Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 8, scan section 13

or is it counted as one of the days on which the prayers are already to be recited ? " Said R. Papa : " The Halakha prevails : The sixtieth is considered as the day after the sixty days." MISHNA: If the seventeenth of Mar-Cheshvan have passed without the rain having yet descended, private individuals com- mence to keep three fast-days. As soon as it becomes dark on the fast-days, however, it is allowed to eat and to drink ; and on the fast-days themselves it is permitted to work, to bathe, to anoint the body, to wear shoes, and to perform the duty of cohabitation. If the new moon of Kislev has arrived without rain having yet descended, the supreme court shall order three public and general fast-days. As soon as it becomes dark on those fast-days, however, it is lawful to eat and drink ; and on the fast-days them- selves it is permissible to work, to bathe, to anoint the body, to wear shoes, and to perform the duty of cohabitation. GEMARA : Who are meant by private individuals (in this Mishna)? Said R. Huna: " The rabbis." We have learned in a Boraitha that if private individuals commenced to keep the fast- days, they should fast on Monday, Thursday, and the following Monday ; and they may interrupt their fast-days if a Monday or a Thursday fall on the day of the new moon or on such days as are mentioned in the Roll of Fasts. The rabbis taught : "A man should not say : ' I am too young a scholar to be counted in among the rabbis, and thus be included in the meaning of the term " private individuals," hence I need not keep the fast-days ' ; but every young scholar should consider himself a rabbi for that purpose." Who is called a private individual ? One who is worthy of being elected Parnass (president) of the congregation. And who is called a young scholar? One who is asked concerning passages in his studies even in Tract Kalah and can make satisfactory answer. The rabbis taught : Not every one who would count himself among the private individuals may do so, and not every one who would count himself among the young scholars may do so. Such is the dictum of R. Simeon ben Elazar. Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel, however, said : " This only applies to those who do so 26 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. for the glory thereof, but not to such as only incur an inconve- nience by so doing ; and the latter, when counting themselves among such persons, should be favorably remembered therefor." The rabbis taught : One who fasted on account of some trou- ble, or for the recovery of a sick person, even though the trouble had passed away during the day of his fasting, or the sick person had recovered during that day, should nevertheless continue to fast until nightfall. One who came from a place where there was no fast-day to a place where there was a fast-day must keep that fast-day ; but if a man came from a place where there was fasting to a place where there was none, he must nevertheless quietly end his fast. If he forgot that the day was a fast-day, and ate and drank, he should not at least make it apparent to others, and should also not participate in any pleasures on that day, as it is written [Gen. xlii. i] : " Why do ye look at one another? " which signifies, that Jacob said to his sons : Why do ye make it appear that ye are satisfied when the other races of Esau and Ishmael around you are starving ? R. Jehudah said in the name of R. Hyya : One who travels on the road should not eat much — no more, in fact, than is eaten in a year of famine. Why so ? Here in Babylon they say : " In order that the stomach be not filled and thus make walking difficult " ; but in Palestine they say : " In order that the supply of food which is carried along be not too quickly exhausted." The difference in the two opinions is therefore concerning a man on board of a ship. There is fear of the supply of food being exhausted, but not that walking will be hindered. On the other hand, the difference of opinion also concerns a man travelling from village to village. There is no fear of the supply of food becom- ing exhausted, but there is fear of overloading the stomach and thus impeding further progress. R. Papa when travelling would eat a small loaf after traversing a Parsah, because he thought that eating too much would be injurious to the stomach. R. Jehudah said in the name of Rabh : A man who has plenty in years of famine and still eats sparingly because others have but a small supply will be saved from sudden death, as it is written [Job, v. 20] : " In famine he redeemeth thee from death." Why is it said " in famine," it should say " from famine he redeemeth thee " ? Therefore the passage means to imply that because one ate sparingly in times of famine, he will be redeemed from sudden death. TRACT TAANITH (FASTING). 27 Resh Lakish said : " A man should not cohabit with his wife in years of famine, as it is written [Gen. xli. 50] : 'And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came.' " A Boraitha, however, teaches that a man who is childless may do so even in times of famine. The rabbis taught : When Israelites are in trouble and one of them leaves them for the purpose of avoiding the trouble, the two angels who accompany each man lay their hands upon his head and say : " The man who secludes himself from the community which is in distress shall not see the prosperity of the com- munity." Therefore a man should share the common distress of the community, as we see in the case of Moses, who always shared the troubles of the congregation, as it is written [Exod. xvii. 12]: " But when the hands of Moses became heavy, they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon." Did not Moses possess a pillow or bolster upon which he could have sate down ? Yea ; but Moses said thus : " Because the com- munity is in distress I shall not use a pillow, but sit on a stone and share their woes." Thus everyone who shares the misery of the community shall also see the prosperity, and lest a man say : " Who will testify that I took no part in the woe of the com- munity ? " he should know that the stones and beams of his house will bear testimony to the fact, as it is written [Habakkuk, ii. 11]: " For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it." The disciples of R. Shila say, that the two angels who accompany a man will testify against him, as it is written [Psalms, xci. 11]: " For his angels will be given charge concerning thee." R. 'Hidka said: "The soul of man will testify against him," as it is written [Micah, vii. 4] : " From her that lieth in thy bosom guard the doors of thy mouth." Others say that the members of a man's body will testify against him, as it is written [Isaiah, xliii. 10]: " Ye are