Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 2, scan section 48

may be spread on poles on Sabbath, Rabh said, that this may be done jointly by two men but not by one.* Said Abayi : " A baldachin which must not be set up must not even be set up by the joint efforts of ten men." What was the other good say- ing of Rabh concerning Sabbath ? Concerning what we have learned in a Boraitha, that if an iron stove had one leg missing it may be handled, but if two legs were missing it must not be handled, Rabh said, that it must not be handled even if one leg was missing, as a precaution lest one might be tempted to fasten the missing leg, and that would constitute building. What was the good saying of Rabh concerning the Law ? Rabh said : There will be a time when the Law will be forgotten by Israel, as it is written [Deut. xxviii. 59] : " Then will the Lord render wonderful thy plagues," etc., and I could not under- stand what is meant by " wonderful plagues " ; but it is written [Isaiah xxix. 14]: " Therefore, behold, I will do yet farther a marvellous work, doing wonder on wonder, so that the wisdom of their wise men shall be lost, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden." * Rashi remarks that, although some explanation for this passage was ventured upon by the Gaonim, still he does not understand it himself, and hence can give no satisfactory explanation. 312 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. The rabbis taught : When our teachers went into the vine- yard at Jamnia, they said that the Law would be forgotten by Lsrael, as it is written [Amos viii. ii]: " Behold, days are com- ing, saith the Lord Eternal, when I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread, nor a thirst for water, but to hear the words of the Lord " ; and [ibid. 12] : " And they will wan- der about from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they will roam about to seek the word of the Lord ; but they shall not find it." By the word of the Lord is meant : Halakha, the end of exile {i.e., the coming of the Messiah), and also the prophecies.* In another Boraitha we have learned : R. Simeon ben Jo'hai said : " May God forbid that the Law be forgotten by Israel. It is written [Deut. xxxi. 21] : ' For it shall not be forgotten out of the mouth of their seed.' How then can the previous pas- sage, * And they will roam about to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it,' be verified ? It means they shall not find a perfect Halakha (which shall be incontestable), nor a Mishna (which shall be beyond refutation) anywhere on earth." We have learned in a Boraitha: If thou shouldst live in a generation in which there is much trouble (persecution), go and investigate amongst the judges of Israel; for most of the trouble that happens in this world happens only on account (of the cor- ruption) of the judges, as it is written [Micah iii. 9-1 1]: " Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob and ye princes of the house of Israel, that abhor justice and make crooked all that is straight. They build up Zion with blood-guiltiness and Jerusalem with wrong; her heads judge for bribes, and her priests teach for reward, and her prophets divine for money, and yet will they lean upon the Lord," etc. They are all wicked, and yet they all lean upon the One who spoke and the world was created; and therefore the Lord will bring upon them three troubles for the three sins of which they were guilty as men- tioned above (judging for bribes, teaching for reward, and divin- ing for money), as it is written [ibid. 12] : " Therefore for your sake shall Zion be ploughed up as a field, and Jerusalem shall * Rashi explains the above passage as follows : That by the word of the Lord is meant Halakha, may be derived from the verse [Deut. v. 5], " To announce to you the word of the Lord," which is synonymous with Halakha. As for the end of exile also being part of the word of the Lord, I do not know what verse that can be based on. That by the word of the Lord is also meant the prophecies, can be inferred from tiae verse [Hosea i. i]: " The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea." TRACT SABBATH. 313 become ruinous heaps, and the mount of the house, forest-cov- ered high-places"; and the Holy One, blessed be He, will not permit his Shekhina to rest again amongst Israel until the cor- rupt judges shall be removed and the guardians of the peace shall be abolished from Israel, as it is written [Isaiah i. 25 and 26] : " And I will turn my hand against thee, and purge away as with lye thy dross, and remove all thy tin. And (then) I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning." Ula said: " Jerusalem will not be redeemed except through charity (righteousness), as it is written [Isaiah i. 27] : ' Zion shall be redeemed through justice, and her converts through righteous- ness.'" R. Papa said: When the proud men will be de- stroyed, then also will the men who slander and cause us to be hated be destroyed, as it is written: " and purge away as with lye thy dross." And when the corrupt judges will be removed, the bailiffs will also become extinct, as it is written [Zephaniah iii. 15]: "The Lord hath removed thy punishment; he hath cleared away thy enemy." Melai in the name of R. Eliezer ben R. Simeon said: " It is written [Isaiah xiv. 5] : * Broken hath the Lord the staff of the wicked, the sceptre of the rulers.' The staff of the wicked refers to the judges who made of themselves a staff upon which their servants (scribes) should lean {i.e., they gave them all the opportunities to extort money, of which they took a share). The sceptre of rulers refers to the judges who made their rela- tives rulers." Mar Zutra said: "The above verse refers to the teachers who turn out ignorant men and allow them licenses to be judges (and through ignorance they were incapable of judging right- fully)." R. Elazar ben Melai said in the name of Resh Lakish : " It is written [Isaiah lix. 3] : ' For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity : your lips have spoken falsehood, your tongue uttereth deception.' ' Your hands are defiled with blood ' refers to the judges, ' your fingers with iniquity ' refers to the scribes of the judges, ' your lips have spoken falsehood ' refers to the lawyers, * and your tongue uttereth deception ' refers to the litigants themselves." R. Melai said again in the name of R. Itz'hak of Magdala: " From the day that Joseph left his brethren, he tasted not wine, as it is written [Genesis xlix. 26] : ' These shall be on the 314 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. head of Joseph, on the crown of the head of him that was sep- arated* from his brothers.' " R. Jose bar Hanina said, that the brothers of Joseph also did not taste wine, because it is written