Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 9, scan section 24

the other says: " Thou art greater than I am, and therefore begin thou." With human beings, however, it is the reverse. Every one says: " I am greater than thou art." Some say that not individual angels, but divisions of angels, say to each other: " Begin ye, ye are greater than we are," as it is written [Is. vi. 3]: " And one called unto the other and said." " Love all men too.'' That is to say, that one should love all men, and not hate them; for so we find with the men of the "generation of the division," because they loved each other, the Lord was reluctant to destroy them, but only scattered them to all four corners of the world. The men of Sodom, however, because they hated each other, were annihilated by the Lord, both in this and the world to come, as it is written [Gen. xiii. 13]: ** But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly." " And sinners " implies that they were guilty of illegal unions; "before the Lord" implies that they were guilty of desecration of the Holy name; "and exceed- ingly," that they sinned wilfully. ''And bring them nigh unto the Law.'' How so? One should try to uplift* people and bring them under the wings of * The Hebrew term for this is " Mekapeah," derived from " K'apah," high fBectioroth, 45^^). 4 JO THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. the Shekhina, as our father Abraham did; and not only/Abra« ham, but also Sarah, as it is written [Gen. xii. 5] : " And Abram^ took Sarah his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their sub- stance that they had acquired, and the persons that thcymade* in Charan." Is it possible ? Even all mankind combined could not create even a small insect. We must, therefore, say tha^ the Lord considered the people that they brought under the wings of the Shekhina as if they had made them. As one cannot divide his life with his neighbor in this world, so he cannot divide with him his deserved reward in the world to come, as it is written [Eccl. iv. i]: " And, behold, there are the tears of the oppressed, and they have no comforter; and from the hand of their oppressors they suffer violence, and they have no comforter." Why is it written " and they have no com- forter " twice ? To infer that, although there are men who eat (plentily), drink, and are successful with their sons and daugh- ters in this world, they may have nothing in the world to come, and they will have no comforter there. In this world, whe« something is stolen from one, or a death occurs in one's family, his son, brother, and other relatives come and console him, but this cannot be done in the world to come, as it is written [ibid., ibid. 8] : " Yea, he hath neither son nor brother." The same is the case with one who has begotten an' illegiti- mate son ; for the latter may say to him: " Scoundrel, thou haj^ lost thyself as well as me." For the bastard may have a thir^ for knowledge, and therefore desire to study the Law in Jerusa- lem together with the other disciplesf but cannot do so because, being a bastard, he is prohibited from entering Jerusalem. It happened once that a bastard was not allowed to pass Ashdad, as it is written [Zech. ix. 6] : " And bastards shall dwell in Ask- dad, and I will cut off the pride oi the Philistines." MisHNA L. He also used to say : " A name made great is a name destroyed ; he v;ho increases not, de- creases ; and he who will not learn from his masters is not worthy to live ; and he who uses his knowledge as a tiara perishes." MisHNA M, He also used to say : " If I do not look * According to the interpretation of the Talmud, but Leeser translates " obuined." TRACT ABOTH. 51 to myself, who will do so? But if I look only to myself, what am I ? And if not now, when ^'* Tosephtha—Aboth of R. Nathan, ' * He used to say : ' If I do not look to myself, who will do sot*** (That is), if I cannot reach any reward while I am alive, who can reach it for me after my death ? " And if not now, when ? " (That is), if I can do nothing for myself while I am alive, who can do it for me after my death ? So also said Ecclesiastes [ix. 4]: ** For a living dog fareth better than a dead lion." By " a living dog " is meant a wicked per- son who exists in this world, and " than a dead lion " refers to all the righteous, who are highly received in the world to come, including even the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The living dog, that is, a wicked man who is still alive, fareth better — is accepted by the Holy One, blessed be He, when he repents and becomes virtuous and receives a share in the world to come, while a dead lion cannot add aught to his good deeds after he is dead. The same used to say: " If thou wilt come to my house,** etc. (See Section Moed, Vol. VII. ; Succah, pp. 83, 84.) It happened that Hillel the First, while on a journey, met men carrying wheat. He inquired how much was a saah, and was told two dinars. Afterward he met others, who gave him the price of the same as three dinars. He said: " Did not the first men say it was only two dinars ? " They rejoined : *' Thou foolish Babylonian, dost thou not know that the reward is ac- cording to the trouble ? " (They came from a farther distance.) But he said : " Is that your answer to my civil question ?** Finally he succeeded in making them gentle and accommodating. He also used to say four things in the Babylonian dialect: " A name made great is a name destroyed,'* It means, a man shall not desire to have his name proclaimed to the government, k>r the reason stated above, p. .45. ** And he who does not desire to learn from his masters,** It was said that it happened to an inhabitant of Beth Ramah who adopted the customs of the pious, and Rabban Johanan b. Zak- kai sent one of his disciples to examine him. He found him occupied in heating oil on a range and then pouring it into peeled grain. On being questioned what he was doing, he answered, I am careful with the heave-offering, to eat it in its 52 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. purity, just as if I were a high-priest. Then he asked again: Is this range clean or unclean? He rejoined: Do we then find anywhere in the Torah that a range can be unclean ? An oven only is mentioned, as it is written [Lev. xi. 33]: " Whatsoever is in it shall be unclean." Then the disciple again rejoined: The law of the oven applies also to the range, as it is written [ibid., ibid. 35] : " An oven or range shall be broken down, they are unclean." The same added: If such was thy habit, thou hast never in thy life eaten clean heave-offerings. *' He who increases not, decreases.'' How so? If one has learned one, two, or even three treatises, and has not added anything thereto, he will finally forget even that.