Yevamot 63a — the Talmud in English

Regarding him the verse says: "

Is this not rather to break your bread for the hungry, and bring the poor who are cast out into your house? When you see one naked, and cover him, and do not hide yourself from your flesh. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn

. Then you shall call, and the Lord

will answer; you shall cry out, and He will say: Here I am!" "

Is this not rather to break your bread for the hungry, when you see a poor person and cover him"—this is one who sees the poor person's distress and lends him money at the time of his distress. "

And do not hide yourself from your flesh"—this is one who loves his neighbors, who are like his relatives, and draws his relatives close and marries his sister's daughter.

Now the Gemara brings signs for the following seven statements of Rabbi Elazar: a.

woman

b.

and land

c.

help

d.

this

e.

two blessings

[the resh with a tzeirei] and f.

merchants

g.

inferior.

a. Woman:

Rabbi Elazar said: Any person who does not have a wife—

is not a person!

As it is stated: "Male and female He created them, and He called their name

'person.'"

b. And land:

And Rabbi Elazar said: Any person who does not have land —

is not a person!

As it is stated: "The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, but the earth"—

He gave to human beings.

c. Help:

And Rabbi Elazar said: What is the meaning of that which is written

in the creation of Eve,

"I shall make for him a help corresponding to him"?

It teaches you: If a person

merits, his wife is

his

help.

And if he

does not merit—she is

then

opposite him,

his wife disagrees with him and contradicts his words.

And some say: Rabbi Elazar raised a contradiction

between the writing in this verse and its reading:

It is written, "kenegdo"

without the letter yod, and it is read with a patah beneath the nun, and its meaning is that the woman was given to him in order to distress him and oppose him ["negada" is an expression of lashes].

But

if we

read "kenigdo",

with a segol beneath the nun, its meaning is that the woman stands opposite him to serve him [Meiri; see Rashi].

It teaches you: If he

merits, his wife is

then

opposite him.

And if he

does not merit, his wife

then

opposes him.

Rabbi Yose encountered Elijah [

Rabbi Yose met Elijah the prophet].

He said to him,

Rabbi Yose said to Elijah:

It is written: "I shall make for him a 'help",

and

in what way does a woman help a person?

He said to him,

Elijah said to Rabbi Yose: A

person brings wheat

into his house. Is

wheat

as it is

chewed

in his mouth?! Certainly his wife must make bread from it. And when a person brings

flax into his house,

is

flax

as it is

worn?!

And is the woman

not found

to

illuminate

the

eyes

of the husband,

and set him on his feet?!

d. This:

And Rabbi Elazar said: What is the meaning of that which is written "

And the Lord God built the rib that He had taken from the person into a woman, and He brought her to the person.

And the person said [when he came upon her]:

This time—

bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh."

And it is implied by this wording that the person had already consorted with other animals, but his mind did not rest with them:

This teaches

the verse that

the person came

previously

upon every animal and beast.

And his mind did not become settled until he came upon Eve.

e. Two blessings:

And Rabbi Elazar said:

It is written concerning Abraham in the portion Lekh Lekha: "And the Lord said to Abram: Go forth from your land. And I shall bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I shall curse, and all the families of the earth shall bless themselves through you.

And it is written further, in the portion Vayera: "And Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves through him."

What is the meaning of that which is written, "And all the families of the earth shall bless themselves through you"?

The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Abraham: I have two good blessings with which to bless you.

I have to join and mingle into the stock of your offspring two blessings, [from] two branches of two good trees from other nations—

Ruth the Moabite and Naamah the Ammonite.

And what is the meaning of that which is written, "And all

the families of the earth shall bless themselves through you"?

It teaches you that

even the families dwelling on the earth are blessed only on account of Israel.

And what is the meaning of that which is written, "And

all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves through him"?

"All" comes to include, teaching that

even ships coming from Gallia to Hispania

[these are names of places], which do not remain on the land except briefly, they too

are blessed only on account of Israel.

vi. Merchants:

And Rabbi Elazar said: All craftsmen will eventually

stand upon the ground,

abandoning their craft and engaging in plowing and harvesting.

As it is stated: "And all who handle the oar, sailors, all pilots of the sea, shall descend from their ships and stand upon the land."

They will descend from their ships, from which they earn their livelihood, and stand upon the land and engage in working the land.

vii. Inferior:

And Rabbi Elazar said: You have no occupation more inferior than

the work of

the land.

As it is stated: "And they shall descend"

[descent is an expression of poverty] from their ships, all who handle the oar, sailors, all pilots of the sea; they shall stand upon the land."

And since Rabbi Elazar said that the occupation of the land is an inferior occupation, the Gemara brings further things that he said concerning working the land:

Rabbi Elazar saw a certain plot of land in which someone was sowing cabbage across its width

[he saw land in which someone was sowing cabbage across the width of the furrow ].

He said to him,

Rabbi Elazar said to that person: Even

if you were to sow it along its length

[even if you were also to sow along its length],

turning to business is better than you

[engaging in business is a better occupation than this].

And the Gemara brings an incident that occurred with Rav:

Once,

Rav entered among the rows of grain

[he entered between the rows of grain],

and saw them waving

[he saw them waving in the wind that was causing them to move against one another].

He said to them: If you wave, wave as much as you wish,

however much you wish to wave; in any event,

turning to business—

is better than you.

