Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 12, scan section 35

sorry. I have seen the book which was shown to Adam the first, and there it is written ; " Samuel of Ir'hina will be named a sage, but not a rabbi, and Rabbi will be cured through him." It is also written there : " Rabbi and R. Nathan are the finishers of the Mishnayoth. R. Ashi and Rabina will be the finishers of the Gemara." * R. Kahana said: I was told by R. Hama, the son of Hassa's daughter, that R. b. Na'hmani's death occurred by conspiracy, namely : It was denounced to the Government that there was a man among the Jews who prevented thirteen thousand Jews from paying head-tax one month in summer and one month in winter time {i.e., that in the months of Nissan and Tishn about thirty thousand men went to hear Rabba's lectures for the holi- days, and the officers of taxes could not find them at home to collect the taxes. The Government sent an ofificer to take him, but could not find him at home. He went in search of him from Pumbaditha to the cities of Aqura, Agina,, Ch'him, Tripha, and Eina Damim, and from Eina Damim back to Pumbaditha. It happened that the ofificer took the same inn in which Rabbawas concealed. There was a set table for the ofificer, and after he drank two goblets of wine the table was taken away, and it hap- pened that the face of the officer was turned backwards. The host came to Rabba, and questioned him what to do, as he was * Rashi explains this, that until their time the Gemara was not in any order, as in the colleges a Mishna was discussed only in relation to money matters, food, etc., the Halakha thereof being questioned in a college ; and then there was discussion, and each gave a reason for his opinion, and the same was done if some one questioned the reason of such and such a Mishna, without a practical act ; and so the whole Gemara was mixed together, without any order in sections or tracts, and Rabina and R. Ashi were the first who gathered all the discussions of the colleges until that time, and also at that time arranged them into sections and tracts in accordance with the Mishnayoth ordained by Rabbi in sections and tracts. See footnote, Chap. 11., pages 79, 80. 224 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. afraid of trouble because of the misfortune which happened to the ofificer of the king ; and Rabba ordered that a table should be set again with one goblet of wine, and thereafter to take the table away. They did so, and the man was cured. Then the officer said : I am now certain that the man I want is here. And he searched for him and found him, saying : I will go from here and report that I could not find him. Should they put me to death, I will not disclose it ; but should they torture me, I will tell the truth. He then took Rabba, locked him up in a cham- ber for men, and took the key with him. Rabba prayed, and the wall fell miraculously; he ran away and went to Agina, sat down on a crudtan of a tree, and was starving. In the meantime there was a dispute in the heavenly college about a case of purity, in which some of them decided that it is impure and some of them pure, and it was decided that R. b. Na'hmani should decide the case, as he used to say that he was the only one who knew the law of Nagaim and the only one who knew the law of Oh'loth. They sent the angel of death for him, but he could not touch him, as he did not cease studying one moment. In the meantime a wind blew and made noise with the trees of the forest, and Rabba thought that the officers were after him and said: It is better for me to die than to be taken by the Government. And when he was dying, he was questioned about the dispute in the heavenly college, and he decided it was pure. Then a heavenly voice came forth, saying : Well is it with thee, R. b. Na'hmani, that thy body is pure, and that thy soul left thy body while thou wast saying" pure." K pitiacium (writing) fell in the city of Pumba- ditha: " Rabba b. Na'hmani was taken to the heavenly college." Then Abayi, Rabha, and all rabbis of the college went to occupy themselves with his funeral ; but they did not know where to find his body, and they went to Agina, and they saw a swarm of birds which made a shade under them, and they remained so, without moving, and the rabbis understood that this was the place where the dead was to be found. And they lamented for him three days and three nights. h.no'Oix&x pitiacium was found : " He who will separate himself will be put under the ban." And they lamented for him seven days more. Then another ////Vr««?« (from heaven) fell: "Go to your houses in peace." On that day that Rabbi died a storm arose and threw a cer- tain merchant who was riding on a camel on one side of the River Papa to the other side of the same. Being astonished, and ask- TRACT BABA METZIA (MIDDLE GATE). 225 ing, What is it ? he was answered : Rabba b. Na'hmani is dead. He then arose and said : " Lord of the Universe! The whole world is thine, and Rabba b. Na'hmani is also thine. Thou dost love Rabba, and Rabba loveth thee — why, then, shouldst thou destroy the world ? " And the storm abated. R. Simeon b. Halaphta was a fat man.* On one hot day he ascended to the top of a mountain to cool himself, with his daughter, telling her to fan him, promising her therefor a tal- ent's worth of nard. In the meantime a wind began to blow, and he said : How many talents' worth of nard is to be given to the Lord of the winds ? And all according to the custom of the country, etc. What does the Mishna mean by adding the word " all " ? It means in places where it is usually the custom to give the laborers, after their meal, a certain measure of beverage, so that the hirer had no right to say to the laborers to bring vessels for this purpose, but provide for them himself. // happened with R. Johaiian b. Mathia, etc. Is not this fact a contradiction to the Mishna's statement ? The Mishna is not completed, and must read thus : If, however, the hirer has promised them food in such places as it is customary to furnish them with food without any promise, it must be con- sidered that he has to furnish them with something better than customary, as it happened with R. Johanan b. Mathia, who said to his son : Go and hire laborers for us. He did so, with the understanding that they should be fed, and when he came to his father, he said to him : " My son," etc., . . . "as they are children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Shall we assume that the meals of Abraham were better than those of Solomon ? Is it not written [I. Kings, iv. 22, 23] : " And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty kors of fine flour and sixty kors of meal, ten fatted oxen, and twenty pas- ture oxen, and a hundred sheep, besides harts, and roebucks,