Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 6, scan section 64

who comes to see them when alive. R. Idi, the father of R. Jacob bar Idi, had the custom to be three months on the road, and one day in college. The students of the college called him " the single-day student." So he became discouraged, and said in application to himself the verse [Job xii. 4] : "I am as one laughed at by his friends." Said R. ♦ In this verse in the Hebrew " tears" is mentioned three times. 13 BABYLONIAN TALMUD. Johanan to him: "I pray thee, do not cause the rabbis to be punished (by Heaven for their wrong to him), and he himself went and lectured thus: It is written [Is. Iviii. 2]: "Yet me do they ever seek day by day, and to know my ways do they always desire," and said : Do they seek only by day, and not in the night ? This comes to teach us that he who studies the Law even one day in the year, the verse makes him equal to one who studied the whole year. " Every one unable to ride on his father's shoulders" etc. R. Zera was opposed to this teaching, and asked : And who brought him as far as Jerusalem ? " Abayi answered : As his mother is bound to rejoice, she brought him, and there if he can go up to the Temple mountain with his father, he is no longer a minor. To defend the teaching of the School of Hillel, Rabbi replied thus : It is written in i Sam. i. 22 : Hannah said : " So soon as the child shall be weaned, I will bring him." Why did she let him wait till he would be weaned, since the father could have car- ried him ? Said Abayi* to him : According to your question, why did Hannah herself fail to go, since she was bound to rejoice? It must be said, that because of the too delicate condition of the child (which his mother noticed in him) she did not want to go. " Beth Shammai say two silver coins, " etc. The rabbis taught : Beth Shammai say two silver coins for holocaust, because the sacrifice is a burnt-offering and must be more valuable, but for the feast-offering, which is only a peace-offering, one meah suffices. And we find also in case of Pentecost, about which the Law commands the burnt-offering should cost more than the peace-offering. And the Beth Hillel say: For the holocaust only one silver coin is sufficient. But the feast-offering had existed before the Law was given to Moses, as it is written [Ex. xxiv. 5] : " And they offered burnt-offerings and peace- offerings." (Although in the Bible it is written after the Law was given, this occurred before.) And we also find when the princes of Israel offered sacrifices, the cost of the peace-offerings was greater than the burnt-offerings. Abayi said : Beth Shammai (R. Elazar and R. Ishmael) all hold that the sacrifice the Israelites offered in the desert was a holocaust-offering, and the Beth Hillel (R. Aqiba and R. Jose the Galilean) all hold that it was the daily offering, but not that of holocaust. We have learned in Tract Peah, Chap. I., the fol- * This must be Abayi the Elder, who lived at that time. TRACT HAGIGA (HOLOCAUST). 13 lowing things have no biblical prescribed quantity : Peah (the corner) ; the first-fruit [Deut. xxvi.], and the holocaust-offering, and the conferring of kindness and the studying of the Law. R. Johanan taught to say : They have no prescribed maximum, but they have a prescribed minimum, until R. Oshia the Great came and taught : The holocaust has no prescribed quantity, even a minimum. But the sages said : The holocaust-offering should not be of less worth than a silver coin, and the feast-offering not less than two. The expression in the above-cited Mishna for the holocaust is " the seeing " (Haraion). Now the question arises what is meant by " the seeing " ? R. Johanan said : He can come to the court as many times as he likes to see it ; the sacrifice, however, is only once in each festival. Resh Lakish, however, said : Every time he comes to visit the court he must offer a sacrifice. And they differ only during the whole year, not in the festivals. Accord- ing to R. Johanan he may visit it without a sacrifice, but according to Resh Lakish he must bring a sacrifice, but both agree, in the festivals, he must come with a sacrifice, and one is sufficient for all days of the feast. And Resh Lakish agrees also that when one comes to visit in the middle of the year without a sacrifice, he may nevertheless enter the court and the Temple, but they differ when he came in the middle of the year and brought a sacrifice with him. According to R. Johanan it must not be accepted from him as an offering of the holocaust, because it is not prescribed how many times he should visit, but is prescribed that only one sacrifice in each festival. And according to Resh Lakish it may be accepted, because there is no prescribed quantity for sacrifices also, and he can sacrifice as much as he likes. We have learned in a Boraitha : It is written [Prov. xxv. 17] : " Make thy foot scarce to the house of thy friend." From this we may infer : Thou shalt forbear to bring too many sin-offer- ings. Whence do we deduce this ? Perhaps it means too many burnt-offerings or peace-offerings? It cannot be, for it is written [Ps. Ixvi. 13]: "I will enter thy house with burnt-offerings; I will pay unto thee my vows (peace-offerings)." Now we see that burnt-offerings and peace-offerings he can offer when he likes. What, then, 'does the verse mean ? Sin-offerings. MISHNA : Burnt-offerings on the intermediate days come from ordinary things, but the peace-offerings from second-tithe. On the first day of Passover the School of Shammai say that 14 BABYLONIAN TALMUD. they come from ordinary things, but the School of Hillel say that they come from the second-tithe. Israelites generally ful- fil their duty with vows and voluntary offerings, and with cattle- tithe, and the priests by the eating of sin-offering and of the trespass-offering, and by the first-born, and by the breast which hath been waved, and the shoulder which hath been lifted up, but not by eating of birds or of meal-offerings. GEMARA : According to this Mishna, burnt-offerings are only to be sacrificed on the intermediate days, but not on the festival itself, and this would not be according to the School of Hillel concerning the Mishna in the next chapter? The Mishna is not completed, but must read thus: Burnt, vow, and voluntary offerings can be brought only on the intermediate days, not on the festival itself. The holocaust-offering, however, may be brought even on the festival. And when it is brought it must be only from ordinary things, but the peace-offerings of enjoying may be brought also from the second-tithe ; the feast-offering, however, on the first day of Passover, the School of Shammai say, from ordinary things, and the School of Hillel say, from second-tithe. And so it was taught plainly in a Boraitha. Why