R’ Yonah citing R’ Levi - The world was created with the Hebrew letter bet, which is closed on all sides and open only forward, teaching that one may not inquire above, below, before, or after, only from Creation onward - Genesis 1:1 (#14)

#14

רבי יונה, בשם רבי לוי:

בבי״ת נברא העולם.

מה בי״ת --

סתום מכל צדדיו

ופתוח מצד אחד.

כך אין לך רשות לדרוש

• מה למעלן ומה למטן

• מה לפנים ומה לאחור.

אלא מיום שנברא העולם ולבא.

R’ Yonah in the name of R’ Levi:

The world was created with [the Hebrew letter] Bet1

Since Bet --

is closed from all sides

[but] open from one side,

you have no right to investigate

• what is above, what is below,

• what is before, and what is after,

except starting with the day the world was created and onwards.

The letter Bet indicates its Creator by its form and points to God’s name

אומרים לבי״ת: מי בראך?

והוא מראה להן בנקודה

ואומר: זה שלמעלן.

ומה שמו?

והוא מראה להן בנקודה שלאחריו

ואומר:

יי שמו.

אדון שמו.

They ask the Bet: who created you?

It points out to them its point

and says: this One above (=God).

[They further ask:] And what is His Name?

It points out to them its back point

and says:

YHWH is His Name,

Adon (אדון - “Master”) is His Name.

The world was created with the letter bet because bet begins the word for “blessing”, not alef, which begins the word for “curse”

(See footnote.)2

דבר אחר:

ולמה בבי״ת?

שהוא בלשון ברכה.

ולא באלף.

שהוא לשון ארירה.

Another explanation.

Why by Bet?

Because it is an expression of blessing (ברכה),

but not by [the Hebrew letter] Alef, which is an expression of accursed (ארירה).

אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא:

איני בורא את עולמי אלא בבי״ת.

שלא יהו כל באי העולם אומרין:

היאך העולם יכול לעמוד.

ונברא בלשון ארירה.

אלא הריני בורא אותו בבי״ת בלשון ברכה.

ואולי יעמוד.

God said:

I shall only build My world with Bet,

so that the creatures should not say:

how could the world remain standing

if it was created in an expression of accursed?!

Therefore I shall create it with Bet, and expression of blessing,

so it shall have a chance to endure.

R’ Abbahu citing R’ Yoḥanan - Two worlds were created with two letters, heh and yud: this world with heh, the World-to-Come with yud - Isaiah 26:4; Genesis 2:4 (#15)

#15

(See footnote.)3

רבי אבהו בשם רבי יוחנן:

בשתי אותיות נבראו שתי עולמות:

1. העולם הזה

2. והעולם הבא.

1. [אחד בה״א

2. ואחד ביו״ד.]

מה טעם?

כי ביה יי צור עולמים.

R’ Abbahu in the name of R’ Yohanan:

With two letters two worlds were created:

1. this world

2. and the Future World.

1. [One with [the Hebrew letter] Heh

2. and one with [the Hebrew letter] Yud.]

What is the reason?

For in Yah (ביה), YHWH is the Rock (צור עולמים) (Isaiah 26:4)

ואין אנו יודעין

1. אי זה נברא בה״א

2. ואי זה מהם נברא ביו״ד.

אלא מן מה דכתיב: אלה תולדות השמים והארץ בהבראם.

בה״א בראם.

הוי

1. העולם הזה -- נברא בה״א.

2. והעולם הבא -- נברא ביו״ד.

However, we did not know

1. which one was created by Heh

2. and which one by Yud.

But from what is written: these are the outcomes of Heaven and Earth in their being created,

He created them [=This world, vs. the Next World] by Heh.

This implies that

1. this world was created by Heh,

2. and the Future World was created by Yud.

The form of heh hints at descent to Sheol, ascent, and repentance; the curved yud hints that all creatures must be bent/submissive

1. מה ה״ה (חסר) [פתוח] מלמטן.

   1. רמז לכל באי עולם שהן יורדין לשאול.

2. מה ה״א יש לו נקודה מלמעלן.

   1. משעה שהן יורדין הן עולין.

3. מה ה״א פתוח מכל צד.

   1. כך פותח פתח לכל בעלי תשובה.

4. מה יו״ד כפוף

   1. כך יהיו כל באי העולם כפופין.

1. Since Heh is (missing) [open] below,

   1. it is a hint for all creatures that they will descend to She’ol (שאול).

2. Since Heh has a point on top,

   1. from the moment they descend they ascend.

3. Since Heh is open from all sides,

   1. so He opens a door to all who repent.

4. Since Yud is curved,

   1. so all creatures should be bent.

David praised God with the two-letter divine name Yah (YH) when he saw this structure - Jeremiah 30:6; Psalms 113:1

ונהפכו כל פנים לירקון.

כיון שראה דוד כן --

התחיל לקלס בשתי אותיות:

הללו יה

הללו עבדי יי

הללו את שם יי.

All faces turned yellow (ירקון) (Jeremiah 30:6)

When David saw this --

he started to acclaim by two letters:

praise Yah,4

praise, the servants of YHWH,

praise the Name of YHWH (Psalms 113:1)

R’ Yudan the Patriarch asking R’ Shmuel b. Naḥman - R’ Shmuel b. Naḥman explains “His name is YH” as meaning every place has an appointee over its life, and God is appointed over all life - Psalms 68:5 (#16)

#16

רבי יודן נשייא שאל לרבי שמואל בר נחמן:

מהו דין דכתיב:

סולו לרוכב בערבות

ביה שמו

ועלזו לפניו.

R’ Yudan the Patriarch asked R’ Samuel bar Naḥman:

What means that which is written (Psalms 68:5):

Prepare a way for the rider on clouds,

His name YH,

and jubilate before Him.

אמר ליה:

אין לך כל מקום ומקום שאינו ממונה על ביה שלו.

ומי ממונה על ביאה שבכולם?

הקדוש ברוך הוא.

ביה שמו.

בי יה שמו.

He told him:

there is no place which does not have one appointed over its life.5

And who is appointed over the lives (ביה) of all?

God.

His name YH,

His name: Βια (ביה)

R’ Elazar - R’ Shmuel b. Naḥman’s teacher did not explain that way; rather, saying “originally the world was water in water” detracts from God, like saying a palace was built on sewers

אמר ליה רבי לעזר:

רבך לא הוה דרש כן.

אלא למלך שבנה פלטין

1. במקום ביבים

2. במקום אשפות

3. במקום סריות.

מי שהוא בא ואומר:

הפלטין הזו

1. במקום ביבין הוא.

2. במקום אשפות הוא.

3. במקום סריות הוא.

אינו פוגם?!

כך מי שהוא אומר:

כתחילה היה העולם מים במים.

הרי זה פוגם.

R’ Elazar told him:

your teacher was not explaining in this way,

but {a parable} of a king who built a palace6

1. on a place of sewers (ביבים),

2. a place of dung heaps (אשפות),

3. a place which stinks (סריות).

One who comes and says,

this palace --

1. is at a place of sewers,

2. a place of dung heaps,

3. a place which stinks,

does he not detract (פוגם)?!

So he detracts who says, originally the world was water in water.

One may look at the king’s orchard, not touch it

לפרדיסו שלמלך

ועלייה בנויה על גביו.

עליו להציץ.

אבל לא ליגע.

{A parable} of a king’s orchard

and an observation deck built on it,

He can gaze (להציץ) at it

but shouldn’t touch.

Dispute of Beit Shammai vs. Beit Hillel - which was created first, Earth or Heaven? (#17)

#17

(See footnote.)7

בית שמי אומרים: שמים נבראו תחילה, ואחרכך הארץ.

ובית הלל אומרים: הארץ נבראת תחילה, ואחרכך השמים.

Beit Shammai say: heaven was created first, and afterwards earth.

Beit Hillel say: earth was created first, and afterwards heaven.

Beit Shammai prooftext that Heaven was created first, then earth - Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 66:1

אילו מביאין טעם לדבריהן,

ואילו מביאין טעם לדבריהן.

מה טעמון דבית שמי?

בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ.

למלך שעשה כסא.

משעשאו עשה אפיפודין שלו.

השמים כסאי

והארץ הדום רגלי.

These are bringing proof (טעם) for their assertion,

and those are bringing proof for their assertion.

What is Beit Shammai’s reason?

In the Beginning God created heaven and earth (Genesis 1:1)

{A parable} of a king who made a chair.

After he had made it he made its footstool:8

the Heavens are My throne

and the Earth My footstool (Isaiah 66:1)9

Beit Hillel prooftext that Earth was created first, then heaven - Genesis 2:4; Isaiah 48:13

מה טעמון דבית הלל?

ביום עשות יי אלהים ארץ ושמים.

למלך שעשה פלטין.

משבנה את התחתונים עשה את העליונים.

אף ידי יסדה ארץ

וימיני טיפחה שמים.

What is Beit Hillel’s reason?

On the day of YHWH’s, God’s, making of earth and heaven (Genesis 2:4)

{A parable} of a king who made a palace.

After he built the foundations he built the upper structure:

also My left hand founded the Earth

and My right hand tended the Heavens (Isaiah 48:13)

R’ Yehuda bar Pazi - Another verse supports Beit Hillel: earth is founded first, then heaven is the work of God’s hands - Psalms 102:26

אמר רבי יודה בר פזי:

ודא מסייעה לבית הלל:

לפנים הארץ יסדת

ומעשה ידיך שמים.

R’ Yehuda bar Pazi said:

also the following supports Beit Hillel (Psalms 102:26):

in earlier times You founded the Earth,

and the Heavens are the work of Your hands.

R’ Ḥanina - Beit Hillel refute Beit Shammai from Beit Shammai’s own verse: “and the earth was” implies earth already existed - Genesis 1:1–2

אמר רבי חנינה:

ממקום שבית שמי מביאין טעם לדבריהן --

משם בית הלל מסלקין לון.

מה טעמון דבית שמי?

בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ.

משם בית הלל מסלקין לון.

והארץ היתה.

כבר היתה.

R’ Ḥanina said:

from the place from where Beit Shammai prove their assertion --

from there Beit Hillel remove them.

What is the reason of Beit Shammai?

In the Beginning God created heaven and earth (Genesis 1:1)

From there Beit Hillel remove them:

and the earth was (Genesis 1:2)

it already was.

R’ Yoḥanan citing the rabbis - For initial creation, heaven preceded; for completion/perfection, earth preceded

רבי יוחנן, בשם חכמים:

• אם לבירייה --

  • שמים קדמו.

• ואם לשכלול --

  • הארץ קדמה.

R’ Yoḥanan in the name of the rabbis:

• As for creation,

  • the heaven preceded.

• As for perfecting,10

  • the earth preceded.

Prooftexts - Genesis 1:1; Genesis 2:4

• אם לבירייה --

  • שמים קדמו.

  • בראשית ברא אלהים וגו׳.

• אם לשכלול --

  • הארץ קדמה.

  • ביום עשות יי אלהים ארץ ושמים.

• As for creation,

  • the heaven preceded,

  • in the Beginning God created.

• As for perfecting,

  • the earth preceded,

  • on the day of YHWH’s, God’s, making of earth and heaven.

1

בי״ת. Screenshot of the letter, for illustration (from Wikipedia):

This assumption is presumably based on the fact that the letter bet is the first letter of the first word of Genesis - ‘Be-reishit’ (בראשית).

See also Wikipedia, “Bet (letter)“, section “Numerological and mystical significance“:

Bet is the first letter of the Torah (=Pentateuch).

As Bet is the number 2 in gematria, this is said to symbolize that there are two parts to Torah: the Written Torah and the Oral Torah.

According to Jewish legend, the letter Bet was specially chosen among the 22 letters in Hebrew by God as the first letter of Torah as it begins with “Be-reshit (In the beginning) God created heaven and earth.”

Genesis Rabbah points out that the letter is closed on three sides and open on one; this is indicate that one can investigate what happened after creation, but not what happened before it, or what is above the heavens or below the earth.

The rule not to expound the Chariot to one is accepted by all, so that a person preserves the honor of his Maker (#6)

#6

ולא במרכבה ביחיד.

עוד היא כרבי עקיבה.

דברי הכל היא.

כדי שיהא אדם יודע לחוס על כבוד קונו.

“Nor the Chariot to one.”

Is this still R’ Akiva’s?

It is the opinion of everybody,

so that a person know how to take care of the glory of his Maker (קונו)

Rav - One may not state a matter before his teacher unless he has seen or served; in Chariot teaching, the teacher only opens with headings of verses and summarizes

לא כן אמר רב:

אין אדם רשאי לומר דבר (בנגע צרעת) [כנגד רבו]

אלא אם כן ראה או שימש.

כיצד הוא עושה?

כתחילה רבו פותח לו ראשי פסוקים ומסכים.

Did not Rav say:

nobody is permitted to pronounce anything (about skin disease) [against his teacher] unless either he saw or he served.

How does one proceed?

At the start his teacher indicates1 the topics of the verses (ראשי פסוקים) and summarizes (מסכים).

R’ Ḥiyya citing R’ Yoḥanan - R’ Yehuda HaNasi had a skilled student who expounded a chapter of the Chariot without R’ Yehuda HaNasi’s approval, and was afflicted with scabies

רבי חייה בשם רבי יוחנן.

תלמיד וותיק היה לו לרבי ודרש פרק אחד במעשה המרכבה.

ולא הסכימה דעתו שלרבי.

ולקה בשחין.

R’ Ḥiyya in the name of R’ Yoḥanan:

R’ [Yehuda HaNasi] had a competent student2

who explained one Chapter in the Work of the Chariot

to which R’ [Yehuda HaNasi] did not concur;

he was stricken with scabies (שחין)

Chariot teaching is like walking between fire and snow: veering either way is fatal; one must walk in the middle

התורה הזו דומה לשני שבילים:

• אחד שלאור

• ואחד שלשלג.

• היטה בזה -- מת באור.

• היטה בזו -- מת בשלג.

מה יעשה?

יהלך באמצע.

This teaching (תורה) may be compared to two paths (שבילים):

• one of fire (אור)

• and the other of snow.

• If he takes one -- he dies in fire,

• if he takes the other -- he dies in snow.

What should he do?

Walk in the middle.

Anecdote re Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai and R’ Elazar ben Arakh (#7)

#7

R’ Elazar b Arakh asks to teach Chariot before his teacher Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai

מעשה ברבן יוחנן בן זכאי שהיה מהלך על הדרך רוכב על החמור.

ורבי אלעזר בן ערך מהלך אחריו.

אמר לו:

רבי!

השניני פרק אחד במעשה המרכבה.

It happened that Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai was on the road, riding on a donkey,3

and R’ Elazar ben Arakh was walking behind him.

[R’ Elazar ben Arakh] said to [Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai]:

my teacher!

instruct me in a Chapter about the Work of the Chariot.

אמר לו:

ולא כך שנו חכמים:

ולא במרכבה,

אלא אם כן היה חכם ומבין מדעתו.

אמר לו:

רבי!

תרשיני לומר לפניך אני.

אמר לו: אמור!

He told him:

did the rabbis not state:

“nor the Chariot

unless he was wise and understood by himself.”

He said to him:

my teacher!

permit me to say it before you.

He told him: say!

כיון שפתח רבי לעזר בן ערך במעשה המרכבה

ירד לו רבן יוחנן בן זכיי מן החמור.

אמר: אינו בדין שאהא שומע כבוד קוני

ואני רכוב על החמור.

When R’ Elazar ben Arakh started about the Work of the Chariot,

Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai descended from the donkey.

