Eruvin

of a storehouse. As a storehouse is [made] wide below and narrow above so that it may contain the produce,1 so was [the womb of] a woman [made] wide below and narrow above so that it may contain the embryo. ‘And brought her to Adam’ teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, acted as groomsman2 for the first man. From here [you may infer] that a great man should act as groomsman for a minor person and feel no regrets about it. With reference to the view of him who explained: ‘A full face’3 which of them4 walked first? — R. Nahman b. Isaac replied: It is reasonable to assume that the male walked first; for it was taught: No man should walk on a road behind a woman, even if she is his own wife. If she happened [to be in front of] him on a bridge he should leave her on one side;5 and whosoever crosses a river behind a [married]6 woman has no share in the world to come.7 Our Rabbis taught: A man who counts out money for a woman from his hand into hers or from her hand into his, in order that he might look at her, will not be free from the judgment of Gehenna even if he is [in other respects] like our Master Moses who received the law at Mount Sinai; and concerning him Scripture said: Hand to hand,8 he will not be free from evil9 [which means,] he will not be free from the judgment of Gehenna. R. Nahman said: Manoah was an ignorant man,10 since it is said: And Manoah arose, and went after his wife.11 R. Nahman b. Isaac demurred: Now then, since in the case of Elkanah it is written ‘And Elkanah went after his wife’,12 was he13 also [an ignorant man]?14 Or in the case of Elisha, since it is written in Scripture: And he arose, and followed her,15 was he13 also an ignorant man?16 But [the meaning is] ‘after her words and her counsel’ so here also17 [could it not be explained:] ‘After her words and her counsel’?18 Said R. Ashi: On R. Nahman's assumption that19 Manoah was an ignorant man,20 he did not attend even a school for Scripture, for it is written: And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man,21 but they did not precede the man. R. Johanan remarked: [Let one walk] behind a lion but not behind a [married] woman; behind a [married] woman but not behind an idol,22 behind an idol but not behind a synagogue at the time the congregation23 is praying.24 R. Jeremiah b. Eleazar further stated: In all those years25 during which Adam26 was under the ban he begot ghosts and male demons and female demons,27 for it is said in Scripture: And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years and begot a son in his own likeness, after his own image,28 from which it follows that until that time he did not beget after his own image. An objection was raised: R. Meir said: Adam was a great saint. When he saw that through him death was ordained as a punishment he spent a hundred and thirty years in fasting, severed connection with his wife for a hundred and thirty years, and wore clothes of fig [leaves] on his body for a hundred and thirty years.29 — That statement30 was made in reference to the semen which he emitted accidentally. R. Jeremiah b. Eleazar further stated: Only a part of a man's praise may be said in his presence, but all of it in his absence. ‘Only a part of a man's praise . . . in his presence’, for it is written in Scripture: For thee have I seen righteous before Me in this generation;31 ‘but all of it in his absence’, for it is written in Scripture: Noah was in his generations a man righteous and wholehearted. 32 R. Jeremiah b. Eleazar further stated: What [was signified] when it was written: And lo in her mouth an olive-leaf freshly plucked?33 The dove said to the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘May my food be as bitter as the olive but entrusted to your hand rather than sweet as honey and dependent on a mortal’;34 for here33 it is written ‘freshly plucked’35 and elsewhere it is written: Feed me36 with mine allotted bread.37 R. Jeremiah b. Eleazar further stated: Any house in which the words of the Torah are heard at night38 will never be destroyed; for it is said in Scripture: But none saith: ‘Where is God my Maker39 who40 giveth songs41 in the night’.42 R. Jeremiah b. Eleazar further stated: Since the Sanctuary was destroyed43 it is enough for the world44 to use45 only two letters46 [of the Tetragrammaton],47 for it is said in Scripture: Let every thing48 that hath breath praise the Lord,46 praise ye the Lord.49 R. Jeremiah b. Eleazar further stated: When Babylon was cursed, her neighbours also were cursed,50 but when Samaria was cursed her neighbours were blessed.50 ‘When Babylon was cursed her neighbours also were cursed’, for it is written: I will also make it a possession for the bittern, and pools of water;51 ‘but when Samaria was cursed her neighbours were blessed’, for it is written: Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the field, received the Law in his hand from God's hand. himself cut off from the congregation of Israel.