Yoma 150

לחם ששאלו כהוגן ניתן להם כהוגן מכאן למדה תורה דרך ארץ שלא יאכל אדם בשר אלא בלילה והאמר אביי האי מאן דאית ליה סעודתא לא לאכלי' אלא ביממא כעין יממא קא אמרינן אמר רב אחא בר יעקב בתחלה היו ישראל דומין כתרנגולים שמנקרין באשפה עד שבא משה וקבע להם זמן סעודה

whereas the bread for which they asked properly was given to them in its proper time.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Nobody can live without bread, hence that prayer was proper.');">¹</span> Here the Torah intimates a matter of good form; that one should eat meat but at night. But surely Abaye said: One who has a meal should eat it only during the day? - We mean: as in day-light.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' By the light of torch, or candle.');">²</span>

(במדבר יא, לג) הבשר עודנו בין שיניהם וכתיב (במדבר יא, כ) עד חדש ימים הא כיצד בינונים לאלתר מתו רשעים מצטערין והולכין עד חדש ימים

R'Aha B'Jacob said: At first Israel were like hens picking in the dunghill, until Moses came and fixed for them a definite meal-time.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Morning and evening, the manna and the quails respectively.');">³</span> While the flesh was yet between their teeth,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. XI, 33.');">⁴</span> yet it is also written: But a whole month,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. v. 20.');">⁵</span>

וישטחו אמר ריש לקיש אל תקרי וישטחו אלא וישחטו מלמד שנתחייבו שונאיהן של ישראל שחיטה שטוח תנא משמיה דרבי יהושע בן קרחה אל תיקרי שטוח אלא שחוט מלמד שירד להם לישראל עם המן דבר שטעון שחיטה אמר רבי וכי מכאן אתה למד והלא כבר נאמר (תהלים עח, כז) וימטר עליהם כעפר שאר וכחול (הים) עוף כנף

how is that? - The average people [died] at once, the wicked ones continued to suffer a whole month. And they spread them all abroad.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. v. 32. This suggestion, although aggadic, is not ungrammatical, metathesis being frequent, as in kesseb, kebess (sheep) .');">⁶</span> Resh Lakish said: Do not read 'wayishtehu' [they spread abroad], but 'wa-yishahtu' [they were slaughtered], which [reading] intimates that the enemies of Israel had incurred the punishment of being slaughtered.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Perhaps because of their unrighteous clamour for flesh, when they had cattle of their own. 'Enemies of Israel' is an euphemism for 'Israel'.');">⁷</span>

ותניא רבי אומר (דברים יב, כא) וזבחת כאשר צויתיך מלמד שנצטוה משה על הושט ועל הקנה על רוב אחד בעוף ועל רוב שנים בבהמה אלא מה תלמוד לומר שטוח מלמד שירד להם משטיחין משטיחין

'Spread abroad'; it was taught in the name of R'Joshua B'Karhah: Do not read 'shatoah', but 'shahut' [ritually killed], which would intimate that there came down to Israel together with the manna something requiring ritual killing.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Hence we infer that quails were of a species that require ritual killing.');">⁸</span> Rabbi replied: So must you infer it from here. Was it not stated before: He caused flesh also to rain upon them as the dust, and winged fowl as the sand of the sea?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ps. LXXVIII, 27. 'Before' means, before this indirect inference there was a clear test to convey this teaching.');">⁹</span>

כתיב לחם וכתיב שמן וכתיב (שמות טז, לא) דבש אמר רבי יוסי ברבי חנינא לנערים לחם לזקנים שמן לתינוקות דבש

And was it not taught: Rabbi said, Then thou shalt kill [of thy herd and of thy flock]. as I have commanded thee.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Deut. XII, 21.');">¹⁰</span> This teaches that Moses received commandments concerning the gullet, and the windpipe, and concerning the larger part of one [organ] in the case of a fowl, and the larger part of two in the case of cattle?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The windpipe and the gullet, one in the case of fowl, both in the case of cattle, must be cut according to the ritual. There is no commandment anywhere in the Pentateuch as to the details of ritual slaughtering of animals or birds, called shechitah. Hence 'as I have commanded thee' must needs refer to another source of law: the unwritten or oral one.');">¹¹</span>

כתיב שליו וקרינן סליו אמר רבי חנינא צדיקים אוכלין אותו בשלוה רשעים אוכלין אותו ודומה להן כסילוין

What then does 'shatoah' [read, shahut] intimate? - That they [the quails] came down so as to form layers. It is written: 'bread', but it is also written, 'oil' and it is also written, 'honey'?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In reference to the manna. Ex. XVI, 29, 31 and Num. XI, 8. Three different tastes are ascribed to this food. a x');">¹²</span> - R'Jose B'Hanina said: Bread for the youths, oil for the aged, honey for the infants.

