Yevamot 31

בני צרות אני מעיד לכם

as to the sons of the rivals<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Whether they are tainted or not. ');">¹</span> I may testify to you'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. supra 15b, which shews that they were not tainted, since they were permitted to occupy the highest office in the priesthood. ');">²</span>

ת"ש בימי רבי דוסא בן הרכינס הותרה צרת הבת לאחין שמע מינה עשו שמע מינה

Come and hear: In the days of R. Dosa b. Harkinas the rival of a daughter was permitted to marry the brothers.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Of the father of that daughter. ');">³</span> From this it may be inferred that [Beth Shammai] acted [in accordance with their own rulings].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Since the permission to marry was issued by a brother of R. Dosa (v. infra) who was a member of Beth Shammai. ');">⁴</span>

גופא בימי רבי דוסא בן הרכינס התירו צרת הבת לאחין והיה הדבר קשה לחכמים מפני שחכם גדול היה ועיניו קמו מלבא לבית המדרש

This proves the point. [To turn to] the main text. In the days of R. Dosa b. Harkinas, the rival of a daughter was permitted to marry the brothers. This ruling was very disturbing to the Sages, because he<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' R. Dosa, who was thought to be the author of the ruling. ');">⁵</span>

(אמר ומי ילך) ויודיעו אמר להן רבי יהושע אני אלך ואחריו מי רבי אלעזר בן עזריה ואחריו מי ר"ע הלכו ועמדו על פתח ביתו נכנסה שפחתו אמרה לו רבי חכמי ישראל באין אצלך אמר לה יכנסו ונכנסו

was a great scholar<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And they did not venture to act against his decision without first consulting him. ');">⁶</span> and his eyes were dim so that he was unable to come to the house of study.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And was thus unaware that the general opinion at the College was against the ruling. ');">⁷</span>

תפסו לרבי יהושע והושיבהו על מטה של זהב א"ל רבי אמור לתלמידך אחר וישב אמר לו מי הוא רבי אלעזר בן עזריה אמר ויש לו בן לעזריה חבירנו

When a discussion took place as to who should go and communicate with him, R. Joshua said to them, 'I will go'. 'And who after him?' — 'R. Eleazar b. Azariah.' 'And who after him?' — 'R. Akiba'. They went and stood at the entrance of his house. His maid entered and told him, 'Master, the Sages of Israel are come to you'. 'Let them enter', he said to her; and they entered. Taking hold of R. Joshua he made him sit upon a golden couch. The latter said to him, 'Master, will you ask your other disciple to sit down'? 'Who is he?' [the Master] enquired. — 'R. Eleazar b. Azariah'. 'Has our friend Azariah a son?' [the Master] exclaimed, and applied to him this Scriptural text, I have been young and now I am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ps. XXXVII, 25. ');">⁸</span> and so took hold of him also and made him sit upon a golden couch. 'Master', said he,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' R. Joshua. ');">⁹</span>

קרא עליו המקרא הזה (תהלים לז, כה) נער הייתי גם זקנתי ולא ראיתי צדיק נעזב וזרעו מבקש לחם תפסו והושיבו על מטה של זהב א"ל רבי אמור לתלמידך אחר וישב א"ל ומי הוא עקיבא בן יוסף א"ל אתה הוא עקיבא בן יוסף ששמך הולך מסוף העולם ועד סופו שב בני שב כמותך ירבו בישראל

'will you ask your next disciple also to sit down'? 'And who is he?' [the Master] asked. — 'Akiba the son of Joseph'. 'You are,' [the Master] exclaimed, 'Akiba son of Joseph whose name is known from one end of the world to the other! Sit down, my son, sit down. May men like you multiply in Israel'. Thereupon they began to address to him all sorts of questions on legal practice<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'surrounded him with halachoth'. ');">¹⁰</span> until they reached that of the daughter's rival. 'What is the halachah', they asked him, 'in the case of a daughter's rival?' 'This,' he answered them, 'is a question in dispute between Beth Shammai and Beth Hillel.' 'In accordance with whose ruling is the <i>halachah</i>?' — 'The <i>halachah</i>,' he replied, is in accordance with the ruling of Beth Hillel'. 'But, indeed,' they said to him, 'it was stated in your name that the <i>halachah</i> is in accordance with the ruling of Beth Shammai!' He said to them: 'Did you hear, "Dosa"11 or "the son of Harkinas?"'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Without the mention of the name of the son. ');">¹²</span>