Rava said: One hundred zuz invested in business

[if you invested one hundred zuz in merchandise], you will have

meat every day

and wine

[meat and wine]. But

one hundred zuz in land

[and if you invested one hundred zuz in land to earn your livelihood from it], you will have only

salt and unripe grain

[salt and grain that has not reached one-third of its growth]. For there is no great profit in engaging in working the land, and there is only enough in it to eat vegetables and salt.

And furthermore,

if a person invests his money in purchasing land in order to work it and earn his livelihood from its produce, it

makes him lie down upon the land.

[The land he purchased is as though it makes him lie down upon the ground, for he must sleep in the field in order to guard its produce all night],

and

thereby it

causes him quarrels

[causes him to quarrel within his household].

Rav Pappa said:

a.

Sow

grain for your household's food,

and do not buy

[do not buy grain from the market]. And

although they are equivalent

[although the price of grain in the market is cheap, and you will have no profit from engaging in growing grain], nevertheless, it is preferable that you sow the grain yourself and eat it, because

these,

those grain crops that you grew yourself in your own land, are

blessed!

[Blessing is found in something that you do not purchase with money and that does not quickly run out].

b.

Sell

[sell your household utensils] in order to use their proceeds for merchandise,

and do not become impoverished

[become poor]—that is, do this before you come to poverty.

And

these words apply to household utensils

[household vessels]; a person should sell them in order to trade with their proceeds.

But a cloak

[his garment] he should not sell, lest

it not happen for him

that he will not find a fitting garment like it.

c.

Close

[seal]

and do not renovate

[repair]. If you have a small hole in a dilapidated wall, seal it immediately, and do not enlarge it and renovate it beautifully in order to adorn it.

d.

Renovate

[repair]

and do not build,

if nevertheless you wish to beautify your house, it is preferable that you enlarge the hole and repair it beautifully rather than demolish the wall and rebuild it, since

anyone who engages in building becomes impoverished

[brings himself to poverty].

e.

Hurry to buy

[Rashash]

land.

Be quick in purchasing land. But

be deliberate in taking a wife,

be patient when you marry a woman, in order to examine her deeds, so that she will not be bad and quarrelsome.

f.

Descend a degree

[go down a degree] and

take a wife

[marry a woman]. Do not take a woman more important than you, lest you not be accepted by her .

But

ascend a degree

[go up a degree] and

choose

for yourself

a companion,

a good friend. Choose for yourself an important person to cleave after him.

Rabbi Elazar bar Avina said: Calamity comes to the world only on account of Israel,

in order to frighten them, so that they will repent.

As it is stated

in the Book of Zephaniah [chapter 3]:

"I cut off nations; their corners were desolate"

[Behold, I cut off the nations, and their towers became desolate],

I destroyed their streets

without a passerby [I made their streets ruins, without a person passing]. Their cities were hunted out, without a person, without anyone dwelling."

And it is written

immediately afterward:

"I said: Surely you will fear Me; you will accept rebuke"

[I thought: Through the destruction of the nations, now you will truly fear Me, and from the punishment that came upon them you will accept rebuke].

When Rav was taking leave of Rabbi Hiyya

[when he parted from Rabbi Hiyya],

he said to him

Rabbi Hiyya said to Rav:

May the Merciful One save you from something that is harder than death

[may the Lord guard you from something that is harder than death].

Rav thought in his heart:

Is there something that is harder

than death

[is there something that is harder than death]?!

Rav went out,

Rav,

examined, and found,

he investigated and found

"And I find the woman more bitter than death,

whose heart is snares and nets.

Etc."

[and so on].

Rav's wife used to distress him

[Rav's wife would distress him],

when he said to her: Make me lentils

[when he would say to her: Make me a lentil stew],

she made him chickpeas

[she would make him himetzei, which is a type of legume]; and when he asked her to make him

chickpeas, she made him lentils

[she would make him a lentil stew].

When Hiyya, his son, grew up

[when Hiyya, Rav's son, grew up],

he would reverse it for her

[he would reverse his father's request to his mother]; when Rav asked her to make him a lentil stew, Hiyya would say to her: Father asked you to make him chickpeas.

And when Rav saw that his wife was fulfilling his request, not knowing that Hiyya his son had reversed the request,

he said to him,

Rav said to his son:

Your mother has improved

[your mother has improved]!

He said to him,

Hiyya said to his father: It is not because she has improved that she fulfills your request; rather,

I am the one who reverses it for her

[I am the one who reverses your request to her].

He said to him,

Rav said to his son Hiyya:

This is what people say

[this is what is commonly said]:

One who emerges from you—

teaches you understanding!

[Your son, who emerges from you, makes you wise]. And I myself should have done so.

However,

you—

should not do this

[do not do so again], because

it is stated: "They have taught their tongues to speak falsehood; they weary themselves"

and are exhausted."

Rabbi Hiyya's wife used to distress him

[Rabbi Hiyya's wife, Rav's uncle, would distress him].

When Rabbi Hiyya would find

something

of any kind,

he would

wrap it for her

in his scarf and bring it to her

[when Rabbi Hiyya found something, he would wrap it in his scarf and bring it to her as a gift].

Rav said

to Rabbi Hiyya:

But she is distressing the Master

[she is distressing you]!?

He said to him,

Rabbi Hiyya said to Rav:

It is enough for us

with this

that

our wives

raise our sons and save us ![](pamud.bmp "

precise page location")

from sin,

from thoughts of transgression.