Sukkah 52b — the Talmud in English

Rabbi Yitzḥak said: A person’s evil inclination grows stronger against him every day, as it is stated [Genesis 6] “

Bereishit 6] «

only” ![](pamud.bmp "

exact position of page column")

evil,

his evil increases

all day.

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: A person’s evil inclination grows stronger against him every day, and seeks to kill him.

As it is stated [Psalms 37] “

Tehillim 37]: «

The wicked”

the evil inclination, which is called

“wicked,”

continually

against the righteous.

“And seeks to kill him.”

And were it not for the Holy One, blessed be He, who assists him—

he cannot

a person

overcome it,

the evil inclination, and defeat it by his own strength.

As it is stated [Psalms 37] “

Tehillim 37]: «

The Lord will not abandon him”

the righteous

to his hand,

of the evil inclination.

“And He will not declare him wicked”

the righteous

when he is judged

with his evil inclination.

The tanna of the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: If this repulsive one encounters you [A0034]]the evil inclination—

the evil inclination]—

drag it to the beit-midrash.

If it is stone

the evil inclination—then it is

melted

in the beit-midrash.

If it is iron—then it is

indeed

shattered

there.

The proof is from the verse:

If it is stone—

it is melted, as it is written [Isaiah 55] “

Yeshayahu 55]: «

Ho, everyone who is thirsty, go to the water.”

And water is nothing other than Torah, since Torah is compared to water.

And it is written [Job 14] “

Iyov 14]: «

Stones—

water wears away.”

And it is demonstrated that Torah, which is compared to water, has the power to wear away stones.

If it is iron—

it is shattered, as it is written [Jeremiah 23] “

Yirmeyahu 23]: «

Is My word not like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that shatters rock?”

When fire penetrates iron, sparks fly off from it, as at the time of shattering. And therefore Torah, which is the word of the Lord, is compared to it.

Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The evil inclination,

at first it

incites a person in this world,

so that he sins. And afterward it comes

and testifies against him in the World to Come

for his sin.

As it is stated [Proverbs 29] “Whoever

Mishlei 29]: «Tot, kto

indulges from youth,”

from his youth, his evil inclination, although the evil inclination is nothing but

his slave,

since a person can rule over it if he wishes.

If he indulges it and does not discipline it, then:

“And its end,”

ultimately, that slave—

“will be a ruler!”

This will be the witness who testifies against him in the World to Come.

And the proof that “ruler” means “witness” is:

for through the atbaḥ

according to the order of the numerical value of the letters [see Rashi]

of Rabbi Ḥiyya, they call a witness—

“ruler.”

Rav Huna raised

an apparent contradiction between two verses concerning the evil inclination:

It is written [Hosea 4] “

Hoshea 4]: «

For a spirit of harlotry has led astray” [A0087]]the people of Israel, “and they went astray from beneath their God [whom they made].” And it implies that the success of the evil inclination, which is called a spirit of harlotry, was only by way of a mere mistake.

narod Izrailya], i oni bludili ot svoego Boga [soz­dav sebe idolov]». Iz etogo sleduet, chto uspekh zlogo naklona, nazyvaemogo dukhom bluda, byl lish prostoy oshibkoy.

And

on the other hand

it is written

in the following chapter that its success was complete. As it is stated [Hosea 5] “For a spirit of harlotry is

among them.”

It penetrated them and was already planted in their hearts.

Rather, this is the way of the evil inclination:

at first

it led them astray,

by mere error;

and in the end

it was planted completely

among them.

Rava said: At first Scripture called

the evil inclination

“a passerby,”

merely passing through, which does not lodge here.

And in the end

afterward

Scripture called it

ego

“a guest,”

which lodges in a place for a short period,

and in the end it called it

“a man,”

the master of the house, who resides in the place permanently.

As it is stated [II Samuel 12] in the parable that the prophet Nathan told King David when he took Bathsheba: “

II Samuel 12] in the parable that the prophet Natan told King David when he took Bathsheba: “

And a passerby came to the rich man, and he spared taking from his flock and from his herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him.”

And it is written

afterward: “

And he took the poor man’s ewe-lamb, and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: A person has a small limb.

If he starves it—

it is satisfied,

his body will be sound.

If he satisfies it—

it is hungry.

For in old age his body will be weak and hungry.

As it is stated [Hosea 13] concerning those who satisfy their inclination: “

Hoshea 13] o tekh, kto nasyshchaet svoi naklony: «

According to their pasture, so they were satisfied;”

they were satisfied and their heart became elevated.

And their punishment: “And I shall be to them like a lion” [I shall tear them apart like a lion].

Rav Ḥana bar Aḥa said; they said in the school of Rav: There are four

things for which, as it were,

the Holy One, blessed be He, regrets

having created them

because

He created them.

And these are:

The exile

of Israel,

the Chaldeans, the Ishmaelites, and the evil inclination.

The exile—

as it is written [Isaiah 52] “

Yeshayahu 52]: «

And now, what have I here”

[an expression of regret]

says the Lord, for My people was taken for nothing.”

The Chaldeans—

as it is written [Isaiah 23] “

Yeshayahu 23]: «

Behold, the land of the Chaldeans, this people”—

would that they

had not existed!”

The Ishmaelites—

as it is written [Job 12], in Job’s complaint about the success of the wicked in the world:

Iyov 12] v zhalobe Iyova na uspekh nechestivtsev v mire:

“How vexing it is when

the tents of robbers are at ease”

[the Ishmaelites, who are Arab robbers, sit in tents while at ease],

and

the lives of

the secure

are unharmed,

of those who provoke God.”

And all this provocation is

“for what God has brought”—

by His hand.

For the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself, who brought them into the world as Ishmaelites, caused this for Himself. And now, as it were, He “regrets” it.

