Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 8, scan section 2

names, etc. (k) Whatever misprints occurred in the original edition of the Talmud we have carefully corrected, and have explained their probable origin and cause. (Erubin, p. 192.) (/) The absence of commentaries to the tracts Shekalim and Ebel Rabbathi gave us an opportunity to add our own comment, which we have done with as much care and zeal as possible. Finally, we call attention to the explanatory remarks printed on the reverse of the title-page of each volume. Now it remains for us to state the reason why we embody the Tract Ebel Rabbathi in this section. Maimonides tried to find some explanation for the sequence of sections and tracts of the Talmud, and whether he succeeded in this endeavor or not we will leave to the decision of the reader. At all events, as far as the Tract Ebel Rabbathi is con- cerned, he could not give any reason why it should have found a place in the Section Nezikin (Damages). As a matter of fact, the Tract Ebel Rabbathi is not among the thirty-seven main tracts comprising the Babylonian Talmud, but is accounted one of the minor tracts written after the orig- inal was finished. Yet it would be decidedly wrong to class Ebel Rabbathi with the minor tracts, and for the reason that in a number of instances we find a passage in the Talmud reading, " We have learned in Ebel Rabbathi," proving conclusively that vi A WORD TO THE PUBLIC. it antedates the final completion of the original Babylonian edition. The bibliographers Zunz and N. Bruell endeavored to prove that the Tract Ebel Rabbathi, so frequently mentioned in the Talmud proper, is not identical with the one found among the minor tracts, and Dr. Mielziner, in his Introduction to the Tal- mud, adds: " It seems to be a reproduction of the same with later additions." We do not care, as the Talmud says, " to put our heads between the mountains," and contradict these learned gentlemen, although they have not quoted by a good many all the quotations of Ebel Rabbathi used by the Talmud, and we have found that all quotations from Ebel Rabbathi are verbatim reproductions from the tract now before us. Be this, however, as it may, this tract is the only source in the Hebrew code from which the ordinances and laws pertaining to the mode of pro- cedure with dying, dead, burials, and mourners, in vogue even at this day with all classes of Jews, emanate. Were we to leave this tract untranslated, the Section Festivals would be incomplete. It must be borne in mind that laws pertaining to mourners are thoroughly discussed in one of the tracts of Section Festi- vals, Moed Katan, and hence our, we hope valid, excuse for embodying the Tract Ebel Rabbathi as part and parcel of that section. We wish to call attention to the fact, however, that such mourners' ordinances as had no connection with festivals and feast-days we have eliminated from the original tract in which they were contained, and have transferred them to Ebel Rabbathi, where they properly belong. Having thus, in this introduction, outlined as fully as possible our method of disclosing the weighty contents of Judaism's greatest example of literature to laymen and those of the archaeo- logical students unacquainted with the idioms employed by the Talmudic teachers, we lay our work open to the critics and invite, in all honesty of purpose, scholarly, pithy criticism. So far we have only been favored with spasmodic efforts at criti- cism, consisting mainly of dissenting opinions as to the use of a term or the spelling of a word taken from the Hebrew and tran- scribed into English. What we would appreciate, however, is a fair and just summarizing of the work as a whole, of its value as such, and of its merit in facilitating the general knowledge among laymen, Gentiles and Jews alike, of ancient customs, ordinances, laws, and usages. M. L. R. New York, June 18, 1899. A LETTER FROM PROF. DR. M. LAZARUS, GEH. REGIERUNGSRATH. Meran (Austria), d. 14 Juni, 1899. Herrn M. L. Rodkinson, New York: Geehrter Herr Rodkinson : In meinem Briefe vom 20. Juli, 85, habe ich meine Ansicht ausgesprochen, dass nur eine Ver- bindung von mehreren hervorragenden und bewahrten Gelehr- ten den hohen Zweck einer neuen kritischen Talmud-Ausgabe vollkommen erfullen konnten. Inzwischen haben Sie selber die Ausfiihrung des Werkes nebst einer englischen Uebersetz- ung unternommen und bereits 7 Bande drucken lassen. Je- dermann muss deshalb Ihren Muth und Ihre Ausdauer be- wundern. Auf ein Urtheil, ob Ihre Uebertragung zutreffend ist, muss ich bei meiner bescheidenen Kentniss der englischen Sprache verzichten ; aber Ihr genaues Verstandniss des Origi- nals steht ja ausser Zweifel und an dem erforderlichen Beirath in Bezug auf die englische Fassung wird es Ihnen ja nicht ge- fehlt haben. Jeder Schritt zur Verbreitung einer eingehenden Kentniss des Talmuds auch im Kreise derer, welche die Sprache des Origi- nals nicht kennen, betrachte ich als nutzlich und werthvoll. Ich wiinsche und hoffe deshalb, dass Sie zur Ausfiihrung Ihres grossen Unternehmens reichliche Unterstutzung finden mogen. Mit hochachtungsvollem Grusse, Lazarus TRACT TAANITH (FASTING). CONTENTS. PAGE A Word to the Public, iii A Letter from Prof. Dr. M. Lazarus,-Geh. Regierungs- rath, vii Synopsis of Subjects of Volume VIII. — Tract Taanith, xiii CHAPTER I. Regulations concerning the Time when Mention is Made of Rain in the Daily Prayer, when Rain is to be Prayed for, when Fast-Days are Ordered on which to Pray Especially for Rain, and the Char- acter of such Days of Mourning, i CHAPTER II. Regulations concerning the Order of Procedure on the Last Seven Fast-Days, and the Prayers to be Recited on those Days, 36 CHAPTER III. Regulations concerning Occurrences on Account of which Fast-Days are Ordered, or Alarms are Sounded. When Fasting on Account of Rain is Stopped, 47 CHAPTER IV. Regulations concerning the Priests' Blessing of the People, the Institution of the Standing Men — their Fasts and Prayers. The Fast of the Seven- teenth Day of Tamuz and the Ninth of Abh, and the Celebration of the Fifteenth Day of Abh, . 78 SYNOPSIS OF SUBJECTS OF VOLUME VIII.— TRACT TAANITH.* CHAPTER I. MlSHNA I. The difference of opinion about the mention of the power of rain in the prayer on the days of Tabernacles. Whence do we know that mention must be made. Who of the readers shall mention it on the feast of Passover. Must one repeat his prayer if he made no mention ? Three men prayed to God for things that were not suitable. The congregation of Israel also prayed for an improper thing, 1-7 Mishna II. Till what time is the rain to be prayed for. What was eaten during the seven years of famine [II Kings, viii.] Jacob, our father, never died. When begin the rain fructifications ? The knowledge of the Law is an elixir of life. Why the words of the Law are compared to water, wine,