א"ר חנן בר רבא ד' מיני סליו הן ואלו הן שיכלי וקיבלי ופסיוני ושליו מעליא דכולהו שיכלי גריעא דכולהו שליו והוי כציפורתא ומותבינן לה בתנורא ותפח והוה מלי תנורא ומסקינן ליה אתליסר ריפי ואחרונה אינה נאכלת אלא ע"י תערובת

It is written 'shlaw' and we read: slaw?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The spelling is , the pronunciation . The deviation indicates another aspect. a');">¹³</span> - R'Hanina said: The righteous eat it at ease,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The Hebrew word (with) may be traced to a root meaning 'ease'. Thus the homiletical interpretation.');">¹⁴</span> whereas when the wicked eat it, it is unto them like thorns.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The Aramaic equivalent of the reading means 'thorn', hence the suggestion that slaw in addition to the simple text meaning, has also other implications.');">¹⁵</span>

רב יהודה משתכח ליה בי דני רב חסדא משתכח ליה בי ציבי רבא מייתי ליה אריסיה כל יומא יומא חד לא אייתי אמר מאי האי סליק לאיגרא שמעיה לינוקא דקאמר (חבקוק ג, טז) שמעתי ותרגז בטני אמר שמע מניה נח נפשיה דרב חסדא ובדיל רבה אכיל תלמידא

R'Hanan B'Abba said: There are four kinds of slaw [quails]: thrush, partridge, pheasant and quail proper; the best of all is the thrush, the worst of all is the quail proper, which is like a small bird. [One stuffs it],<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Supplemented from Bah.');">¹⁶</span> places it in the oven, and it swells up, and becomes so big that it fills the oven.

כתיב (שמות טז, יד) ותעל שכבת הטל וכתיב (במדבר יא, ט) וברדת הטל אמר רבי יוסי ברבי חנינא טל מלמעלה וטל מלמטה ודומה כמו שמונח בקופסא

Thereupon one places it on top of twelve loaves of bread, and [even] the lowest one of them cannot be eaten without [some other food] in combination.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' It is so greasy that without some other dry food added it would be indigestible.');">¹⁷</span> Rab Judah would find them among his jars; R'Hisda among the twigs. Unto Raba his field labourer used to bring them from the meadow<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Bah.');">¹⁸</span>

דק מחוספס אמר ר"ל דבר שנימוח על פיסת היד רבי יוחנן אמר דבר שנבלע במאתים וארבעים ושמונה אברים מחוספס טובא הוי אמר רב נחמן בר יצחק מחספס כתיב

every day. One day he did not bring them. He wondered: Why this?

תנו רבנן (תהלים עח, כה) לחם אבירים אכל איש לחם שמלאכי השרת אוכלין אותו דברי ר"ע וכשנאמרו דברים לפני רבי ישמעאל אמר להם צאו ואמרו לו לעקיבא עקיבא טעית וכי מלאכי השרת אוכלין לחם והלא כבר נאמר (דברים ט, ט) לחם לא אכלתי ומים לא שתיתי אלא מה אני מקיים אבירים לחם שנבלע במאתים וארבעים ושמונה אברים

He went up to the roof and heard a child which read: When I heard, my inward parts trembled.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Hab. III, 16.');">¹⁹</span> Thereupon he said: One knows from this that R'Hisda is dead.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This story is very satisfactorily explained in Schatzkes' Mafteah I, Warsaw, 1866. R. Hisda, in spite of his great riches, was very frugal in his habits and so economical that he would not entrust even the management of wood to any servant, but himself every day handed wood to the cooks (Git. 56a) . Although he would find the quails among his twigs, he would prevent anyone from laying his hands upon these delicacies. His son-in-law Raba, therefore, arranged with a tenant-farmer to bring them. His failure to bring them one day Raba rightly attributed to the thought that something had happened which rendered such service unnecessary. To this inference he added, according to widespread custom, the additional reliance on the implications of a text the first child he met would be studying. When that text suggested evil news the 'evidence was complete'.');">²⁰</span> It is for this reason that people say: By th merit of his master eats the pupil.

אלא מה אני מקיים (דברים כג, יד) ויתד תהיה לך על אזניך (ויצאת שמה חוץ) דברים שתגרי אומות העולם מוכרין אותן להם

It is written: And when the layer of dew was gone up,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ex. XVI, 14.');">²¹</span> but it is also written: And when the dew fell?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. XI, 9. The passage in Ex. suggests that the dew covered the manna, whereas the verse in Num. indicates that the dew was below the manna.');">²²</span> - R'Jose B'Hanina said: There was dew above, and dew below it; it resembled something placed in a box.

