Jerusalem Talmud

Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin — 7 / 13

[Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin / 7 / 13 / 3] A story. Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Akiva went up to bathe in the bathhouses of Tiberias. They saw a heretic. He said what he said (an idiom for: he cast a spell) and the dome seized them. Rabbi Eliezer said to Rabbi Yehoshua: What, Yehoshua ben Hananiah—show what you can do! Will this heretic leave? Rabbi Yehoshua said what he said and the door seized him; and anyone who entered would punch him, and anyone that left would punch him. He said to them: Release what you have done! They said to him: Release and we will release! They both released. When they left, said Rabbi Yehoshua to that heretic: What do you know? He said: Let us go down to the sea. When they went down to the sea, the heretic said what he said and the sea split. He said to them: Wasn't this what Moses your rabbi did in the sea?! They said to him: Do you not agree that Moses our rabbi walked in it? He said to him: Yes. They said to him: So go walk in it! He walked in it. Rabbi Yehoshua adjured the Prince of the Sea and it swallowed him. [Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin / 7 / 13 / 7] Said Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hananiah: Three hundred passages Rabbi Liezer explained about the passage of magic (in the Torah), but from all of them I only learnt two things: Two who collect gourds—one who collects is exempt, one who collects is liable; the one who does the deed is liable, the one who does sleight of hand is exempt.