Sotah 49b (מט:) — the Talmud in English

And they appeared

to have become

like the people of the land

like the ignorant people,

and the people of the land

will decline and deteriorate,

will become impoverished and degenerate,

and there will be neither one who asks nor one who seeks; upon whom can we rely? Upon our Father in Heaven.

In the footsteps of the Messiah,

at the end of the exile, before the coming of the Messiah, at a time when, as it were, his footsteps will be seen,

insolence will increase,

insolence will multiply in the world.

And the cost of living will rise,

it will soar like the top of a branch,

the vine will yield its fruit, and

nevertheless there will be

a high price for wine,

because everyone will be occupied with banquets.

And the government will turn to heresy,

for they will support the apikorsim and their views,

and there will be no reproof,

there will be no person capable of reproving them, because everyone will have stumbled in sins. When one person reproves another, the sinner will say to him: “You are no better than I am; you too are a sinner.”

The assembly hall

of sages

will become a

house

of prostitution,

because the sages will have perished, and there will be no students of Torah. The assembly hall that stands outside the city will be desolate and ruined, and people of licentiousness will gather there.

And the Galilee,

where there were more sages and pious people than in the land of Judea,

will be destroyed.

And the Golan—

a place-name,

will become desolate.

And the people of the borderlands

who live on the borders of the Land of Israel, [and, according to another explanation, the “people of hewn stone” are the Sanhedrin],

will wander from city to city

to go begging from door to door [or to strengthen the spiritual condition of their people]

and no one will show them favor,

no one will take notice of them.

And the wisdom of the scribes will become putrid,

and those who fear sin will be despised,

and the truth will be absent.

Young men will humiliate the faces of the elderly,

they will shame them and cause them to hide their faces.

The elderly will stand before the young,

to honor them, as a result of the insolence that will increase at that time.

A son will disgrace his father,

speaking disgracefully about his father,

a daughter will rise up

to insult and revile

her mother, and

likewise

a bride

will rise

against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.

The face of the generation will be like the face of a dog,

for they will be brazen-faced, they will not be ashamed before one another [and some explain that they will literally resemble a dog]

the son will not be ashamed before his father. And upon whom can we rely? Upon our Father in Heaven.

Gemara:

Rav said: They taught

that they enacted a decree concerning the crowns of bridegrooms

only

concerning crowns

of salt and sulfur,

which they made from a block of salt that was clear as crystal, colored with sulfur, and engraved with designs in them, as was done with gold and silver vessels,

but

crowns

of myrtle and rose

that they braided for the bridegroom’s head

are permitted.

And Shmuel said: Even those of myrtle and rose are prohibited,

but crowns

of reeds and

the plant

ḥalita

that grows in water

are permitted.

And Levi says: Even those of reeds and ḥalita are prohibited. And Levi likewise taught in his Mishna: Even those of reeds and ḥalita are prohibited.

We learned in the Mishna:

“And concerning the bell.”

And we explain:

What is an irus? Rabbi Elazar said: A tablet with one clapper,

a bell with a single clapper, with which they would make music in banquet halls.

Rabba bar Rav Huna made for his son

the young one

a small drum,

so that he could beat on it.

His father came,

Rav Huna, Rabba’s father,

and broke it. He said to him,

to Rabba, his son: The sound of the drum

might be confused with that of a tablet with one clapper,

and they might err and make the tablet concerning which a decree was enacted. Therefore, instead of the drum,

go make him

for your young son a large drum,

on the mouth of a jar,

so that he can beat on the skin stretched over the mouth of the barrel,

or on the mouth of a kavitz,

a utensil measuring three log, whose sound is deep and does not resemble the sound of the bell concerning which a decree was enacted.

We learned in the Mishna:

“During the war of Titus they decreed concerning the crowns of brides, and so on.”

And we explain:

What are the crowns of brides? Rabba bar bar Ḥana said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan: A golden city,

a golden crown on which the image of a city was drawn.

It was taught likewise: What are the crowns of brides? A city of

gold. But

it is permitted to be

making it a felt cap,

a white woolen hat for a bride.

The tanna taught: They also decreed concerning the bridal canopy of bridegrooms.

And we explain:

What is the bridal canopy of bridegrooms? Gilded scarlet cloth,

a red cloth into which gold plates were set, and which was arranged like a dome.

It was taught likewise: These are the bridal canopies of bridegrooms: gilded scarlet cloth,

and they prohibited making them from the time Titus besieged Jerusalem.

But he may make

for the bridegroom

a papyrus frame,

a dome made of wooden hoops,

and hang from it whatever he wishes,

even beautiful scarves and gold ornaments.

We learned in the Mishna:

“And that one should not teach his son Greek wisdom.”

The Sages taught: When the Hasmonean kings besieged one another,

when the two brothers, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, quarreled over which of them would reign over Israel,

Hyrcanus was

besieging Jerusalem

from outside,

with the aid of Roman troops whom he had brought with him,

and Aristobulus

was sitting

inside

under siege.

Every day they would lower

the people of Jerusalem

dinars in a basket,

which they took from the funds of the Chamber, contributed for the purchase of the sheep for the daily offering. And Hyrcanus’s men would

raise up for them

sheep for the purpose of offering

the daily offerings

in exchange for the money in the basket.

There was

inside Jerusalem

an elderly man who was familiar with Greek wisdom. He signaled to them

he called out to Hyrcanus’s men who were outside

in

a foreign

language, which was Greek wisdom. He said to them: As long as they are engaged in the Temple service

and offering the daily offerings in the Temple,

the residents

of Jerusalem

will not be delivered into your hands.