ר"א בן פרטא אומר אף דברים שתגרי אומות העולם מוכרין להן מן מפיגן אלא מה אני מקיים ויתד תהיה לך על אזניך לאחר שסרחו אמר הקב"ה אני אמרתי יהיו כמלאכי השרת עכשיו אני מטריח אותם שלש פרסאות

A fine scale-like thing [mehuspas];<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' There is a play on 'mah', 'melt', and 'pas', 'palm'.');">²³</span> Resh Lakish said: It is something that melts on the wrist [palm] of the hand.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' There is a play on 'mah', 'melt', and 'pas', 'palm'.');">²³</span> R'Johanan said: [It means] something which is absorbed by the two hundred and forty-eight parts [of the human body].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The numerical value of 'Mehuspas': Mem = 40, heth = 8, samek =60, pe =80 and samek = 60, together 248. V. Mak., Sonc. ed., p. 169, n. 5.');">²⁴</span>

דכתיב (במדבר לג, מט) ויחנו על הירדן מבית הישימות עד אבל השטים ואמר רבה בר בר חנה לדידי חזי לי ההוא אתרא והויא תלתא פרסי ותנא כשנפנין אין נפנין לא לפניהן ולא לצדדיהן אלא לאחוריהן

But [the numerical value] of mehuspas is much more?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The part. pass. is usually spelt with a waw, which makes its numerical value plus 6 =254; whereas the reading is plene, the text is without the xpxjn waw , hence 248; and the inference as to the 248 parts of the body is supported.');">²⁵</span> - R'Nahman B'Isaac said: The word is written defective. Our Rabbis taught: Man did eat the bread of the mighty,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ps. LXXVIII, 25.');">²⁶</span>

(במדבר יא, ו) ועתה נפשנו יבשה אין כל אמרו עתיד מן זה שתיפח במעיהם כלום יש ילוד אשה שמכניס ואינו מוציא

i.e., bread which ministering angels eat. This was the interpretation of R'Akiba. When these words were reported to R'Ishmael he said to them: Go forth and tell Akiba: Akiba, thou hast erred.

וכשנאמרו דברים לפני ר' ישמעאל אמר להם אל תקרי אבירים אלא איברים דבר שנבלע במאתים וארבעים ושמונה איברים אלא מה אני מקיים ויתד תהיה לך על אזניך בדברים שבאין להם ממדינת הים

For do, indeed, the ministering angels eat bread? Was it not said long ago: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Deut. IX, 18.');">²⁷</span> How, then, do I interpret 'the bread abbirum [of the mighty]'?

דבר אחר לחם אבירים אכל איש

I. e. , bread which was absorbed by the two hundred and forty-eight parts [ebarim]. Then how do I apply: And thou shalt have a paddle among thy weapons?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. XXIII, 14. The paddle is to serve thus: And it shall be, when thou sittest down abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back, and cover that which cometh from thee. But, if the manna was completely absorbed, there was nothing 'coming from the Israelite', hence no need for the paddle.');">²⁸</span> That refers to what [foods] the foreign merchants were selling unto them. R'Eleazar B'Perata said: Even of the foodstuff which merchants of other nations sold them, the manna would counteract the effect. What then is the meaning of 'And thou shalt have a paddle among thy weapons'? - That applied to the time after their offence.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In complaining of the manna as Num. XXI, 5; Our soul loatheth this light bread.');">²⁹</span> The Holy One, blessed be He, said: I thought they shall be like ministering angels, but now I shall burden them with the walk of three parasangs<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' To get outside the confines of the camp for the call of nature.');">³⁰</span> as it is written: And they pitched by the Jordan, from Beth-jeshimoth even unto Abel-shittim.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. XXXIII, 49.');">³¹</span> And Rabbah B'Hana had said: I have seen this place, it is three parasangs in extension.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' 'Er. 55b.');">³²</span> And furthermore it was taught when they went to relieve nature they went neither forward, nor sideways, but rearwards.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' None would turn backwards, therefore there was no offence against common decency involved.');">³³</span> But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. XI, 6.');">³⁴</span> They said: This manna will swell up their bowels, for is there one born of woman who absorbs food without eliminating it too? But when these words were reported before R'Ishmael he said to them: Do not read abbirim [mighty] but ebarim [parts of the body], i.e., something which is absorbed by the two hundred and forty-eight parts. But how do I then interpret: 'And thou shalt have a paddle among thy weapons'? - That refers to food that came to them from the distant parts.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'province of the sea'.');">³⁵</span> Another interpretation of: Man did eat the bread of the mighty: