Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 2, scan section 65

dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return unto God who gave it." The rabbis taught: " Return the soul to the Lord as clean as He gave it to thee, ' ' This is illustrated by a parable of a king who once gave to his attendants suits of clothes. The wise among them took care of them, kept them clean and folded, and used them on special occasions only. The fools put them on and performed their work in them. Naturally, the clothes became dirty. All at once, the king demanded the clothes back again. The wise men returned them clean and whole, but the fools returned them in a dirty and dilapidated condition. The king was well pleased with the wise men, and told them to depart in peace, and had their clothes stored; but the clothes of the fools he ordered to be sent to the washers, and the fools were sent to prison. So does also the Holy One, blessed be He. Concerning the bodies of the righteous men, He saith [Isaiah Ivii. 2]: " He shall come in peace: they shall repose in their resting-place"; and concerning the souls he saith [I Samuel xxv. 29]: " Yet will the soul of my lord be bound in the bond of life with the Lord thy God." Concerning the bodies of the wicked, He saith [Isaiah Ixviii. 22]: "There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked " ; and concerning the souls of the wicked, He saith [I Samuel xxv. 29]: " And the soul of thy enemies will he hurl away, as out of the middle of the sling." We have learned: R. Eliezer said: " The souls of righteous men are deposited underneath the throne of honor, as it is writ- ten: 'Yet will the soul of my lord be bound in the bond of life ' ; and the souls of the wicked are crowded together until they are crushed, as it is written: ' The souls of thy enemies will he hurl away.' " " How is it with the souls of men who are neither righteous nor wicked?" asked Rabba of R, Na'hman. He answered: " If I were dead, ye would not know it." Sam- uel said: The souls of the righteous, of the ordinary men, and of the wicked are given over to the angel whose name is Domah, who has charge of all souls. The souls of the righteous are given their resting-place soon ; the others are not given rest until they come before the divine judgment. Said R. Mari: "The bodies of righteous men also decom- pose, as it is written : ' When the dust will return to the earth, as it was.' " Diggers were digging some earth belonging to R, Na'hman. They came to the grave where R. Achai bar Yashia was buried. 36o THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. and the corpse scolded them. The diggers came to R. Na'h- man, and told him that a man who was buried on his ground had scolded them. So R. Na'hman went himself to the grave, and asked: "Who art thou, Master?" and the man in the grave answered: " I am called Achai bar Yashia." Said R. Na'hman to him: " Did not R. Mari say, that the bodies of the right- eous shall turn to dust ?" and the corpse replied: " Who is this Mari ? I know him not." But R. Na'hman persisted: " It is written: ' When the dust shall return to the earth, as it was.' " And the corpse retorted: " He who taught thee Ecclesiastes, did not teach thee Proverbs, where it is written [Ch. xiv. 30] : ' Jealousy is the rottenness of the bones ' ; and if thy teacher had explained this to thee, thou wouldst have known, that he who hath jealousy in his heart, his bones shall rot after death, but he who hath no jealousy in his heart, his bones shall not rot. " Thereupon R. Na'hman felt the dead man's bones, and truly they were sound. So he said to him: " Let the Master arise and go home with me for a while." And the dead man answered: " By this remark thou hast proven to me that thou hast not even studied the prophets, for it is written [Ezekiel xxxvii. 13] : ' And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and when I cause you to come up out of your graves ' (for this would tell thee, that only the Lord can make me arise, and still thou askest me to go with thee)." " Yea," quoth R. Na'hman; " but there is another passage [Genesis iii. 19] : * For dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return.' " " This will, however, be only one hour before the final resurrection," answered the corpse. A certain Sadducee said to R. Abuha: " Ye say that the souls of the righteous are deposited underneath the throne of honor. How, then, could the woman of the familiar spirit whom King Saul consulted,* bring up the soul of Samuel?" R. Abuha answered: " That happened during the first twelve- month after the death of Samuel, as we have learned in a Bo- raitha, that during the first twelvemonth the souls of the deceased come up and down ; but after that period the soul ascends to heaven and does not return." Said R. Jehudah, the son of R. Samuel bar Shila, in the name of Rabh: ** From the funeral sermon held over the remains of the deceased, it may be observed whether they will enter the * See I Samuel xxviii. TRACT SABBATH. 361 kingdom of Heaven or not." (If the funeral sermon is in the form of a eulogy and the deceased was much beloved, it can be presumed that he will have a happy time in the beyond.) This is not so! For did not Rabh say to R. Samuel bar Shila: " See that thou makest my funeral oration exceeding touching, for I shall be there." R. Jehudah meant to say, that when the ser- mon is touching, and elicits a responsive chord in the breasts of the audience ; for some orations may be made ever so touching, but if the deceased was not deserving, it will produce no effect whatever. Said Abayi to Rabba: " Thou, Master, who hast not a single friend in Pumbaditha, who will mourn thy death ?" " Thou and Rabba bar R. Hana will sufifice," answered Rabba. R. A'ha asked Rabh: " Who is the man that will live in the world to come?" He answered by quoting the verse [Isaiah XXX. 21]: " And thy ears shall hear the word behind thee, say- ing. This is the way; walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand and when ye turn to the left." * R. Hanina said: " The man who gives satisfaction to our masters." It is written [Ecclesiastes xii. 5]: "And the mourners go about the streets." The Galileans said: " Do such things as will be spoken of to thy credit in thy funeral sermon " ; and the Judaeans said: " Do such things as will be spoken of after thy burial." There is no difference in the two statements, for in Galilee the funeral sermon was held before burial, and in Judaea after burial. We have learned (in the Mishna Abhoth): " One day before thy death, thou shalt repent of thy sins," said R. Eliezer; and his disciples asked him, " Can a man know on which day he will die?" and he answered: "For just that reason, he should repent to-day, lest he die to-morrow. Thus all his days will be