He said:

it is not appropriate that I should hear about the glory of my Creator

[while] I am riding on a donkey.

When R’ Elazar b Arakh begins, fire descends, angels dance, and trees sing

הלכו וישבו להן תחת אילן אחד.

וירדה אש מן השמים והקיפה אותם.

והיו מלאכי השרת מקפצין לפניהן

כבני חופה שמיחין לפני חתן.

They went and sat under a tree,

when fire descended from Heaven and surrounded them,

and the angels of Service were dancing before them

like wedding guests (בני חופה) happy with the bridegroom.

An angel confirms R’ Elazar b Arakh’s teaching - Psalms 96:12

נענה מלאך אחד מתוך האש ואמר:

כדבריך אלעזר בן ערך כן הוא מעשה המרכבה!

מיד פתחו כל האילונות (מהן) [פיהן] ואמרו שירה.

אז ירננו עצי היער.

An angel addressed from inside the fire and said:

the Work of the Chariot is as you said, Elazar ben Arakh!

Then all trees (around them) [opened their mouths] and sang;

then all trees of the forest will sing (Psalms 96:12)

Rabban Yoḥanan praises R’ Elazar b Arakh as both a proper expounder and practitioner

כיון שגמר רבי לעזר בן ערך במעשה המרכבה

עמד רבן יוחנן בן זכיי ונשקו על ראשו

When R’ Elazar ben Arakh finished with the Work of the Chariot,

Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai rose, kissed him on his head,

ואמר:

ברוך יי אלהי אברהם יצחק ויעקב

שנתן לאברהם אבינו בן חכם

יודע לדרוש בכבוד אבינו שבשמים.

and [Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai] said:

Praised be YHWH, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Ya’akov,

who gave a wise son to our father Abraham

who knows to speak (לדרוש) of the Glory of our Father in Heaven.

יש לך נאה לדרוש ואינו נאה מקיים.

נאה מקיים ואינו נאה דורש.

אלעזר בן ערך נאה דורש ונאה מקיים.

אשריך אברהם אבינו, שיצא מחלציך אלעזר בן ערך!

They are good speakers who do not act well,

those who act well but are no good speakers.

Elazar ben Arakh speaks well and acts well.4

Hail to you, our father Abraham, that Elazar ben Arakh came from your loins!

Anecdote re R’ Yosef Hakohen and R’ Shimon ben Netanel

After hearing of R’ Elazar b Arakh, R’ Yosef Hakohen and R’ Shimon ben Netanel also expound the Chariot; the earth trembles, a rainbow appears

וכיון ששמעו רבי יוסף הכהן ורבי שמעון בן נתנאל

אף הם פתחו במעשה המרכבה.

אמרו:

יום אחד בתקופת תמוז היה.

ורעשה הארץ ונראתה הקשת בענן.

When R’ Yosef Hakohen and R’ Shimon ben Netanel heard,5

they also started with the Work of the Chariot.

They said:

it was a midsummer day (תקופת תמוז);

the earth trembled and rainbow appeared in the clouds.

A bat kol assigns them and their students to the third group of the righteous - Psalms 16:11

ויצאה בת קול ואמרה להן:

הרי המקום פנוי לכם

והטריקלין מוצע לכם.

אתם ותלמידיכם מזומנין לכת שלישית.

A bat kol came and said to them:

the place (=the World-to-Come) is open (פנוי)

and the banquet-hall6 prepared (מוצע) for you.

You and your students are invited to the third group (כת).

ואתיא כמאן דאמר:

שובע שמחות את פניך --

שבע כיתות שלצדיקים לעתיד לבוא.

This parallels him who said:

7 enjoyments are before Your presence (Psalms 16:11)

there are 7 groups (כיתות) of righteous people in the Future World.

Anecdote re R’ Yehoshua and Ben Zoma (#8)

#8

שוב מעשה בירבי יהושע שהיה מהלך בדרך.

ובן זומא בא כנגדו.

שאל בשלומו, ולא השיבו.

It also happened that R’ Yehoshua was on the road7

when Ben Zoma came towards him.

[R’ Yehoshua] greeted [Ben Zoma], but [Ben Zoma] did not answer.

Ben Zoma interprets that the upper and lower waters are separated only by a handbreadth

אמר לו: מאיין ולאיין, בן זומא?

אמר לו:

מסתכל הייתי במעשה בראשית.

ואין בין מים העליונים למים התחתונים אלא (אחד) [כמלא] פותח טפח.

[R’ Yehoshua] asked [Ben Zoma]: from where (מאיין) and to where (לאיין), Ben Zoma?

[Ben Zoma] told him:

I was observing the Creation,

and the distance between the upper waters and the lower waters is (one) [a full] opening of a hand-breadth.

... deriving “hovering” in Genesis 1:2 from the eagle hovering in Deuteronomy 32:11

• נאמר כאן

  • ריחוף.

• ונאמר להלן

  • כנשר יעיר קינו על גוזליו ירחף.

• מה ריחוף שנאמר להלן

  • נוגע ואינו נוגע.

• אף ריחוף שנאמר כאן

  • נוגע ואינו נוגע.

• It says here (Genesis 1:2):

  • “hovering”,

• and it says there (Deuteronomy 32:11):

  • as an eagle watches his nest, over his chicks he hovers.

• Since in case of the hovering mentioned there

  • it means barely touching,8

• so the hovering mentioned here

  • means barely touching.

R’ Yehoshua says Ben Zoma is “outside,” and Ben Zoma soon dies

אמר רבי יהושע לתלמידיו: הרי בן זומא מבחוץ.

ולא היו ימים קלים, עד שנפטר בן זומא.

R’ Yehoshua said to his students: Ben Zoma is outside.

It was only a few days (ימים קלים), that Ben Zoma passed away (נפטר).

R’ Yehuda bar Pazi citing R’ Yose b. Yehuda - Three sages successfully “lectured their Torah” before their teachers: R’ Yehoshua before Rabban Yoḥanan b. Zakkai; R’ Akiva before R’ Yehoshua; Ḥananiah b Ḥakhinai before R’ Akiva; After this point, “their mind was not pure” (#9)

#9

רבי יודה בר פזי בשם רבי יוסי בירבי יודה:

שלשה הרצו תורתן לפני רבן.

1. רבי יהושע לפני רבן יוחנן בן זכיי.

2. רבי עקיבה לפני רבי יהושע.

3. חנניה בן חכיניי לפני רבי עקיבה.

מיכן והילך, אין דעתן נקייה.

[...]

R’ Yehuda bar Pazi in the name of R’ Yose ben R’ Yehuda:9

3 lectured (הרצו) their teachings in front of their teachers:

1. R’ Yehoshua in front of Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai,

2. R’ Akiva in front of R’ Yehoshua,

3. Ḥananiah ben Ḥakhinai in front of R’ Akiva.

From there on, their mind was not pure.

[...]10

R’ Elazar citing the book of Ben Sirah - One should not investigate what is beyond or hidden; one should contemplate only what is permitted (#11)

#11

רבי לעזר, בשם בר סירה:

פליאה ממך מה תדע.

עמוקה משאול מה תחקור.

במה שהורשיתה התבונן.

אין לך עסק בנסתרות.

R’ Elazar in the name of Ben Sirah:11

What is beyond you do not have to know,

what is deeper than the abyss do not investigate.

Ponder what is permitted to you;

you have no concern with hidden things.

Rav - “May lying lips be silenced” means may they become dumb, crushed, and silenced - Psalms 31:19

רב אמר:

תאלמנה שפתי שקר.

1. יתחרשן

2. יתפרכן

3. ישתתקן.

Rav said:

may lying lips be dumb (תאלמנה) (Psalms 31:19):

1. may they become dumb (יתחרשן)

2. be rubbed out (יתפרכן)

3. Silenced (ישתתקן)

Prooftexts - Exodus 4:11; Genesis 37:7

1. יתחרשן --

   1. כמה דת אמר: ויאמר יי אליו :מי שם פה וגו׳.

2. יתפרכן --

   1. כמה דת אמר: והנה אנחנו מאלמים אלומים.

3. ישתתקן --

   1. כשמועו.

1. May they become dumb,

   1. as you are saying (Exodus 4:11): YHWH said to him: Who formed a mouth etc.

2. May they be rubbed out,

   1. as you are saying (Genesis 37:7): here we were tying sheaves12

3. May they be silenced,

   1. as it is understood (כשמועו).

... Psalms 31:19 targets those who speak arrogantly about God’s hidden matters

הדוברות על צדיק עתק.

הדוברות על צדיקו שלעולם דברים שהעתיק מבריותיו.

Which talk (דוברות) boasting about a righteous one ( על צדיק עתק)

who talk about the Universal Righteous One (צדיקו שלעולם) in matters which He hid13 from His creatures.

... and claim to expound Creation

בגאוה ובוז.

זה שהוא מתגאה לומר:

אני דורש במעשה בראשית.

סבור שהוא כמגאה.

ואינו אלא כמבזה.

With haughtiness and contempt,

that is he who is haughty to say:

I am investigating the Creation.

He thinks he’s haughty (מגאה)

but is only insulting (מבזה)

R’ Yose b. Ḥanina - If one who honors himself through another’s disgrace has no share in the World-to-Come, all the more so one who honors himself through God’s glory - Psalms 31:20 (#12)

#12

אמר רבי יוסי בן חנינה:

• המתכבד בקלון חבירו

  • אין לו חלק לעולם הבא.

• המתכבד בכבוד חי העולמים

  • לא כל שכן?!

מה כתיב בתריה?

מה רב טובך אשר צפנת ליריאיך.

אל יהי לו במה רב טובך.

R’ Yose ben Ḥanina said:

• one who aggrandizes himself by the disgrace of another person

  • has no part in the Future World.

• He who aggrandizes himself by the glory of the one who lives eternally (חי העולמים - ie. God)

  • Is it not all the more so?!

What is written afterwards?

How great is the good which You hid for those who fear You (Psalms 31:20)

He may not have part in the great good.

R’ Levi - “The glory of God is to hide a matter” refers to before Creation; “the glory of kings is to investigate a matter” refers to after Creation - Proverbs 25:2

אמר רבי לוי:

כתוב: כבוד אלהים הסתר דבר וגו׳.

• כבד אלהים הסתר דבר --

  • עד שלא נברא העולם.

• כבוד מלכים חקור דבר.

  • משנברא העולם.

R’ Levi said:

it is written: the glory of God is hiding things, etc. (Proverbs 25:2)

• The glory of God is hiding things --

  • before the world was created;

• the glory of kings is investigating things --

  • after the world was created.

R’ Levi - Inquiry is limited to the time after humanity was placed on earth, not to what preceded Creation - Job 20:4

אמר רבי לוי:

כתוב הזאת ידעת מני עד.

אבל את: מני שים אדם עלי ארץ.

R’ Levi said:

do you know what happened earlier,

but you: since human was put on the earth (Job 20:4)

R’ Yonah citing R’ Abba - inquiry permitted only into the days of Creation and the created world, not before Creation or beyond heaven and the abyss - Deuteronomy 4:32 (#13)

#13

רבי יונה [בשם] רבי בא:

כתוב: כי שאל נא לימים ראשונים אשר היו לפניך.

• יכול קודם למעשה בראשית?

  • תלמוד לומר: למן היום אשר ברא אלהים אדם על הארץ.

• יכול משישי ואילך?

  • תלמוד לומר: ראשונים.

אחר שריבה הכתוכ מיעט.

הרי אנו למידין משישי:

• מה שישי

  • מיוחד שהוא מששת ימי בראשית.

• אף את

  • לא תהא מביא לי אלא את שהוא כיוצא בשישי.

R’ Yonah [in the name of] R’ Abba:

It is written: but ask the first days which were before you (Deuteronomy 4:32)

• I could think before the Creation?

  • The verse says: from the day that God created Man on the Earth.

• I could think starting with the 6th day [of Creation]?

  • the verse says: the first.

After the verse added, it subtracted.

Therefore we infer from the 6th [day of Creation]:

• Just as the 6th [day of Creation]

  • is particular that it is one of the 6 days of Creation,

• also you

  • may not bring to me only ones similar to the 6th [day of Creation].

יכול לידע מה למעלה מן השמים ומה למטה מן התהום?

תלמוד לומר: ולמקצה השמים ועד קצה השמים.

• אלא עד שלא נברא העולם --

  • את דורש וליבך מסכים.

• משנברא העולם

  • את הולך וקולך הולך מסוף העולם ועד סופו.

I could think, to know what is higher than heaven and lower than the abyss?14

the verse says, from end of heaven to end of heaven.

• But before the world was created --

  • you may investigate (דורש) privately;

• after the world was created --

  • your voice may go from one end of the world to the other end.

Bar Kappara - “From the day” supports limiting inquiry to the created order; this aligns R’ Yehuda bar Pazi with Bar Kappara and R’ Ḥiyya with R’ Abba - Deuteronomy 4:32

תני בר קפרא:

ולמן היום.

אתיא דרבי יודה בר פזי כהדא דבר קפרא.

ומה דתני רבי חייה כהדא דרבי בא.

Bar Kappara stated:

“and from the day.”

It comes that R’ Yehuda bar Pazi parallels Bar Kappara,

and what R’ Ḥiyya stated parallels R’ Abba.

Intro

Part 1

This sugya in Yerushalmi Ḥagigah 2:1 develops the Mishnah’s restrictions on esoteric teaching, especially the limits placed on expounding Creation and the Chariot. The sugya moves between cosmology, biblical exegesis, anecdotes about sages, warnings against speculative overreach, and symbolic readings of Hebrew letters. Its central concern is how knowledge of divine matters must be approached: with restraint, hierarchy, reverence, and awareness of the danger involved. It repeatedly warns that such inquiry must remain within limits, under discipline, and oriented toward divine honor rather than personal display.

The opening unit presents a cosmological teaching attributed to R’ Yehuda bar Pazi. He teaches that the world was originally “water in water,” based on Genesis 1:2, where the divine spirit hovers over the waters. God then transforms this primordial watery state into snow, and then into land. The structure of the world is then described as a chain of supports: land stands on water, water on mountains, mountains on wind, wind on storm, and storm is suspended beneath God’s arm. Each step is supported by a biblical verse, producing a layered cosmology in which the visible world rests on increasingly invisible and unstable foundations, until the whole structure is ultimately grounded in God.

This cosmology leads into a series of reflections on Amos 4:13, “Behold, He forms mountains and creates wind.” The verse is one of six verses that R’ Yehuda HaNasi would read and cry over. The sugya then turns to the episode of Saul raising Samuel from the dead. Samuel rebukes Saul for disturbing him and says that Saul has made him into an object of idolatrous use. Samuel also explains that he feared the event was the Day of Judgment. The passage draws an a fortiori inference: if Samuel, the master of the prophets, feared judgment, ordinary people should fear it all the more. This produces a moral reading of the cosmological verse: even non-sinful matters are recorded on a person’s tablet, and a person’s own breath testifies against him.

The sugya then develops the motif of “spirit” or “wind” through an anecdote involving Hadrian and Akylas the convert (=Onkelos). Hadrian asks whether the Jewish claim is true that the world rests on spirit. Akylas confirms, and demonstrates the point by having camels loaded and then strangled. Their bodies remain intact, but they can no longer stand or function. Nothing visible has been removed, but the “spirit” has departed. The anecdote converts cosmology into an empirical parable: invisible spirit is the condition of life and stability. The world, like the body, depends on what cannot be seen.

