Sotah 49a (מט.) — the Talmud in English

Rava said

that those referred to in this verse are

the young children of the wicked of Israel,

young children who died before their fathers, who were wicked Israelites,

who save their fathers from judgment in the World to Come,

for by virtue of their deaths they tear up their fathers’ verdict in the World to Come, as they come and

say before Him: Master of the Universe, since You are destined to punish them

our wicked fathers,

why did You set their teeth on edge through them,

why did You cause them pain by having us die before them? In this way, their punishment was exacted from them during their lifetimes.

Rabbi Ilaa ben Yevarekhya said: Were it not for David’s prayer,

which is brought immediately afterward,

all of Israel would have been

destitute paupers, whose only occupation would be

sellers of ravav,

meaning all sorts of greasy and repulsive substances that cling to the clothing of peddlers and make them repulsive. David prayed about this, as

it is stated: “For the needy shall not always be forgotten; the hope of the poor shall perish forever.” Rather: “Set a teacher over them, O Lord,”

give wealth to the poor of Israel, so that the gentiles will honor them, and so that “the gentiles may know that they are but men”—that the gentiles are not like gods possessing all the honor and greatness, but that Israel, too, are wealthy and honored.

And Rabbi Ilaa bar Yevarekhya said: Were it not for Habakkuk’s prayer, two Torah scholars would cover themselves with a single cloak

because of their extreme poverty

and engage

in Torah.

And Habakkuk prayed about this, as

it is stated: “O Lord, I have heard Your report; I feared. O Lord, revive Your work amid the years,”

and we interpret this as follows:

Do not read “amid the years,” but rather “among those who draw near in years,”

and we explain that the activity for which they had to draw close to one another beneath a single cloak—that is, Torah study—“revive it”: heal their situation and provide them with enough to live in comfort.

And Rabbi Ilaa bar Yevarekhya said: Two Torah scholars who travel on the road and there are no words of Torah between them are worthy of being burned by fire,

as it is stated: “And it was when they”

Elijah and his disciple Elisha

were walking and talking

in words of Torah,

“and behold, a chariot of fire, etc.”

And we infer:

The reason

that there was conversation

in the absence of conversation, they would be worthy of being burned

by the chariot that came to burn them.

And Rabbi Ilaa bar Yevarekhya said: Two Torah scholars who live in the same city and are not at ease with one another in matters of halakha,

one dies

because the other inadvertently kills him,

and the other is exiled

to a city of refuge because he killed inadvertently,

as it is stated: “To flee there, the murderer who kills his fellow unwittingly,”

and its explanation is that they did not have the understanding to teach one another and learn from one another,

and

we interpret the verse as referring to words of Torah, for

“understanding” means nothing other than Torah, as it is stated: “My people are silenced for lack of understanding,”

and the conclusion of the verse is: “because you have forgotten the Torah of your God.”

Rabbi Yehuda, son of Rabbi Ḥiyya, said: Any Torah scholar who engages in Torah מתוך הדחק, under conditions of hardship, his prayer is heard,

as it is stated: “For the people shall dwell in Zion; in Jerusalem,”

these are those who sit in the academies, and concerning them the continuation of the verse says:

“You shall surely not weep; He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you.” And it is written afterward:

“And the Lord shall give you scant bread and narrow water,”

indicating that this refers to one whose sustenance is difficult for him, yet nevertheless sits and engages in Torah. To such a person, God answers the sound of his cry.

Rabbi Abbahu says:

that a Torah scholar who engages in Torah under conditions of hardship

is satiated by the radiance of the Divine Presence, as it is stated

there:

“And your eyes shall see your teacher,”

referring to the Divine Presence.

Rabbi Aḥa bar Ḥanina says: Even the pargod,

the partition that figuratively stands before the Holy One, Blessed be He,

is not closed before him, as it is stated

there:

“And He shall not be covered,”

He will not conceal Himself from you behind the wing of His garment or behind His partition,

“your teacher,”

We learned in the Mishna:

“Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua: From the day the Temple was destroyed, there is no

day that does not contain a curse.”

