Chagigah

I can have repeated sexual connections without [causing] bleeding;1 or is perhaps the case of Samuel rare?2 He replied: the case of Samuel is rare, but we do consider [the possibility] that she may have conceived in a bath.3 But behold Samuel said: A spermatic emission that does not shoot forth like an arrow cannot fructify! — In the first instance, it had also shot forth like an arrow. Our Rabbis taught: Once R. Joshua b. Hanania was standing on a step on the Temple Mount, and Ben Zoma saw him and did not stand up before him.4 So [R. Joshua] said to him: Whence and whither, Ben Zoma?5 He replied: I was gazing between the upper and the lower waters,6 and there is only a bare three fingers’ [breadth] between them, for it is said: And the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters7 — like a dove which hovers over her young without touching [them].8 Thereupon R. Joshua said to his disciples: Ben Zoma is still outside.9 See now, when was it that ‘the spirit of God hovered over the face of the water? On the first day [of Creation]; but the division took place on the second day, for it is written: And let it divide the waters from the waters!’ And how big [is the interval]? R. Aha b. Jacob said, As a hair's breadth; and the Rabbis said: As [between] the boards of a landing bridge. Mar Zutra, or according to others R. Assi, said: As [between] two cloaks spread one over the other; and others say, as [between] two cups tilted one over the other. 10 Aher mutilated the shoots.11 Of him Scripture says: Suffer not thy mouth to bring thy flesh into guilt.12 What does it refer to? — He saw that permission was granted to Metatron13 to sit and write down14 the merits of Israel. Said he: It is taught as a tradition that on high15 there is no sitting16 and no emulation, and no back,17 and no weariness.18 Perhaps, — God forfend! — there are two divinities! [Thereupon] they led Metatron forth, and punished him with sixty fiery lashes,19 saying to him: Why didst thou not rise before him when thou didst see him? Permission was [then] given to him to strike out the merits of Aher. A Bath Kol20 went forth and said: Return, ye backsliding children21 — except Aher.22 [Thereupon] he said: Since I23 have been driven forth from yonder world,24 let me go forth and enjoy this world. So Aher went forth into evil courses.25 He went forth, found a harlot and demanded her. She said to him: Art thou not Elisha b. Abuyah? [But] when he tore a radish26 out of its bed on the Sabbath and gave it to her, she said: It is another [Aher].27 After his apostasy, Aher asked R. Meir [a question], saying to him: What is the meaning of the verse: God hath made even the one as28 well as the other?29 He replied: It means that for everything that God created He created [also] its counterpart. He created mountains, and created hills; He created seas, and created rivers. Said [Aher] to him: R. Akiba, thy master, did not explain it thus, but [as follows]: He created righteous, and created wicked; He created the Garden of Eden,30 and created Gehinnom.31 Everyone has two portions, one in the Garden of Eden and one in Gehinnom. The righteous man, being meritorious,32 takes his own portions and his fellow's portion in the Garden of Eden. The wicked man, being guilty,33 takes his own portion and his fellow's portion in Gehinnom. R. Mesharsheya said: What is the Biblical proof for this? In the case of the righteous, it is written: Therefore in their land34 they shall possess double.35 In the case of the wicked it is written: And destroy them with double destruction.36 After his apostasy, Aher asked R. Meir: What is the meaning of the verse: Gold and glass cannot equal it; neither shall the exchange thereof be vessels of fine gold?37 He answered: These are the words of the Torah, which are hard to acquire like vessels of fine gold, but are easily destroyed38 like vessels of glass. Said [Aher] to him: R. Akiba, thy master, did not explain thus, but [as follows]: Just as vessels of gold and vessels of glass, though they be broken, have a remedy,39 even so a scholar, though he has sinned, has a remedy.40 [Thereupon, R. Meir] said to him: Then, thou, too, repent! He replied: I have already heard from behind the Veil:41 Return ye backsliding children — except Aher. Our Rabbis taught: Once Aher was riding on a horse on the Sabbath,42 and R. Meir was walking behind him to learn Torah43 at his mouth. Said [Aher] to him: Meir, turn back, for I have already measured by the paces of my horse that thus far extends the Sabbath limit.44 He replied: Thou, too, go back! [Aher] answered: Have I not already told thee that I have already heard from behind the Veil: ‘Return ye backsliding children’ — except Aher. [R. Meir] prevailed upon him and took him, to a schoolhouse. [Aher] said to a child: Recite for me thy verse!45 [The child] answered: There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.46 He then took him to another schoolhouse.47 [Aher] said to a child: Recite for me thy verse! He answered: For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me, saith the Lord God48 . He took him to yet another schoolhouse, and [Aher] said II, 4, which contains interesting variants. feet’? adherent of the view that water was the primordial matter out of which the world was created, V. also Graetz, Gnosticismus, pp. 57, 97. We have, however, lost the key to enable us to explain with certainty the thought-forms underlying this and similar Talmudic passages.] For an illuminating article on the character, activities and identity of Metatron, v. J.E. vol. VIII, p. 519. down etc.’ (Jast.). order, was known to Maim. (Comm. on Mishnah Sanhedrin, ch. 10); but Rashi deletes the words ‘no standing’. ‘no division’. that M. had no more power than others (Tosaf.). all historic worth to the story given here, which, on account of its reference to Metatron — which he declares to be a specifically Babylonian idea — and its lack of connection with the introductory words, he declares to be of late origin. Ginzberg prefers the parallel account in J. Hag. II, l, where it is related that when Elisha saw a scholar he slew him, that he enticed the young from studying the Torah, and that he informed against the Jews when they sought to perform the work they were ordered to do on the Sabbath in a manner not to break the Law, These events undoubtedly refer to the period of the Hadrianic persecutions. In the J.T. two reasons are mentioned for his apostasy: according to some, he saw one man break the precept of Deut. XXII, 7, without coming to harm, and another observe it and get killed; according to others, he saw the tongue of the great scholar R. Judah Nahtum in the mouth of a dog. The J.T. also gives a different version of the verses discussed by Elisha with R. Meir, and of what R. Meir said on his master's death (v. J.E. vol. VIII, p. 434). moral depravity and apostasy. vile thing (cf. rjt rcs). V. p. 91, n. 3. nature R. Akiba understands it to speak of moral contrasts with their consequent reward and punishment. Cf. n. 6. origin). For other derivations v. Levy s.v. Here pargod denotes the ‘curtain of heaven’ and corresponds to Wilon (v. p. 69, n. 5). V. also p. 101. which it is forbidden to go on the day of rest; cf. Shab. XXIV, 5; ‘Er. IV, 3; V, 7. oracle. But above, ‘schoolhouse’ translated tarsn hc, lit., ‘House of study’. For the use of the Synagogue as a school and for the exact signification of the Aramaic terms v. S. Krauss, TA. III, p. 204f.