Part 2

From there the sugya turns directly to the Mishnah’s rule that the Chariot may not be expounded even to one person unless that person is wise and understands on his own. The passage states that this restriction is accepted by all, because a person must preserve the honor of his Maker. Rav’s rule is cited: one may not speak before one’s teacher unless one has seen or served. In the context of Chariot teaching, the teacher does not provide a full lecture. He merely opens with the heads of verses and summarizes. The student must understand independently. The form of instruction is therefore deliberately indirect.

The danger of unauthorized exposition is illustrated by the report that R’ Yehuda HaNasi had a skilled student who expounded a chapter of the Chariot without his approval and was punished with scabies. The sugya then gives a metaphor: this teaching is like walking between two paths, one of fire and one of snow. If a person veers to one side, he dies by fire; if he veers to the other, he dies by snow. The proper way is to walk in the middle. This metaphor defines esoteric teaching as a narrow path between opposite forms of failure.

The major positive model is the story of R’ Elazar ben Arakh and Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai. R’ Elazar asks his teacher to instruct him in the Chariot. Rabban Yoḥanan refuses on the basis of the Mishnah’s rule. R’ Elazar then asks permission to speak before his teacher, and Rabban Yoḥanan allows it. When R’ Elazar begins, Rabban Yoḥanan descends from his donkey, saying that it is improper to hear the glory of his Creator while riding. They sit under a tree; fire descends from heaven; ministering angels dance before them like wedding guests; an angel from within the fire confirms that R’ Elazar’s exposition is correct; and the trees sing, in fulfillment of Psalms 96:12.

The next anecdotes show the mixed consequences of such teaching. R’ Yosef HaKohen and R’ Shimon ben Netanel also expound the Chariot after hearing of R’ Elazar. The earth trembles, a rainbow appears, and a heavenly voice announces that they and their students are prepared for the third group of the righteous in the future world. By contrast, Ben Zoma is portrayed as crossing a dangerous threshold. When R’ Yehoshua greets him, Ben Zoma does not answer. He says he was contemplating Creation and concludes that only a handbreadth separates the upper and lower waters, based on the analogy between the “hovering” in Genesis 1:2 and the eagle’s hovering in Deuteronomy 32:11. R’ Yehoshua tells his students that Ben Zoma is “outside,” and Ben Zoma soon dies. The sugya thus distinguishes between sanctioned insight and destabilizing speculation.

After this, the sugya shifts from stories of the Chariot to warnings against investigating what lies beyond permitted boundaries. R’ Elazar cites the book of Ben Sira: what is beyond a person should not be known, what is deeper than Sheol should not be investigated, and one should contemplate only what has been permitted. Rav interprets Psalms 31:19, “May lying lips be silenced,” as a curse against those who speak arrogantly about God’s hidden matters. Such people claim to expound Creation, thinking they are elevating themselves, but in fact they are degrading the subject. R’ Yose b. Ḥanina sharpens this warning: if one who honors himself through another person’s disgrace has no share in the World-to-Come, all the more so one who honors himself through the glory of the eternal God.

R’ Levi then formulates a boundary between what may and may not be investigated. Proverbs 25:2 says, “The glory of God is to hide a matter, and the glory of kings is to investigate a matter.” R’ Levi reads this as a temporal distinction. What preceded creation belongs to divine concealment. What follows creation belongs to legitimate human inquiry. Job 20:4 and Deuteronomy 4:32 are used to define the same limit: inquiry begins from the creation of humanity and from the created order, not before Creation, not above heaven, and not below the abyss. The sugya therefore permits investigation, but only within the boundaries of the world as created and revealed.

Part 3

This boundary is then symbolized through the Hebrew letter bet, the first letter of Genesis. R’ Yonah in the name of R’ Levi teaches that the world was created with bet because bet is closed on all sides and open only forward. Its shape teaches that one may not inquire what is above, below, before, or after, but only from the day the world was created onward. The letter itself becomes a diagram of epistemic restraint.

The sugya then extends the symbolism: bet points upward to its Creator and backward to God’s name. Another explanation says the world was created with bet because bet begins berakhah, “blessing,” while alef begins arirah, “curse.” Creation begins under the sign of blessing so that the world may endure.

A related letter-symbolism appears in the teaching of R’ Abbahu in the name of R’ Yoḥanan: two worlds were created with two letters, heh and yud, based on Isaiah 26:4. Genesis 2:4 is read to show that this world was created with heh and the World-to-Come with yud. The form of heh hints at descent to Sheol, ascent from that descent, and an opening for repentance. The curved yud teaches that all creatures must be bent or submissive.

The final major unit returns to the order of Creation and the dispute between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel. Beit Shammai say that heaven was created first and earth afterward, citing Genesis 1:1 and comparing heaven to a throne and earth to its footstool. Beit Hillel say that earth was created first and heaven afterward, citing Genesis 2:4 and comparing creation to a palace built from its lower structure upward. R’ Yehuda bar Pazi adds support for Beit Hillel from Psalms 102:26, and R’ Ḥanina says Beit Hillel can even refute Beit Shammai from Genesis 1:2, “and the earth was,” implying that the earth already existed.

Part 4

The dispute is then mediated. R’ Yoḥanan in the name of the sages distinguishes between initial creation and completion: with respect to creation, heaven came first; with respect to perfecting, earth came first. The sugya then presents a second structural dispute about the relation between the first three days of Creation and the last three days. According to Beit Shammai, heaven, sea, and earth each wait three days before producing their offspring: heaven produces luminaries on the fourth day, sea produces sea creatures on the fifth, and earth produces land creatures on the sixth. According to Beit Hillel, earth, heaven, and sea each wait two days before producing theirs: earth produces vegetation on the third day, heaven produces luminaries on the fourth, and sea produces sea creatures on the fifth.

The closing opinions resist making priority into hierarchy. R’ Shimon ben Yoḥai says that heaven and earth were created simultaneously, like a pan and its lid. His son R’ Elazar b. Shimon adds that the Bible sometimes mentions heaven first and sometimes earth first, indicating that the two are equivalent.

Outline

Intro

The Passage

1. R’ Yehuda bar Pazi - Originally the world was “water in water”; God transformed it into snow, then land; land stands on water, water on mountains, mountains on wind, wind on storm, and storm is suspended under God’s arm - Genesis 1:2; Psalms 147:17, 104:6, 136:6, 148:8; Job 37:6; Amos 4:13; Deuteronomy 33:27 (#3)

2. Six verses would make R’ Yehuda HaNasi cry, including the verse about God forming mountains and creating wind - Amos 4:13, 5:15; Zephaniah 2:3; Lamentations 3:29; Ecclesiastes 12:14; I Samuel 28:15 (#4)

3. Samuel’s critique of Saul (when he was raised from the dead)

   1. Samuel thought it was Judgment Day, and was afraid

4. Even non-sinful matters are recorded for a person; one’s own breath testifies about him - Amos 4:13

5. R’ Ḥaggai citing R’ Ya’avetz - “Chaos” (tohu) refers to darkness and murkiness - Amos 4:13; Genesis 1:2

6. R’ Yehuda bar Pazi citing R’ Yose b. Yehuda - anecdote re dialogue between the Roman emperor Hadrian and Akylas the convert (#5)

   1. Hadrian asks Akylas whether the world rests on spirit

   2. Akylas confirms, and demonstrates with strangled camels that the invisible “spirit” sustains life

Part 2

1. The rule not to expound the Chariot to one is accepted by all, so that a person preserves the honor of his Maker (#6)

2. Rav - One may not state a matter before his teacher unless he has seen or served; in Chariot teaching, the teacher only opens with headings of verses and summarizes

3. R’ Ḥiyya citing R’ Yoḥanan - R’ Yehuda HaNasi had a skilled student who expounded a chapter of the Chariot without R’ Yehuda HaNasi’s approval, and was afflicted with scabies

4. Chariot teaching is like walking between fire and snow: veering either way is fatal; one must walk in the middle

5. Anecdote re Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai and R’ Elazar ben Arakh (#7)

   1. R’ Elazar b Arakh asks to teach Chariot before his teacher Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai

   2. When R’ Elazar b Arakh begins, fire descends, angels dance, and trees sing

   3. An angel confirms R’ Elazar b Arakh’s teaching - Psalms 96:12

   4. Rabban Yoḥanan praises R’ Elazar b Arakh as both a proper expounder and practitioner

6. Anecdote re R’ Yosef Hakohen and R’ Shimon ben Netanel

   1. After hearing of R’ Elazar b Arakh, R’ Yosef Hakohen and R’ Shimon ben Netanel also expound the Chariot; the earth trembles, a rainbow appears

   2. A bat kol assigns them and their students to the third group of the righteous - Psalms 16:11

7. Anecdote re R’ Yehoshua and Ben Zoma (#8)

   1. Ben Zoma interprets that the upper and lower waters are separated only by a handbreadth

   2. ... deriving “hovering” in Genesis 1:2 from the eagle hovering in Deuteronomy 32:11

   3. R’ Yehoshua says Ben Zoma is “outside,” and Ben Zoma soon dies

8. R’ Yehuda bar Pazi citing R’ Yose b. Yehuda - Three sages successfully “lectured their Torah” before their teachers: R’ Yehoshua before Rabban Yoḥanan b. Zakkai; R’ Akiva before R’ Yehoshua; Ḥananiah b Ḥakhinai before R’ Akiva; After this point, “their mind was not pure” (#9)

9. R’ Elazar citing the book of Ben Sirah - One should not investigate what is beyond or hidden; one should contemplate only what is permitted (#11)

10. Rav - “May lying lips be silenced” means may they become dumb, crushed, and silenced - Psalms 31:19

    1. Prooftexts - Exodus 4:11; Genesis 37:7

    2. ... Psalms 31:19 targets those who speak arrogantly about God’s hidden matters

    3. ... and claim to expound Creation

11. R’ Yose b. Ḥanina - If one who honors himself through another’s disgrace has no share in the World-to-Come, all the more so one who honors himself through God’s glory - Psalms 31:20 (#12)

12. R’ Levi - “The glory of God is to hide a matter” refers to before Creation; “the glory of kings is to investigate a matter” refers to after Creation - Proverbs 25:2

13. R’ Levi - Inquiry is limited to the time after humanity was placed on earth, not to what preceded Creation - Job 20:4

14. R’ Yonah citing R’ Abba - inquiry permitted only into the days of Creation and the created world, not before Creation or beyond heaven and the abyss - Deuteronomy 4:32 (#13)

15. Bar Kappara - “From the day” supports limiting inquiry to the created order; this aligns R’ Yehuda bar Pazi with Bar Kappara and R’ Ḥiyya with R’ Abba - Deuteronomy 4:32

Part 3

1. R’ Yonah citing R’ Levi - The world was created with the Hebrew letter bet, which is closed on all sides and open only forward, teaching that one may not inquire above, below, before, or after, only from Creation onward - Genesis 1:1 (#14)

2. The letter bet indicates its Creator by its form and points to God’s name

3. The world was created with the letter bet because bet begins the word for “blessing”, not alef, which begins the word for “curse”

4. R’ Abbahu citing R’ Yoḥanan - Two worlds were created with two letters, heh and yud: this world with heh, the World-to-Come with yud - Isaiah 26:4; Genesis 2:4 (#15)

5. The form of heh hints at descent to Sheol, ascent, and repentance; the curved yud hints that all creatures must be bent/submissive

6. David praised God with the two-letter divine name Yah (YH) when he saw this structure - Jeremiah 30:6; Psalms 113:1

7. R’ Yudan the Patriarch asking R’ Shmuel b. Naḥman - R’ Shmuel b. Naḥman explains “His name is YH” as meaning every place has an appointee over its life, and God is appointed over all life - Psalms 68:5 (#16)

8. R’ Elazar - R’ Shmuel b. Naḥman’s teacher did not explain that way; rather, saying “originally the world was water in water” detracts from God, like saying a palace was built on sewers

   1. One may look at the king’s orchard, not touch it

9. Dispute of Beit Shammai vs. Beit Hillel - which was created first, Earth or Heaven? (#17)

10. Beit Shammai prooftext that Heaven was created first, then earth - Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 66:1

11. Beit Hillel prooftext that Earth was created first, then heaven - Genesis 2:4; Isaiah 48:13

12. R’ Yehuda bar Pazi - Another verse supports Beit Hillel: earth is founded first, then heaven is the work of God’s hands - Psalms 102:26

13. R’ Ḥanina - Beit Hillel refute Beit Shammai from Beit Shammai’s own verse: “and the earth was” implies earth already existed - Genesis 1:1–2

14. R’ Yoḥanan citing the rabbis - For initial creation, heaven preceded; for completion/perfection, earth preceded

    1. Prooftexts - Genesis 1:1; Genesis 2:4

Part 4

1. Beit Shammai vs. Beit Hillel re the relationship of Creation days 1-3 to days 4-6 - 2 vs 3 days

2. According to Beit Shammai, heaven, sea, and earth each wait three days before producing their offspring - Genesis 1

   1. Heaven - Day 1

   2. Sea - Day 2

   3. Earth - Day 3

3. According to Beit Hillel, earth, heaven, and sea each wait two days before producing theirs - Genesis 1

   1. Earth - Day 1

   2. Heaven - Day 2

   3. Sea - Day 3

4. R’ Shimon b. Yoḥai - Heaven and earth were created simultaneously, like a pot and its lid - Isaiah 48:13

5. R’ Elazar b. Shimon - Since the Bible sometimes mentions heaven first and sometimes earth first, the two are equal in rank

Appendix - Homilies on the letters Yod and Heh (Menachot 28b-30a)

1. Rava - Seven letters require three crowns: שעטנ״ז ג״ץ

2. Rav Ashi - Exacting scribes of Rav’s study hall added a stroke to the roof of ḥet and suspended the leg of heh

3. The ḥet-stroke signifies that God lives “in the height of the world”

4. R’ Yehuda Nesia asking R’ Ami; R’ Ami responding - One who trusts in God has refuge in this world and the World-to-Come - Isaiah 26:4

5. R’ Yehuda b. Elai - the two worlds were created with the letters yod and heh

   1. This world was created with heh, as “be-hibare’am” is read as “with heh He created them” - Genesis 2:4

6. This world was created with heh because it resembles an open portico: whoever wants to leave may leave

   1. The suspended leg allows return through repentance

7. The crown of the heh signifies that if a sinner returns, God ties a crown for him

8. The World-to-Come was created with yod because the righteous in it are few

9. The bent head of the yod reflects the righteous bowing their heads because their deeds differ in rank

The Passage

yerushalmi/Chagigah/2.1#3 thru the end (#17)

R’ Yehuda bar Pazi - Originally the world was “water in water”; God transformed it into snow, then land; land stands on water, water on mountains, mountains on wind, wind on storm, and storm is suspended under God’s arm - Genesis 1:2; Psalms 147:17, 104:6, 136:6, 148:8; Job 37:6; Amos 4:13; Deuteronomy 33:27 (#3)

#3

דרש רבי יודה בר פזי:

1. בתחילה היה העולם מים במים.

   1. מה טעם? ורוח אלהים מרחפת על פני המים.

2. חזר ועשאו שלג.

   1. משליך קרחו כפיתים.

3. חזר ועשאו ארץ.

   1. כי לשלג יאמר הוה ארץ.

4. והארץ עומדת על מים.

   1. לרוקע הארץ על המים.

5. והמים עומדים על הרים.

   1. על הרים יעמדו מים.

6. וההרים עומדין על רוח.

   1. כי הנה יוצר הרים ובורא רוח.

7. והרוח תלויה בסערה.

   1. רוח סערה עושה דברו.

