Yoma

and from what belongs1 to you will you be given. No man can touch what is prepared for his fellow and ‘One kingdom does not interfere with the other2 even to the extent of one hair's breadth’.3 HYGROS OF THE TRIBE OF LEVI etc. It was taught: When he tuned his voice to a trill, he would put his thumb into his mouth and place his finger [on the division line] between the two parts of the moustache, so that his brethren, the priests, staggered backward with a sudden movement. 4 Our Rabbis taught: Ben Kamzar would not teach anything about [his art of] writing. It was said about him that he would take four pens between his fingers and if there was a word of four letters5 he would write it at once. They said to him: ‘What reason have you for refusing to teach it?’ All found an answer for their matter [attitude]. Ben Kamzar could not find one. Concerning [all] former ones it is said: ‘The memory of the righteous shall be for a blessing’, with regard to Ben Kamzar and his like it is said: ‘But the name of the wicked shall rot’ — What is the meaning of ‘But the name of the wicked shall rot’? — R. Eleazar said: Rottenness enters their names, none name their children after them. Rabina raised an objection: The story of Doeg b. Joseph whom his father left to his mother when he was a young child: Every day his mother would measure him by handbreadths6 and would give his [extra] weight in gold to the Sanctuary. And when the enemy prevailed, she slaughtered him and ate him, and concerning her Jeremiah lamented: Shall the women eat their fruit, their children that are handled in the hands?7 Whereupon the Holy Spirit replied: Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the Sanctuary of the Lord?8 — See what happened to him!9 R. Eleazar said: The righteous man is remembered by his own [good deeds], the wicked [also] by those of his fellow. [Proof that] the righteous [is remembered] by his own [good deeds], for it is written: ‘The memory of the righteous shall be for a blessing’. The wicked [is remembered also] by his associate[‘s wickedness], for it is written: ‘But the name of the wicked [pl.] shall rot.’ — Rabina said to one of the Rabbis who expounded Aggada before him: Whence is this statement, which the Rabbis mention: The memory of the righteous shall be for a blessing? — He replied: It is a scriptural verse: ‘The memory of the righteous shall be for a blessing.’ Whence, in the Torah, may that teaching be derived? — From what is written: Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am doing?10 And it is [there] also written: Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation.11 [He asked further]: Whence do we know this matter, which the Rabbis mention: But the name of the wicked shall rot? — He replied: It is a scriptural verse: ‘But the name of the wicked shall rot’. Whence, in the Torah, may this teaching be derived?-From what is written: And he moved his tent as far as Sodom,12 and it is written: Now the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners against the Lord exceedingly.13 R. Eleazar said: A righteous man once lived between two wicked men and did not learn from their deeds, a wicked man lived between two righteous men and did not learn from their ways — The righteous who lived between two wicked men and did not learn from their wicked ways was Obadiah.14 The wicked man living between two righteous men and not learning from their ways was Esau. R. Eleazar [also] said: From the blessing of the righteous you can infer the curse for the wicked and from the curse of the wicked you may infer the blessing for the righteous — From the blessing of the righteous you can infer the curse for the wicked, as it is written: For I have known him, to the end that he may command,15 and [soon] after that it is written: And the Lord said: Verily the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great.16 From the curse of the wicked you can infer the blessing for the righteous,for it is written: Now the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners against the Lord exceedingly.17 And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him . . . [all the land, which thou seest, to thee will I give . . .]18 R. Eleazar further said: Even for the sake of a single righteous man would this world have been created for it is said: And God saw the light that it was [for one who is] good,19 and ‘good’ means but the righteous, as it is said: Say ye of the righteous that he is the good one. 20 R. Eleazar said also: Whoever forgets [through neglect] any part of his study, causes his children to go into exile, as it is said: Seeing that thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I also will forget thy children.21 R. Abbahu said: Such a one is deprived of his greatness, as it is said: Because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me. 22 R. Hiyya b. Abba said in the name of R. Johanan: No righteous man dies out of this world, before another, like himself, is created,23 as it is said: The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down24 , — before the sun of Eli set, the sun of Samuel of Ramathaim rose. R. Hiyya b. Abba also said in the name of R. Johanan: The Holy One, blessed be He, saw that the righteous are but few, therefore He planted them throughout all generations, as it is said: For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and He hath set the world upon them.25 R. Hiyya b. Abba said also in the name of R. Johanan: Even for the sake of a single righteous man does the world endure, as it is said: But the righteous is the foundation of the world.26 R. Hiyya himself infers this from here: He will keep the feet of His holy ones’27 ‘Holy ones’ means many? — R. Nahman b. Isaac said: It is written: His holy’ one.27 R. Hiyya b. Abba said further in the name of R. Johanan: When the majority of a man's years have passed without sin, he will no more sin, as it is said: ‘He will keep the feet of His holy ones’. In the school of Shila it was taught that if the opportunity for sin has come to a man the first and the second time and he resisted, he will never sin, as it is said: ‘He will keep the feet of His holy ones’. 28 Resh Lakish said: What is the meaning of: If it concerneth the scorners He scorneth them, but unto the humble He giveth grace?29 i.e., if a man comes to defile himself, the doors are opened to him, but if he comes to purify himself, he is helped. In the school of R. Ishmael it was taught: It is as when a man sells naphtha and balm original meaning, not unknown to the answerer, lamented the destruction by the enemy, of priest and prophet alike. At any rate someone was called Doeg in spite of the first Doeg's bad reputation (I Sam. XXI, 8.) being forgotten. Look what this deviation from cusom brought upon the child. ushxj is in the singular. renders the verse, He preserves (the world) on account of His holy ones (Rashi).]