Rava said: Every single day

since the Temple was destroyed

its curse is greater than that of the preceding day, as it is stated: “In the morning you shall say: Would that it were evening! And in the evening you shall say: Would that it were morning!”

He proved from this verse that each coming day is worse than the preceding one. For, seemingly, when one says in the evening, “Would that it were morning,” one should understand that he is asking:

Which morning?

He is awaiting the morning

If you say it means tomorrow morning, who knows what will be?

What does tomorrow hold, and from where do we know that it will be better than today?

Rather,

necessarily, he wishes tomorrow morning to be like the morning

that has passed,

which demonstrates that each day’s curse is greater than that of the preceding day, and therefore it would be good for him if it were like yesterday.

And we ask: Since the curse increases every day,

then why does the world continue to exist?

By virtue of what merit does the world endure? And we explain:

By virtue of Kedusha de-Sidra,

which they instituted to recite after the prayer: verses of sanctity together with their Aramaic translation, so that all Israel—Torah scholars and unlearned people alike—will engage in a small amount of Torah every day. Their recitation of the verses of sanctity and their translation is considered for them as engagement in Torah, because the translation explains the Scripture, and it is beloved before God that this study contains both Torah study and the sanctification of God.

And by the “Amen, may His great Name be blessed” recited over aggadic material,

which the congregation answers every Shabbat after the rabbi’s public homily. Since it is not a workday, all the people gather to listen, and this, too, contains Torah study and the sanctification of God.

And the source for the fact that the world endures through this is

as it is stated: “A land of darkness like deep gloom, without order,”

which implies:

“There are orderings”

of those who study the orders of the Torah’s weekly portions;

“You will shine forth from darkness.”

We learned in the Mishna:

“The dew shall not descend for blessing, and the flavor of fruit shall disappear, etc.” It was taught in a baraita: Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says:

Because

purity

ceased among Israel,

flavor and fragrance ceased

from the fruit. When they were pure and conducted themselves in purity, they merited that the Holy One, Blessed be He, purified their fruit from foul odor and unpleasant taste.

And because of the sin of ceasing to separate

tithes, the richness of grain was abolished,

for it existed by virtue of the tithe, which is called “milk,” meaning fatness.

Rav Huna found a tomeret of a ḥinunita,

a particular type of date that is plump and has a pleasant fragrance.

He took it and wrapped it in his scarf. Rabbah

his son came and said to him,

to his father:

“I smell the fragrance of the ḥinunita.” He said to him: “My son, purity

is within you,

as you can smell the fragrance of the fruit, and the fragrance of fruit has not disappeared for you because you conduct yourself in purity. Therefore,

he gave it to him.

Meanwhile, Abba, his son, arrived

of Rabbah bar Rav Huna.

He took it;

Rabbah

gave it to him and said to him,

Rav Huna said to his son Rabbah:

“My son, you gladdened my heart

through your purity,

but you set my teeth on edge,”

for you demonstrated that you love your son more than you love me: You took the date from me after I had given it to you, and gave it to your son.

This is what people say: “The love

of a father

is for his sons; the love of sons is for their own children.”

Rav Aḥa bar Yaakov raised his daughter’s son, Rav Yaakov bar Berata, and when he grew up,

his grandson,

he said to him,

Rav Aḥa

said to him: “Give me water.” He said to him,

the grandson:

“I am not your son,”

and I am not obligated to serve you,

and this is what people say: “Rabbi, Rabbi,”

for the grandson asks his grandfather, “Raise me, raise me,” and ultimately says to his grandfather:

“I am your daughter’s son,”

and I am not obligated to honor you as a son.

Mishna:

At

the time when the

army

besieged

Jerusalem

in the siege of Vespasian,

the Sages decreed

of that generation

against bridal crowns and against the irus,

the Gemara explains what these were.

During the siege of Titus,

which Hyrcanus brought against his brother Onkelos, fifty-two years after Vespasian’s siege,

they decreed against the crowns of brides,

as the Gemara explains,

and that a person should not teach his son

the wisdom of

Greek.