8. וסערה עשאה הקדוש ברוך הוא כמין קמיע ותלייה בזרועו

   1. שנאמר: ומתחת זרועות עולם.

R’ Yehuda bar Pazi preached:2

1. Originally the world was water in water.

   1. What is the reason? God’s wind was hovering over the water (Genesis 1:2)

2. Then He turned it into snow,

   1. He throws his ice like small breads (Psalms 147:17)

3. Then He turned it into land,

   1. for He will tell the snow, be land (Job 37:6)

4. And the land stands on water,

   1. to Him Who spreads the earth over the water (Psalms 136:6)

5. And the water stands on mountains,

   1. on mountains shall the water stand (Psalms 104:6)

6. And the mountains stand on wind,

   1. behold the Maker of mountains and Creator of wind (Amos 4:13)

7. And the wind depends on storm,

   1. the wind storm executes His word (Psalms 148:8)

8. And God turned storm into a kind of amulet and hung it on His arm,

   1. as it is said: and below eternal arms (Deuteronomy 33:27)

Six verses would make R’ Yehuda HaNasi cry, including the verse about God forming mountains and creating wind - Amos 4:13, 5:15; Zephaniah 2:3; Lamentations 3:29; Ecclesiastes 12:14; I Samuel 28:15 (#4)

#4

כי הנה יוצר הרים וגו׳.

זה אחד מששה מקריות שהיה רבי קורא אותן ובוכה:

1. בקשו את יי כל ענוי הארץ וגו׳.

2. שנאו רע ואהבו טוב וגו׳.

3. יתן בעפר פיהו וגו׳.

4. כי את כל המעשה וגו׳.

5. ויאמר שמואל אל שאול למה הרגזתני וגו׳.

Behold the Maker of mountains and Creator of wind, etc.

This is one of 6 verses which R’ [Yehuda HaNasi] would read and cry. [The additional 5 verses are:]

1. Implore YHWH, all the meek of the Land, etc. (Zephaniah 2:3)

2. Hate evil and love goodness, etc. (Amos 5:15)

3. He shall put dust in his mouth, etc. (Lamentations 3:29)

4. For all deeds, etc. (Ecclesiastes 12:14)

5. Samuel said to Saul: why did you irritate me, etc. (I Samuel 28:15)

Samuel’s critique of Saul (when he was raised from the dead)

אמר לו:

לא היה לך להרגיז את בוראך אלא בי.

עשיתני עבודה זרה שלך.

אין את יודע.

כשם שנפרעין מן העובד

כך נפרעין מן הנעבד.

[Samuel] said to [Saul]:

you should not have angered your Creator by me.

You made me your idol.

Do you not know that

just as the worshipper is punished,

the worshipped is punished?!

Samuel thought it was Judgment Day, and was afraid

ולא עוד אלא:

שהייתי סבור שהוא יום הדין,

ונתייראתי.

Not only this but:

I [=Samuel] was thinking that this was the Day of Judgment (i.e. because Saul raised him up from the dead) ,

and I was afraid.

והרי דברים קל וחומר:

• מה אם שמואל

  • רבן שלנביאים, שכתוב בו וידע כל ישראל מדן ועד באר שבע וגו׳.

    • נתיירא מיום הדין.

• אנו

  • על אחת כמה וכמה.

And is that not a kal ve-homer:

• if Samuel,

  • the teacher of the Prophets, about whom it is written, all of Israel knew, from Dan to Beer Sheva, etc.,

    • was afraid of the Day of Judgment,

• we

  • so much more!

Even non-sinful matters are recorded for a person; one’s own breath testifies about him - Amos 4:13

והדין כי הנה יוצר הרים ובורא רוח וגו׳.

אפילו דברים שאין בהן חט —

נכתבין לאדם על פינקסו.

And this behold the Maker of mountains and Creator of wind (Amos 4:13)

even matters which are not sinful —

are written for everybody on his writing tablet.3

ומי מגיד לאדם?

הבל היוצא מפיו.

And who tells to a person?4

The breath of his mouth.

R’ Ḥaggai citing R’ Ya’avetz - “Chaos” (tohu) refers to darkness and murkiness - Amos 4:13; Genesis 1:2

רבי חגיי בשם רבי יעבץ.

יוצר הרים ובורא רוח.

רבי חגיי בשם רבי יעבץ:

אילין ציפאריי.

תוהו --

חושך ואפילה.

R’ Ḥaggai in the name of R’ Ya’avetz:

The Maker of mountains and Creator of wind (Amos 4:13)

R’ Ḥaggai in the name of R’ Ya’avetz:

those Sepphoreans,

“chaos”5 --

is darkness and murkiness (אפילה)

R’ Yehuda bar Pazi citing R’ Yose b. Yehuda - anecdote re dialogue between the Roman emperor Hadrian and Akylas the convert (#5)

#5

Hadrian asks Akylas whether the world rests on spirit

רבי יודה בר פזי, בשם רבי יוסי בירבי יודה:

אדריינוס שאל לעקילס הגר:

קושטין אתון אמרין דהין עלמא קיים על רוחא?

אמר ליה: אין.

R’ Yehuda bar Pazi in the name of R’ Yose ben R’ Yehuda:

Hadrian asked Akylas the proselyte: is it true that you are saying that this world rest on the spirit?6

He told him: yes.

Akylas confirms, and demonstrates with strangled camels that the invisible “spirit” sustains life

אמר ליה: מן הן את מודע לי?

אמר ליה: אייתי לי הוגנין.

He said to him: how can you show this to me?

He told him: bring me noble camels (הוגנין).

אייתי ליה הוגנין.

אטעונונון טעוניהון.

אקימון וארבעון.

נסתון וחנקון.

He brought him noble camels.

He loaded them with their loads,

let them stand up and lie down,

lifted them and strangulated them.

אמר ליה:

הא לך,

אקימון!

אמר ליה: מן דחנקתון?!

אמר ליה:

כלום חסרתנון

לא רוחא היא דנפקת מינהון?!

He told him:

here they are,

raise them!

He said to him: after you strangulated them?!

He told him:

I did not remove anything from them,

is it not the spirit which left them?!

Non-Jews’ semen (#14)

#14

R’ Aḥa; R’ Ḥinena citing R’ Yoḥanan - non-Jews’ semen is pure, since semen cannot emerge without urine

שכבת זרען.

ולא כן אמר רבי אחא רבי חיננא, בשם רבי יוחנן.

שכבת זרעו שלגוי טהורה.

שאי איפשר לשכבת זרע לצאת בלא מימי רגלים.

Their semen.

But did not R’ Aḥa, R’ Ḥinena say in the name of R’ Yoḥanan:

a non-Jew’s semen is pure

for semen cannot be discharged without urine.

R’ Abba bar Aḥa citing R’ Yehuda HaNasi - a baal keri may study halakhot, but not aggadah (#15)

#15

ועל הילכות בעל קרי.

רבי בא בר אחא, בשם רבי.

שונה הלכות

ואינו שונה אגדות.

About the rules of a person with an emission (בעל קרי - keri).

R’ Abba bar Aḥa in the name of R’ [Yehuda HaNasi]:

He may study halacha

but not aggadah.

R’ Yose - such a person may review familiar practical laws, but not expound the Mishnah

תני בשם רבי יוסי:

שונה הלכות רוגליות.

ובלבד שלא יציע את משנתו.

It was stated in the name of R’ Yose:

He may repeat known halacha

but he may not expound1 the Mishnah (משנתו).

ואית דבעי מימר:

ובלבד שלא יזכיר את האזכרות.

Some want to say:

he may not mention the Divine Name (אזכרות)

The land of non-Jews (=outside of Eretz Yisrael) (#16)

#16

R’ Ze‘ira bar Avina citing R’ Yirmiyah - the impurity decree on foreign lands and glass vessels is attributed to earlier pairs of sages, not to this later gathering alone

ועל הילכות ארץ העמים.

ולא כן אמר רבי זעירא בר אבינא, בשם רב ירמיה:

• יוסף בן יועזר איש צרידה

• ויוסי בן יוחנן איש ירושלם

גזרו טומאה

• על ארץ העמים

• ועל כלי זכוכית.

And about the rules for the land of non-Jews.

But did not R’ Ze’ira bar Avina say in the name of Rav Yirmiah:

• Yosef ben Yoezer from Tzereda

• and Yosei ben Yoḥanan from Jerusalem (c. 2nd century BCE)

decreed impurity

• on the land of non-Jews

• and on glass vessels2

R’ Yonah - Attributes one of those earlier decrees specifically to R’ Yehuda ben Tabbai

רבי יונה אמר:

רבי יהודה בן טבאי.

R’ Yonah said:

R’ Yehuda ben Tabbai (c. 1st century BCE)

R’ Yosei - R’ Yehuda ben Tabbai and Shimon ben Shetaḥ decreed impurity on metal vessels; Hillel and Shammai decreed concerning hands

רבי יוסי אמר:

• רבי יהודה בן טבאי

• ושמעון בן שטח

גזרו טומאה על כלי מתכות.

• הלל

• ושמי

גזרו על טהרת הידים.

R’ Yosei said:

• R’ Yehuda ben Tabbai

• and Shimon ben Shetaḥ (c. 2nd century BCE)

decreed impurity of metal vessels3

• Hillel

• and Shammai (fl. early 1st century CE)

decreed about purity of hands.

R’ Yose b. Avin citing R’ Levi - some of these laws were ancient traditions, later forgotten, and then restored by later sages

רבי יוסי בירבי בון, בשם רבי לוי:

כך היתה הלכה בידן ושכחוה.

ועמדו השנים, והסכימו על דעת הראשונים.

R’ Yosei ben R’ Avin in the name of R’ Levi:

This had [previously] been the halacha, but they [later] forgot it.

The secondary [authorities] came, and agreed with the intent of the first ones.

Sustained effort restores Torah truth

ללמדך ש:

כל דבר שנותנין בית דין נפשן עליו --

סופו להתקיים בידן כמה שנאמר למשה בסיני.

To teach you that:

everything for which the Court made a real effort4 --

will in the end be confirmed for them as it was said to Moses on Sinai.

R’ Mana - “it is not an empty thing from you” means: if Torah seems empty, the deficiency is in human effort, not in Torah itself

ואתייא כיי דמר רבי מנא:

“כי לא דבר רק הוא מכם”

ואם דבר רק הוא --

מכם.

למה הוא?

שאין אתם יגיעין בו.

“כי הוא חייכם”

אימתי הוא חייכם?

בשעה שאתם יגיעין בו.

This comes as R’ Mana said:

for it is not an empty matter for you,

if it is an empty matter --

it is from you

since you do not exert yourselves for it.

For it is your life.

When is it your life?

Any time you are exerting yourselves for it.

Shmuel - Distinguishes between the eighteen decrees and other decrees with respect to whether a later court may revoke them (#17)

#17

שמואל אמר:

לא שנו אלא בתוך י״ח

הא חוץ לי״ח --

אפילו קטן מבטל.

Samuel said:

they taught this only about the 18 [decrees]

But other than the 18 --

even a lesser [court] may abolish.

An objection is raised from the Sabbatical-year laws against Shmuel’s distinction between the eighteen decrees and other enactments

התיבון:

הרי שביעית.

הרי חוץ לי״ח דבר.

ורבי יוחנן מקשי לה.

They objected:

is there not the Sabbatical year?

This is not of the 18 items,

and R’ Yoḥanan (said it) and asked about it.

R’ Krispeda citing R’ Yoḥanan - Rabban Gamliel and his court abolished an earlier Shevi‘it restriction

רבי קריספדא, בשם רבי יוחנן:

רבן גמליאל ובית דינו התירו באיסור שני פרקים הראשונים.

R’ Krispedai in the name of R’ Yoḥanan:

Rabban Gamliel and his court abolished the prohibitions of the first two terms (פרקים).

רבי (יונתן) [יוחנן] בעי:

ולא כן תניין:

שאין בית דין יכול לבטל את דברי בית דין חבירו

אלא אם כן גדול ממנו בחכמה ובמניין.

R’ (Yonatan) [Yoḥanan] asked:

Did we not state:

“for no court may invalidate the words of another court

unless it be greater in wisdom and numbers”?

אתא רב אבון רב יהודה, בשם שמואל:

לא שנו אלא חוץ לי״ח.

הא בתוך י״ח --

אפילו גדול אינו מבטל.

מפני שעמדה להן בנפשותיהן.

There came Rav Abun, Rav Yehuda in the name of Samuel:

they taught this only about other [decrees] than the 18.

Therefore, the 18 --

even a greater one cannot abolish,

because they fought for it with their lives.5

אמר רבי מנא:

לא מסתברא דלא

הואיל והוא אונס --

בטל.

R’ Mana said:

this makes it reasonable that it is not so;

since this is a case of force --

it is invalid.

Rav Kahana b. Ḥiyya b. Abba; R’ Aḥa citing R’ Yoḥanan - once the oil decree was abolished, its abolition stood

התיבון:

הרי שמן, הרי בתוך י״ח.

ורבי (יונתן) [יוחנן] מקשי לה.

רב כהנא בריה דרבי חייה בר אבא.

רבי אחא מטי בה, בשם רבי יוחנן.

שמן --

ביטלו מבוטל.

They objected:

is there not oil, which is of the 18?

And R’ (Yonatan) [Yoḥanan] objected!

Rav Kahana the son of R’ Ḥiyya bar Abba;

R’ Aḥa bent it in the name of R’ Yoḥanan:

Oil --

They abolished what was abolished.

Naḥman b. Shmuel b. Naḥmani citing R’ Shmuel b. Naḥmani - a court can revoke the rule that certain sin-offerings must die (#18)

#18

נחמן בריה דרבי שמואל בר נחמני, בשם רבי שמואל בר נחמני:

חמש חטאות מיתות --

רצו בית דין לבטל, מבטלין.

Naḥman, the son of R’ Samuel bar Naḥmani in the name of R’ Samuel bar Naḥmani:

The 5 [kinds of] sin-offerings which [are left to] die6 --

if the Court decides to abolish, they may abolish.

R’ Ḥiyya bar Adda - Qualifies that such animals may be diverted to non-obligatory use, but not actually offered on the altar

אמר רבי חייא בר אדא:

הדא דאת אמר:

שלא ידחו למיתה

ויפלו לנדבה.

אבל ליקרב על גבי המזבח --

אין חטאת מיתה קריבה.

R’ Ḥiyya bar Ada said:

that means that:

They are not sent to die

but are used for voluntary sacrifices.

But as far as sacrificing on the altar is concerned --

no purification sacrifice destined to die may be sacrificed.

Appendix - Halachot of one who experienced a seminal emission (בעל קרי - ‘keri’) (Berakhot 22a)

Berakhot/22a#2 thru 22a#8

R’ Meir

[…]

תניא:

בעל קרי שאין לו מים לטבול —

1. קורא קריאת שמע,

   1. ואינו מברך, לא לפניה ולא לאחריה.

2. ואוכל פתו ומברך לאחריה,

   1. ואינו מברך לפניה.

אבל מהרהר בלבו ואינו מוציא בשפתיו,

דברי רבי מאיר

[…]

it is taught in a baraita:

One who experienced a seminal emission (בעל קרי) who has no water to immerse and purify himself —

1. recites Shema

   1. and neither recites the blessings of Shema beforehand nor thereafter

2. And when he eats his bread, he recites the blessing thereafter, Grace after Meals,

   1. but does not recite the blessing: “Who brings forth bread from the earth”, beforehand.

However, in the instances where he may not recite the blessing, he contemplates it in his heart rather than utter it with his lips,

this is the statement of R’ Meir.

