Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 9, scan section 58

''Peace to you, my master and teacher." Then Rabbi Jehoshua said: ** I need shelter." And he answered: "Take it here in peace." They then occupied themselves with the study of the Law until evening. In the morning he told him : " Rabbi, I would like to take a bath." And he rejoined : " Do as you please." R. Jehoshua, how- ever, was afraid that he would beat him. When he re- turned from the bath, they ate and drank. When he desired to leave, he said : " Who will accompany me ? " And the host said : " I will." R. Jehoshua then thought TRACT DERECH ERETZ— RABBA. n to himself : " What information can I give to the sages who sent me here?" He then looked backward, and when he asked him : " Rabbi, what are you looking for ? " he answered : " I would like to question you about one thing. Why did you beat others who came to your house with stripes, and you did not do so to me ?" He rejoined : " You are my master. You are a great sage, and of course your manners are refined. The other men, however, that came to me, I told to eat and drink, and they vowed by the Torah that they would not, and afterwards they disregarded their vow ; and I have heard from the sages that one who vows by the Torah and dis- regards his vows is to be punished with forty stripes." He then answered : ** Be thou blessed by Heaven, that thou hast done so. I swear by thy life that he who thus conducts himself deserves that thou give him forty stripes in thy name, and another forty in the name of the sages who sent me to investigate thy method." R. Jehoshua then came back and informed the sages of what he had discovered in Simeon Antiptaris. A man shall never be angry at his meals. It happened with Hillel the First that he invited a man to a meal. In the meantime a poor man came and stood at his door, and said to his wife : "I am to marry to-day, and I have nothing in my house." His wife then took the meal she had prepared for the house, and gave it to him. She then kneaded a new dough, and cooked other dishes, and served them before her husband and the guest. Hillel said then to her : ** My child, what is the reason of the delay?" And she related to him what happened. He then remarked: ''My daughter, I have also judged you from the favorable side, because it is known to me that all that you do is for the sake of Heaven." Corner-tithe for the poor is not set aside in the cook- ing-pot, but in the dish. It happened with R. Jehoshua, etc. (See Erubin, pp. 120, 121, for the whole legend repeated here.) 12 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. Always shall a man try to agree with the majority of the people (this is explained in Khethuboth, p. i63, and will be translated there). For the first meal-benediction, the hard part and not the soft part of the bread is to be used. Never shall a man hold a slice of bread of the size of an egg and bite from it, and one who does so is called a glutton ; and one shall not drain his cup of wine at a draught (see Pesachim, p. 171), and if he does so he is considered a glutton. But how shall he do .'* If he does it in two draughts, it is respectable ; if in three, it is considered putting on airs. One shall not begin to eat the heads, but the leaves of garlic or onions. If he does so, he also is called a glutton. One shall not drink two cups of wine before the after-meal benediction (and subsequently pronounce the benediction without a goblet, but he shall leave one goblet for the benediction. The commentaries explained this otherwise, the reason being that there should be no *' pairs " — see Betzah, p. 49 — but we cannot agree with them) ; if he do so, he can be taken for a glutton. CHAPTER VII. When two are sitting at the table, the elder one com- mences to eat first and the younger one after him ; and if the younger commences first, he is a glutton. It hap- pened that R. Aqiba prepared a meal for his disciples consisting of two dishes of meat, one half-roasted and the other one well cooked. The half-roasted was served first ; the most sensible of them took the whole piece into his one hand and with his other hand he tried to break off some part of it, but could not, and he placed it back and ate bread alone. One of them, who was less sensible, took the whole piece and bit off a piece. Said R. Aqiba to him : " Not so, my son. Put thy foot on it in the dish, and then you will probably succeed better." Finally, the TRACT DERECH ERETZ— RABBA. 13 well-cooked meat was served, and they ate and were satis- fied. Then said R. Aqiba to them : " My children, I did all that to see whether you had refined manners." One shall not eat before the fourth hour, neither shall he take a bath prior to that hour. Hot water in large quantities is injurious to one's body, but in small ones is beneficial. The same is the case with wine. Three things are equal one to the other : wisdom, fear of God, and modesty. One shall not rejoice among those who are weeping, neither shall he weep among those who rejoice ; he shall not be awake among those who are asleep, nor shall he sleep among those who are awake ; he shall not be standing among those who are seated, nor shall he be seated among those who are standing. This is the rule : One shall not have different manners from those of his friends and of people in general among whom he is. CHAPTER Vni. One who enters a house shall not ask for food, but shall wait until invited. When the goblet is filled, he shall drink it slowly. What is meant by slowly ? If it is a cold beverage — in four draughts ; if a warm beverage — in three. Said R. Jehudah : This applies to the goblets of Galilee, but as regards the goblets of Judah, which were larger, he may drink it as slow as he pleases. One must not say to his friend : " Come and eat with me, as I did with you," for it gives the impression that he wants to repay with interest. In Jerusalem, however, they invited each other in turn. One shall not send to his friend a barrel of wine with oil on the top thereof, because a serious accident may result from it. It actually hap- pened that one invited his friends to his son's wedding, and when going down to his cellar to get wine, he noticed that the barrel had oil (on the top, and thinking that it 14 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. was all filled with oil) he hanged himself for shame, and died. Hence the above warning is given. One should not say to his neighbor, " Take oil from that jug and anoint thyself," knowing that it is empty (even when knowing that the man has no habit of anoint- ing himself), because he puts the man under obligation to him for nothing. The same holds good of food : one should not ask his neighbor to take a meal with him when