Yoma

Nobody may sit down in the [Temple] Court except the kings of the house of David alone, as it is said: Then David the king went in and sat before the Lord?1 — It is as R. Hisda had explained [elsewhere]: In the women's court, so also here. ‘In the women's court’. — Where was R. Hisda's statement made? — In connection with the following: An objection was raised, it was taught: Where did they read therein?2 In the Temple. R. Eliezer b. Jacob said: On the Temple Mount, as it is said: And he read therein before the broad place that was before the water gate;3 and R. Hisda said: In the women's court.4 And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God.5 What does ‘great’ imply? — R. Joseph said in the name of Rab: He magnified Him by [pronouncing] the Ineffable Name.6 R. Giddal said: [He recited], Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting.7 Said Abaye to R. Dimi: But perhaps it means that he magnified Him by [pronouncing] the Ineffable Name? — He answered: One does not pronounce the Ineffable Name outside [the limits of the Temple]. But may one not? Is it not written: And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose. [. . . and Ezra praised the great God].8 And R. Giddal [commenting thereupon] said: He magnified Him by [pronouncing] the Ineffable Name?-That was a decision in an emergency.9 And [they] cried with a great [loud] voice unto the Lord, their God.10 What did they cry? — Woe, woe, it is he11 who has destroyed the Sanctuary, burnt the Temple, killed all the righteous, driven all Israel into exile, and is still dancing around among us! Thou hast surely given him to us so that we may receive reward through him.12 We want neither him, nor reward through him! Thereupon a tablet fell down from heaven for them, whereupon the word ‘truth’13 was inscribed. (R. Hanina said: One may learn therefrom that the seal of the Holy One, blessed be He, is truth). They ordered a fast of three days and three nights, whereupon he11 was surrendered to them. He came forth from the Holy of Holies like a young fiery lion. Thereupon the Prophet said to Israel: This is the evil desire of idolatry, as it is said: And he said: This is wickedness.14 As they took hold of him a hair of his beard fell out, he raised his voice and it went [was audible] four hundred parasangs. Thereupon they said: How shall we act? Perhaps, God forbid, they might have mercy upon him from heaven! — The prophet said unto them: Cast him into a leaden pot, closing its opening with lead. Because lead absorbs the voice, as it is said: And he said: This is wickedness. And he cast her down into the midst of the measure, and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.14 They said: Since this is a time of Grace, let us pray for mercy for the Tempter to evil.15 They prayed for mercy, and he was handed over to them. He said to them: Realize that if you kill him, the world goes down. They imprisoned him for three days, then looked in the whole land of Israel for a fresh egg and could not find it.16 Thereupon they said: What shall we do now? Shall we kill him? The world would then go down. Shall we beg for half-mercy?17 They do not grant ‘halves’ in heaven.17 They put out his eyes and let him go. It helped inasmuch as he no more entices men to commit incest.18 In the West [Palestine] they taught it thus: R. Giddal said: [And Ezra praised...the] great [God]:19 i.e., he magnified Him by pronouncing the Ineffable Name. R. Mattena said: He said: The great, the mighty, and the awful God.20 The interpretation of R. Mattena seems to agree with what R. Joshua b. Levi said: For R. Joshua b. Levi said: Why were they called men of the Great Synod? Because they restored the crown of the divine attributes to its ancient completeness.21 [For] Moses had come and said: The great God, the mighty, and the awful.22 Then Jeremiah came and said: Aliens are destroying23 His Temple. Where are, then, His awful deeds? Hence he omitted24 [the attribute] the ‘awful’. Daniel came and said: Aliens are enslaving his sons. Where are His mighty deeds? Hence he omitted the word25 ‘mighty’. But they came and said: On the contrary! Therein lie His mighty deeds that He suppresses His wrath,26 that He extends long-suffering to the wicked. Therein lie His awful powers: For but for the fear of Him, how could one [single] nation persist among the [many] nations! But how could [the earlier] Rabbis27 abolish something established by Moses? R. Eleazar said: Since they knew that the Holy One, blessed be He, insists on truth, they would not ascribe false [things] to Him.28 AND HE READ: AFTER THE DEATH’ AND ‘HOWBEIT ON THE TENTH DAY’: A question was raised: One may skip in reading from the Prophets, but one may not skip in reading from the Torah!29 — That is no difficulty: The one [prohibition] applies where [the passage skipped is] sufficiently long to interrupt the interpreter, the other where it is not sufficiently long to interrupt the interpreter.30 — But surely it is in connection therewith that it was taught: One may skip in reading from the Prophets, but one may not skip in reading from the Torah; and how much may be skipped [in the Prophets]? So much as is not sufficiently long to interrupt the interpreter. This implies that in reading from the Torah one may not skip at all? — Said Abaye: There is no difficulty: [The permission applies] here, where one theme is concerned, [the prohibition] there, where two themes are concerned.31 Thus also it was taught: One may skip in the reading from the Torah, if the theme be one and same, in reading from the Prophets, even if two themes be involved; in each case, however, only when it is not sufficiently long to interrupt the interpreter. Nor may one skip from one Prophetical Book to another, but in case of one of the twelve Minor Prophets one may skip even [from one Book to another], sufficiently at home there to be permitted to sit down in the Temple Court, as Scripture indicates. court. An objection was raised: Where did they read therein? In the (Temple) Court . . . water-gate? — Said R. Hisda, In the women's court’. Ronsburg (Glosses) deletes ‘An objection was raised’. In any case our present text seems to be a conflation of two readings]. and generally held identical with the Tetragrammaton uttered as written, v. Sanh., Sonc. ed., p. 408, n. I]. adduced in explanation of the emergency referred to, the incident in the first verse having taken place on the first of the seventh month, whilst that of the second verse on the twenty-fourth. Var. lec. accordingly omit the first quotations from ibid. VIII, 4 and substitute in its place the second verse ibid. IX, 4; v. Bah.] race depends upon it. So does human food. The people who found themselves with the opportunity to destroy the temptation of flesh-love discovered that, when the genius of sex-love is cancelled, no eggs are available. tempter lives to tempt. But by depriving its flame of its major glare, by keeping it within lawful limits, one promotes domesticity and prevents depravity. his interpretation of the passage just read, the interpreter would have to stop to await the reading of the new Hebrew passage, well and good. For to keep the congregation waiting for the continuation of the service is unseemly. But ‘Howbeit on the tenth day’ is so near Lev. XVI, that before the interpreter would have concluded his Aramaic interpretation of the last Hebrew passage, the new passage would have been started and read, for him to interpret without loss of time. keep the congregation waiting — deal with two subjects, one shall not skip from one to another, because closer attention is necessary for an understanding of the laws of the Torah. But where one subject only is involved, as in the reading on the Day of Atonement, such skipping is permitted. Meg. 24a.