R’ Yehuda

רבי יהודה אומר:

בין כך ובין כך —

מוציא בשפתיו.

However R’ Yehuda says:

In either case —

he utters all of the blessings with his lips.

R’ Yehuda does not consider contemplating the blessings in his heart a solution and permits them to be recited.

Baraita - Deuteronomy 4:9-10

[…]

תניא:

• ״והודעתם לבניך ולבני בניך״,

• וכתיב בתריה: ״יום אשר עמדת לפני ה׳ אלהיך בחורב״,

• מה להלן

  • באימה

  • וביראה

  • וברתת

  • ובזיע,

• אף כאן

  • באימה

  • וביראה

  • וברתת

  • ובזיע

[…]

it was taught in a baraita:

• It is written: “And you shall impart them to your children and your children’s children” (Deuteronomy 4:9),

• and it is written thereafter: “The day that you stood before YHWH your God at Horeb” (Deuteronomy 4:10).

• Just as below, the Revelation at Sinai

  • was in reverence,

  • fear,

  • quaking,

  • and trembling,

• so too here, in every generation,

  • Torah must be studied with a sense of reverence,

  • fear,

  • quaking,

  • and trembling.

מכאן אמרו:

1. הזבים

2. והמצרעים

3. ובאין על נדות —

מותרים

1. לקרות

   1. בתורה

   2. ובנביאים

   3. ובכתובים,

2. לשנות

   1. במשנה

   2. וגמרא

   3. ובהלכות

   4. ובאגדות.

אבל בעלי קריין אסורים.

From here the rabbis stated:

1. Zavim,

2. metzora’im,

3. and those who had sex with menstruating women (נדות),

despite their severe impurity, are permitted

1. to read

   1. the Torah (=Pentateuch),

   2. Prophets,

   3. and Writings,

2. and to study

   1. Mishnah

   2. and Gemara

   3. and halakhot

   4. and aggada.

However,

those who experienced a seminal emission (בעלי קריין) are prohibited from doing so.7

R’ Yosei

רבי יוסי אומר:

שונה הוא ברגיליות,

ובלבד שלא יציע את המשנה

However, there are many opinions concerning the precise parameters of the Torah matters prohibited by this decree.

R’ Yosei says:

One who experiences a seminal emission studies mishnayot that he is accustomed to study,

as long as he does not expound upon (יציע) a new Mishnah to study it in depth.

R’ Yonatan ben Yosef

רבי יונתן בן יוסף אומר:

מציע הוא את המשנה,

ואינו מציע את הגמרא

R’ Yonatan ben Yosef says:

He expounds upon the Mishnah

but he does not expound upon the Gemara,

which is the in-depth analysis of the Torah.

R’ Natan ben Avishalom

רבי נתן בן אבישלום אומר:

אף מציע את הגמרא,

ובלבד שלא יאמר אזכרות שבו

R’ Natan ben Avishalom says:

He may even expound upon the Gemara,

as long as he does not utter the mentions (אזכרות) of God’s name therein.

R’ Yoḥanan the Cobbler citing R’ Akiva

רבי יוחנן הסנדלר

תלמידו של רבי עקיבא,

משום רבי עקיבא אומר:

לא יכנס למדרש כל עיקר

R’ Yoḥanan the Cobbler,

R’ Akiva’s student,

says in the name of R’ Akiva:

One who experiences a seminal emission may not enter into homiletic interpretation [midrash] of verses at all.

ואמרי לה:

לא יכנס לבית המדרש כל עיקר

Some say that he says:

He may not enter the study hall [beit hamidrash] at all.

R’ Yehuda

רבי יהודה אומר:

שונה הוא בהלכות דרך ארץ.

R’ Yehuda says:

He may study only Hilkhot Derekh Eretz.

Anecdote re R’ Yehuda and his students

מעשה ברבי יהודה שראה קרי,

והיה מהלך על גב הנהר.

אמרו לו תלמידיו:

רבינו!

שנה לנו פרק אחד בהלכות דרך ארץ.

ירד וטבל ושנה להם.

אמרו לו:

לא כך למדתנו רבינו,

שונה הוא בהלכות דרך ארץ?!

אמר להם:

אף על פי שמיקל אני על אחרים,

מחמיר אני על עצמי.

The Talmud relates an incident involving R’ Yehuda himself, who experienced a seminal emission

and was walking along the riverbank with his disciples.

His disciples said to him:

Our master (רבינו)!

teach (שנה) us a chapter from Hilkhot Derekh Eretz, as he maintained that even in a state of impurity, it is permitted.

He descended and immersed himself in the river and taught them Hilkhot Derekh Eretz.

They said to him:

Did you not teach us, our master,

that he may study Hilkhot Derekh Eretz?

He said to them:

Although I am lenient with others, and allow them to study it without immersion,

I am stringent with myself.

R’ Yehuda ben Beteira

תניא,

רבי יהודה בן בתירא היה אומר:

אין דברי תורה מקבלין טומאה

Further elaborating on the issue of Torah study while in a state of impurity,

it was taught in a baraita that

R’ Yehuda ben Beteira would say:

Matters of Torah do not become ritually impure

and therefore one who is impure is permitted to engage in Torah study.

Anecdote re R’ Yehuda ben Beteira and a student - Jeremiah 23:29

מעשה בתלמיד אחד שהיה מגמגם למעלה מרבי יהודה בן בתירא.

אמר ליה:

בני!

פתח פיך ויאירו דבריך,

שאין דברי תורה מקבלין טומאה,

שנאמר:

״הלא כה דברי כאש

נאם ה׳״,

• מה אש

  • אינו מקבל טומאה

• אף דברי תורה

  • אינן מקבלין טומאה.

R’ Yehuda ben Beteira in fact implemented this halakha in practice:

The Talmud relates an incident involving a student who was reciting mishnayot and baraitot hesitantly8 before the study hall of R’ Yehuda ben Beteira.9

R’ Yehuda said to him:

My son!

open your mouth and let your words illuminate (יאירו),

as matters of Torah do not become ritually impure,

as it is stated:

“Is not my word like fire,

says YHWH” (Jeremiah 23:29).

• Just as fire

  • does not become ritually impure,

• so too matters of Torah

  • do not become ritually impure.

Non-Jews’ oil (#10)

#10

Rav Yehuda - Attributes the original prohibition of non-Jewish oil to the biblical Daniel

(See footnote.)1

שמנן.

מי אסר את השמן?

רב יהודה אמר:

דניאל אסר את השמן:

וישם דניאל על ליבו

אשר לא יתגאל בפת בג המלך

וביין משתיו.

Their oil.

Who forbade the oil?

Rav Yehuda said:

Daniel forbade it:

Daniel was careful

not to defile himself by the king’s repast (פת בג)

and the wine he drank (Daniel 1:8)

R’ Aḥa; R’ Tanḥum b. Ḥiyya citing R’ Yoḥanan / R’ Yehoshua ben Levi - people even risked death over the issue of non-Jewish oil

רבי אחא רבי תנחום בר חייה, בשם רבי יוחנן

ואית דאמרי לה בשם רבי יהושע בן לוי:

שהיו עולין עליו להר המלך ונהרגין עליו.

R’ Aḥa, R’ Tanḥum bar Ḥiyya in the name of R’ Yoḥanan,

And some say it in the name of R’ Yehoshua ben Levi:

For it they were climbing up King’s Mountain2 and were killed for it.

R’ Yehuda HaNasi and his court formally permitted non-Jewish oil (#11)

#11

ומי התירו?

רבי ובית דינו התירו בשמן.

And who permitted it?

R’ [Yehuda HaNasi] and his court permitted it.

In three places R’ Yehuda HaNasi is referred to as “our teachers”: in divorce documents, oil, and sandal law

בשלשה מקומות נקרא רבי יהודה הנשיא “רבותינו”:

1. בגיטין

2. ובשמן

3. ובסנדל.

In 3 places is R’ Yehuda HaNasi called “our teachers”:

1. in divorce documents (גיטין),

2. oil,

3. and a sandal

His court was called a “permissive court”, since a court that permits three prior prohibitions is called a “permissive court”

ויקראו לו בית דין שרייא.

שכל בית דין שהוא מבטל שלשה דברים --

הוא נקרא בית דין שרייא.

And they called him “a permissive court”,

for any court which permits 3 [previously forbidden] things --

is called “permissive court.”

R’ Yudan b. Yishmael - R’ Yehuda HaNasi’s court disagreed with him in one of the other permissive rulings - bills of divorce

אמר רבי יודן בירבי ישמעאל:

בית דינו חלוק עליו בגיטין.

R’ Yudan ben R’ Ismael said:

his court disagreed with him about bills of divorce.

R’ Yoḥanan - legal problem: how could a later court revoke Daniel’s prohibition if a lesser court cannot overturn an earlier one?

(See footnote.)3

רבי יוחנן בעי:

ולא כן תנינן:

שאין בית דין יכול לבטל דברי בית דין חבירו

עד שיהיה גדול ממנו בחכמה ובמיניין.

ורבי ובית דינו מתירין מה שאסר דניאל וחבורתו.

R’ Yoḥanan asked:

Did we not state (Mishnah, Eduyot 1:5):

“for no court may invalidate the words of another court

unless it be greater in wisdom and numbers”?

And [thus, how could] R’ [Yehuda HaNasi] and his court permit what Daniel and his companions forbade?

R’ Yoḥanan citing R’ Elazar b. Tzadok - a decree not accepted by the majority of the public is not fully binding; this is applied to the oil decree

(See footnote.)4

אלא רבי יוחנן כדעתיה.

דמר רבי יוחנן, בשם רבי לעזר בירבי צדוק:

מקובל אני

שכל גזירה שבית דין גוזרין על הציבור

ולא קיבלו רוב הציבור עליהן --

אינה גזירה.

R’ Yoḥanan follows his own opinion,

for R’ Yoḥanan said in the name of R’ Elazar ben R’ Tzadok:

I have a tradition

that any decree (גזירה) passed by a court

which is not accepted by the majority of the public --

is not an decree.

The oil decree was investigated, and it was found that the majority of the public had not accepted the prohibition

ובדקו ומצאו גזירה שלשמן

ולא קיבלו רוב הציבור עליהן.

And they checked and found in the matter of the edict about oil

and did not find that a majority of the public followed it.

Anecdote re Yitzḥak b. Shmuel b. Marta and R’ Simlai the Southerner in Nisibis - R’ Simlai teaches that R’ Yehuda HaNasi and his court permitted oil (#12)

#12

יצחק בר שמואל בר מרתא נחת לנציבין.

אשכח רבי שמלאי הדרומי יתיב ודריש:

רבי ובית דינו התירו בשמן.

Isaac bar Samuel bar Martha went down to Nisibis.

He met R’ Simlai the Southerner who sat and expounded:

R’ [Yehuda HaNasi] and his court permitted the oil.

Shmuel accepts this tradition and eats non-Jewish oil; Rav resists; Shmuel threatens him with ostracism

שמואל קביל עלויי ואכל.

רב לא אכל.

Samuel accepted this and ate.

Rav did not eat.

אמר ליה שמואל:

אכול!

דלא כן --

אנא כתיב עלך זקן ממרא.

Samuel told him:

eat!

Otherwise --

I shall declare you a rebellious Elder (זקן ממרא).

... until pressed and informed the ruling is truly attributed to R’ Yehuda HaNasi and his court, after which he eats

אמר ליה:

עד דאנא תמן

אנא ידע מאן עירער עליה.

רבי שמלאי הדרומי.

He answered him:

when I still was there

I knew who complained (עירער) about it --

R’ Simlai the Southerner.

אמר ליה: מהו מר ליה בשם גרמיה?

לא, בשם רבי ובית דינו.

ואטרח עלוי ואכל.

He told him: did he say it in the name of himself?

No, in the name of R’ [Yehuda HaNasi] and his court.

He bothered5 him and he ate.

Non-Jewish women (#13)

#13

R’ Elazar - “do not intermarry with them” appears in seven places in the Bible

(See footnote.)6

בנותיהן.

אמר רבי לעזר:

בשבעה מקומות כתוב:

לא תתחתן בם.

Their daughters.

R’ Elazar said:

in 7 places it is written:

do not intermarry with them (Deuteronomy 7:3).7

R’ Avin - the verse is forbidding the seven Canaanite nations

אמר רבי אבין:

לוסר שבעה עממים.

R’ Avin said:

to forbid 7 [Canaanite] nations (שבעה עממים)

R’ Yehoshua of Ono - Extends “their daughters” homiletically to include “their eggs”

תנא רבי יהושע אונייה:

לוסר את ביציהן.

R’ Yehoshua from Ono stated:

to forbid their eggs.

R’ Yishmael - Supports that reading from the verse “the daughter of the ostrich,” understood as an ostrich egg

תני רבי ישמעאל:

ואת בת היענה.

זו ביצת הנעמית.

R’ Ismael stated:

and the ostrich (בת היענה) (Leviticus 11:16; Deuteronomy 14:15)

This is the egg of the ostrich (נעמית).

Outline

1. The Jerusalem Talmud (Yerushalmi)

   1. Longest Chapter: Kiddushin, Chapter 1

   2. The Runners-Up

   3. Longest Individual Section: Chagigah 2:10

2. Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah (Rambam)

   1. Longest Chapter: Tefillin, Mezuzah and the Torah Scroll, Chapter 8

   2. The Runners-Up

   3. Longest Individual Halakhah: Tefillin 8:4

Appendix 1 - Yerushalmi

1. Top 20 Longest Chapters — Yerushalmi

Appendix 2 - Mishneh Torah

1. Top 10 Longest Chapters — Mishneh Torah

2. Top 10 Longest Sections (Halakhot) — Mishneh Torah

3. Bottom 10 Shortest Sections (Halakhot) — Mishneh Torah

Appendix 3 - Technical: Methodology and Full Results

1. Data Collection

2. Word Counting

Appendix 4 - Excerpt of Maimonides’ List of ‘Petuchot’ and ‘Setumot’ in the Pentateuch - Formatted As Numbered Lists (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Tefillin Mezuzah and Torah Scroll 8:4a)

1. Genesis

   1. Parashat Bereshit (Genesis 1:1–6:8)

   2. Parashat Noach (Genesis 6:9–11:32)

   3. Parashat Chayyei Sarah (Genesis 23:1–25:18)

   4. Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4–36:43)

2. Exodus

3. Parashat Vezot Haberakhah (Deuteronomy 33:1–34:12)

4. Song of Haazinu

The Jerusalem Talmud (Yerushalmi)

The Yerushalmi contains roughly 812,000 Hebrew words across 297 chapters and 39 tractates. The average chapter runs about 2,735 words, but the range is enormous.2

Longest Chapter: Kiddushin, Chapter 1

At 12,834 words, the first chapter of Kiddushin towers over everything else in the Yerushalmi. That’s nearly double the next-longest chapter. Kiddushin 1 covers the foundational methods of betrothal and acquisition, topics that branch into long legal discussions touching property law, personal status, and the mechanics of kinyan (formal acquisition).3

The Runners-Up

Megillah Chapter 1 (10,445 words) and Moed Katan Chapter 3 (7,986 words) round out the top three. Several tractates place multiple chapters in the top 20: Berakhot contributes four chapters (1, 2, 4, and 9), Sanhedrin three (1, 7, and 10), and Shabbat two (1 and 7).

