Chagigah

before the world was created, but were not created: the Holy One, blessed be He, arose and planted them1 in every generation, and it is they who are the insolent2 of each generation. But R. Nahman b. Isaac said: The words, Asher Kummetu,3 indicate blessing: these are the scholars who wrinkle themselves4 over the words of the Torah in this world, [wherefore] the Holy One, blessed be He, shall reveal a secret to them in the world to come, for it is said: ‘To whom a secret5 is poured out as a stream’. Samuel said to R. Hiyya b. Rab: O son of a great man,6 come, I will tell thee something from those excellent things which thy father has said. Every day ministering angels are created from the fiery stream, and utter song, and cease to be,7 for it is said: They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness.8 Now he differs from R. Samuel b. Nahmani, for R. Samuel b. Nahmani said that R. Jonathan said: From every utterance that goes forth from the mouth of the Holy One, blessed be He, an angel is created,9 for it is said: By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth.10 One verse says: His raiment was as white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool;11 and [elsewhere] it is written: His locks are curled and black as a raven!12 — There is no contradiction: one verse13 [refers to God] in session,14 and the other in war.15 For a Master said: In session none is more fitting than an old man, and in war none is more fitting than a young man. One passage says: His throne was fiery flames;16 and another Passage says: Till thrones were places, and One that was ancient of days did sit!17 — There is no contradiction: one [throne] for Him, and one for David; this is the view of R. Akiba. Said R. Jose the Galilean to him: Akiba, how long wilt thou treat the Divine Presence as profane!18 Rather, [it must mean], one for justice and one for grace.19 Did he accept [this explanation from him, or did he not accept it? — Come and hear: One for justice and one for grace; this is the view of R. Akiba. Said R. Eleazar b. ‘Azariah to him: Akiba, what hast thou to do with Aggadah?20 Cease thy talk, and turn21 to [the laws concerning defilement through] leprosy-signs and tent-covering!22 Rather, [it must mean] one for a throne and one for a stool; the throne to sit upon, the stool for a footrest, for it is said: The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My foot-rest.23 When R. Dimi came,24 he said: Eighteen curses did Isaiah pronounce upon Israel, yet he was not pacified25 until he pronounced upon them this verse: The child shall behave insolently against the aged, and the base against the honourable.26 Which are the eighteen curses? — It is written: For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah stay and staff every stay of bread, and every stay of water,’ the mighty man, and the man of war; the judge and the prophet, and the diviner, and the elder; the captain of fifty; and the man of rank, and the counsellor, and the wise charmer, and the skillful enchanter. And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.27 ‘Stay’ — this means the masters of the Bible.28 ‘Staff’ — this means the masters of the Mishnah, like R. Judah b. Tema and his colleagues. R. Papa and our Rabbis dispute therein: one says that there were29 six hundred orders of the Mishnah, and the other that there were seven hundred orders of the Mishnah.30 ‘Every stay of bread’ — this means the masters of Talmud,31 for it is said: Come, eat of My bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.32 ‘And every stay of water’ — this means the masters of Aggadah, who draw the heart of man like water by means of the Aggadah. ‘The ‘mighty man’ — this means the masters of traditions.33 ‘And the man of war’ — this means one who knows how to dispute34 in the warfare of the Torah. ‘The judge — this means a judge who passes judgment in strictest accord with truth — ‘The prophet’ — according to the literal meaning of the word. ‘The diviner’ — this means the King, for it is said: A divine sentence is in the lips of the King.35 ‘The elder’ — this means one who is worthy to sit in session.36 ‘The captain of fifty’: do not read ‘the captain of fifty’ but ‘the captain of the Pentateuch’;37 it means one who knows how to argue in the five books of the Torah. Another explanation: ‘the captain of fifty’ — as R. Abbahu [taught]. For R. Abbahu said. From here [we learn] that a Methurgeman38 may not be appointed over a congregation, who is less than fifty years of age. ‘And a man of rank’ — this means one for whose sake favour is shown to his [entire] generation, like R. Hanina b. Dosa,39 for instance, on high;40 [or] below,41 like R. Abbahu at the court of Caesar.42 ‘The counsellor’ — [this means] one who knows how to determine the intercalation of years43 and the fixation of months.44 ‘And the wise [man]’45 -this means a disciple who makes his teachers wise. ‘Charmer’ — at the moment that he begins a Torah46 — discourse, all become dumb. ‘And the skillful [‘man]’47 — this means one who understands one thing from another.48 ‘Enchanter’ — this means one who is worthy to have imparted to him the words of the Torah, which was given in a whisper.49 ‘And I will give children to be their princes’: what is the meaning of [the words], ‘I will give children to be their princes’? R. Eleazar said: It means persons who are empty50 of good deeds.51 ‘And babes shall rule over them’. R. Aha52 b. Jacob said: [It means] foxes sons of foxes.53 ‘But he was not pacified54 until he said to them: The child shall behave insolently against the aged’: — those persons who are empty of good deeds shall behave insolently against such as are filled with good deeds55 as a pomegranate [with seeds]. ‘And the base against the honourable’: those to whom weighty [precepts] appear as light ones56 will come and behave insolently against those to whom light [precepts] appear as weighty ones.57 R. Kattina said: Even at the time of Jerusalem's downfall honest men did not cease from among them, for it is said: For a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father: ‘Thou hast a mantle, be thou our ruler’!58 Matters on account of which men hide themselves as in a garment59 thou hast ‘under thy hand’.60 And this ruin:61 what is the meaning of [the expression] ‘and this ruin’? — Matters which people do not grasp unless they stumble over them62 are under thy hand’. In that day shall he take63 [an oath], saying: I am not64 a healer, for in my house is neither bread nor a mantle; ye shall not make me ruler of a people.65 — Shall he take, ‘Take’ expresses an oath, for it is said: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God [in vain].66 I am not a healer:’ I was67 not of those who are bound to the Schoolhouse.68 For in my house is neither bread not a mantle, — for I possess no knowledge of Bible or Mishnah or Gemara, But perhaps that case69 is different; for had he said to them, I have knowledge, they would have said to him, Tell us then! — He could have answered that he had learnt but had forgotten; why then does it say: ‘I am not a healer’? [It must mean], I am not a healer at all.70 But is it so? Behold Raba said: Jerusalem was not destroyed until honest men ceased therefrom, for it is said: Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that doeth justly, that seeketh truth;71 and I will pardon him.72 — There is no contradiction: were few, so He arose and planted them in every generation’. Another reading has ‘banished them’, but the meaning remains unchanged (v. Tosaf. a.I.). brow)’ as well as ‘to press forward’ (as above). Levy and Goldschmidt render by ‘sich zusammendrangen’ (press themselves together, limit themselves). hymn, and expire With the song's irresistible stress’, synagogue during Passover) when God appeared as a warrior (cf. Ex. XV, 3). implies a duality of character on the part of God, and militates against the fundamental Jewish concept of God's perfect unity. lku vkf, ‘cease and go (elsewhere’). defilement by leprosy and tent-covering form two of the most difficult tractates of the Halachah. be relied upon, but those who gave decisions on the basis of the Mishnah only were called ‘destroyers of the world’ (Sot. 22a); cf. supra p. 50. Thus, the masters of the Talmud were, so to speak, as essential to Israel as bread itself. by teacher to disciple. These tradents of legal traditions were veritable living ‘books of reference’. financial transaction. Here it is used in the transferred sense of being able to deal with the argumentation essential to the study of the Torah. A distinction is here drawn between the keen-minded debater (‘the man of war’) and the expert in traditions (‘the mighty man’): the latter is remarkable chiefly for his learning, the former is distinguished for his reasoning power and mental acumen. 521. son; Yet is Hanina, my son, satisfied with a kab of carobs from Sabbath eve to Sabbath eve’. Cf. also Ber. V, 5. the wrong seasons, it was necessary periodically to adjust the lunar calendar to the solar year: this was achieved by introducing an intercalary month (Adar II) between Adar and Nisan. V., further, Sanh. 2a (Sonc. ed., p. 1) and 10a (p. 42f); also J.E. vol. III, p. 498f. round the earth in approx. twenty-nine and a half days, the Jewish months consists, alternately, of twenty-nine or thirty days. Gemara interprets ‘wise’ and ‘charmer’ as a composite phrase referring to two distinct types. Scripture; cf. Aboth I, 1 (Sonc. ed., p. 1, n., 1). whom are handed over the secrets of the Law which are communicated in a low voice’. Cf. p. 75 and nn. 4 and 5. means, shaken out, emptied’. ‘double foxes i.e,, second generation of foxes. rgb (‘child’ i.e., one empty of good deeds). Note also that zaken is explained elsewhere as one who is both learned (v. Sifra Kedoshim Par. 3’ Ch. VII, and Kid. 32b) and practised in the Torah and its precepts (v. Ber. 39a). Cf. also p. 109 (The Elder). present tense, is here understood as having a past meaning, viz,, ‘I used not to be’, falsehood could easily have been detected.