תענית 5

¹ . Raba said: Once he has begun [to make mention] he should not discontinue. And so said R. Shesheth: Once he has begun he should not discontinue. Rab also retracted his statement. For R. Hananel said in the name of Rab: One counts twenty-one days from New Year and begins to make mention in the same way as one counts Ten Days [of Penitence] from the New Year until the Day of Atonement; and once he has begun he should not discontinue. And the law is, once he has begun he should not discontinue. THE END OF NISAN, AS IT IS SAID: AND HE CAUSETH TO COME DOWN FOR YOU THE RAIN, THE FORMER RAIN AND THE LATTER RAIN, AT THE FIRST. GEMARA. R. Nahman said to R. Isaac: Does then the former rain [fall] in Nisan? The former rain surely [falls] in Marcheshvan. It has been taught: Former rain, [falls] in Marcheshvan and latter rain in Nisan. He replied: Thus said R. Johanan, This verse was fulfilled in the days [of the prophet] Joel, the son of Pethuel, That which the palmer-worm hath left hath the locust eaten etc. In that year, although Adar had passed yet no rain had fallen, and it was not until the first of Nisan that the first rain, came down. Thereupon the prophet said to Israel, ‘Go and sow’ — They replied, If a man has a kab of wheat or two kabim of barley, should he eat them and keep himself alive, or sow them and die? He answered: ‘Despite this, go and sow’ — A miracle happened for them and they discovered whatever [grain] which was hidden [in the chinks of] the walls and in the ant-holes; they proceeded to sow on the second, on the third, and on the fourth and the second rain came down on the fifth of Nisan; on the sixteenth of Nisan they offered the ‘Omer; and thus it so came about that the grain which should take six months to ripen ripened in eleven days. To that generation was applied the scriptural verses, They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. Though he goeth on his way weeping that beareth the measure of seed etc. What is the meaning of, ‘Though he goeth on his way weeping that beareth the measure etc.’? — Rab Judah said: When the ox is ploughing, on his forward journey he weeps, but on his return journey he eats the young green from the furrows — And this is the force of the words, ‘He shall come home with joy’ — What is the meaning of, ‘Bearing his sheaves’? — R. Hisda said: Others say it was taught in a Baraitha: The stalk was then one span and the ear two spans. R. Nahman said to R. Isaac: What is the meaning of the scriptural verse, For the Lord hath called for a famine, and it shall also come upon the land seven years? What had they to eat during these seven years? — He replied: Thus said R. Johanan, In the first year they ate what was stored up in the houses, in the second what was in the fields, in the third the flesh of clean animals, in the fourth the flesh of unclean animals, in the fifth the flesh of forbidden animals and reptiles, in the sixth the flesh of their sons and daughters and in the seventh the flesh of their own arms and thus the verse of Scripture was fulfilled, They eat every man the flesh of his own arms. Further, R. Nahman said to R. Isaac: What is the meaning of the scriptural verse, The Holy One in the midst of thee and I will not come in to the city? [Surely it cannot be that] because the Holy One is in the midst of thee I shall not come into the city! He replied: Thus said R. Johanan: The Holy One, blessed be He, said, ‘I will not enter the heavenly Jerusalem until I can enter the earthly Jerusalem’. Is there then a heavenly Jerusalem?-Yes; for it is written, Jerusalem thou art builded as a city that is compact together. R. Nahman further said to R. Isaac: What is the meaning of the verse, But they are altogether brutish and foolish; the vanities by which they are instructed are but a stock? — He replied: Thus said R. Johanan, There is one thing that brings about the perdition of the wicked in Gehenna and that is, idolatrous worship. Here it is written, ‘The vanities by which they are instructed’ and elsewhere [of the idols] it is written, They are a vanity, a work of delusion. R. Nahman further said to R. Isaac: What is the meaning of the verse, For my people have committed two evils? Were they only two? Has he then ignored the fact that they were twenty-four? — He [R. Isaac] replied: There is one [evil]^{ᵃᵇᶜᵈᵉᶠᵍʰⁱʲᵏˡᵐⁿᵒᵖᵠ}