Longest Individual Section: Chagigah 2:10

When we zoom in from chapters to individual segments, the picture shifts. The longest single section in the Yerushalmi is Chagigah Chapter 2, segment 10, at 817 words. Chagigah 2 is famous for its esoteric content (Maaseh Bereishit and Ma’aseh Merkavah) as well the story of Aher; this particular segment contains anecdotes of Aher and R’ Meir.4

The next-longest segments come from Taanit Chapter 4 (540 words, on the history of fast days) and another passage from Chagigah 2 (535 words).

Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah (Rambam)

The Mishneh Torah is a very different kind of text. Maimonides wrote it as a systematic legal code: organized, precise, and deliberately concise.5 The entire work spans roughly 764,500 Hebrew words across 1,001 chapters and 83 sections of Hilchot (legal topics), grouped into 14 books.

The average chapter is just 764 words, less than a third of the Yerushalmi average. That brevity is by design; Maimonides prized clarity and economy of language.

Longest Chapter: Tefillin, Mezuzah and the Torah Scroll, Chapter 8

The longest chapter in the entire Mishneh Torah is Hilchot Tefillin, Mezuzah and the Torah Scroll, Chapter 8, at 3,104 words. This chapter is dominated by a single extraordinary halakhah: halakhah 4, which alone contains 2,911 words.6

The Runners-Up

After that outlier, the next-longest chapters are more modest. Sanctification of the New Month Chapter 17 (2,109 words) deals with the complex astronomical calculations for the Jewish calendar. Divorce Chapter 9 (2,097 words) covers the detailed formulations and procedures for writing a get. These are chapters where Maimonides had to work through intricate procedural or technical material that resisted compression.

Sabbath law places three chapters in the top 20 (17, 21, and 22), reflecting the density of Shabbat regulations. Marriage and Forbidden Intercourse also appear repeatedly.

Longest Individual Halakhah: Tefillin 8:4

The longest individual halakhah is, unsurprisingly, the same passage that makes Chapter 8 the longest chapter: Tefillin 8:4 at 2,911 words. The next-longest halakhah — Sanhedrin 19:4 at 949 words7 — is less than a third its size. After that, values drop quickly: Sanctification of the New Month 12:2 (601 words), Service on the Day of Atonement 4:1 (521 words), and so on. The overwhelming majority of Rambam’s halakhot are under 200 words.

Appendix 1 - Yerushalmi

Top 20 Longest Chapters — Yerushalmi

Appendix 2 - Mishneh Torah

Top 10 Longest Chapters — Mishneh Torah

Top 10 Longest Sections (Halakhot) — Mishneh Torah

Bottom 10 Shortest Sections (Halakhot) — Mishneh Torah

Appendix 3 - Technical: Methodology and Full Results

Data Collection

Two TypeScript scripts queried every chapter of both works through ChavrutAI’s REST API:

• Yerushalmi: GET /api/yerushalmi/:tractate/:chapter — 297 chapters across 39 tractates. Each API call proxies to Sefaria’s API, fetching all halakhot within a chapter in parallel, then returning processed hebrewSections[].

• Rambam: GET /api/rambam/:hilchot/:chapter — 1,001 chapters across 83 Hilchot sections. Each API call fetches a single bilingual chapter from Sefaria, returning processed hebrewSections[].

Word Counting

Hebrew word count was computed by:

1. Stripping all HTML tags from each section string

2. Replacing HTML entities with spaces

3. Matching all sequences of Hebrew Unicode characters (ranges U+0590–U+05FF, U+FB1D–U+FB4F)

4. Counting matches

This counts actual Hebrew words, excluding punctuation, numerals, and any embedded Latin-script text.

Appendix 4 - Excerpt of Maimonides’ List of ‘Petuchot’ and ‘Setumot’ in the Pentateuch - Formatted As Numbered Lists (Mishneh Torah, Laws of Tefillin Mezuzah and Torah Scroll 8:4a)

See Wikipedia, “Parashah”:

The division of parashot found in the modern-day Torah scrolls of all Jewish communities is based upon the systematic list provided by Maimonides in Mishneh Torah, Laws of Tefillin, Mezuzah and Torah Scrolls, chapter 8.

Maimonides based his division of the parashot for the Torah on the Aleppo Codex.

The Passage

In Sefaria: Mishneh_Torah%2C_Tefillin%2C_Mezuzah_and_the_Torah_Scroll.8.4

In ChavrutAI: Tefillin_Mezuzah_and_the_Torah_Scroll/8#4

ולפי שראיתי שבוש גדול בכל הספרים שראיתי בדברים אלו.

וכן בעלי המסרת

שכותבין ומחברין להודיע הפתוחות והסתומות

נחלקים בדברים אלו במחלקת הספרים שסומכין עליהם

ראיתי לכתב הנה כל פרשיות התורה הסתומות והפתוחות

וצורת השירות

כדי לתקן עליהם כל הספרים ולהגיה מהם.

Since I have seen great confusion8 about these matters in all the [Torah] scrolls (ספרים) I have seen,

and similarly, the masters of the tradition9

who have written down and composed [texts] to make it known [which passages are] p’tuchot and [which are] s’tumot10

are divided with regard to the [Torah] scrolls on which to rely,

I saw fit to write down the entire list of all the passages in the Torah (=Pentateuch) that are s’tumot and p’tuchot,

and [also] the form of (צורת) the songs (שירות).

In this manner, all the scrolls can be corrected and checked (להגיה) against these [principles].

וספר שסמכנו עליו בדברים אלו הוא הספר הידוע במצרים

שהוא כולל ארבעה ועשרים ספרים

שהיה בירושלים מכמה שנים להגיה ממנו הספרים

ועליו היו הכל סומכין לפי שהגיהו בן אשר

ודקדק בו שנים הרבה והגיהו פעמים רבות כמו שהעתיקו

ועליו סמכתי בספר התורה שכתבתי כהלכתו

The sefer11 on which I relied on for [clarification of] these matters was a book12 renowned in Egypt,

which includes all the 24 books [of the Bible].

It was kept in Jerusalem for many years so that scrolls could be checked from it.

Everyone relies upon it because it was corrected (הגיהו) by ben Asher,

who spent many years writing it precisely (דקדק), and checked13 it many times.

I relied [on this book] when I wrote a Torah scroll according to law.

Genesis

(See footnote).14

Parashat Bereshit (Genesis 1:1–6:8)

ספר בראשית -

1. יהי רקיע.

2. יקוו המים.

3. יהי מארת.

4. ישרצו המים.

5. תוצא הארץ.

6. ויכלו.

7. אלה תולדות השמים.

כלן פתוחות.

והן שבע פרשיות.

1. אל האשה אמר.

2. ולאדם אמר.

שתיהן סתומות.

1. ויאמר יי׳‎ אלהים

פתוחה.

1. והאדם ידע.

2. זה ספר.

3. ויחי שת.

4. ויחי אנוש.

5. ויחי קינן.

6. ויחי מהללאל.

7. ויחי ירד.

8. ויחי חנוך.

9. ויחי מתושלח.

10. ויחי למך.

11. ויהי נח.

אחת עשרה פרשיות אלו כלן סתומות

1. וירא יי׳‎.

2. אלה תולדת נח.

שתיהן פתוחות.

Parashat Noach (Genesis 6:9–11:32)

1. ויאמר אלהים לנח.

2. וידבר אלהים אל נח.

3. ויאמר אלהים אל נח.

שלשתן סתומות.

1. ויהיו בני נח.

2. ואלה תולדת בני נח.

שתיהן פתוחות.

1. וכנען ילד.

2. ולשם ילד.

שתיהן סתומות.

1. ויהי כל הארץ שפה אחת.

2. אלה תולדת שם.

שתיהן פתוחות.

1. וארפכשד חי.

2. ושלח חי.

3. ויחי עבר.

4. ויחי פלג.

5. ויחי רעו.

6. ויחי שרוג.

7. ויחי נחור.

8. ויחי תרח.

כלן סתומות השמונה פרשיות.

1. ויאמר יי׳‎ אל אברם.

2. ויהי רעב.

3. ויהי בימי אמרפל.

שלשתן פתוחות.

1. אחר הדברים.

2. ושרי אשת אברם.

3. ויהי אברם.

4. ויאמר אלהים אל אברהם.

ארבעתן סתומות.

1. וירא אליו

פתוחה.

1. ויסע משם.

2. ויי׳‎ פקד את שרה.

שתיהן סתומות.

1. ויהי בעת ההוא.

2. ויהי אחר.

3. ויהי אחרי הדברים.

4. ויהיו חיי שרה.

ארבעתן פתוחות.

Parashat Chayyei Sarah (Genesis 23:1–25:18)

1. ואברהם זקן

סתומה.

1. ויסף אברהם.

2. ואלה תלדת ישמעאל.

3. ואלה תולדת יצחק.

4. ויהי רעב.

ארבעתן פתוחות.

1. ויהי עשו.

2. ויהי כי זקן יצחק.

3. ויצא יעקב.

שלשתן סתומות.

Parashat Vayishlach (Genesis 32:4–36:43)

1. וישלח יעקב

פתוחה.

1. ויבא יעקב.

2. ותצא דינה.

שתיהן סתומות.

1. ויאמר אלהים.

2. וירא אלהים.

3. ויהיו בני יעקב.

4. ואלה תלדות עשו.

ארבעתן פתוחות.

1. אלה בני שעיר

סתומה.

1. ואלה המלכים.

2. וישב יעקב.

3. ויהי בעת.

שלשתן פתוחות.

1. ויוסף הורד מצרימה

סתומה.

1. ויהי אחר הדברים.

2. ויהי מקץ.

שתיהן פתוחות.

1. ויגש אליו.

2. ואלה שמות.

3. ואת יהודה.

שלשתן סתומות.

1. ויהי אחרי הדברים.

2. ויקרא יעקב.

3. שמעון ולוי.

4. יהודה.

5. זבולן.

6. יששכר.

כלן פתוחות.

והן שש.

1. דן.

2. גד.

3. מאשר.

4. נפתלי.

5. בן פרת יוסף.

חמשתן סתומות.

1. בנימין

פתוחה.

• מנין הפתוחות: שלש וארבעים.

• והסתומות: שמונה וארבעים.

• הכל: תשעים ואחת

Exodus

ספר ואלה שמות -

[...]

Parashat Ve-zot Ha-berakhah (Deuteronomy 33:1–34:12)

1. לבנימן.

2. וליוסף.

3. ולזבולן.

4. ולגד.

5. ולדן.

6. ולאשר.

7. ויעל משה.

כלן סתומות, והן שבע.

• מנין הפתוחות של ספר זה: שלשים וארבע.

• והסתומות: מאה ועשרים וארבע.

• הכל: מאה וחמשים ושמונה.

• מנין הפתוחות של כל התורה: מאתים ותשעים.

• ומנין הסתומות: שלש מאות ושבעים ותשע.

• הכל: שש מאות וששים ותשע

Song of Haazinu

צורת שירת האזינו -

כל שיטה ושיטה יש באמצע רוח אחד כצורת הפרשה הסתומה.

ונמצא כל שיטה חלוקה לשתים.

וכותבין אותה בשבעים שיטות.

ואלו הן התבות שבראש כל שיטה ושיטה:

1. האזינו.

2. יערף.

3. כשעירם.

4. כי.

5. הצור.

6. אל.

7. שחת.

8. הליי׳‎.

9. הלוא.

10. זכר.

11. שאל.

12. בהנחל.

13. יצב.

14. כי.

15. ימצאהו.

16. יסבבנהו.

17. כנשר.

18. יפרש.

19. יי׳‎.

20. ירכבהו.

21. וינקהו.

22. חמאת.

23. בני.

24. ודם.

25. שמנת.

26. וינבל.

27. בתועבת.

28. אלהים.

29. לא.

30. ותשכח.

31. מכעס.

32. אראה.

33. בנים.

34. כעסוני.

35. בגוי.

36. ותיקד.

37. ותלהט.

38. חצי.

39. וקטב.

40. עם.

41. ומחדרים.

42. יונק.

43. אשביתה.

44. פן.

45. ולא.

46. ואין.

47. יבינו.

48. ושנים.

49. ויי׳‎.

50. ואיבינו.

51. ומשדמת.

52. אשכלת.

53. וראש.

54. חתום.

55. לעת.

56. וחש.

57. ועל.

58. ואפס.

59. צור.

60. ישתו.

61. יהי.

62. ואין.

63. מחצתי.

64. כי.

65. אם.

66. אשיב.

67. אשכיר.

68. מדם.

69. הרנינו.

70. ונקם.

כל אלו התבות שבראש

ואלו הן התבות שבראש כל חצי שיטה אחרונה שהן באמצע הדף:

1. ותשמע.

2. תזל.

3. וכרביבים.

4. הבו.

5. כי.

6. צדיק.

7. דור.

8. עם.

9. הוא.

10. בינו.

11. זקניך.

12. בהפרידו.

13. למספר.

14. יעקב.

15. ובתהו.

16. יצרנהו.

17. על.

18. ישאהו.

19. ואין.

20. ויאכל.

21. ושמן.

22. עם.

23. עם.

24. וישמן.

25. ויטש.

26. יקנאהו.

27. יזבחו.

28. חדשים.

29. צור.

30. וירא.

31. ויאמר.

32. כי.

33. הם.

34. ואני.

35. כי.

36. ותאכל.

37. אספה.

38. מזי.

39. ושן.

40. מחוץ.

41. גם.

42. אמרתי.

43. לולי.

44. פן.

45. כי.

46. לו.

47. איכה.

48. אם.

49. כי.

50. כי.

51. ענבמו.

52. חמת.

53. הלא.

54. לי.

55. כי.

56. כי.

57. כי.

58. ואמר.

59. אשר.

60. יקומו.

61. ראו.

62. אני.

63. ואין.

64. ואמרתי.

65. ותאחז.

66. ולמשנאי.

67. וחרבי.

68. מראש.

69. כי.

70. וכפר

The Data

I used Heinrich Guggenheimer’s English translation of the Jerusalem Talmud, published by De Gruyter between 1999 and 2015, which is available open-access on Sefaria.2 The full text is downloadable in bulk from Sefaria’s public export repository,3 organized by tractate. I wrote a script that downloads one JSON file per tractate, strips HTML formatting and footnotes, and runs the regex against every segment of translated text.

The corpus covers all 39 tractates of the Yerushalmi; 12,243 text segments, covering roughly the entirety of the Yerushalmi. The script ran in under a minute.

The Results

Across all 39 tractates, the script found ~3k distinct name strings representing ~50k total name occurrences.

Before discussing who’s at the top, a note on counting: one sage can appear under many surface forms — “Rebbi Joḥanan” and “R. Joḥanan” are the same person, and Guggenheimer spells Zeira’s name in over four different ways across the corpus (”Zeïra”, “Zeˋira”, “Ze’ira”, “Ze`ira”).4

The top 20 most-cited figures:5

The dominant figure is R’ Yoḥanan — the major third-century Amora who heads the Tiberias academy and whose teachings saturate the Yerushalmi (as well as the Bavli).

R’ Ze’ira — counted across his large number of spelling variants — totals roughly 1,650 appearances, which would place him in the top five once consolidated.

Other figures and groups that are far more prominent in the Yerushalmi than in the Bavli are R’ Mana (רבי מנא), R’ Yonah (רבי יונה), R’ Ḥaggai (רב חגא), and “the rabbis of Caesarea”.6

Outliers

Mononyms — sages known by a single name or title (e.g., Shmuel, Rav [=Abba Aricha], “Rabbi” [=Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi]) — are problematic with this method, as I’ve discussed elsewhere.7 The regex works by detecting a name in context, requiring either an honorific prefix (“Rabbi", ”Rebbi”, “R.”, “Rav", “Rabban”) or a patronymic connector (”ben”, “bar”). So a name like “Rav” in running text is undetectable without additional logic.8

The full list of 3,147 name strings, with occurrence counts and example references, is in the appendix. The full data is available as a CSV, in Github.

