Nedarim 99

דלי ציפתא ואמר ליה לשלוחא חזי מאי איכא מיהו לא ניחא לי דאיתהני בהדין עלמא

Lifting up the mat [upon which he was sitting], he exclaimed to the messengers, 'See what I have here,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' My a miracle, upon which he had relied, the place was filled with gold. ');">¹</span> but I do not wish to benefit from this world.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This story shows that R. Judah, i.e., R. Judah b. Ila'i, was extremely poor. In general the scholars of that generation lived in great poverty, as a result of the Hadrianic persecutions. V. A. Buchler, The Jewish Community of Sepphoris, pp. 67 seq. ');">²</span>

ר' עקיבא איתקדשת ליה ברתיה (דבר) דכלבא שבוע שמע (בר) כלבא שבוע אדרה הנאה מכל נכסיה אזלא ואיתנסיבה ליה

The daughter of Kalba Shebu'a<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. Git. 56a. ');">³</span> betrothed herself to R. Akiba.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Then a poor shepherd. ');">⁴</span>

בסיתוא הוה גנו בי תיבנא הוה קא מנקיט ליה תיבנא מן מזייה אמר לה אי הואי לי רמינא ליך ירושלים דדהבא אתא אליהו אידמי להון כאנשא וקא קרי אבבא אמר להו הבו לי פורתא דתיבנא דילדת אתתי ולית לי מידעם לאגונה אמר לה ר' עקיבא לאנתתיה חזי גברא דאפילו תיבנא לא אית ליה

When her father heard thereof, he vowed that she was not to benefit from aught of his property. Then she went and married him in winter.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' An interval generally elapsed between betrothal (kiddushin) and marriage (nesu'in). ');">⁵</span> They slept on straw, and he had to pick out the straw from his hair. 'If Only I could afford it,' said he to her, 'I would present you with a golden Jerusalem.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A golden ornament with Jerusalem engraved thereon. V. 'Ed. II. 7. ');">⁶</span>

אמרה ליה זיל הוי בי רב אזל תרתי סרי שנין קמי דר' אליעזר ור' יהושע למישלם תרתי סרי שנין קא אתא לביתיה שמע מן אחורי ביתיה דקאמר לה חד רשע לדביתהו שפיר עביד ליך אבוך חדא דלא דמי ליך ועוד [שבקך] ארמלות חיות כולהון שנין אמרה ליה אי צאית לדילי ליהוי תרתי סרי שנין אחרנייתא אמר הואיל ויהבת לי רשותא איהדר לאחורי הדר אזל הוה תרתי סרי שני אחרנייתא

[Later] Elijah came to them in the guise of a mortal,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Cf. Sanh. 109a, 113b; v. Tosaf. Hul. 6a. s.v. [H]. ');">⁷</span> and cried out at the door. 'Give the some straw, for my wife is in confinement and I have nothing for her to lie on.' 'See!' R. Akiba observed to his wife, 'there is a man who lacks even straw.' [Subsequently] she counselled him, 'Go, and become a scholar.' So he left her, and spent twelve years [studying] under R. Eliezer and R. Joshua. At the end of this period, he was returning home, when from the back of the house he heard a wicked man jeering at his wife, 'Your father did well to you. Firstly, because he is your inferior; and secondly, he has abandoned you to living widowhood all these years.' She replied, 'Yet were he to hear my desires, he would be absent another twelve years. Seeing that she has thus given me permission,' he said, 'I will go back.' So he went back, and was absent for another twelve years, [at the end of which] he returned with twenty-four thousand disciples.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Cur. edd.: 'pairs of disciples'. But 'pairs' is absent in the version of Ket. 62b, and should be deleted here. ');">⁸</span>

אתא בעשרין וארבעה אלפין זוגי תלמידי נפוק כולי עלמא לאפיה ואף היא קמת למיפק לאפיה אמר לה ההוא רשיעא ואת להיכא אמרה ליה (משלי יב, י) יודע צדיק נפש בהמתו אתת לאיתחזויי ליה קא מדחן לה רבנן אמר להון הניחו לה שלי ושלכם שלה הוא שמע (בר) כלבא שבוע אתא ואיתשיל על נידריה ואשתריי ואשתרי

Everyone flocked to welcome him, including her [his wife] too. But that wicked man said to her, 'And whither art thou going?'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Taunting her that she was too humble to be observed by so great a scholar. ');">⁹</span> 'A righteous man knoweth the life of his beast,'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Prov. XII, 10. ');">¹⁰</span>

מן שית מילי איעתר רבי עקיבא מן כלבא שבוע מן אילא דספינתא דכל ספינתא עבדין ליה מין עינא זימנא חדא אנשיוה על כיף ימא אתא הוא אשכחיה

she retorted. So she went to see him, but the disciples wished to repulse her. 'Make way for her,' he told them, 'for my [learning] and yours are hers.' When Kalba Shebu'a heard thereof, he came [before R. Akiba] and asked for the remission of his vow and he annulled it for him. From six incidents did R. Akiba become rich: [i] From Kalba Shebu'a.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Who shared his wealth with him. ');">¹¹</span>

ומן גווזא דזימנא חדא יהיב ארבעה זוזי לספונאי אמר להו אייתי לי מדעם ולא אשכחו אלא גווזא על כיף ימא אתיוה ליה אמרו ליה עביד מרנא עליה אישתכח דהוה מלי דינרי דזימנא חדא טבעת ספינתא וכולי עיסקא הוה מחית בההוא גווזא ואישתכח בההוא זימנא

[ii] From a ship's ram. For every ship is provided with the figurehead of an animal. Once this [a wooden ram] was forgotten on the sea shore, and R. Akiba found it.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' It contained money. ');">¹²</span> [iii] From a hollowed out trunk.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H] < [H], a stem, trunk: Rashi translates: a ship's coffer, from [H] to hide, and [H], treasure. ');">¹³</span>

דמן דסרוקיתא ומן מטרוניתא

For he once gave four it to sailors, and told them to bring him something [that he needed]. But they found only a hollow <i>log</i> on the sea shore, which they brought to him, saying, 'Sit on this and wait'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [Lit., 'make this a tarrying place' (Goldschmidt); or 'Let our master make this (a tarrying place)', Rashi.] ');">¹⁴</span> It was found to be full of <i>denarii</i>. For it once happened that a ship sunk and all the treasures thereof were placed in that <i>log</i>, and it was found at that time. [iv] From the serokita.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' 'Aruch translates: Ishmaelite traders. The phrase is missing in 'En Jacob and unnoticed by the commentaries, and is obviously a corrupt dittography of [H] (Jast.) ');">¹⁵</span> [v] From a matron.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A large sum of money was once needed for the school house. R. Akiba borrowed it from a matron, and at her request gave the Almighty and the sea as sureties for its punctual repayment. But when the money fell due, R. Akiba was unwell. Thereupon the matron stood at the edge of the sea did exclaimed, 'Sovereign of the Universe! Thou knowest that to Thee and to the sea have I entrusted my money'. In reply, He inspired the Emperor's daughter with a mad fit, in the course of which she threw a chest full of treasures into the sea, which was washed up at the matron's feet. On his recovery, he brought her the money, with apologies for the delay: but she told him what had happened, and sent him away with many gifts. ');">¹⁶</span> [vi]