התחילו מסבבים אותו בהלכות עד שהגיעו לצרת הבת אמרו ליה צרת הבת מהו אמר להן מחלוקת בית שמאי ובית הלל הלכה כדברי מי אמר להן הלכה כבית הלל אמרו ליה והלא משמך אמרו הלכה כבית שמאי

— 'By the life of our Master.' they replied. 'We heard no son's name mentioned.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'not specifically', 'undefined'. ');">¹³</span> 'I have,' he said to them, 'a younger brother who is a dare-devil<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H], 'the first-born of Satan', first in obstinate dispute (Jast.); Satansjunge similar to Teufelskerl (Golds.); keen and obstinate (Rashi). Some suggest [H] 'keen — witted youth'. R. Dosa appears to have been playing upon the rhyme of ah katan, bekor satan, and Jonathan. ');">¹⁴</span>

אמר להם דוסא שמעתם או בן הרכינס שמעתם אמרו ליה חיי רבי סתם שמענו אמר להם אח קטן יש לי בכור שטן הוא ויונתן שמו והוא מתלמידי שמאי

and his name is Jonathan and he is one of the disciples of Shammai.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And it must have been Jonathan who dared to issue a ruling in accordance with the views of his school against those of Beth Hillel. ');">¹⁵</span> Take care that he does not overwhelm you on questions of established practice, because he has three hundred answers to prove that the daughter's rival is permitted. But I call heaven and earth to witness that upon this mortar<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H] or mortar-shaped seat. ');">¹⁶</span>

והזהרו שלא יקפח אתכם בהלכות לפי שיש עמו שלש מאות תשובות בצרת הבת שהיא מותרת אבל מעיד אני עלי שמים וארץ שעל מדוכה זו ישב חגי הנביא ואמר שלשה דברים צרת הבת אסורה

sat the prophet Haggai<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [That does not mean that he was a contemporary of Haggai the prophet, but that he had an incontrovertible tradition on the matter, Me'iri.] ');">¹⁷</span> and delivered the following three rulings: That a daughter's rival is forbidden, that in the lands of Ammon and Moab the tithe of the poor is to be given in the Seventh Year,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Of the septennial cycle. The countries of Ammon and Moab, though conquered by Moses and included in the boundary of the Land of Israel, were in the days of the Second Temple excluded. The laws of the Seventh or Sabbatical year, which apply to the Land of Israel, were consequently inapplicable to the lands of Ammon and Moab. Any Jews living in those countries, it was ordained by the Rabbis, were to be allowed to cultivate their fields in this year, but besides the 'first tithe' which is due in all other years, they were to give the tithe of the poor also. ');">¹⁸</span>

עמון ומואב מעשרין מעשר עני בשביעית ומקבלים גרים מן הקרדויין ומן התרמודים

and that proselytes may be accepted from the Cordyenians and the Tarmodites.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Despite the opinion of some Rabbis that they were to be regarded as bastards. Cordyene or Kardu was in Babylon; Tarmod or Tadmor, (Palmyra) lay in an oasis of the desert of Syria. [According to Obermeyer (p. 133) the question as to the legitimacy of the offering of the Kardu was on account of the possible intermarriage of the non-Jewish inhabitants with the Jewish converts, won over to Christianity by the Christian missions from Edessa in the first century.] ');">¹⁹</span> A Tanna taught: When they came<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' To interview R. Dosa. ');">²⁰</span>

תנא כשנכנסו נכנסו בפתח אחד כשיצאו יצאו בשלשה פתחים פגע בו בר"ע אקשי ליה ואוקמיה

they entered through one door; when they went out they issued through three different doors.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Either in order not to attract Jonathan's attention, or, on the contrary, in the hope that one of them at least might meet him. ');">²¹</span> He came upon R. Akiba, submitted his objections to him and silenced him.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'and made him stand'. ');">²²</span>

