Yoma 69b — the Talmud in English

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there is no sitting in the Temple courtyard,

because it is written, “to stand to minister,” and likewise, “those standing there before the Lord.”

And we do not find sitting in the Temple courtyard

except for the kings of the House of David alone!

As it is stated

I Chronicles 17]:

“And King David came and sat before the Lord.”

And we answer:

as Rav Ḥisda said concerning the beraita dealing with the matter of the reading from the Torah scroll [as will be explained below], that it is referring to

the reference is

the Women’s Courtyard, which is adjacent to the Temple courtyard, and not to the Temple courtyard itself.

adjacent to the Temple courtyard, and not to the Temple courtyard itself.

Here too, in our Mishna, it is referring to the High Priest sitting

in our Mishna, the reference is to the High Priest sitting

in the Women’s Courtyard.

And the Gemara explains:

And where was Rav Ḥisda’s statement stated? [According to the reading of the Gaon of Vilna]

According to the version of the Vilna Gaon]

On that which was taught: Where do they read from it—

in the Temple courtyard.

Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov says: On the Temple Mount.

As it is stated

Nehemiah 8]:

“And he read from it

Ezra

before the square that was before the Water Gate.”

And Rav Ḥisda said: This reading was

This reading was

in the Women’s Courtyard.

And the Gemara continues, explaining the verse in the Book of Nehemiah:

Nehemiah 8:

“And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God.”

What is meant by “great”?

Rav Yosef said that Rav said: That he magnified Him,

Ezra magnified the Holy One, blessed be He, by blessing Him

with the Explicit Name.

Rav Giddel said: He magnified His honor through the ordinance that he instituted, to say in the Temple at the end of every blessing:

He magnified His honor through the enactment he instituted, that in the Temple, at the conclusion of every blessing, they should say

“Blessed is the Lord, God of Israel, from world to world.”

I Chronicles 16]

He said

asked

Abaye asked Rav Dimi about Rav Giddel’s statement:

about Rav Giddel’s statement:

But perhaps it means that he magnified Him with the Explicit Name?

He said to him: The Explicit Name is not recited in the provinces, outside the Temple courtyard, and Ezra said this outside, and not in the Temple courtyard.

outside the Temple courtyard, whereas Ezra said this outside and not in the Temple courtyard.

And we wonder:

A

And

not

did Ezra not recite the Explicit Name outside the Temple courtyard on another occasion?

But is it not written [according to the reading of the Gaon of Vilna]:

According to the version of the Vilna Gaon]: [

Nehemiah 9:

“And they cried out with a loud voice to the Lord their God.”

And

concerning this

Rav Giddel himself

himself said: “With a loud voice”— \-

that he magnified Him

Ezra magnified the Holy One, blessed be He

with the Explicit Name!

And we answer:

It was an extraordinary temporary measure, for the purpose of the outcry, to say the Explicit Name outside the provinces. Therefore, when Ezra stood on another occasion to bless outside the Temple courtyard, he did not mention the Explicit Name.

for the purpose of the outcry, to pronounce the Explicit Name outside the provinces. Therefore, when Ezra later stood to bless outside the Temple courtyard, he did not mention the Explicit Name.

And now the Gemara explains that same outcry:

Nehemiah 9:

“And they cried out to the Lord God with a loud voice.”

What did they say?

Rav said, and some say Rabbi Yoḥanan, this is what Israel said at that time:

that the Jewish people said at that time:

Woe, woe!—

an expression of outcry and complaint [Rashi].

We ask that You deliver into our hands the evil inclination of idolatry.

For

this is the one

that caused

that He destroyed

the Holy One, blessed be He,

the Sanctuary, and burned His Temple,

and burned His Temple,

and killed all the righteous, and exiled Israel from their land.

And still

this evil inclination

dances among us,

among us.

Is it not the case, for

this that

You gave it to us

that You gave us this evil inclination is

only in order that we receive reward through contending with it,

that we receive reward through our struggle with it.

We want neither it nor its reward.

We want neither it nor the reward for contending with it!

A note fell to them

written

from Heaven, on which it was written: “Truth!”

thereby indicating that the Holy One, blessed be He, approved their request.

Rav Ḥanina said: Learn from this that the seal of the Holy One, blessed be He, is truth.

They sat

they sat

in a fast for three

three

days and three nights

nights.

Finally,

they delivered him

from Heaven the evil inclination of idolatry—

they brought him

to them.

It emerged,

that evil inclination came out,

came

and appeared

like

like

a fiery lion cub

a lion cub of fire [according to Rashi, Sanhedrin 64a], as it emerged

from the Holy of Holies.

The

prophet

Zechariah son of Iddo

said to Israel: This is the evil inclination of idolatry.

As it is stated

Zechariah 5]:

“And he said: This is the wickedness.”

As they seized him,

when they seized him,

there slipped

one

hair

one hair

from his mane,

from his hairy coat,

and the fiery lion cub raised its voice,

and raised its voice,

and the sound of its roar went

and the sound of its roar went as far as

four hundred parasangs.

Israel

Israel

said: What shall we do,

what shall we do? For if we leave him as he is in our hands,

perhaps, Heaven forbid, they will have compassion on him from Heaven,

when they hear his pleading voice.

The prophet said to them: Throw him

throw him

into a lead cauldron,

into a cauldron of lead,

and cover its opening with lead,

and cover the mouth of the cauldron with lead, because

lead—

absorbs

it absorbs

sound.

And his voice will not be heard.

As it is stated

Zechariah 5]:

“And he said: This is the wickedness! And he cast her into the ephah, and he cast the lead stone into its opening.”