² which is equal to two, and that is, idolatrous worship, for it is written, For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns. And further it is written, For pass over to the isles of the Kittites, and see, and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently etc. Hath nation changed its gods, which are yet no gods? But my people hath changed its glory for that which doth not profit. A Tanna taught: The Kittites worship fire and the Kedarites water, and although they know that water extinguishes fire they have yet not changed their gods but my people hath changed their God for that which doth not profit. R. Nahman further said to R. Isaac: What is the meaning of the verse, And it came to pass when Samuel was old. Did Samuel ever reach old age? He lived only for fifty-two years. For a Master said: If a man dies in his fifty-second year he is said to have died at the age reached by Samuel, the Ramathite? — He replied: Thus said R. Johanan: Old age came prematurely upon him, for it is written, It repenteth Me that I have set up Saul to be king. Samuel complained before Him: Sovereign of the Universe! You have made me equal to Moses and Aaron, for it is written, Moses and Aaron are amongst His priests, and Samuel among them that call upon His name. As in the case of Moses and Aaron the work of their hands did not come to nought in their lifetime, so too let not the work of my hands come to nought in my lifetime. The Holy One, blessed be He, replied: How shall I act? Shall Saul die? Of this Samuel will not approve. Shall Samuel die young? People will speak ill of him. Shall neither Saul nor Samuel die? The time has come for David to reign and one reign may not encroach on another even by a hair's breadth. Thereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, said: I will make him prematurely old and this is what is written, Now Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the Tamarisk tree in Ramah. How comes Gibeah to Ramah? This is to teach you that it was the prayer of Samuel the Ramathite that was the cause of Saul's two and a half years’ sojourn as king in Gibeah? Should then one man be put aside because of another? — Yes, for R. Samuel b. Nahmani said in the name of R. Jonathan: What is the meaning of the verse, Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth? Scripture does not say, by their works,’ but, ‘by the words of my mouth’, this proves that one may be put aside because of another. R. Nahman and R. Isaac were sitting at a meal and R. Nahman said to R. Isaac: Let the Master expound something. He replied: Thus said R. Johanan: One should not converse at meals lest the windpipe acts before the gullet and his life will thereby be endangered. After they ended the meal he added: Thus said R. Johanan: Jacob our patriarch is not dead. He [R. Nahman] objected: Was it then for nought that he was bewailed and embalmed and buried?-The other replied: I derive this from a scriptural verse, as It is said, Therefore fear thou not, O Jacob, My servant, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel,- for, lo, I will save thee from afar and thy seed from the land of their captivity. The verse likens him [Jacob] to his seed [Israel]; as his seed will then be alive so he too will be alive. R. Isaac said: Whosoever repeats [the name] Rahab, Rahab, becomes immediately subject to an onset of issue. Thereupon R. Nahman said to him: I have repeated it and was not in any way affected. R. Isaac replied: I speak only of one who knew her intimately (and recalls her likeness). When they were about to part, [R. Nahman] said: Pray Master, bless me. He replied: Let me tell you a parable — To what may this be compared? To a man who was journeying in the desert; he was hungry, weary and thirsty and he lighted upon a tree the fruits of which were sweet, its shade pleasant, and a stream of water flowing beneath it; he ate of its fruits, drank of the water, and rested under its shade. When he was about to continue his journey, he said: Tree, O Tree, with what shall I bless thee? Shall I say to thee, ‘May thy fruits be sweet’? They are sweet already; that thy shade be pleasant? It is already pleasant; that a stream of water may flow beneath thee? Lo, a stream of water flows already beneath thee; therefore [I say], ‘May it be [God's] will that all the shoots taken from thee^{ʳˢᵗᵘᵛʷˣʸᶻᵃᵃᵃᵇᵃᶜᵃᵈᵃᵉ}