Appendix 1: Top 100 Most-Mentioned Rabbis in Talmud Yerushalmi, by Count

The names are normalized, broadly using Steinsaltz Talmud translation conventions for transliteration of Hebrew names, and thus rows combined, via the normalized canonical name.9

Appendix 2 - Technical

Relevant files, at the ChavrutAI Github repo:

• /scripts/extract-yerushalmi-names.ts

• /scripts/yerushalmi-names-results.csv

• /scripts/yerushalmi-names-redacted.txt (for manual QA, to allow manual spot-checking that don’t have missing major recurring names)

• /scripts/yerushalmi-full-text.txt

The Script

The extraction script is at the ChavrutAI Github repo, at scripts/extract-yerushalmi-names.ts, written in TypeScript and run with npx tsx. It:

1. Reads shared/data/yerushalmi-shapes.json to know which tractates and chapters exist.

2. For each tractate, fetches the Guggenheimer JSON dump from the Sefaria-Export GCS bucket (gs://sefaria-export/json/Talmud/Yerushalmi/...), caching it locally.

3. Strips HTML tags and entities from each segment, strips double-quoted content (which in Guggenheimer typically marks Bible verse citations), and NFC-normalizes the Unicode.

4. Collects all regex matches from both patterns across the segment.

5. Applies greedy longest-match deduplication: all match spans are sorted by start position (ties broken by length descending), and overlapping spans are dropped. This prevents a match like “Simeon ben Laqish” and the sub-match “ben Laqish” from both being counted for the same textual occurrence.

6. Aggregates counts globally and per-tractate, recording up to three example references per name string.

7. Writes yerushalmi-names-results.json, yerushalmi-names-results.md, and yerushalmi-names-results.csv.

The Regex

Two patterns are used, both adapted from the original Bavli patterns in my earlier blog post:

Pattern 1 (honorific-first): matches an opening honorific or relational phrase followed by a capitalized name, optionally followed by a connector and patronymic, and optionally a place name. Examples:

• Rebbi Joḥanan

• R. Simeon ben Laqish

• the son of Rebbi Abbahu

Pattern 2 (name-first): matches a capitalized name followed by a patronymic connector and another name. Examples:

• Simeon ben Laqish

• Joḥanan bar Nappaḥa

The name token character class is: [A-Z + Latin Extended] [a-z + Latin Extended + apostrophe variants]+. This proved the most consequential part to get right (see Challenges below).

Guggenheimer-specific additions to the honorific list (absent from the original Bavli patterns):

• Rebbi — used for Eretz Yisrael sages (vs. Rabbi for Babylonian ones in Steinsaltz)

• R. — Guggenheimer’s standard abbreviation, appearing ~12,000 times

• All relational variants: son of Rebbi, bar Rebbi, daughter of Rebbi, etc.

Challenges

1. Customizing honorifics. The original Bavli regex was tuned to the Steinsaltz translation, which uses “Rabbi” and “Rav”. Guggenheimer uses “Rebbi” for Eretz Yisrael sages and “R.” as a universal abbreviation. These two forms together account for over 50,000 occurrences in the Yerushalmi corpus.

2. Decomposed Unicode. Guggenheimer’s text on Sefaria stores the transliteration character ḥ (h-with-dot-below, U+1E25) in decomposed form: ASCII “h” followed by combining dot below (U+0323). Without NFC normalization, the regex character class [ḥ] would not match the decomposed sequence, and names like “Joḥanan” would be truncated to “Jo”. Applied .normalize(’NFC’) to each segment before matching.

3. Four different apostrophes. Guggenheimer represents the Aramaic glottal stop (in names like Zeira, Ze’ira) using four distinct characters depending on where in the text it appears:10

• U+2018 (left single quotation mark): Ze’ira

• U+02CB (modifier letter grave accent): Zeˋira

• U+0060 (grave accent / backtick): Ze`ira

• U+00EF (i-diaeresis / ï): Zeïra

None of these are standard ASCII. The first three were being treated as non-name characters, causing “Rebbi Ze’ira” to match as “Rebbi Ze” — a truncated non-name that was appearing near the top of the frequency list with ~900 false occurrences. Adding all four variants to the character class resolved this.

4. Quote-stripping collateral damage. The original blog post blanks out content in quotation marks (Bible verse citations) before matching. My initial implementation continued this. This correctly strips verse citations but also stripped quotes of tannaitic texts. Therefore removed this logic (via a flag).

For the purposes of this piece, we’ll be defining ‘sugya’ as the Talmudic text that occurs between consecutive mishnah sections. This is the upper bound of a sugya.

Interestingly, this is essentially what a “halacha” is in Yerushalmi.1 See Wikipedia, “Jerusalem Talmud“, section “Contents and pagination“:

[E]ach chapter of the Jerusalem Talmud (paralleling a chapter of Mishnah) is divided into “halachot”; each “halacha” is the commentary on a single short passage of Mishnah.

The Yerushalmi, as we have it, contains 2,162 “halakhot” totaling roughly 809,000 Hebrew words.2

The average halakha runs about 374 words; the median is just 260. Note that those averages hide an enormous range: the longest halakha is 201 times the length of the shortest.

What’s missing entirely

Note that the following Mishnah sections lack Yerushalmi commentary, despite appearing in tractates that otherwise have it:

• Shabbat, chapters 21–24

• Makkot, chapter 3

• Niddah, from 4:2 onward

• Ketubot 4:5 — a single isolated gap.

• Yevamot — ten scattered halakhot lack Yerushalmi: 2:5, 4:5, 4:6, 4:14, 5:5, 5:7, 7:2, 8:4, 9:6, and 9:7.

See also Wikipedia ibid., section “Missing sections“:

The last four chapters of Shabbat (=chapters 21–24), and the last chapter of Makkot (=chapter 3), are missing [from the Jerusalem Talmud]. Niddah ends abruptly after the first lines of chapter 4.

The longest halachot

Halacha - Number of Hebrew words

1. Shabbat 7:2 - 4,816

2. Peah 1:1 - 4,503

3. Sanhedrin 10:2 - 3,881

4. Moed Katan 3:5 - 3,390

5. Taanit 4:5 - 3,118

6. Sanhedrin 1:2 - 3,046

7. Kiddushin 1:2 - 2,858

8. Berakhot 1:1 - 2,806

9. Yoma 1:1 - 2,790

10. Chagigah 2:1 - 2,729

The reigning champion is Shabbat 7:2, the discussion of the 39 avot melachot (categories of forbidden Sabbath labor), at nearly 5,000 Hebrew words.

Screenshot at ChavrutAI (https://chavrutai.com/yerushalmi/Shabbat/7.2, in tablet view):

Peah 1:1 is the discussion of mitzvot whose fruits are eaten in this world while the principal is preserved for the next. Taanit 4:5 contains the Yerushalmi narratives of the destruction of Beitar and the death of Bar Kokhba. Sanhedrin 10:2 discusses who has and doesn’t have a share in the World-to-Come. Chagigah 2:1 discusses Ma’aseh Bereishit, and Ma’aseh Merkava, and the story of the tanna Aher/Elisha ben Avuyah. Several of the openings of tractates also make the list (Berakhot 1:1, Yoma 1:1, Kiddushin 1:2, Sanhedrin 1:2. A similar pattern exists for the Bavli, on these same chapters, see my previous discussion).

The shortest halachot

The shortest is Sotah 9.8, which weighs in at a grand total of 24 Hebrew words; and that’s counting both the Mishnah and the Talmud Yerushalmi. The full Talmudic discussion is just two words: bera ketola (”a son of murderers”), a brief gloss on the mishnah’s report that Elazar ben Dinai was nicknamed “the murderer’s son.”

Here are the ten shortest “halachot” in the Yerushalmi:3

Sugya - Hebrew words

1. Sotah 9:8 - 24

2. Beitzah 2:9 - 28

3. Nedarim 7:4 - 29

4. Rosh Hashanah 4:5 - 32

5. Eruvin 7:7 - 33

6. Nedarim 6:10 - 34

7. Avodah Zarah 5:2 - 34

8. Yevamot 13:9 - 35

9. Yevamot 13:10 - 35

10. Nedarim 7:9 - 35

Non-Jews’ bread (#6)

#6

R’ Yaakov bar Aḥa citing R’ Yonatan - the rule about non-Jewish bread belongs to “practices of obfuscation” (a softened / qualified rule)

פיתן.

רבי יעקב בר אחא, בשם רבי יונתן:

מהלכות שלעימעום היא.

Their bread.1

R’ Yaakov bar Aḥa in the name of R’ Yonatan:

this is of the practices of obfuscation2

R’ Yosei - Questions what that “obfuscation” means: whether the original tendency was to forbid and then permit, or the reverse

אמר רבי יוסה:

קשייתה קומי רבי יעקב בר אחא.

מהו מהלכות שלעימעום?

• כך אנו אומרים: במקום שפת ישראל מצויה, בדין היה שתהא פת גוים אסורה, ועמעמו עליה והתירוה?

• או: במקום שאין פת ישראל מצויה, בדין היה שתהא פת גוים מותרת, ועימעמו עליה ואסרוה?

R’ Yosei said:

I asked before R’ Yaakov bar Aḥa:

What means “of the practices of obfuscation?

• Do we say: at a place where Jewish bread is available, it is logical that non-Jew bread should be forbidden, and they obfuscated about it and permitted it?

• Or: at a place where Jewish bread is not available, it would be logical that non-Jew bread should be permitted, and they obfuscated about it and forbade it?

R’ Mana - Rejects the idea of “obfuscation toward prohibition” and concludes that where Jewish bread is unavailable, non-Jewish bread was technically forbidden but was leniently allowed for basic sustenance

אמר רבי מנא:

ויש עימעום לאיסור?

ופת לאו תבשילי גוים הוא?

R’ Mana said:

is there any obfuscation for prohibition?

But is bread not like cooking of non-Jews?3

כך אנו אומרים:

במקום שאין תבשילי ישראל מצויין --

בדין היה שיהו תבשילי גוים מותרין.

Are we saying:

At a place where no Jewish cooking is available --

it would be logical that non-Jewish cooking should be permitted?

ועימעמו עליהן ואסרום.

אלא כיני:

במקום שאין פת ישראל מצויה --

בדין היה שתהא פת גוים אסורה.

ועימעמו עליה והתירוה

מפני חיי נפש.

But it must be the following:4

At a place where Jewish bread is not available --

it would be logical that non-Jew bread should be forbidden

and they obfuscated about it and permitted it

because of the necessities of life (חיי נפש).

Rabbis of Caesarea citing R’ Yaakov b. Aḥa - the lenient view applies only to bread from a professional baker, though in practice people did not rely on it

רבנן דקיסרין, בשם רבי יעקב בר אחא:

כדברי מי שהוא מתיר.

ובלבד מן הפלטר.

ולא עבדין כן.

The rabbis of Caesarea in the name of R’ Yaakov bar Aḥa:

Following the words of him who was permitting,

but only from the store5

but one does not do this.

Those present before R’ Ḥiyya the Elder citing R’ Shimon ben Yohai - Derives from “food you may buy … and water” that only items unchanged from their natural state are included in the lenient scriptural model (#7)

#7

אמרון קומי רבי חייה רובא:

תני רבי שמעון בן יוחי כן:

“אוכל תשברו מאתם בכסף ואכלתם

וגם מים תכרו מאתם וגו׳”

• מה מים

  • שלא נשתנו מברייתן

• אף כל דבר

  • שלא נשתנה מברייתו.

They said before the Elder R’ Ḥiyya:

R’ Shimon ben Yoḥai stated thus (Deuteronomy 2:6):

Food you shall buy from them [=Edomites] with money and eat,

and also water you may acquire, etc.

• As water

  • is not changed from its natural state,

• so anything

  • which was not changed from its natural state.

Baraita - certain processed non-Jewish foods such as beans, roasted grain, and hot water are nevertheless permitted

התיבון:

הרי

1. מוטלייה

2. ופנקריסים

3. וקובטיות

4. וקליות

5. וחמין

שלהן --

הרי אילו מותרין.

They objected:

Are there not their

1. dry beans,

2. פנקריסין6

3. and קובטיות,7

4. roasted grain,

5. and hot water

Permitted?

Resolution of that objection - most of those foods can revert to their original state by soaking, which explains their permissibility

ניחא כולהן

שהן יכולין להשרות

ולהחזר כמו שהיו.

One understands all of these

because they can be soaked

and return to their former state.

R’ Yosei b. Avin citing Rav - Any food edible raw is not subject to the prohibition of non-Jewish cooking, and may also be used for eruv tavshilin

קליות מה?

אמר רבי יוסי בירבי בון, בשם רב:

כל אוכל שהוא נאכל חי כמות שהוא --

אין בו משום תבשילי גוים

ויוצאין בו משום עירובי תבשילין.

What about roasted grain?

R’ Yosei ben R’ Avin in the name of Rav said:

Any food which can be eaten alone raw --

is not in the category of non-Jew cooking

And one may use it for eruv tavshilin.

R’ Ḥiyya the Elder - Reinterprets the verse pragmatically: “buy with food”; feed or pay an influential person in order to win him over

מה מקיים רבי חייא רובא “אוכל תשברו מאתם”?

באוכל תשברו.

האכלתו שברתו.

• שאם היה קשה עליך --

  • כאוכל תשברו.

• ואם לאו --

  • הכרע עליו כסף.

How does R’ Ḥiyya explain food you shall buy from them?

You shall buy with food.

If you fed him you bought him.

• If he causes you trouble --

  • buy him with food

• or otherwise --

  • ply (הכרע) him with him money.

Anecdote re R’ Yonatan - sent honor-gifts to important visitors, so he could later mollify them in cases involving orphans or widows

אמרין:

כן הוה רבי יונתן עבד:

כד הוה חמי בר נש רב עליל לקרתיה --

הוה משלח ליה איקרין.

מיי אמר?

דאין הוה דיין דייתם או דיין דארמלה --

נישכח אפין מפייסיה עלוי.

They said:

that is what R’ Yonatan did:

When he saw that a superior came to his town --

he sent him an honor gift8

What did he say?

If a suit involving an orphan or a widow came --

he would have a way to mollify him.

Non-Jews’ cheese (#8)

#8

R’ Yirmiyah - the prohibition of non-Jewish milk is due to fear of admixture from non-kosher animals

גבינתן.

אמר רבי ירמיה:

חלב הגוי למה הוא אסור?

משום תערובת בהמה טמיאה.

Their cheese.9

R’ Yirmiyah said:

why is a non-Jew’s milk forbidden?10

Because of admixture from forbidden animals.

ותני כן:

עומד הוא ישראל בעדר והגוי חולב ומביא לו ואינו חושש.

It was stated so:

“There is nothing to worry if the Jew stands with the herd while the non-Jew milks and brings to him.”

R’ Abba citing Rav Yehuda; R’ Shimon citing R’ Yehoshua ben Levi - a different reason for forbidding non-Jewish milk: danger from uncovered liquids

רבי בא, בשם רב יהודה:

רבי סימון, בשם רבי יהושע בן לוי:

חלב הגוי למה הוא אסור?

משום גילוי.

R’ Abba in the name of Rav Yehuda,

R’ Shimon in the name of R’ Yehoshua ben Levi:

Why is a non-Jew’s milk forbidden?

