Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 6, scan section 9

that the fourth shall fall on Sabbath. " To the Palhedrin Chamber.'' We have learned in a Borai- tha: R. Jehudah said: Was it called the Palhedrin Chamber, it was called the Chamber of the Lords ? He answers : Formerly it was called the Chamber of the Lords, but after the high-priests began to be appointed for money, and changed as government ofBcers (Palhedrin, changed once in twelve months), It began to be called the Hall of the Palhedrin. What is meant by Palhe- drin ? Officers. Rabba bar bar Hana in the name of R. Johanan said : It is written [in Proverbs x. 27]: "The fear of the Lord increases man's days, but the years of the wicked will be shortened." " The fear of the Lord increases the days " ; that refers to the first Temple, during whose existence of four hundred and ten years there were only eighteen high-priests. " The years of the wicked will be shortened," refers to the second Temple, which existed four hundred and twenty years, and more than three hundred high-priests succeeded each other during that period. Subtract the forty years during which Simeon the Righteous ministered, .eighty years of Johanan the high-priest s ministry, and ten years of Ishmael b. Favi — according to others^ eleven * The Day of Atonement always occurs on the tenth day of the month Tishri. lo THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. years of R. Eleazer b. Harsum — and compute, you will see that not even one high-priest completed his year. R. Johanan b. Turtha said : Why had Shiloh fallen ? Two sins were committed there : adultery and sacrilege. Adultery, as it is written [i Sam. ii. 22]: " Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons were in the habit of doing unto all Israel ; and how they would lie with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation." And sacrilege, as it is written [ibid. 17] : " And the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord ; for the men despised the offering of the Lord." Why has the first Temple fallen ? Because there were three things: idolatry, adultery, and bloodshed. Idolatry, as it is written [Jerem. xxviii. 20] : " For the bed shall be too short for a man to stretch himself out on it ; and the covering too narrow to wrap himself in." And R. Johanan said: The bed is too narrow that there should be two, God and the idols. [Said R. Samuel b. Nahmoni : When R. Jonathan used to come to this verse, he used to cry, saying: That the Lord, of whom it is said [Ps. xxxiii. 7], " He gathereth together like heaps the waters of the sea," should feel too little space because of an idol.] Adul- tery, as it is written [Is. iii. 16]: " Forasmuch as the daughters of Zion are fraud, and walk with stretched forth necks and cast- ing about their eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and mak- ing a tinkling with their feet." R. Itz'hak said to this: What is meant by tinkling ? They used to fill the shoes with spices, and when a young man was by, they pressed the spices with the feet, to attract his attention. Bloodshed, as it is written [2 Kings xxi. 16]: "And also innocent blood did Manasseh shed in very great abundance." But the second Temple, where the occupations were study of the Law, religious duties, and charity — why fell it ? Because there was groundless enmity.* From this we can infer that un- founded hatred is equal to all the three sins together: idolatry, adultery, and bloodshed. In the time of the first Temple, although they were wicked, yet because they put their trust in the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is written [Micah iii. 11]: " Her heads judge for bribes, her priests teach for reward, and her prophets divine for money: and yet they will lean upon the * In the Palestinian Talmud it is said : Because they loved money, and hated each other without grounds. TRACT YOMAH (DAY OF ATONEMENT). ii Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us ? evil cannot come over us." For this, the Holy One, blessed be He, brought on them three chastisements, for their three sins ; as it is written fibid. 14]: " Therefore for your sake shall Zion be ploughed up as a field, and Jerusalem shall become ruinous heaps, and the mount of the house, forest-covered high places." R. Johanan and R. Elazar both said: In the time of the first Temple, as their sin was laid bare, therefore the date of the end of their suffering has likewise been revealed ; but in the time ot the second Temple, when their sin was not stated clearly in writing, therefore the date of the end (of their suffering) was not revealed either. R. Johanan said again: The nail of those of the time of the first Temple was preferable to the belly (whole body) of those of the time of the second Temple. Said Resh Lakish to him: On the contrary, the last were better. Although they were sub- ject to a foreign government, nevertheless they studied and ob- served the Law. Rejoined R. Johanan: The fact of the Temple can prove it. The first obtained the Temple once more, and the last have it not yet. R. Elazar was asked : Who were greater, the first or the second ? He replied : Take the Temple as a sign. Resh Lakish was bathing in the Jordan : Rabba bar bar Hana came to him, and shook hands with him. Resh Lakish said to him: God detests you Babylonians, as it is written [Solomon's Song viii. 9] : " If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver; and if she be a door, we will enclose her with the boards of cedar." That signifies thus: If you were all strong as a wall, and went all with Ezra, you would have been like silver, which can never rot ; but as you did not, you were like wooden doors, which are subject to decay. It is possible that Resh Lakish spoke with Rabba bar bar Hana ? If with R. Elazar, who was the principal man in Pales- tine, Resh Lakish did not speak; because it was a rule that, with whomsoever Resh Lakish spoke in the street, money could be given to him without witnesses. Should Resh Lakish then have spoken with Rabba bar bar Hana (who was an inferior man) ? Says R. Papa: Substitute another person. Either it was Resh Lakish and Z'eri, or R. Elazar and Rabba bar bar Hana. When the last came to R. Johanan and related to him what Resh Lak- ish had told him, he said: This is not the reason. If all had come with Ezra, even then the Shekhina would not have dwelt in the second Temple, since it is written [Gen. ix. 27]: " May 12 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. God enlarge the boundaries of Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem " ; that signifies, that although God enlarges the boundaries of Japheth, his Shekhina can only dwell in the tents of Shem {i.e., because the second Temple was under the rule of the Persians, who are of Japheth, the Shekhina could not dwell there, but only in Solomon's Temple, which was Shem's). And