Taanit

because there are so many in Mahuza.1 Ilfa and R. Johanan studied together the Torah and they found themselves in great want and they said one to another, Let us go and engage in commerce so that of us may be fulfilled the verse, Howbeit there shall be no need among you.2 They went and sat down under a ruinous wall and while they were having their meal two ministering angels came and R. Johanan overheard one saying to the other, Let us throw this wall upon these [people] and kill them, because they forsake life eternal and occupy themselves with life temporal. The other [angel] replied: Leave them alone because one of them has still much to achieve.3 R. Johanan heard this but Ilfa did not. Whereupon R. Johanan said to Ilfa, Master, have you heard anything? He replied: No. Thereupon R. Johanan said to himself: Seeing that I heard this and Ilfa has not, it is evident that I am the one who still has much to achieve. R. Johanan then said to Ilfa: I will go back, that of me may be fulfilled, For the poor shall never cease out of the land.4 Thereupon R. Johanan went back but Ilfa did not. When [at last] Ilfa returned, R. Johanan was already presiding over the school, and the scholars said to him: Had you remained here and studied the Torah you might have been presiding.5 Ilfa then suspended himself from the mast of a ship and exclaimed, If there is any one who will ask me a question from the Baraithas of R. Hiyya and R. Hoshaiah and I fail to elucidate it from the Mishnah then I will throw myself down and be drowned [in the sea]. And an old man came forward and cited the following Baraitha: If a man [in his last will and testament] declares, Give a shekel weekly to my sons, but actually they needed a sela’6 then they should be given a sela’; but if he declared, Give them a shekel only, then they should be given a shekel. If, however, he declared, On their death others should inherit [their allowance] in their stead, then whether he has declared ‘give’ or ‘give only’ they are given a shekel only.7 He replied: This is in accordance with the view of R. Meir who said: It is a duty to carry out the will of a dying man.8 It is related of Nahum of Gamzu9 that he was blind in both his eyes, his two hands and legs were amputated — and his whole body was covered with boils and he was lying in a dilapidated house on a bed the feet of which were standing in bowls of water in order to prevent the ants from crawling on to him. On one occasion his disciples desired to remove the bed and then clear the things out of the house, but he said to them, My children, first clear out the things [from the house] and then remove my bed for I am confident that so long as I am in the house it will not collapse. They first cleared out the things and then they removed his bed and the house [immediately] collapsed. Thereupon his disciples said to him, Master, since you are wholly righteous, why has all this befallen you? and he replied, I have brought it all upon myself. Once I was journeying on the road and was making for the house of my father-in-law and I had with me three asses, one laden with food, one with drink and one with all kinds of dainties, when a poor man met me and stopped me on the road and said to me, Master, give me something to eat. I replied to him, Wait until I have unloaded something from the ass; I had hardly managed to unload something from the ass when the man died [from hunger]. I then went and laid myself on him and exclaimed, May my eyes which had no pity upon your eyes become blind, may my hands which had no pity upon your hands be cut off, may my legs which had no pity upon your legs be amputated, and my mind was not at rest until I added, may my whole body be covered with boils. Thereupon his pupils exclaimed, ‘Alas! that we see you in such a sore plight’. To this he replied, ‘Woe would it be to me did you not see me in such a sore plight’. Why was he called Nahum of Gamzu? — Because whatever befell him he would declare, This also is for the best. Once the Jews desired to send to the Emperor a gift and after discussing who should go they decided that Nahum of Gamzu should go because he had experienced many miracles. They sent with him a bag full of precious stones and pearls. He went and spent the night in a certain inn and during the night the people in the inn arose and emptied the bag and filled it up with earth. When he discovered this next morning he exclaimed, This also is for the best. When he arrived at his destination and they undid his bag they found that it was full of earth. The king thereupon desired to put them10 all to death saying, The Jews are mocking me. Nahum then exclaimed, This also is for the best. Whereupon Elijah appeared in the guise of one of them11 and remarked, Perhaps this is some of the earth of their father Abraham,12 for when he threw earth [against the enemy] it turned into swords and when [he threw] stubble it changed into arrows, for it is written, His sword maketh them as dust, his bow as the driven stubble.13 Now there was one province which [the emperor had hitherto] not been able to conquer but when they tried some of this earth [against it] they were able to conquer it. Then they took him [Nahum] to the royal treasury and filled his bag with precious stones and pearls and sent him back with great honour. When on his return journey he again spent the night in the same inn he was asked, What did you take [to the king] that they showed you such great honour? He replied, I brought thither what I had taken from here. [The innkeepers] thereupon razed the inn to the ground and took of the earth to the king and they said to him, The earth that was brought to you belonged to us. They tested it and it was not found to be [effective] and the innkeepers were thereupon put to death. WHAT CONSTITUTES PLAGUE? IF IN A CITY THAT CAN SUPPLY FIVE HUNDRED FOOT-SOLDIERS etc. Our Rabbis have taught: If in a city that can supply fifteen hundred foot-soldiers, as for example Kefar Acco,14 nine deaths take place in three consecutive days, this constitutes plague; if, however, these deaths take place in one day or in four days it is not plague. And if in a city that can supply five hundred foot-soldiers, as for example, Kefar-Amiko,15 three deaths take place in three consecutive days this constitutes plague; if, however, they take place in one day or in four days it is not plague. account of its proximity to the capital Ktesifon, v. Obermeyer, p. 174.] and the Gemara explains it to be the combination of od ‘also’, and uz ‘this’.