When they heard this,

the next day,

the people of Jerusalem

lowered dinars to them in a basket, and

instead of bringing them sheep,

they brought them a pig. When

the pig

reached halfway

up the

wall, it dug its claws into the wall. The Land of Israel was shaken for four hundred parasangs,

because the wrath of the King, the Holy One, blessed be He, burned over the profanation of His Name.

At that time they said: Cursed is the person who raises pigs, and cursed is the person who teaches his son Greek wisdom,

because this event came about through a person who had learned Greek wisdom and through the pig that they raised up to the wall.

And concerning that year

in which Titus besieged Jerusalem on behalf of Hyrcanus,

we learned: “An omer came from the roofs of Tzerifin, and the two loaves from the valley of Ein Sokher,”

for the mitzva is to bring them from a place close to Jerusalem, as it is written: “You shall bring a karmel,” and we expound: “karmel” means “a full kerem,” that is, the seed should be moist and the husk of the ear should be full of it. If they bring them from distant places, the husk will dry out and become crushed, and will not be full.

And in that year, when Titus’s forces besieged Jerusalem, they destroyed all the crops around Jerusalem, and it was necessary to bring them from those places, which were far from it.

And we raise an objection to what we said, that it is prohibited to study Greek wisdom, implying that the intention is to the Greek language in which that elderly man spoke:

Is that so? But Rabbi said

in criticism of those who speak

in the Land of Israel

in

the Syriac language,

which is a contemptible language:

Why

should they speak it? It is not appropriate to speak

anything but either

in

the sacred language or the Greek language,

which is a refined language, since Greece is the land adjacent to the Land of Israel, and they should speak its language.

And

likewise

Rav Yosef said

in criticism of those who speak

Aramaic in Babylonia: Why

should they speak it? It is not appropriate for them to speak

anything other than the sacred language or Persian,

which is more beautiful than Aramaic and is the language of the land adjacent to Babylonia. This proves that there is no prohibition against speaking Greek; on the contrary, it is a virtue.

And we answer that there is no connection between their language and their wisdom. Rather,

Greek language is one matter,

which is permitted to speak,

and Greek wisdom is another matter,

which is prohibited to study.

We raise an objection:

But is Greek wisdom prohibited? Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel in the name of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel: What is the meaning of that which is written, “My eye has afflicted

through weeping

my soul more than all the daughters of my city”?

One must weep more than all the families of the city, because

there were one thousand children in my father’s household; five hundred studied

only

Torah, and five hundred studied

Torah and

Greek wisdom. Of them, only I remain here, and my father’s brother’s son is in Asia Minor.

This implies that it is permitted to study Greek wisdom, since it was studied even in the household of Rabban Gamliel.

And we answer:

The household of Rabban Gamliel is different, for they were close to the government,

and they needed Greek wisdom in order to use it in their dealings with the royal court.

Similarly, we find that they permitted them to study Greek wisdom because they were close to the government,

as it was taught: One who shaves the forelock,

one who cuts the hair at the front of his head and leaves a lock behind,

this is one of the ways of the Amorites.

But to

Avtolos ben Reuven they permitted shaving the forelock

because

he was close to the government.

He needed to conduct himself according to their customs and manners when he came before the government. And likewise,

the members of the household of Rabban Gamliel were permitted

to study

Greek wisdom because they were close to the government.

We learned in the Mishna:

“During the final war they decreed that a bride may not go out in a palanquin,”

but our Sages permitted a bride to go out in a palanquin within the city.

And we explain:

What is the reason

our Sages permitted it?

Because of modesty,

as she would otherwise go out with her head uncovered and be embarrassed because everyone would stare at her.

We learned in the Mishna:

“When Rabban Yoḥanan died, wisdom ceased.”

The Sages taught: When Rabbi Eliezer died, the Torah scroll was hidden away,

for many halakhot transmitted through tradition were arranged in his memory with such clarity that they were like written in a book; when he passed away, this Torah scroll was hidden away.

When Rabbi Yehoshua died, counsel and wise thought ceased,

for he was precise in expounding verses, expert in halakhot, able to respond to heretics, and able to understand their intentions and allusions.

When Rabbi Akiva died, the arms of

Torah

ceased, because he was unique in the depth of his reasoning. He knew how to support the reasons for the halakhot of the Oral Torah through expositions of verses, extra letters, and variations in the wording of Scripture.

And the wellsprings of wisdom were sealed.

When Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya died, the crowns of wisdom ceased,

for he was a great sage and immensely wealthy, and his wealth was a crown for his wisdom,

for the crown of sages is their wealth.

When Rabbi Ḥanina ben Dosa died, the people of wondrous deeds ceased,

for he performed wondrous deeds, as was brought in the explanation of the Mishna.

When Abba Yosei ben Katanata died, the pious men ceased. And why was he called Abba Yosei ben Katanata? Because he was among the least of the pious.

When ben Azzai died, the diligent students ceased.

When ben Zoma died, the expounders ceased.

When Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel died, locusts rose up

a species of locust,

and troubles increased.

When Rabbi died, troubles doubled.

When Rabbi died, humility and fear of sin ceased.

Rav Yosef said to the tanna: Do not teach

that

humility ceased, for

there is

me,

as I am humble.

Rav Naḥman said to the tanna: Do not teach

that

fear of sin ceased, for

there is

me. [

See Rashi, Megilla 28b, who says that Rav Naḥman was among the pious men of Babylonia.]

We have returned to you, chapter “The Beheaded Heifer,” and the tractate Sota is complete