Yoma 9b (ט:) — the Talmud in English

And

from

that

they

delayed the sons of Eli

the bird offerings

of those women;

at any rate,

Scripture considers it as though they had slept with them

there, and this was deemed adultery on their part.

Desecration of sacred offerings —

as it is written: “Even before they would burn the fat, the priest’s attendant would come and say to the man bringing the offering

the sacrifice:

Give

immediately

meat to roast for the priest,

and he would not wait until the meat had cooked after the burning of the sacrificial fats,

“and he will not take cooked meat from you, but only raw meat.”

“And the man would say to him: Let them surely burn the fat today

[now] the

fat,

and the burning of the sacrificial fats is what renders the meat permitted to be eaten.

For this is what we learned in Pesachim 59b in a beraita: Is it possible that priests are permitted to eat the breast and thigh [which are the portions given to them from a peace-offering] before the burning of the sacrificial fats?

The verse states: “And the priest shall burn the fat on the altar,” and afterward it is written: “And the fat shall be Aaron’s and his sons’.”

And take for yourself

after the burning

as your soul desires.”

And

the attendant

said to him: No, for now you shall give it!

And if you do not

give it,

I will take

[I shall take it]

by force.”

“And the sin of the attendants was very great before the Lord, for they disdained

[they disgraced]

the Lord’s offering.”

b.

Why was the First Temple destroyed?

Because of three matters that existed in it: idolatry, forbidden sexual relations, and bloodshed.

And the Gemara explains the three matters:

Idolatry —

as it is written

in Isaiah:

“For the couch is too short for stretching out

and the covering too narrow for gathering in.”

And

Rabbi Yonatan said: What is the meaning of “the couch is too short for stretching out”?

He interpreted this verse as referring to idolatry: Manasseh brought an idol into the Sanctuary, and the matter is likened to a couch on which a person lies, whose length is insufficient for him to stretch out upon it and extend his limbs.

And this is what it says:

“The couch is too short”

— the Temple, which is the dwelling place of the Holy One, blessed be He — “for stretching out.” And he expounds this word as an acrostic, as though it said

“for two rulers”

a friend: There is no room for two friends to rule

over it simultaneously.

Just as two women who are friends become rivals when they marry one man, so, as it were, the place became constricted for the Holy One, blessed be He, once Manasseh brought the idol there.

And concerning the continuation of the verse,

“and the covering too narrow for gathering in,” \-

Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani said: When

[Rabbi Yonatan reached]

Rabbi Yonatan came to this verse, he wept,

and

said:

As for Him of whom it is written —

the Holy One, blessed be He, of whom it is said,

“He gathers like a mound the waters of the sea,”

as it were, all

that

the Holy One, blessed be He, who is omnipotent,

of whom it is written

the praise [Psalms 33:7],

“He gathers like a mound the waters of the sea”

[alluded to in the verse in Isaiah by the expression “for gathering in”] —

for Him there has become a covering

of idolatry, like a woman,

a rival

who is present together with Him in the Temple!

And the Gemara continues to explain the words of the beraita concerning the reasons for the destruction of the First Temple:

Forbidden sexual relations —

as it is written

[Isaiah 3]:

“And the Lord said: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes,

walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet.”

And we interpret the verse:

“Because the daughters of Zion are haughty” —

they would walk

one

tall woman beside

another

short woman

so that the taller one would stand out.

“And walk with outstretched necks” —

they would walk erect.

And “wanton

[from the term for the red dye sikra]

eyes” —

they would fill

[which means that they applied the color of]

blue eye paint

around

their eyes.

“Walking and mincing as they go” —

they would walk

with short steps,

heel beside toe,

so that their walking would take longer and people would gaze at them.

“And making a tinkling with their feet” —

Rabbi Yitzḥak said: They would bring myrrh and balsam, place them in their shoes, and when they reached the young men of Israel

they would

kick and spray it upon them

from the perfume,

and instill in them the evil inclination,

which is

like the venom

found

in a

snake

when it is enraged.

Bloodshed —

as it is written

[II Kings 21]:

“Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, until he filled Jerusalem from one end to the other.”

And the beraita continues:

But the Second Temple, where they occupied themselves with Torah, mitzvot, and acts of kindness —

why was it destroyed?

Because there was baseless hatred in it.

This teaches you that baseless hatred is equivalent to the three sins: idolatry, forbidden sexual relations, and bloodshed.

The beraita further states:

They were wicked, but they placed their trust in the Holy One, blessed be He.

And the Gemara explains that these words of the beraita

refer

to

the First Temple.

As it is written

in it [Micah 3]:

“Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a fee, and her prophets divine for money,”

and

by committing these sins they compounded their offense by trusting in the Lord that they would not be punished, for

“they rely upon the Lord, saying: Is not the Lord in our midst,

and therefore

no evil will come upon us!”

Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, brought upon them three decrees, corresponding to the three sins in their hands.

As it is stated:

[Micah 3]:

“Therefore, because of you:

a.

Zion shall be plowed as a field;

b.

Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins;

c.

and the Temple Mount shall be like the high places of a forest.”

