Yoma

his eye in the cup,1 all incestual intercourse appears to him like a plain;2 the other said: One who indulges in his cup, the entire world appears to him like a plain. 3 Care in the heart, boweth it down.4 R. Ammi and R. Assi [explained it differently], one said: One should force it down,5 the other said: One should tell thereof to others. 5 And dust shall be the serpent's food.6 R. Ammi and R. Assi [disputed its meaning], one said: Even if the serpent were to eat all the delicacies of the world, he would feel therein but the taste of dust; the other said: Even though he ate all the delicacies of the world, his mind would not be at ease until he had eaten dust. It was taught: R. Jose said, Come and see how different the action of human beings is from that of the Holy One, blessed be He. If one of flesh and blood is angry with his neighbour he persecutes him as far as depriving him of his livelihood, but it is different with the Holy One, blessed be He. Although He cursed the serpent, yet when he goes up to the roof, there is his food; if he goes down, there is his food. He cursed Canaan:7 yet he eats what his master eats, drinks what his master drinks. He cursed the woman,8 all are running after her. He cursed the earth, 9 all are feeding from it. We remember the fish which we were wont to eat in Egypt for nought.10 Rab and Samuel [were disputing its meaning], one said: [Fish here means] real fish; the other said: Illicit intercourse.11 One who said it means real fish [explains it so because of] ‘which we were wont to eat’; the other who interprets it as ‘illicit intercourse’, does so because the term ‘for nought’ is used.12 But according to him who said it means ‘intercourse’, does not Scripture read: ‘Which we were wont to eat’? — Scripture uses an euphemism, as it is written: She eateth and wipeth her mouth and saith: I have done no wickedness.13 What does ‘for nought’ mean according to him who says they were real fish? — They were brought to them from public property, for a Master taught: When the Israelites were drawing water, the Holy One, blessed be He, prepared for them in the water little fish for their pitchers. According to him who said ‘real fish’, but with regard to illicit intercourse [he holds] they were not dissolute, it will be quite right that Scripture said: A garden shut up is my sister, etc.14 but according to the view that fishes mean ‘illicit intercourse’, what ‘fountain sealed’ is here? — They were not dissolute with regard to forbidden relations.15 It will be right according to him who interprets it as ‘illicit intercourse’, hence Scripture said: And Moses heard the people weeping for their families,16 i.e., because of the families [relations] with whom they were forbidden to have intercourse; but according to him who interprets it as ‘fish’, what does ‘weeping for their families’ mean? — Both17 are implied. The cucumbers and the melons.18 R. Ammi and R. Assi [were disputing its meaning], one said: They found in the manna the taste of every kind of food, but not the taste of these five;19 the other said: Of all kinds of food they felt both taste and substance, but of these the taste only without the substance. Now the manna was like gad [coriander] seed.20 R. Assi said [it was] round like a seed [of coriander] and white like a pearl. Our Rabbis taught: ‘Gad’ i.e., the manna resembled the seed of flax in its capsules. Others say: ‘Gad’ i.e., it was like a tale, which draws the heart of man, even like water.21 Another [Baraitha] taught: ‘Gad’, because it revealed to Israel whether the child was one of nine months’ pregnancy from the first husband, or of seven months’ [pregnancy] from the second.22 ‘White’,23 because it makes white [cleanses] the sins of Israel. It was taught: R. Jose said: Even as the prophet would tell Israel what is to be found in clefts or holes so would the manna reveal to Israel what is to ‘be found in clefts or holes’. How that? If, e.g., two men came before Moses with a law-suit, one saying: You have stolen my servant, the other saying: You have sold him to me, Moses would say to them: To-morrow judgment will be pronounced. To-morrow, then: If his [the slave's] ‘omer was found in the house of his first master, it was evidence that the other one had stolen him; if it was found in the house of his second master, that was proof that the former had sold him to the latter. Similarly, if a man and a woman came before Moses with a suit, he saying: She acted offensively against me, and she asserting: He acted offensively against me, Moses would say to them: To-morrow judgment will be pronounced. On the morrow: If her ‘omer was found in her husband's house, that was proof that she had acted offensively, but if it was found in her father's house, that was evidence that he had acted offensively towards her.24 It is written: And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it,25 and it is also written: And the people shall go out and gather,26 and it is written too: The people went about and gathered it.27 How all that?28 — Unto the righteous it fell in front of their homes; the average folk went out and gathered, whereas the wicked ones had to go about to gather it. It is written: ‘bread’,26 and it is written, [dough of] ‘cakes’,29 and it is written, ‘they ground it’.29 How that? — The righteous received it as bread, the average Israelites as [dough of] cakes, and the wicked ones had to grind it in the handmill. Or beat it in mortars.30 Rab Judah said in the name of Rab, or as some say, R. Hama b. Hanina: That teaches that there came down to Israel with the manna the cosmetics for women, i.e., a thing that is ground in a mortar. And seethed it in pots.30 R. Hama said: This intimates that with the manna there came down to Israel the ingredients for pudding. And they brought yet unto him freewill-offerings every morning.31 What does ‘every morning’ mean? — R. Samuel b. Nahmani, in the name of R. Jonathan said: [This:] Of those things which came down every morning intimates that, together with the manna, there came down to Israel precious stones and pearls, as it is said: And hanesi'im brought the onyx stones;32 [and] it was taught: [nesi'im here means]: clouds literally, as it is said also: As clouds [nesi'im] and winds, without rain.33 And the taste of it was as the taste of a cake baked with oil.30 R. Abbuha said: [Do not read le-shad (cake), but shad (breast)]34 viz: Just as the infant finds very many a flavour in the breast, so also did Israel find many a taste in the manna as long as they were eating it. Some there are who say: [‘Le-shad’ means] a real demon; even as the demon changes into many colours, so did the manna change into many tastes.35 And Moses said: This shall be when the Lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full.36 A Tanna [taught] in the name of R. Joshua b. Karhah: The flesh for which they asked improperly was given to them at an improper time;37 drunk. against his neighbour's property. suh, ‘to speak’. seems to confirm Noah's curse. passages here adduced are connected either by the fact that R. Ammi and R. Assi discussed them or by association of ideas. XXII, 16), no such financial responsibility is necessary in the case of illicit intercourse. Egypt and which they now missed. Evidently the manna substituted for all other foods, but these five. The latter were ‘absent’ because these foods do not agree with women in pregnancy. affairs, would be found in the house of the true father and thus would reveal whose child the infant was. Gad is thus connected with the causative of nagad, meaning to ‘reveal’, ‘tell’. continually improve it in order to deserve God's food. have an additional ‘omer bestowed upon himself; the husband whom his wife had offended would have the measure in his house, where she belonged; if the husband had ill-treated her, so that her father's house was a legitimate refuge, her ‘omer would be found there. Thus would the gad (to which the manna was compared) reveal the true state of affairs. In the case of the slave he would be restored, on the evidence of the ‘omer, to his master; in the case of the wife, either the husband would have to pay her her marriage settlement (kethubah) or, if she had been guilty, she would forfeit it. according to Ex. XVI, 4 outside thereof, whereas according to Num. XI, 8 it was so far away from the camp that the people had to go far to find it. shed, ‘demon’. Thus the two following interpretations. The different tastes of the milk depend on the food the mother has eaten. would in punishment receive the flesh at night when, because of the need for preparation, it came too late, ‘at an improper time’, because usable only the next day.