During the final siege,

when Titus and his army besieged Jerusalem and then destroyed the Temple,

they decreed that a bride should not go out in a palanquin

made for her honor from gilded cloaks and tallitot

within the city,

when she went from her father’s house to her husband’s house.

But our Sages,

that is, Rabbeinu HaKadosh,

permitted the bride to go out in a palanquin within the city,

for the sake of modesty, since a virgin goes out with her hair uncovered, and a bride is also embarrassed when everyone looks at her.

When Rabbi Meir died, makers of parables ceased,

for he knew how to formulate parables that gave their listeners insight, enabling them to delve into a matter and understand it properly; and when he died, no one as accomplished as he was remained to formulate parables.

When ben Azzai died, the diligent ceased,

for he would sit diligently at the doors of the beit-midrash day and night, as we find [Yevamot 63b], where he said: “What can I do? My soul longs for Torah.”

When ben Zoma died, the expounders ceased,

for he was expert in the meanings of the verses and knew how to expound them, as we find [Berakhot 12b], where Rabbi Eliezer said: “I did not merit that the Exodus from Egypt should be mentioned at night until ben Zoma expounded it.”

When Rabbi Akiva died, the honor of Torah ceased,

for he knew how to expound every superfluous word and letter in the Torah. He applied himself to expounding countless halakhot from every crown of every letter, and thereby brought great honor to the Torah, demonstrating that nothing in it is superfluous.

When Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa died, the men of miraculous deeds ceased,

for he performed wondrous deeds. He told his daughter, who had lit a lamp with vinegar instead of oil: “The One who said to oil that it should burn should say to vinegar that it should burn,” and so it was. He also brought goats whose horns bore bears, as proof to his neighbors that the goats were not harmful, and there were other such deeds as well.

When Rabbi Yosei Ketanta died, the pious ceased. And why was he called Ketanta? Because he was

the

smallest of the pious,

as they grew fewer and fewer, and he was the last and the least among them.

When Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai died, the radiance of wisdom ceased,

for he was expert in all the sciences, as they said [Sukka 27a] that he knew the cycles of the planets, numerical calculations, and the speech of palm trees; through this he gave the Torah beauty and splendor in the eyes of everyone.

When Rabban Gamliel the Elder died, the honor of Torah ceased,

as they said [Megilla 21a] that until his time they studied only while standing; when he died, illness and weakness descended upon the world, and they began to study while seated.

And

also

purity and abstinence died,

for he left no one who upheld purity and abstinence as he had. Nevertheless, purity still existed in the world until it ceased with the destruction of the Temple, as stated above.

When Rabbi Yishmael ben Pabi died, the splendor of the priesthood ceased,

for he was wise and wealthy, and many priests ate at his table.

When Rabbi died, humility and fear of sin ceased.

From this point onward, according to the Rambam, this is not a Mishna but a beraita, whereas Rashi’s version reads it as a Mishna.

Rabbi Pinḥas ben Yair says: Since the Temple was destroyed, the ḥaverim have been ashamed,

because the unlearned people mocked their practice of abstinence and purity and their meticulousness concerning tithes,

and

they too were ashamed,

the freeborn,

those of distinguished lineage, because slaves who had no lineage began to disparage them, and the honor of lineage was humbled.

And they covered their heads

those of distinguished lineage, because of the shame that the mamzerim had become wealthy and disparaged the poor who possessed distinguished lineage,

and the men of worthy deeds dwindled,

because those who performed acts of kindness were not valued; for at that time as well

the men of power and the men of evil speech grew strong,

and flattery increased, and they flattered the powerful, who came to be regarded as though they were responsible for every good deed,

and there is no one who seeks

Israel,

and there is no one who requests

mercy for them,

and no

one asks

and they have no advocate before God. And since this is so,

upon whom can we rely? Upon our Father in Heaven.

Rabbi Eliezer the Great says: From the day the Temple was destroyed, the leading sages

began

to become like scribes,

descending in stature to become like teachers of young children.

And scribes

descended from their status to become

like synagogue attendants,