Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 7, scan section 58

Temple it was Sinaic, but in the country it had for a basis the tra- dition of the prophets. R. Ami said : The willow has to be of the prescribed size, and must be taken separately, and a man does not fulfil his duty with the willow which is tied with the Lulab. R. Hisda in the name of R. Itz'hak, however, said that a man can fulfil his duty with 66 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. the willow which is lied with the Lulab. What is the prescribed size ? Said R. Na'hman : Three moist twigs with leaves. R. Shesheth, however, said : Even if there was one leaf on one twig. Said Aibu : I was standing in the presence of R. Elazar bar Zadok, and a man brought a willow before him ; and he took the willow into his hand, and knocked off the leaves, but without any benediction, because he held that the willow was only a custom of the prophets. Aibu and Hezekiah, the grandsons of Rabh by his daughter, brought a willow to Rabh, and he also took it and knocked it, without benediction, because he also held it was only a custom of the prophets. Aibu said again : I was standing before R. Elazar bar R. Zadok, and a man came to him and said : I possess some villages, and the inhabitants of the villages weeded the orchards in the Sabbatical year, and for their labor they ate the olives : did they right, or not ? R. Elazar answered : It is not right. And the man went away. Said R. Elazar: I am living in this country forty years, and I have not seen a man walk in the right path as this man. Afterwards the man came again, and asked R. Elazar what he should do in this matter, and R. Elazar told him he should abandon the olives to the poor, and the laborers he should pay from his purse. Aibu says again in the name of R. Elazar : A man must not walk on the eve of Sabbath more than three Parsaoth. Said R. Kahna : The case is when he goes home, and his family does not know that he will come, and do not prepare anything for him for Sabbath ; but if he is going to an inn, he may walk more, because he has prepared everything that is necessary for Sabbath. Ac- cording to others, R. Kahna said that even to his house he shall not go, so much the less to an inn. And he added to this : It once happened to me that I was coming home late on the eve of Sabbath, and my family did not expect me : I did not find even small fish prepared for Sabbath. "■How was the comma?idment to take the Lulab fulfilled!'* One Tana taught in the presence of R. Na'hman : He deposited it on the roof of the gallery. And R. Na'hman said to him ; Why on the roof, did he intend to dry it ? Read, " on the galleries." MISHNA: How was the command to take the willow ful- filled ? There was a place below Jerusalem called Motza. Thither the people descended, and gathered drooping willow branches. These they brought and erected at the side of the TRACT SUCCAH. 67 altar, the tips inclining over it. While this was doing, a blast, a long note, and again a blast were blown. Every day they made one circuit round the altar, and recited the verse : " O Lord, help us; O Lord, prosper us." R. Jehudah said the words : '' I and he, help us," were also said. On the particular day for using the willows (the seventh of the festival) they made seven circuits round the altar. When they withdrew, what did they say ? " Beauty is thine, O altar ! Beauty is thine, O altar ! " R. Elazar said, they also said : '' To God and to thee, O altar ! To God and to thee, O altar ! " As they did on week-days, so did they likewise on the Sabbath ; excepting only that they gathered the willow branches on the Sabbath-eve and put them into golden casks (filled with water), that they might not fade. R. Johanan b. Beroka said : They fetched branches of palms and threshed them to pieces on the sides of the altar. Thence the day was called " the branch-threshing day." Directly afterwards the chil- dren threw down their Lulabs and ate the citrons. GEMARA: In a Boraitha it was taught: that the place where they were taken was free from taxes, and one Tana of the Mishna calls it Motza, because this word signifies exempt from taxes. " They brought and erected at the side of the altar ^ In a Boraitha was taught : They were soft and eleven ells high, so that they could cover the altar one ell. Said R. Abahu : From what biblical passage is this inferred ? From Psalm cxviii. 27 : ** Bind the festive sacrifice with cords," etc. He said again in the name of R. Elazar : One who takes the Lulab with its binding, and the myrtle bough with its braiding, the verse makes him equal to one who would build an altar and offer a sacrifice on it, and he infers it from the end of the passage just quoted. Hezekiah said in the name of R. Jeremiah, quoting R. Simeon b. Jochai, and R, Johanan in the name of R. Simeon the Mehuzi, quoting R. Johanan the Mekuthi : One who added a day to the festival for eating and drinking, the verse makes him equal to one who built an altar and offered a sacrifice on it, as it is written : " Bind the festive sacrifice with cords (leading it) up to the horns of the altar." Hezekiah said again in the name of R. Jeremiah, quoting R. Simeon b. Jochai : All the prescribed plants for religious duties must be taken as they grow, as it is written [Ex. xxvi. 15]: " Shittim wood, standing up." Hezekiah said again in the name of the same authority : I could exempt the whole world from the 68 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. Day of Judgment since I was born till now ; and if Eliezer my son would be with me, I could do it for all men since the world was created till now. And if King Jotham ben Uzziah would be with us, we could do it for all men from the creation of the world till its end. The same says again in the name of the same : I see the greatest men in the world are very few. If they are a thousand, I and my son are included ; if they are a hundred, I and my son are included, and if they are only two, they are I and my son. Said Abayi : There are no less than thirty-six upright men in the world who receive appearance of the Shekhina every day, as it is written [Is. xxx. i8] : " Happy are all those that wait for him," and him is expressed by I7, which counts thirty-six. *' To God and to theeT How did they do so? Did they not combine the name of the Lord with another thing, and we have learned in a Boraitha : Who combines the name of the Lord with another thing, will be destroyed from the world ? As it is written [Ex. xxii. 19] : ** Save unto the Lord only." The Mishna meant it was said so : *' To God we bow, and Thee we praise." R. Jehudah in the name of Samuel said : The benediction over the Lulab must be pronounced all the seven days, but in the Succah the benediction must be made only the first day.