Bava Metzia 214:1

לא קשיא הא דמהדר ליה שורא ורתקא הא דלא מהדר ליה שורא ורתקא

— There is no difficulty: the latter dictum is meant when it [the field] is surrounded by a wall and a hedge;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Which shut it out from sight; then it is advantageous to have it near the town, for convenience of transport, whilst at the same time it is not subject to the evil eye. ');">¹</span>

(דברים ז, טו) והסיר ה' ממך כל חולי אמר רב זו עין רב לטעמיה דרב סליק לבי קברי עבד מאי דעבד אמר תשעין ותשעה בעין רעה ואחד בדרך ארץ

the former, when it is not so surrounded.

ושמואל אמר זה הרוח שמואל לטעמיה דאמר שמואל הכל ברוח ולשמואל הא איכא הרוגי מלכות הנך נמי אי לאו זיקא עבדי להו סמא וחיי

<i>And the Lord shall take away from thee all sickness</i>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. VII, 15. ');">²</span>

ר' חנינא אמר זו צינה דא"ר חנינא הכל בידי שמים חוץ מצנים פחים שנאמר (משלי כב, ה) צנים פחים בדרך עקש שומר נפשו ירחק מהם

Said Rab: By this, the [evil] eye is meant.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Rab translates: will take away from thee the cause of all sickness, which in his view is the evil eye. ');">³</span>

ר' יוסי בר חנינא אמר זו צואה דאמר מר צואת החוטם וצואת האוזן רובן קשה ומיעוטן יפה

This is in accordance with his opinion [expressed elsewhere]. For Rab went up to a cemetery, performed certain charms,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'did what he did,' and so translated by Rashi. By means of whispering certain charms over the graves he learnt what had caused the death of their occupants. ');">⁴</span>

ר' אלעזר אמר זו מרה תניא נמי הכי מחלה זו מרה ולמה נקרא שמה מחלה שהיא מחלה כל גופו של אדם דבר אחר מחלה ששמונים ושלשה חלאים תלוין במרה וכולן פת שחרית במלח וקיתון של מים מבטלתן

and then said: Ninety-nine [have died] through an evil eye, and one through natural causes. Samuel said: This refers to the wind. Samuel follows his views, for he said: All [illness] is caused by the wind. But according to Samuel, what of those executed by the State? — Those, too, but for the wind [which enters and plays upon the wound], an ointment could be compounded for them [which would cause the severed parts to grow together], and they would recover. R. Hanina said: This refers to the cold.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Deriving [H] from [H] to blow; others: cold and heat, connecting [H] with [H], a glowing coal. V. A.Z. (Sonc. ed.) p. 11, n. 2. ');">⁵</span>

ת"ר י"ג דברים נאמרו בפת שחרית מצלת מן החמה ומן הצנה ומן הזיקין ומן המזיקין ומחכימת פתי וזוכה בדין ללמוד תורה וללמד ודבריו נשמעין ותלמודו מתקיים בידו

For R. Hanina said: Everything is from Heaven, excepting cold draughts, as it is written, Cold draughts are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Prov. XXII, 5; i.e., sickness brought about through these causes are avoidable, but through all others are not. ');">⁶</span>

ואין בשרו מעלה הבל ונזקק לאשתו ואינו מתאוה לאשה אחרת והורגת כינה שבבני מעים וי"א אף מוציא את הקנאה ומכניס את האהבה

R. Jose b. Hanina said: This refers to the excretions, for a Master said: The nasal and aural excretions are injurious when in great quantities, but beneficial in small. R. Eleazar said: This refers to [diseases of the] gall. It has been taught likewise: By mahala ['sickness',<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' With reference to Ex. XXIII, 25. ');">⁷</span>

א"ל רבה לרבא בר מרי מנא הא מילתא דאמרי אינשי שיתין רהיטי רהוט ולא מטו לגברא דמצפרא כרך ואמרו רבנן השכם ואכול בקיץ מפני החמה ובחורף מפני הצינה

illness caused by the] gall is meant; and why is it called 'mahala'? Because it sickens the whole human frame. Alternatively, because eighty-three illnesses are dependent upon the gall,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The numerical value of [H] is 83. V. B.K. (Sonc. ed.) p. 535, nn. 6-7 ');">⁸</span>

א"ל דכתיב (ישעיהו מט, י) לא ירעבו ולא יצמאו ולא יכם שרב ושמש לא יכם שרב ושמש כיון דלא ירעבו ולא יצמאו

and all of them may be rendered nugatory by eating one's morning bread with salt and drinking a jugful of water.