They said: Since this is a favorable time, let us seek mercy

also

for the evil inclination of transgression.

That the evil inclination of forbidden sexual relations should also be delivered into our hands.

They sought mercy, and it was delivered

and was delivered

into their hands.

The

evil inclination of forbidden sexual relations

said to them: See,

see,

for if you kill that one,

if you kill it [and he was referring to himself]—

the world will be destroyed,

the world will cease, since the world engages in procreation only through the power of this inclination, and it is impossible to divide it between a permitted act and a forbidden act.

They imprisoned him for three days,

they confined him for three days.

And indeed the power of the inclination ceased completely, and they no longer engaged in procreation.

And they requested

and requested

an egg

an egg

laid that day,

born today,

throughout the entire Land of Israel—

but none was found,

since the hens too had ceased laying eggs.

They said: What shall we do?

If

we kill it

this inclination—

the world will be destroyed!

If

we seek mercy for half of it,

for half the power of the inclination, so that procreation in the world will continue only in a permitted manner and not in a forbidden manner.

This is impossible.

For

half

half the inclination—

in Heaven

from Heaven

they do not give

they do not give.

They painted

they blinded it with the color “blue”

on its eyes, and released it,

and freed it.

And it was effective,

and blinding it was effective to the extent

that a person is not provoked by it

that a person is not provoked

by his close relatives,

by his relatives.

In the West,

in the Land of Israel,

they taught

they taught the preceding passage, explaining the verse [in Nehemiah 8], “And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God,”

as follows: Rav Giddel said: “Great””—

that he magnified Him

through his blessing

with the Explicit Name.

And Rav Mattana said: He magnified Him by saying [below, in Nehemiah 9]:

He magnified Him by saying [below, in Nehemiah 9]

“the great, mighty, and awesome God.”

And that which

And that which

Rav Mattana

supports [according to the Gaon of Vilna]

According to the Vilna Gaon]

the words of

the words of

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi.

For Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Why were they called “the Men of the Great Assembly”?

Because

they restored the crown to its former state,

as follows:

At first,

Moses

came,

Moses,

and

said:

Deuteronomy 10]

mighty,

“the great

God.”

and mighty

and awesome.”

But in a later generation,

Jeremiah

came,

Jeremiah,

the prophet,

and said, when he saw the officers of Nebuchadnezzar reveling inside the Temple: At a time when

gentiles are carousing in His Sanctuary,

gentiles are carousing in His Temple—

where is

the revelation of

His awesomeness? That is, the revelation of “awesome” is when we see this, and not at a time of concealment of the Divine countenance.

Иными словами, «внушающий трепет» проявляется тогда, когда мы видим это проявление, а не во время сокрытия Б-жественного присутствия.

Jeremiah did not say

Jeremiah

“awesome”,

because that revelation was then absent.

Daniel came,

during the time of the Babylonian exile and

said: At a time when

gentiles oppress His children

gentiles enslave His children

for seventy years—

where is

the revelation of

His might?

Daniel did not say

Daniel

“mighty.”

They came,

they, the Men of the Great Assembly, and restored the crown to its former state,

and said: On the contrary, this is

the manifestation of

the might of His might,

of the Holy One, blessed be He,

that He subdues His inclination,

thereby

giving “long-suffering” to the wicked

during such a long period in which the nations enslave His children and torment them with their decrees.

And these are His awesome acts

that were revealed at the time of the destruction,

for if not for the fear of the Holy One, blessed be He—

how could one nation

of the people of Israel

have been able

to

survive among

all

the nations,

which had gathered there to destroy them, and nevertheless the people of Israel survived and continues to exist.

And therefore the Men of the Great Assembly were called by this name, because they magnified the Holy One, blessed be He, by restoring the recitation of “the mighty and the awesome.”

And we raise an objection concerning this:

But the Sages,

Jeremiah and Daniel,

how did they act in this manner, uprooting the ordinance that Moses instituted

to say also “the mighty and the awesome”!?

Rabbi Elazar said: Since

they were

aware concerning the Holy One, blessed be He, that He is truthful, therefore they did not lie about Him.

We learned in the Mishna:

And he reads [the passages] “After the death” and “But on the tenth.”

And we raise a contradiction

from the Mishna in tractate Megilla, in which we learned:

One may skip in

the reading of the

Prophets

from one section to another,

but one may not skip in

the reading of the

Torah!?

And we answer:

It is not difficult.

Here—

in the case of a long skip,

where it is enough time for

to finish

the translator,

who translates the translation of the preceding section, while the roller will still not have enough time to reach the next section; one may not skip, for it is not respectful toward the congregation that they should sit and wait.

Here—

in the case of a short skip, such as the skip between the section “After the death” and the section “Say,” which is

such that the

translator will not have to stop,

for before the translator finishes his translation, the roller can have enough time to reach the next section; they may skip.

But the Gemara challenges that it is impossible to resolve the contradiction in this manner:

But concerning it,

concerning that Mishna in tractate Megilla,

it was taught

in a beraita:

One may skip in the Prophets, but one may not skip in the Torah.

And how far may one skip

in the Prophets—

such that the translator will not have to stop.

But with regard to the Torah—

not at all

shall he stop!?

Abaye said: It is not difficult.

Here,

where one may skip, it is referring to

one subject.

Here,

where one may not skip, it is referring to

two subjects.

And the Gemara brings proof for Abaye’s answer:

And it was taught in a beraita: One may skip in the Torah within one subject, and in the Prophets between two subjects.

In both this case and that case, it is provided that the translator will not have to stop.

But one may not skip from one prophet to another.

And in the prophet of

the book

of the Twelve

the Twelve]

one may skip

from one prophet to another, for it is considered one book.