And the Gemara asks:

And

if

was there no baseless hatred in the First Temple?

But it is written

[Ezekiel 21:17]:

“Those who were secure among My people were delivered to the sword; therefore strike your thigh.”

And Rabbi Elazar said: These are people who eat and drink with one another,

as though they lived together, like friends,

and

even though they were together,

they stab one another with the swords of their tongues.

That is, baseless hatred.

The Gemara answers:

That incident

was among the leaders of Israel

alone;

it occurred.

And the proof is:

As it is written

at the beginning of the verse:

“Cry out and howl, son of man, for it has come upon My people.”

And it was taught in a beraita: “Cry out and howl, son of man.”

I might have thought that this applies to everyone.

The verse states: “It” —

among all the leaders of Israel.

But in the Second Temple everyone sinned through baseless hatred.

Rabbi Yoḥanan and Rabbi Elazar both say: The earlier ones,

the people of the First Temple,

whose sin was revealed

in Scripture —

their

also

end was revealed,

which was at the end of seventy years.

But the people of the Second Temple, who were

the later ones

who went into exile,

whose sin was not revealed

explicitly — their

end was not revealed either,

when they would be redeemed.

Rabbi Yoḥanan said,

by way of a parable:

The withered fingernail

of

the earlier ones

who were exiled with the First Temple

is better

[an expression used as an example of soft flesh]

than the flesh of the later ones.

Reish Lakish said to him: On the contrary, the later ones are superior,

for we, the later exiles,

despite the domination of the kingdoms,

are occupied with Torah!

He said to him: The Temple

[the Temple]

proves otherwise, for it returned to the earlier ones but did not return to the later ones.

They asked Rabbi Elazar:

Are

the earlier ones greater

than the later ones,

or are the later ones greater

than the earlier ones?

He said to them: Direct your eyes to the Temple

[to the Temple, which returned to the earlier ones after seventy years but has not yet returned to the later ones].

Some say that he said to them

in this formulation:

Your witness

is the witness:

the Temple.

Reish Lakish was bathing

and swimming

in the

river

Jordan.

Rabba bar bar Ḥana came and extended a hand to him,

offering Reish Lakish support so that he could lean on it when leaving the river.

He said to him

Reish Lakish:

“By God! I hate you,

I hate you, you Babylonians,

as it is written

[Song of Songs 8]:

“If she is a wall, we shall build upon her a silver tower; and if she is a door, we shall enclose her with a cedar board.”

And we interpret it:

“If you have made yourselves like a wall

that encloses the city,

and you all ascended in the days of Ezra,

the Divine Presence would have rested among the people of Israel in its entirety, and then

you would have been likened to silver, which decay does not affect.

But now that you have ascended like doors,

one of which is open and one locked,

you have been likened to cedar, which decay affects,

since the Divine Presence does not rest among you except partially.”

And the Gemara explains:

What

is the meaning of the analogy of decay in relation to

cedar?

Ulla said:

The cedar

of the sasmagor

is meant, which is eaten from within by a worm called sas.

And the Gemara explains:

What

is the reason that they were likened in the Second Temple to

sasmagor,

with regard to the resting of the Divine Presence!?

Rabbi Abba said:

The analogy is

a Divine voice,

for a little of prophecy remained with them, just as a little of the cedar’s outer layer remains after the worm has consumed it from within.

As it was taught in a beraita: When the last prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, died —

the Divine Spirit departed from Israel.

Yet they still made use of the Divine voice.

And the Gemara wonders:

And Reish Lakish —

did he converse

with

Rabba bar bar Ḥana

with

him?

And

yet

Rabbi Elazar, who was “the master

[the great one]

of the Land of Israel”

[in his extensive knowledge],

and

nevertheless

did not converse

with

Reish Lakish

with him.

For anyone with whom Reish Lakish would converse in the marketplace,

a person with whom Reish Lakish spoke in the marketplace was considered so trustworthy that

they would give him

money for

a business partnership

even

without

requiring so many

witnesses

[witnesses].

And if so, would he really

converse with Rabba bar bar Ḥana,

who was not as great as Rabbi Elazar,

converse

[speak]!?

Rav Pappa said:

The names must be switched:

throw

and exchange

one person

one of them

between them,

between the two names mentioned in the incident.

Or it was Reish Lakish

bathing in the Jordan,

and Zeiri,

who was from Babylonia, extended a hand to him, and he said this to Zeiri.

Or it was Rabba bar bar Ḥana

bathing in the Jordan,

and Rabbi Elazar

was the one who extended a hand to him.

When

Reish Lakish

came before Rabbi Yoḥanan

and told him what he had said to Rabbi Elazar,

he said to him

Rabbi Yoḥanan:

That is not the reason,

that is not the parable and its interpretation in the verse.

For

even if all of you had ascended

were to ascend

in the days of Ezra,

even

the Divine Presence would not have rested

would not rest

in the Second Temple.

For

as it is written

[Genesis 9:27]:

“May God grant beauty to Japheth, and may He dwell in the tents of Shem.”