The evil inclination—

as it is written

in Micah [chapter 4] concerning what will occur at the end of days: “

On that day, says the Lord: I shall gather the lame, and I shall assemble the banished.

And

all this—through

what

I myself

did harm.”

The Holy One, blessed be He, said: I myself caused Israel’s suffering, since I created the evil inclination, which caused them to sin and brought about their destruction.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Were it not for these three verses,

which testify that the sins and merits are in the hands of the Holy One, blessed be He, and that He examines hearts [Rashi]—

the legs of the enemies of Israel would have collapsed

[in the language of euphemism].

One—

as it is written [Micah 4] “

Mikha 4]: «

And what I did harm,”

as was explained.

And one—

as it is written [Jeremiah 18] “

Yirmeyahu 18]: «

Behold, like clay in the hand of the potter—

so are you

in My hand, house of Israel.”

And the other—[Ezekiel 36] “

Yehezkel 36]: «

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

Rav Pappa said: Also from this

verse

as well [Ezekiel 36]: “

Yehezkel 36]: «

And I shall place My spirit within you.”

And since the Gemara brought several verses dealing with what will occur at the end of days, the Gemara brings and explains another verse speaking of the end of days, from the prophecy of Zechariah [Zechariah 2]: “

And the Lord showed me four craftsmen”

artisans.

And we raised it:

Who are they

who are those

four craftsmen?

Rav Ḥana bar Bizna said that Rabbi Shimon Ḥasida said:

These are the four artisans who will come in the future to build the Third Temple. And these are they:

Messiah son of David, and Messiah son of Joseph,

whose role is to build the Temple.

And Elijah,

who is called “a craftsman” because he built an altar on Mount Carmel, and he is destined to be sent and come before the Messiah.

And

Shem son of Noah, who built the ark with Noah his father, who is called

the righteous priest.

And we find that he is called “a craftsman” in the Book of Isaiah [chapter 41], as it is written: “And the craftsman strengthened the smith.” And we expound in Genesis Rabbah that Shem son of Noah, who is called “Melchizedek” in the Torah, strengthened Abraham our father and blessed him.

Rav Sheshet raised an objection: If so,

if these are the four craftsmen, the continuation stated in that prophecy is difficult:

that is what is written [Zechariah 2]: “

Zekharia 2]: «

And he said to me: These are the horns that scattered”

dispersed

Judah.”

And according to your words, that the four shepherds are Messiah son of David, Messiah son of Joseph, and the prophet Elijah, then

these—

are to restore it with him;

they come to restore, and not to scatter!

He said to him

Rav Ḥana:

Go down

descend and continue

to the end of the verse

of “these horns,” and you will see from the end of the verse that the horns at its beginning are not “the four craftsmen,” but rather they are the nations of the world.

As it is written at its end: “

And these came”

[the four craftsmen]

to terrify them,

the nations of the world, and

to cast down the horns of the nations that lifted a horn against the land of Judah, to scatter it.”

And this is what it means: the four shepherds will come and terrify the nations [the horns] that wished to scatter Judah.

Rav Sheshet said

to himself:

With

arguing with

Ḥana [A0248]]bar Bizna

bar Biznoy]

in aggada—

why should I?

It is not worthwhile for me, for he is more expert than I in aggada, and I will not prevail over him. [Micah 5] “

Mikha 5]: «

And this shall be peace: Assyria, when it comes into our land, and when it treads in our palaces—

we shall raise against him seven shepherds and eight princes of man.”

Who are the seven shepherds?

David in the middle,

The first three righteous ones:

Adam, Seth, and Methuselah—

to his right.

Two of the Patriarchs:

Abraham, Jacob, and Moses—

to his left. [A0263]] [Where is Isaac—see Rashi].

Gde Yitzhak — smotri Rashi].

And who are the eight

“princes of man”?

Jesse, Saul, and Samuel.

The prophets

Amos and Zephaniah.

Zedekiah, the Messiah, and Elijah.

We learned in the Mishna:

Four ladders.

The tanna taught: The height of the menorah was fifty cubits.

And four children of the young priests, with pitchers of oil in their hands, each containing one hundred and twenty logs.

It was asked of them:

whether

one hundred and twenty logs

of oil were

for all of them,

for all four of them together, thirty logs for each one.

Or perhaps

one hundred and twenty logs

for each and every one?

Come and hear: And in their hands were pitchers of oil, thirty logs each, which altogether were one hundred and twenty logs.

The tanna taught: And they,

these young priests,

were more distinguished than the son of Marta daughter of Baitos.

They said about

the priest,

the son of Marta daughter of Baitos, that he would carry

alone in his hands

the two thighs of the great ox

that had been brought as a burnt-offering,

which had been purchased for one thousand zuz

and whose weight was exceedingly heavy.

And he would walk

up the ramp calmly,

heel beside toe,

and he would not hurry to unload his burden.

And his fellow priests did not allow him to do so

to carry the two thighs alone,

because of [Proverbs 14] “

Mishlei 14] «

In the multitude of the people is the glory of the king,”

and many priests should take part in carrying it.

And the Gemara explains:

What

was it that the young priests were

more distinguished

than he?

If you say, because of the weight,

that they carried a heavier burden, this is not correct. For

these

two thighs—

are heavier

than

more

than thirty logs.

Rather, there

the priest went up with his burden on a

ramp, and

the slope of the ramp was convenient,

“square”

and not steep,

for the slope was in the proportion of one cubit of height for every four cubits of length.

But

here

the young priests went up on

ladders, and they were very steep.

For the ladders stood at an upright angle, and it was exceedingly difficult to climb them with a burden of thirty logs.

We learned in the Mishna:

And there was no courtyard in Jerusalem.