אמר לו אתה הוא עקיבא ששמך הולך מסוף העולם ועד סופו אשריך שזכית לשם ועדיין לא הגעת לרועי בקר אמר לו רבי עקיבא ואפילו לרועי צאן

'Are you', he called out, 'Akiba whose name rings from one end of the world to the other? You are blessed indeed to have won fame while you have not yet attained the rank of oxherds.' 'Not even,' replied R. Akiba, 'that of shepherds.' 'In the lands of Ammon and Moab the tithe of the poor is given in the Seventh Year,' because a Master said: Those who came up from Egypt<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In the days of Joshua. ');">²³</span>

עמון ומואב מעשרין מעשר עני בשביעית דאמר מר הרבה כרכים כבשו עולי מצרים ולא כבשו עולי בבל וקדושה ראשונה קדשה לשעתה ולא קדשה לעתיד לבא

had conquered many cities which those who came up from Babylon<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In the days of Ezra. ');">²⁴</span> did not conquer, and the first sanctification<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In the days of Joshua. ');">²³</span>

והניחום כדי שיסמכו עליהן עניים בשביעית

was intended for that time only but not for the future.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Hag. 3b. ');">²⁵</span> Hence they were allowed [cultivation]<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In the Sabbatical year. ');">²⁶</span>

ומקבלים גרים מן הקרדויים והתרמודים איני והא תני רמי בר יחזקאל אין מקבלים גרים מן הקרדויים אמר רב אשי קרתויים אתמר כדאמרי אינשי קרתויים פסולים

in order that the poor<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Of the Land of Israel where no cultivation was permitted and where consequently no poor-tithe was given in that year. ');">²⁷</span> might find their support there in the Seventh Year.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' By obtaining employment in the fields or by receiving the tithes and the other gifts of the poor. ');">²⁸</span>

ואיכא דאמרי תני רמי בר יחזקאל אין מקבלים גרים מן הקרתויים מאי לאו היינו קרתויים היינו קרדויים אמר רב אשי לא קרתויי לחוד וקרדויי לחוד כדאמרי אינשי קרתויי פסילי

'And that proselytes may be accepted from the Cordyenians and the Tarmodites'. But [the law, surely,] is not so! For Rami b. Ezekiel learnt: No proselyte may be accepted from the Cordyenians. — R. Ashi replied: The statement was Kartuenians,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Mountaineers of Media. The [G] natives of Karta are mentioned by Polybius and Strabo. ');">²⁹</span> as people, in fact, speak of 'disqualified Kartuenians'.

רבי יוחנן וסביא דאמרי תרוייהו אין מקבלים גרים מן התרמודים ומי אמר ר' יוחנן הכי והתנן כל הכתמים הבאים מן הרקם טהורים

Others say: Rami b. Ezekiel learnt, 'No proselytes are to be accepted from the Kartuenians'. Are not Kartuenians the same as Cordyenians? — R. Ashi replied: No; Kartuenians are a class by themselves, and Cordyenians are a class by themselves, as people, in fact, speak of 'disqualified Kartuenians'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The Cordyenians, however, are not tainted. ');">³⁰</span> Both R. Johanan and Sabya maintain that no proselytes may be accepted from the Tarmodites. Did R. Johanan. however, say such a thing? Surely we learned: All blood stains [on women's garments] that come from Rekem<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Place on the borders of Palestine. Perhaps Petra or the Biblical Sela in Edom, v. Git., Sonc. ed. p. 1, n. 2. ');">³¹</span>

ורבי יהודה מטמא מפני שהם גרים וטועים מבין העובדי כוכבים טהורים והוינן בה

are levitically clean,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Only the menstrual blood of the daughters of Israel is levitically unclean; and no pure Israelites lived at Rekem. ');">³²</span> and R. Judah declares them unclean because [the people there] were proselytes though misguided;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Though they no longer observed the religious laws of Judaism they were once proselytes and as such their menstrual blood is levitically unclean as is the case with that of Israelites. ');">³³</span> [those that come] from the heathens<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., from localities where no Israelites live. ');">³⁴</span> are levitically clean.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Nid. 56b, Bek. 38b. ');">³⁵</span> And the difficult point was raised