Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 7, scan section 47

the children of Rachel. Samson was of Dan, Barak of Kaddesh was of Naphtali — Bilha's children. Ibzan, or Boaz, from Judah ; Eli of Levi, Tola from Issachar, Elun from Zebulun ; Othniel, Jephthah, Shamgar, Abdan — it is not known of what tribes they were descended. From the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, Gad, and Asher, I have not found, says Rashi, explicitly that Judges were descended from them. But it may be the Judges whose tribes were not named were traditionally said to be of those, 36 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. the tribes of Judah and Benjamin chose kings at the command of the prophets. Finally the sun reached R. Eliezer's feet, and Johanan took a sheet and spread it over the Succah ; and R. Eliezer took his garments and shouldered them, and left the booth. This was not because he did not want to teach him the law, but because R. Eliezer never decided a thing which he had not heard from his Master. But how could R. Eliezer do this ? Did he not himself declare that a man must not go out from one Succah to another ? They answered : That was not on the Feast of Tabernacles at all ; it was another festival, and they sat in the Succah only for fresh air. But did not R. Eliezer declare : I praise the sluggards who do not leave on a festival their houses ? It was not on a festival ; it was an ordinary Sabbath. The rabbis taught : It happened with R. Eliezer that he took rest in Upper Galilea, and he was asked thirty Halakhoth about the law of Succah. To twelve he answered : So I have heard; and to eighteen he answered : I did not hear them. R. Jose b. R. Jehudah says : On the contrary, to eighteen he answered : I have heard ; and to twelve : I have not heard. And they asked him: Are all your decisions only from what you have heard? He answered : You compelled me to tell you one thing which I had not heard from my Masters. That is, never in my life came a man to the house of learning before me and I never slept in the house of learning a long or a short time ; I never left a man in the house of learning when I went away, and I never talk about worldly affairs, and I never decided a thing which I had not heard from my Masters. It was said of R. Johanan b. Zakai : Never in his life did he talk of worldly affairs ; he never walked four ells without study- ing the Law and without tefilin ; he was never anticipated by an- other in turning to the house of learning, and did not sleep in the house of learning even a short time ; he did not teach about the Law in dirty alleys ; he did not leave a man in the house of learning when he went away ; he was never to be found silent, but always studying aloud, and never anybody opened the door for his disciples but himself; he never decided a thing he had not heard from his Master, and he never said it was time to go out of the house of learning except on the eves of Passover and on the eves of the Days of Atonement. And R. Eliezer his disciple conducted himself similarly. The rabbis taught : Hillel the Elder had eighty disciples : thirty of them were worthy that the Shekhina should rest on TRACT SUCCAH. 37 them as on Moses our Master ; thirty of them were worthy the sun should be stopped for their sake, as it did before Joshua the son of Nun, and twenty were mediocre. The greatest of all the disciples was Jonathan b. Uziel, the least of all was R. Johanan b. Zakai. It was said of the latter, that he did not leave out the Bible, the Mishna, the Gemara, Halakhoth, and Agadoth (legends), the observations of the Bible, observations of the Scribes, lenient ones and vigorous ones, the analogies of expres- sion, equinoxes, geometries, the language of the angels and the language of the evil spirits and the language of the trees, the fables, the great things, the heavenly chariots and small things, the discussions of Abayi and Rabha, to confirm what is written [Prov. viii. 21] : '* That I may cause those that love me to inherit a lasting possession and their treasures will I fill." And when the least of all was so, how much the more was the greatest of all. It was said of Jonathan b. Uziel, that when he studied the Law every bird that flew over him was burned. MISHNA: If the head and greater part of a man's body is in the booth, and his table in the house, Beth Shammai say he has not fulfilled the duty of Succah, but Beth Hillel say he has. Said Beth Hillel to Beth Shammai : Did it not happen that the elders of Beth Shammai and those of Beth Hillel visited R. Johanan b. Hahoronith, and found him sitting with his head and greater part of his body in the booth, and his table was in the house ? and they said to him nothing. Beth Shammai replied : Do you adduce this as a proof? They said to him : If such has always been your custom, you have never in your life properly fulfilled the duty of Succah. Women, slaves, and minors are exempt from the Succah. A boy that needs no longer the nursing of his mother must obey the command of Succah. It happened that the daughter-in-law of Shammai the Elder gave birth to a son on the festival, so he caused the roof to be taken off, and covered it as a Succah for the sake of the infant. GEMARA : Whence is all this deduced ? From what the rab- bis taught : The verse could say Ezrah ('' an Israelite born "). That would include the women. But it is written Ha ezrah, ''the Israelites born," which means the certain Israelites, and to ex- clude women. And by the word *' all " it is meant to include minors. Shall we assume that the expression " Israelites born " includes women also ? Did not we learn in a Boraitha (concern- ing the Day of Atonement), where it is written, *' the Israelite 38 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. born," which means to include women, for whom it is as obliga- tory to fast as for males? From this we see that when it is written, '' Israelites born," only males are meant ? Said Rabha : That is not deduced from the passages, but it is all Sinaic, and the passages were taken as a support. But which passage, and which Sinaic law? And, again, to what purpose was a verse or a Sinaic law needed at all? Is not the Succah a commandment dependent on a certain season, and from all commands depend- ing on certain seasons women are free ? This is concerning Suc- cah ; and concerning the Day of Atonement this is deduced from what R. Jehudah says in the name of Rabh ; and so also taught the disciples of R. Ishmael. It is written [Num. v. 6] : " If any man or woman commit a sin." From this we see that the verse made the man and the woman equal in all penalties of the Torah. Said Abayi : That a woman is exempt from the Succah is a Sinaic law, and nevertheless this support of a verse was needed, because one might say it is written, " Ye shall dwell " ; and as in