Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 18, scan section 5

the Themanite, and Bildad the Shuchite, and Zophar the Na'ama- thite may say of all Israel that they have observed all the Laws." They will then exclaim: " Lord of the Universe, give it to us now, and we will observe it." To which they will be answered: " He who has prepared on the Eve of Sabbath, for the Sabbath, will have what to eat. But he who has not prepared, what then will he have to eat on Sabbath? However, I have one easy, meritorious act, it is the Sukka, go and perform it. [Why is it called easy? Because it requires no expense.] Everyone of them, will then prepare a Sukka on his roof, but as soon as the sun heats it, they abandon it, and go away. But did not Rabha say that he who is afflicted by performing the command of Sukka, is free from this obligation? Yea, but not to reject. * Leeser's translation does not correspond. TRACT ABUDA ZARA (IDOLATRY). 5 The Holy One, blessed be He, will then smile upon them. Said R. Itzchak: " There is no smiling with the Holy One, but on that day." There are others who taught the saying of R. Itzchak in the following connection : R. Jose said: In the future heathens will come to convert themselves with the Tephilin on their heads and arms, tchitches on their dresses, mazuzas on their doors. But, as soon as they will see the war of Gog and Magog, and will question them: "With whom do you want to fight?" Whereto the answer will be: With the Lord and his Messiah [as it reads [Psalm ii. 2]: "Against the Lord and his an- ointed"], each of the nations will remove the above, and go away; and the Holy One will smile upon them. It is here that R. Itzchak said : There is no smiling with the Lord, but on that day. But did not R. Jehudah say in the name of Rabh: There are twelve hours in a day, three hours of which the Holy One, blessed be He, is occupied with the Torah. The next three hours. He judges the whole world, and seeing that it is liable to be destroyed. He rises from the chair of judgment and sits down on the chair of mercy. The third three hours, He supports the whole world with food, from the very largest creature to the smallest one. And the last three hours, He plays* with the leviathan, as it reads [Psalm civ. 26]: " Levi- athan, whom thou hast made to sport therein." Said R. Nach- man b. Itzchak: " With His creatures He smiles, but not upon them," R. Aha said to R. Nachman: There is no smiling by the Holy One, since the Temple was destroyed. As it reads [Is. xlii. 14]. t But in the fourth three hours, he teaches the Torah to the school-children. As it reads [ibid, xxviii. 9]: " Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he give to understand doctrine? (to) those that are weaned from the milk, (to) those that are taken from the breasts." And what does He do in the night-time? If you wish, it may be said that He does the same as in the day-time. And if you wish, it may be said that He rides upon His light cloud and moves in all directions upon 18,000 worlds. As it reads [Psalm Ixviii. 18]: "The chariots of God are two myriads; thousands of angels (follow him)." And if you wish, it may be said that He is sitting and * The term for this word is sKhok, which means both sport and smile, hence the objection. f The translation of this verse does not correspond at all, it is therefore of no use to quote it. 6 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. listening to the song of the angels, as [ibid. xlii. 9]: " And in the night his song shall be with me." R. Jehudah said in the name of Samuel: It reads [Hab. i. 14]: " And (why) makest thou men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? " Why- are men compared with fish of the sea? To wit: even as the fish die as soon as they are taken on land, so do men die when they separate themselves from the law of the Torah. Another explanation : as fish die from the strong heat of the sun, so also do men. If you wish it may be said in this world, and this would be in accordance with R. Hanina, who said: " Everything is de- creed by heaven, except cold " (see Middle Gate, p. 285). And if you wish it may be said, in the world to come, and this is in accordance with Resh Lakish, who says : There is no Gehenna in the future. But the Holy One, blessed be He, will take out the sun from its sheath. The wicked will be punished with its heat, and the upright be cured by it. As it reads [Malachi, iii. 19]: " For, behold, the day is coming, which shall burn as an oven ; and all the presumptuous, yea, and all who practice wickedness shall be stubble: and the day that is coming shall see them on fire, . . . who will not leave them root or bough. (20) But there shall rise unto you that fear my name, the sun of righteousness with healing in his wings." Furthermore, the latter will have pleasure and become fat from it, as the end reads, " And ye will go forth, and grown fat as calves of the stall." There is another explanation, " as fish in the sea," the larger one swallows the smaller, so also is it with men, since if not for the fear for government the stronger would swallow the weaker. And this is what a Mishna states: " Pray for the peace of the government," etc. (See Aboth, p. 72.) R. Hinna b. Papa propounded a contradiction to the follow- ing [Job, xxxvii. 23]: " The Almighty we do not find him out excellent in power."* And [Ex. xv. 6]: "Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power." And also [Psalm cxlvii. 5]: " Great is our Lord, and abundant in power" ? This pre- sents no difficulty: At the time of judgment. He does not use his might; but in time of war. He uses it. Rabha said [Job, xxx. 24] : " But doth not a man stretch out * Leaser's translation, according to the sense, does not correspond with the Talmud who takes it literally. TRACT ABUDA ZARA (IDOLATRY). 7 his hand among ruins ? or doth one not cry out therefrom when he meeteth his downfall?" So said the Holy One, blessed be He, to Israel. By judging Israel, I do not treat them in the same manner as I do heathens, which is mentioned in [Is. xxi. 32]: "Overthrown, overthrown. ... I will render it." But I punished them as the picking of a chicken. And according to others: " Even if Israel do but small good deeds, as the picking of chickens in the dunghill, I will combine them into one large sum." Another explanation: "I help them because of their praying to me. And this is what R. Aba said: It reads [Hos. vii. 13]: "Though I desired to redeem them, they yet spoke lies against me." I.e., I thought: I will redeem them by loss of money in this world, for the purpose of rewarding them in the world to come. And they told lies about me. And the same said R. Papa in the name of Rabha: The inferring it from