Sukkah 52a — the Talmud in English

As it is written in Zechariah [12]: “

And the land shall mourn

over the killing of Messiah son of Joseph in the war of Gog and Magog,

each family separately.

The family of the house of David separately,

and their wives separately.”

And as will be explained below.

They said: Are these not matters subject to a kal va-chomer:

And if in the future—

when they will be occupied with mourning and the evil inclination will not rule over them—

the Torah said: men separately and women separately,

now, when they are occupied with rejoicing and the evil inclination rules over them—

all the more so.

And the Gemara explains the prophecy of Zechariah:

This mourning

in the future—

what is its function?

Rabbi Dosa and the Rabbis disagree about it.

One said: It is over Messiah son of Joseph, who was killed.

And one said: It is over the evil inclination, which was killed.

Granted, according to the one who said that it is over Messiah son of Joseph

who was killed—

this is what is written [Zechariah 12]: “

And they shall look to Me because of the one whom they pierced, and they shall mourn over him as one mourns

a

for

a

only son.”

But according to the one who said that it is over the evil inclination, which was killed—

and is it for the killing of

this one that mourning is required!?

Behold,

rejoicing is required!

And

why did they weep?

As Rabbi Judah expounded: In the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring the evil inclination and slaughter it before the righteous and before the wicked.

To the righteous it appears

visible

to them

the evil inclination

like a high mountain,

and to the wicked it appears to them like a strand of hair.

These weep, and those weep.

The righteous weep

because they recall their suffering when they fought against it,

and say: How were we able to conquer such a high mountain!

And the wicked weep and say: How were we unable to conquer this strand of hair!

And the Holy One, blessed be He, too, marvels with them.

As it is stated [Zechariah 8]: “

Thus said the Lord of Hosts: For

just as

it will be wondrous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days—

so too it will be wondrous in My eyes.”

Rabbi Asi said: The evil inclination, at first it resembles a thread

extremely thin

of a spider,

a spider,

but in the end,

when a person follows after it, it

resembles

in its thickness

the ropes of a wagon,

like a thick rope with which the cow is tied to the plow.

As it is stated [Isaiah 5]: “

Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as with the ropes of a wagon.”

The Sages taught: Messiah son of David, who is destined to be revealed speedily in our days—

the Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: Ask something of Me and I shall give it to you.

As it is stated

Psalms 2]: “

I shall recount the decree

I shall establish the matter as a decree and for remembrance, that you are My son, and I shall reveal to the creatures that

I today—

have begotten you!

Ask of Me, and I shall give the nations as your inheritance.”

And when he saw

Messiah son of David the

slain Messiah son of Joseph, he said before Him: Master of the world, I ask nothing of You except life.

He says to him: Life? Before you asked—

your father David already prophesied about you

that you would have it, and you do not need to ask for it.

As it is stated [Psalms 21]: “

You asked life of Me—

I gave it to him.”

Rabbi Avira expounded, and some say Rabbi Joshua ben Levi: The evil inclination has seven names.

1.

The Holy One, blessed be He, called it evil, as it is stated [Genesis 8]

for the inclination of the heart of man is evil from his youth.

2.

Moses called it uncircumcised, as it is stated [Deuteronomy 10]

and you shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart.

3.

David called it impure, as it is stated [Psalms 51]

a pure heart create for me, O God.

By implication, there is

a

impure

heart, and that is the power that draws toward evil.

4.

Solomon called it an enemy, as it is stated [Proverbs 25]

if your enemy is hungry,

if your evil inclination desires to cause you to sin—

feed him bread,

occupy it with this, that you engage in the battle of Torah.

And if it is thirsty

it

give it water,

engage in Torah, which is compared to water,

for

through your Torah study—

you heap coals

by this

upon its head.

And

then—

the Lord will repay you!”

Do not read “

He will repay you”

but “

He will complete it for you.”

For the Lord will help you, so that the evil inclination will make peace with you and will not fight against you to cause you to sin.

5.

Isaiah called it a stumbling block, as it is stated [Isaiah 57]

clear a road, clear a road; make a way; remove the stumbling block from the way of My people.

6.

Ezekiel called it a stone, as it is stated [Ezekiel 36]

and I shall remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

7.

Joel called it the hidden one,

the hidden thing is concealed in a person’s heart,

as it is stated [Joel 2]

and I shall distance the hidden one from you.

The Sages taught:

It is said in Joel’s prophecy concerning the punishment that will be imposed upon the evil inclination in the future: “

And I shall distance the hidden one from you”—

this is the evil inclination, which is hidden and stands in a person’s heart. “

And I shall drive it to a dry and desolate land”—

to a place where human beings are not found to provoke them.

And its punishment is for: “

Its face toward the eastern sea”—

because it set its eyes upon the First Temple, destroyed it, and killed the Torah scholars who were in it. “

And its end toward the western sea”—

because it set its eyes upon the Second Temple, destroyed it, and killed the Torah scholars who were in it. “

And its stench shall rise and its foul odor shall ascend”—

and also because

it leaves the nations of the world and provokes the enemies of Israel

[in the language of sagi nahor]. “

For it has done greatly”—

Abaye said: And with Torah scholars more than all of them.

As in this case, Abaye heard

heard

a certain man saying to a certain woman: Let us rise early

in the morning

and go on the road.

And let us go out together on the road.

He said

Abaye:

I shall go

I shall follow them and

separate them from the prohibition.

For he was concerned that they might come to sin, since they were going alone.

He followed them for three parasangs through the fields.

Abaye followed them for three parasangs through the fields, and nothing happened.

When they separated from one another,

when they parted and each one went on a different road,

he heard them saying: The road is distant, and companionship is pleasant.

A distant road now separates us, whereas if we were able to continue walking together it would be pleasant for us.

Abaye said

in the language of sagi nahor:

If the one who hates me were here,

if my enemy [the evil inclination, that is, I myself] were here,

he would not have been able to restrain himself.

I would not have been able to restrain myself and refrain from sinning with this woman.

He went,

Abaye went,

leaned himself

and rested

against the door-bar,

against the door-bar, while thinking

and grieving

over the fact that an ordinary person was on a higher level than he.

A certain elder came,

and said to him: You have no reason to grieve and think that you are inferior to him. For

the tanna

taught him: Whoever is greater than his fellow—

his inclination is greater than his.