א"ל את אמרת לי מהתם ואנא אמינא לך מהכא (שמות כג, כה) ועבדתם את ה' אלהיכם וברך את לחמך ואת מימיך ועבדתם את ה' אלהיכם זו קריאת שמע ותפלה וברך את לחמך ואת מימיך זו פת במלח וקיתון של מים מכאן ואילך והסירותי מחלה מקרבך

Our Rabbis taught: Thirteen things were said of the morning bread: It is an antidote against heat and cold, winds and demons; instils wisdom into the simple, causes one to triumph in a lawsuit,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The contentedness and tranquility which result from it enables the litigant to make the best of his plea. ');">⁹</span>

א"ל רב יהודה לרב אדא משוחאה לא תזלזל במישחתא דכל פורתא ופורתא חזי לכורכמא רישקא א"ל רב יהודה לרב אדא משוחאה ד' אמות דאניגרא זלזל בהו דאנהרא לא תמשחנהו כלל

enables one to study and teach the Torah, to have his words heeded, and retain scholarship;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' All these as in preceding note. ');">¹⁰</span>

רב יהודה לטעמיה דאמר רב יהודה ארבע אמות דאניגרא לבני אניגרא דאנהרא דכולי עלמא

he [who partakes thereof] does not perspire, lives with his wife and does not lust after other women; and it kills the worms in one's intestines. Some say, it also expels jealousy and induces love.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Rashi: when man's mind is confused, be is easily angered — hence. 'feed the brute.' ');">¹¹</span>

מכריז רבי אמי מלא כתפי נגדי בתרי עברי נהרא קוצו רב נתן בר הושעיא קץ שיתסר אמתא אתו עליה בני משרוניא דפנוהו הוא סבר כרשות הרבים ולא היא התם בעינן כולי האי הכא משום אמתוחי אשליהן הוא כמלא כתפי נגדי סגי

Rabbah asked Raba b. Mari: Whence comes the proverbial expression, 'Sixty runners speed along, but cannot overtake him who breaks bread in the morning;' also the Rabbinical dictum, 'Arise early and eat — in summer, on account of the heat, in winter, on account of the cold'? — He replied: Because it is written, <i>They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the cold nor sun smite them</i>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Isa. XLIX. 10. ');">¹²</span>

רבה בר רב הונא הוה ליה ההוא אבא אגודא דנהרא אמרו ליה ניקוץ מר אמר להו קוצו עילאי ותתאי והדר ניקוץ אנא היכי עביד הכי והכתיב (צפניה ב, א) התקוששו וקשו ואמר ריש לקיש קשוט עצמך ואחר כך קשוט אחרים

Thus, <i>'the cold or sun shall not smite them'</i>, because <i>'they shall not hunger nor thirst</i>.' Said he to him: You deduce it from that verse; but I, from this: <i>And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ex. XXIII. 25. ');">¹³</span></i>

התם אבא דבי פרזק רופילא הוה ואמר אי קייצו קייצנא ואי לא קייצו אמאי איקוץ דאי ממתחי להו אשלייהו מסתגי להו

'And ye shall serve the Lord your God' — this refers to the reading of the <i>shema'</i><span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Glos. ');">¹⁴</span> and prayer; <i>'and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water'</i> — to bread and salt and a jug of water. Thenceforth: <i>And I will take sickness away front the midst of thee</i>.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. ');">¹⁵</span> Rab Judah said to R. Adda the surveyor: Do not treat surveying lightly. because every bit [of ground] is fit for garden saffron.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A particularly choice quality of saffron. As a surveyor, he measured out land in business transactions, divided inheritances, etc. ');">¹⁶</span> Rab Judah [also] said to R. Adda the surveyor: The four cubits on the canal banks you may treat lightly, but those on the river banks do not measure at all.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' No sowing was permitted within four cubits of the border of a canal so as not to damage its banks. These four cubits were marked off, and Rab Judah told R. Adda that he was not to be particular to measure them exactly. The four cubits on river banks were similarly treated, and Rab Judah observed that these need not be measured at all, but simply guessed. ');">¹⁷</span> Rab Judah is in harmony with his views, for Rab' Judah said: Four cubits on the banks of a canal belong to the estate owners it serves; but those on the banks of a river are common property.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Therefore they must be given very liberally, hence he told him merely to guess the measurement. ');">¹⁸</span> R. Ammi announced: Cut down [all vegetation] in the shoulderbreadth of bargees on both sides of the river.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The bargees pulled the laden boats whilst they walked on the river bank. They naturally walked in a slanting fashion, bearing away from the river, and the full breadth that they might need had to be kept clear. ');">¹⁹</span> R. Nathan b. Hoshia had sixteen cubits thus cut down. Thereupon the people of Mashrunia<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' To whom the forest belonged. ');">²⁰</span> came and smote him. He thought that it is as a public thoroughfare.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For which sixteen cubits are given; B.B. 99b. ');">²¹</span> But that is incorrect; only there [for a public road] is so much necessary, but here it [the clear space] is required for hauling the ropes; therefore the full shoulderwidth of the bargees is enough. Rabbah son of R. Huna possessed a forest by the river bank. Being requested to make a clearing [by the water's edge], he replied, 'Let the owners above and below me first clear [their portion], and then I will cut down mine.' But how might he act so? Is it not written, <i>Gather yourselves together, yea, gather</i>:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Zeph. II, I. ');">²²</span> which Resh Lakish translated, First adorn yourself, and then adorn others?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' By connecting [H], the root of [H], with [H], 'to adorn.' Be just yourself, before demanding it of others. ');">²³</span> — In that Instance the [neighbouring] forests belonged to Parzak, the Field-marshal.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. supra p. 295, n. 8. ');">²⁴</span> Therefore he [Rabbah] said: 'If they cut down [their forests], I will do so likewise; but if not, why should I? For if they can still haul their ropes,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Notwithstanding that the noble's forests are not cleared. ');">²⁵</span> they have room for walking;