Reference for Bava Metzia 169:23

אמר רב יהודה אמר רב מאי דכתיב (ירמיהו ט, יא) מי האיש החכם ויבן את זאת ואשר דבר פי ה' אליו ויגידה על מה אבדה הארץ דבר זה

<i>'And he that winneth souls is wise'</i> — to R. Simeon b. Issi b. Lakonia. When he died, he was carried to his father's burial vault, which was encompassed by a snake. 'O snake, O snake,' they adjured it, 'open thy mouth and let the son enter to his father;' but it would not uncoil for them. Now, the people thought that one was greater than the other,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., the father was greater than the son, who was therefore unworthy to he buried with him. ');">¹⁹</span> but there issued a Heavenly Voice, proclaiming: 'It is not because one is greater than the other, but because one underwent the suffering of the cave, and the other did not.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' R. Simeon b. Yohai and his son Eleazar were hidden in a cave from the Roman authorities for thirteen years, Shab. 33b. ');">²⁰</span> Rabbi chanced to visit the town of R. Tarfon. Said he to them: 'Has that righteous man, who used to swear by the life of his children,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [He frequently used the oath 'May I bury my children' — e.g. Oh. XVI, 1] ');">²¹</span> left a son?' They replied: 'He has left no son, but a daughter's son remains, and every harlot who is hired for two [<i>zuz</i>] hires him for eight.' So he had him brought before him and said to him: 'Should you repent, I will give you my daughter.' He repented. Some say, he married her [Rabbi's daughter] and divorced her; others, that he did not marry her at all, lest it be said that his repentance was on her account. And why did he [Rabbi] take such [extreme] measures? — Because, [as] Rab Judah said in Rab's name — others Say, R. Hiyya b. Abba said in R. Johanan's name — others say, R. Samuel b. Nahmani said in R. Jonathan's name: He who teaches Torah to his neighbour's son will be privileged to sit in the Heavenly Academy, for it is written, <i>If thou</i> [sc. Jeremiah] <i>wilt cause [Israel] to repent, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me</i>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Jer. XV, 19. ');">²²</span> And he who teaches Torah to the son of an 'am ha-arez,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Glos. ');">²³</span> even if the Holy One, blessed be He, makes a decree, He annuls it for his sake, as it is written, <i>and if thou shalt take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth</i>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. ');">²⁴</span> R. Parnak said in R. Johanan's name: He who is himself a scholar, and his son is a scholar, and his son's son too, the Torah will nevermore cease from his seed, as it is written, <i>As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever.</i><span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Isa. LIX, 21: thus, once the Torah has been in thy own mouth, thy seed's, and thy seed's seed — i.e., three generations — it shall not depart for ever. ');">²⁵</span> What is meant by <i>'saith the Lord'</i>? — The Holy one, blessed be He, said, I am surety for thee in this matter. What is the meaning of '<i>from henceforth and for ever'</i>? — R. Jeremiah said: From henceforth [i.e., after three generations] the Torah seeks its home.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., it becomes hereditary in that family. ');">²⁶</span> R. Joseph fasted forty fasts,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That the Torah should always remain with him. ');">²⁷</span> when he was made to read [in his dream], '<i>They shall not depart out of thy mouth.</i>' He fasted another forty, and was made to read, <i>'They shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed.'</i> He fasted another forty, and was made to read, '<i>They shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed.</i>' Henceforth, said he, I have no need [to fast]; the Torah seeks its home. When R. Zera emigrated to Palestine, he fasted a hundred fasts to forget the Babylonian Gemara, that it should not trouble him.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The Palestinian method of study was far simpler than the Babylonian, and R. Zera was anxious that his keen dialectic method acquired in Babylon should not interfere with the clearer course adopted in Palestine. Cf. Sanh. (Sonc. ed.) p. 138, n. 11. [On the term 'Gemara' v. supra p. 206, n. 6. Kaplan, op. cit., pp. 258ff., on the basis of his definition, explains that Gemara texts as recorded by different schools frequently presented variations in substance, style and phraseology to the confusion of the student, and it was for freedom from this handicap that R. Zera prayed when he decided to join the school in Palestine.] ');">²⁸</span> He also fasted a hundred times that R. Eleazar might not die in his lifetime, so that the communal cares<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [Of Tiberias, where R. Zera was a communal leader and finally became the head of the School.] ');">²⁹</span> should not fall upon him. And yet another hundred, that the fire of Gehenna might be powerless against him. Every thirty days he used to examine himself [to see if he were fireproof]. He would heat the oven, ascend, and sit therein, but the fire had no power against him. One day, however, the Rabbis cast an [envious] eye upon him, and his legs were singed, whereafter he was called, 'Short and leg-singed.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' He was of short stature. ');">³⁰</span> Rab Judah said in Rab's name: What is meant by, <i>Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, that he may declare it, why the land perisheth</i>?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Jer. IX, 11. ');">³¹</span> This question<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'thing'. ');">³²</span>

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