley grain, and it was created during the six days of Creation, and no hard thing can withstand it,

for it cuts everything.

With what do they safeguard it?

For it would split any material in which it was placed, emerge, and disappear. Rather,

they wrap it in woolen sponges and place it in a lead vessel

a box

filled with barley bran,

for thus the Holy One, blessed be He, implanted at its creation: it would split every hard thing, yet would be preserved in something very soft, and it would not emerge from it [Maharsha].

Rabbi Ami said: When the First Temple was destroyed, shira paranda ceased,

a type of fine silk,

and white glass,

which is extremely expensive, because since then it has become very rare.

It was also taught thus: When the First Temple was destroyed, shira paranda, white glass, and an iron chariot ceased,

and some say, also congealed wine that comes from

a place called

Shenir, and

because of its many years it congeals into lumps and

resembles fig cakes.

We learned in the Mishna,

“and the honey of Tzippori.”

And we explain:

What is the honey of Tzippori? Rav said: Flour that floated

because of its great fat content

upon a sieve,

which adhered to its sides,

and resembled dough kneaded with honey and oil.

And Levi said

that the meaning is that because of the great blessing that rested in the dough there were

two loaves that adhered

to the sides of

the oven,

one to this wall and the second to the wall opposite it,

rising and coming until they reached one another,

and they floated and swelled in the air, resembling foam that grows, spreads, and hangs in the air.

And Rabbi Yehuda ben Levi said:

The honey of Tzippori

is honey that comes from the heights,

from a place of high mountains from which one looks out. And we explain:

What is the indication?

From where do you know that fine honey comes from the high mountains?

As Rav Sheshet translated

the verse, “as the bees do,”

“as they are nourished in their creation”

as the bees are nourished

“and fly in the height of the world,”

and roam at the height of the world,

“and bring honey from the plants of the mountain,” and

bring honey from the plants of the mountains; and it implies that there is the source of the finest honey.

We learned there: Every

thing

that is poured

from a pure vessel into an impure vessel—the part that remains in the pure vessel remains

pure,

and the stream does not cause the liquid remaining in the pure vessel to become impure

except for Ziph honey and the honey-cakes

which are very thick things, and are considered attached to what remains in the upper vessel, since when the stream is interrupted, part of it returns and is drawn upward from below, and renders impure what remained in the vessel from which it flowed.

And we explain:

What is “Ziph”? Rabbi Yohanan said: honey with which they adulterate

which can have water and wine mixed into it, and they will not recognize this because it is so fine and thick; and this is what the liars [and talebearers, as below] do with it].

And Reish Lakish said

that this honey is called Ziph

after its place

from which it comes, and we find such a place in the Land of Israel,

as it is written

among the names of the cities that Joshua conquered,

“Ziph, Telem, and Bealot.”

Similarly, you say

that we find that they further disagreed in explaining the name Ziph regarding what is written:

“And the Ziphites came and said to Saul: Is David not”

hiding among us? And they disagreed:

What is “Ziph”? Rabbi Yohanan said: people who falsify their words,

for they spread tales about David,

and Rabbi Elazar said

that they were called thus

after their place, as it is written: “Ziph, Telem, and Bealot.”

We learned in the Mishna:

“And the people of faithfulness ceased.”

Rabbi Yitzhak said: These are people who believe in the Almighty,

to forgo their money for beautifying the performance of a mitzva, for charity, and for the expenses of Shabbatot and festivals [Rashi].

As it was taught: Rabbi Eliezer the Great

says: Whoever has bread in his basket and says, “What will I eat tomorrow?” is only one of little faith

[and in the Yalkut we expound it from this verse as follows, as it is stated: “So that I may test him, whether he will walk in My Torah or not.”].

And this is what Rabbi Elazar said: What is the meaning of that which is written, “For who has despised the day of small things,” and

its explanation is:

Who caused the tables of the righteous to be squandered in the World to Come,

that is, who causes the righteous to be disgraced on the future day, so that they will not receive a full reward?

Smallness

of faith

that was in them

causes this; and what is the smallness?

That they did not believe in the Holy One, blessed be He,

completely, and said, “What will we eat tomorrow?”