Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 2, scan section 25

he remain over night he must be given lodging, and if he remain over Sabbath he must be given three meals for Sabbath. " Shall we assume, that this Mishna holds with the rabbis and not with R. 'Hidka ? It might also be in accord with R. 'Hidka if the mendicant happen to have one meal with him, he is told to eat the one he has and is given three more. Should the mendi- cant then depart empty-handed ? Nay ; he is also given a meal 248 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. to take along on the way. What must he be given for lodging ? Said R. Papa : Enough to hire a bed and a pillow. The rabbis taught : The dishes used on the eve of Sabbath may be cleansed for the Sabbath-morning meal. The dishes used in the morning may be cleansed for the mid-day meal, and those of the mid-day meal for the afternoon ; but those of the afternoon must not be cleansed until the Sabbath is over. All this is said concerning dishes; but glasses, cups, and all drinking utensils may be cleansed at any time, because there are no fixed times for drinking. R. Simeon ben Pazi in the name of R. Jehoshua ben Levi, quoting Bar Qapara, said : One who keeps the commandment to eat three times on the Sabbath will be rid of three punishments, viz.: "The tribulations (at the time) of Messiah; the punish- ment of Gehenna, and the war of Gog and Magog." From the tribulations of Messiah, because the Sabbath is always men- tioned as the day, and it is written [Malachi iii. 23] : " Behold, I send unto you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the day of the Lord, the great and the dreadful." From the punishment of Gehenna, because it is written [Zephaniah i. 15] : "A day of wrath is that day," etc., meaning the Gehenna. From the war of Gog and Magog, because it is written [Ezekiel xxxviii. 18]: " On the day of Gog's coming." R. Johanan said in the name of R. Jose: One who makes the Sabbath pleasant will be rewarded with a boundless inheritance, as it is written [in Isaiah iviii. 14] : " Then shalt thou find delight in the Lord ; and I will cause thee to tread upon the high places of the earth, and I will cause thee to enjoy the inheritance of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." Not the inheritance of Abraham, concerning whom it is written [Genesis xiii. 17] : " Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it," etc., and not as in the case of Isaac, as it is written [ibid. xxvi. 4] : " And I will give unto thy seed all these countries," but as it is written of Jacob [ibid, xxviii. 14]: " And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west and to the east, and to the north and to the south." R. Na'hman bar Itz'hak said : (The man who makes the Sab- bath pleasant) will also be saved the pain of exile, because it is written [Isaiah Iviii. 14] : " And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth," and [Deut. xxxiii. 29]: " And thou shalt tread upon their high places." Said R, Jehudah in the TRACT SABBATH. 249 name of Rabh, " He who makes the Sabbath pleasant is given everything his heart desires, ' ' because it is written [Psalms xxxvii. 4] : " And delight thyself in the Lord, and he will give thee the wishes of thy heart." What is meant by " delight" ? From the passage [Isaiah Iviii. 13]: "If thou call the Sabbath a delight," we can adduce that the delight means Sabbath. Wherewith should the Sabbath be made pleasant ? Said R. Jehudah, the son of R. Samuel bar Shilath, in the name of Rabh: "With a mess of beets, large fish, and garlic-heads." But R. Hyya bar Ashi said in the name of Rabh : " Even with any dish whatever prepared especially for the Sabbath." What does "any dish whatever" mean? Said R. Papa: "Even small fish fried in oil." R. Jehudah said in the name of Rabh: " If the Israelites had kept the first Sabbath (after the commandments were given) properly, no nation or race on earth could have harmed them. For it is written [Exodus xvi. 27] : ' And it came to pass on the seventh day that there went out some of the people to gather; but they found nothing.' And not long afterwards Amalek attacked the Israelites." R. Johanan said in the name of R. Simeon ben Jochai: " If the Israelites were to keep two Sabbaths in succession as they should, they would immediately be released from exile, for it is written [Isaiah Ivi. 6] : ' Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves unto the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be unto him as servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath by not violating it, and those who take hold of my covenant,' and immediately afterwards it is written [ibid. ibid. 7] : ' Even these will I bring to my holy mountain.' " R. Jose said: " May my share in the world to come be with those who eat three meals on the Sabbath." Again he said: " May my share in the world to come be with those who recite Hallel* everyday." This is not so. The Master says, that he who recites Hallel every day is a blasphemer. Nay; R. Jose does not mean Hallel, but Hallelujah. R. Jose said again : " May my share in the world to come be with those who perform their morning devotion as soon as the sun begins to rise." Again said he: " May my share be with those who die of abdominal disease, for the Master said, that most of the righteous die of bowel troubles." He also said: * Hallel is called the section of the Psalms from Chapter cxiii. to cxix. 250 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. " May my share be with those who die when about to fulfil a commandment ; also with those who receive the Sabbath in Tiberias and see it out in Zipporias (Tiberias was in a valley and Zipporias on a hill); also with those who remain in the houses of learning, and not with those who attempt to draw scholars away from their studies; also with those who solicit alms but not with those who dispense alms ; also with those who are suspected but are not guilty." Said R. Papa: " I have been suspected but was not guilty." Said R. Jose: " I have gone in unto my wife five times and have planted five cedars in Israel." Who are they ? R. Ishmael, R. Eliezer, R. 'Halafta, R. Aftiles, and R. Mena'hem, all sons of R. Jose. But he also had a son called Vradimos ? Nay; Vradimos is the same as R. Mena'hem, and the reason he was called Vradimos was because his face was as beautiful as a rose (Vrad is Aramaic for rose). Said R. Jose again : " In all my days the ceiling of my house never saw the seam of my undershirt." Again said he: "I never acted contrary to the advice of my colleagues. I know v/ell that I am not a descendant of priests, but when my col- leagues asked me to pronounce a benediction usually said by priests, I did so." Again he said: " I never said a thing that I