Because of uncovering11

R’ Shmuel b. Yitzḥak - why making cheese would not solve the problem: poison could remain trapped between the holes

ויעמיד?

אמר רבי שמואל בר רב יצחק:

מפני אירס הנתון בין הנקבים.

Let him make cheese!

R’ Samuel ben Rav Isaac said:

because of the poison (אירס) left between the holes.

Baratia - Three types of poison: one that floats, one that sinks, and one that spreads like a net on top

ותני כן:

שלשה אירסין הן:

1. אחד צף

2. ואחד שוקע

3. ואחד עשוי כשבכה ועומד מלמעלה.

It was stated so:

There are 3 kinds of poison:

1. one swims,

2. one sinks down,

3. and one is similar to a net on top.

Anecdote from the era of R’ Yirmiyah - used to illustrate the danger of “sinking poison”: early drinkers survived, later ones died

בימוי דרבי ירמיה, איתגליין גיגייתא דסדרה רובא.

שתון קדמאי, ולא מייתון.

אחראי, ומייתון.

In the days of R’ Yirmiyah, the jugs (גיגייתא) of the Great Assembly (סדרה רובא) were uncovered.

The first ones drank and did not die.

The later ones died.

אני אומר:

אירס שוקע הוה.

I say:

it was sinking poison.

פועלייא הוו בטורא.

איתגליית קולתה דמיא.

שתון קדמאי, ולא מייתון.

אחראי ומייתון.

Workers were in the field.

The water pitcher was uncovered.

The first ones drank, and did not die.

The later ones died.

אני אומר:

אירס שוקע הוה.

I say:

it was sinking poison.

Rule on uncovered liquids - Oil, vinegar, brine, fish sauce, and honey are not subject to the danger of uncovered liquids - a list of 5 items (#9)

#9

1. השמן

2. והחומץ

3. הציר

4. והמורייס

5. והדבש --

אין בהן משום גילוי.

“Uncovering is not a danger for

1. oil

2. and vinegar,

3. brine,

4. and muries,

5. and honey,

R’ Shimon - Takes a stricter view on the danger of uncovered substances; the rabbis agree with him when pecking (by an animal) is observed

ורבי שמעון אוסר.

מודין חכמים לרבי שמעון כשראו אותו נוקר.

but R’ Shimon forbids.

The rabbis agree with R’ Shimon when it was seen pecking.”

Baraita - Even after several people already ate from a pecked watermelon or drank from uncovered wine, it remains forbidden for later users because poison may have sunk lower

ותני כן:

אבטיח שניקר, ואכלו ממנו עשרה בני אדם

וכן יין שנתגלה, ושתו ממנו עשרה בני אדם --

אסור לוכל ולשתות אחריהן.

It was stated thus:

“If a watermelon was pecked, and 10 people ate from it

or wine was uncovered, and 10 people drank from it,

it is forbidden to eat or drink after them;

אני אומר:

אירס שוקע היה.

I say:

there was sinking poison.”

This sugya is the Yerushalmi’s extended treatment of the Mishnah in Shabbat 1:4 about the gathering in the upper chamber of Ḥananiah ben Ḥizkiah ben Garon, where Beit Shammai outnumbered Beit Hillel and eighteen decrees were enacted.1 The sugya begins from that frame, and broadens beyond the Mishnah’s brief notice. It presents the day as a decisive and contested moment in the formation of rabbinic restrictions, especially in matters of separation from non-Jews and impurity law.

Overall, the sugya is a layered legal narrative about a formative confrontation between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel, the scope and rationale of anti-assimilation and impurity decrees, the authority of rabbinic courts, and the relation between formal enactment and older tradition. Its structure moves from the remembered foundational event, to competing lists of decrees, to detailed case discussions, and finally to general principles about legislation and repeal. In that sense, the sugya uses the “day of the eighteen decrees” as a framework for a broader inquiry into how rabbinic law is made, justified, transmitted, and sometimes undone.

The opening section emphasizes how fraught that day was. One tradition states that it was as hard for Israel as the day of the biblical Golden Calf. Another records a dispute between R’ Eliezer and R’ Yehoshua over whether the decrees should be viewed positively or negatively: R’ Eliezer treats the day as one of productive completion, while R’ Yehoshua treats it as one of harmful overfilling. The sugya then preserves even harsher traditions, including reports of coercion and violence by the disciples of Beit Shammai against those of Beit Hillel. This gives the passage a dual character: it is both a catalogue of legal enactments and a memory of institutional crisis.

The sugya then turns to classification. It raises the problem of what exactly counts among the “eighteen”: eighteen things decreed, eighteen decided by majority, and eighteen disputed. Different lists are preserved, and the relationship among them is not fully stable. Some passages give a short core list, while others expand it substantially. This instability is part of the sugya’s subject. The sugya thus preserves disagreement about how to count, group, and historically assign them.

Most of the discussion focuses on decrees concerning non-Jews and on impurity regulations. The list includes non-Jewish bread, cheese, oil, women (“daughters”), semen, urine, the laws of a baal keri, and the impurity of foreign lands (i.e. lands outside of Eretz Yisrael). Other traditions expand the scope further, adding wine, vinegar, fish products, preserves, cooked or processed foods, testimony, gifts, intermarriage (“their sons and daughters”), and firstborns. The overall pattern is that the sugya clusters together measures that regulate eating, social contact, sexual boundary, testimony, and ritual purity. The result is a composite picture of rabbinic separation, in which social distance, dietary restriction, and impurity law reinforce one another.

After listing the decrees, the sugya develops several of them individually. The discussion of non-Jewish bread examines whether the restriction was softened in practice where Jewish bread was unavailable, and concludes that leniency could exist because of basic necessity. The discussion of cheese and milk gives two different rationales: concern about admixture from non-kosher animals, and concern about danger from uncovered liquids (גילוי). The discussion of oil traces the prohibition back to the biblical Daniel, but then records that R’ Yehuda HaNasi and his court permitted it, raising the larger jurisprudential problem of how a later court can revoke an earlier enactment.

Other parts of the sugya move from concrete prohibitions to broader legal theory. The case of oil becomes the central example for the rule that a decree not accepted by the majority of the public is not fully binding. The sugya also discusses whether later courts can revoke earlier rulings, and whether the eighteen decrees have a stronger status than other enactments because they were established under extreme conditions. At the same time, the sugya complicates any simple rule by preserving cases where later authorities did in fact modify earlier prohibitions.

A further theme is historical layering. Some restrictions attributed here to the attic gathering are elsewhere traced back to earlier pairs of rabbis/Pharisees. The sugya explicitly notes that certain laws were older traditions later (purportedly) forgotten and then restored by subsequent authorities. That move allows the passage to treat rabbinic legislation in two ways at once: some rules are framed as new decrees, while others are framed as recoveries of older law.

Outline

Intro

The Passage

Mishnah (#1 = Mishnah Shabbat 1:4)

1. In the upper chamber of Ḥananiah ben Ḥizqiah ben Garon; Beit Shammai outnumbered Beit Hillel, and eighteen decrees were enacted

Talmud Yerushalmi (#2)

1. That day was as grievous for Israel as the day of the making of the biblical Golden Calf

2. R’ Eliezer; R’ Yehoshua - dispute how to characterize the day of the eighteen decrees: R’ Eliezer sees it as “filling the measure” beneficially; R’ Yehoshua sees it as damaging dilution; Each gives a container metaphor

3. R’ Yehoshua of Ono - disciples of Beit Shammai stood below and killed disciples of Beit Hillel during the confrontation over the decrees (#3)

4. Baraita - Only six (Shammaites) went up to the attic; the others stood below with swords and spears (ie. coercion and intimidation)

5. Baraita - three sets of eighteen: eighteen decreed, eighteen decided by majority, and eighteen disputed (#4)

   1. Decree list: on non-Jews’ bread, cheese, oil, women, semen, urine, the laws of a baal keri, and the impurity of foreign lands - list of 8 items

6. Rabbis of Caesarea - only seven of the decrees were from items where one side actually had the majority, with a list of the other items (#5)

   1. Additional list of decrees - handing one’s wallet to a non-Jew before Shabbat, preventing a zav from dining with a zavah, impurity transmission by movables, harvesting in a beit ha-pras, vessels under a pipe, and six doubtful cases for burning terumah - a list of 6 items

7. R’ Yosei b. Avin - Adds growths of terumah to the list of decrees

8. R’ Shimon ben Yohai - expanded list of that day’s decrees concerning various non-Jewish foods, language, testimony, gifts, intermarriage, and firsborns - List of 18 items

Part 2

Non-Jews’ bread (#6)

1. R’ Yaakov bar Aḥa citing R’ Yonatan - the rule about non-Jewish bread belongs to “practices of obfuscation” (a softened / qualified rule)

2. R’ Yosei - Questions what that “obfuscation” means: whether the original tendency was to forbid and then permit, or the reverse

3. R’ Mana - Rejects the idea of “obfuscation toward prohibition” and concludes that where Jewish bread is unavailable, non-Jewish bread was technically forbidden but was leniently allowed for basic sustenance

4. Rabbis of Caesarea citing R’ Yaakov b. Aḥa - the lenient view applies only to bread from a professional baker, though in practice people did not rely on it

5. R’ Shimon ben Yohai - Derives from “food you may buy … and water” that only items unchanged from their natural state are included in the lenient scriptural model (#7)

6. Baraita - certain processed non-Jewish foods such as beans, roasted grain, and hot water are nevertheless permitted

   1. Resolution of that objection - most of those foods can revert to their original state by soaking, which explains their permissibility

7. R’ Yosei b. Avin citing Rav - Any food edible raw is not subject to the prohibition of non-Jewish cooking, and may also be used for eruv tavshilin

8. R’ Ḥiyya the Elder - Reinterprets the verse pragmatically: “buy with food”; feed or pay an influential person in order to win him over

9. Anecdote re R’ Yonatan - sent honor-gifts to important visitors, so he could later mollify them in cases involving orphans or widows

Non-Jews’ cheese (#8)

1. R’ Yirmiyah - the prohibition of non-Jewish milk is due to fear of admixture from non-kosher animals

2. R’ Abba citing Rav Yehuda; R’ Shimon citing R’ Yehoshua ben Levi - a different reason for forbidding non-Jewish milk: danger from uncovered liquids

3. R’ Shmuel b. Yitzḥak - why making cheese would not solve the problem: poison could remain trapped between the holes

4. Baratia - Three types of poison: one that floats, one that sinks, and one that spreads like a net on top

5. Anecdote from the era of R’ Yirmiyah - used to illustrate the danger of “sinking poison”: early drinkers survived, later ones died

6. Rule on uncovered liquids - Oil, vinegar, brine, fish sauce, and honey are not subject to the danger of uncovered liquids - a list of 5 items (#9)

7. R’ Shimon - Takes a stricter view on the danger of uncovered substances; the rabbis agree with him when pecking (by an animal) is observed

8. Baraita - Even after several people already ate from a pecked watermelon or drank from uncovered wine, it remains forbidden for later users because poison may have sunk lower

Part 3

Non-Jews’ oil (#10)

1. Rav Yehuda - Attributes the original prohibition of non-Jewish oil to the biblical Daniel

2. R’ Aḥa; R’ Tanḥum b. Ḥiyya citing R’ Yoḥanan / R’ Yehoshua ben Levi - people even risked death over the issue of non-Jewish oil

3. R’ Yehuda HaNasi and his court formally permitted non-Jewish oil (#11)

4. In three places R’ Yehuda HaNasi is referred to as “our teachers”: in divorce documents, oil, and sandal law

   1. His court was called a “permissive court”, since a court that permits three prior prohibitions is called a “permissive court”

5. R’ Yudan b. Yishmael - R’ Yehuda HaNasi’s court disagreed with him in one of the other permissive rulings - bills of divorce

6. R’ Yoḥanan - legal problem: how could a later court revoke Daniel’s prohibition if a lesser court cannot overturn an earlier one?

7. R’ Yoḥanan citing R’ Elazar b. Tzadok - a decree not accepted by the majority of the public is not fully binding; this is applied to the oil decree

8. The oil decree was investigated, and it was found that the majority of the public had not accepted the prohibition

9. Anecdote re Yitzḥak b. Shmuel b. Marta and R’ Simlai the Southerner in Nisibis - R’ Simlai teaches that R’ Yehuda HaNasi and his court permitted oil (#12)

   1. Shmuel accepts this tradition and eats non-Jewish oil; Rav resists; Shmuel threatens him with ostracism

   2. ... until pressed and informed the ruling is truly attributed to R’ Yehuda HaNasi and his court, after which he eats

Non-Jewish women (#13)

1. R’ Elazar - “do not intermarry with them” appears in seven places in the Bible

2. R’ Avin - the verse is forbidding the seven Canaanite nations

3. R’ Yehoshua of Ono - Extends “their daughters” homiletically to include “their eggs”

4. R’ Yishmael - Supports that reading from the verse “the daughter of the ostrich,” understood as an ostrich egg

Part 4

Non-Jews’ semen (#14)

1. R’ Aḥa; R’ Ḥinena citing R’ Yoḥanan - non-Jews’ semen is pure, since semen cannot emerge without urine

2. R’ Abba bar Aḥa citing R’ Yehuda HaNasi - a baal keri may study halakhot, but not aggadah (#15)

3. R’ Yose - such a person may review familiar practical laws, but not expound the Mishnah

The land of non-Jews (=outside of Eretz Yisrael) (#16)

1. R’ Ze‘ira bar Avina citing R’ Yirmiyah - the impurity decree on foreign lands and glass vessels is attributed to earlier pairs of sages, not to this later gathering alone

2. R’ Yonah - Attributes one of those earlier decrees specifically to R’ Yehuda ben Tabbai

3. R’ Yosei - R’ Yehuda ben Tabbai and Shimon ben Shetaḥ decreed impurity on metal vessels; Hillel and Shammai decreed concerning hands

4. R’ Yose b. Avin citing R’ Levi - some of these laws were ancient traditions, later forgotten, and then restored by later sages

5. Sustained effort restores Torah truth

6. R’ Mana - “it is not an empty thing from you” means: if Torah seems empty, the deficiency is in human effort, not in Torah itself

7. Shmuel - Distinguishes between the eighteen decrees and other decrees with respect to whether a later court may revoke them (#17)

8. An objection is raised from the Sabbatical-year laws against Shmuel’s distinction between the eighteen decrees and other enactments

9. R’ Krispeda citing R’ Yoḥanan - Rabban Gamliel and his court abolished an earlier Shevi‘it restriction

10. Rav Kahana b. Ḥiyya b. Abba; R’ Aḥa citing R’ Yoḥanan - once the oil decree was abolished, its abolition stood

11. Naḥman b. Shmuel b. Naḥmani citing R’ Shmuel b. Naḥmani - a court can revoke the rule that certain sin-offerings must die (#18)

12. R’ Ḥiyya bar Adda - Qualifies that such animals may be diverted to non-obligatory use, but not actually offered on the altar

Appendix - Halachot of one who experienced a seminal emission (בעל קרי - ‘keri’) (Berakhot 22a)

1. R’ Meir

2. R’ Yehuda

3. Baraita - Deuteronomy 4:9-10

4. R’ Yosei

5. R’ Yonatan ben Yosef

6. R’ Natan ben Avishalom

7. R’ Yoḥanan the Cobbler citing R’ Akiva

8. R’ Yehuda

   1. Anecdote re R’ Yehuda and his students

9. R’ Yehuda ben Beteira

   1. Anecdote re R’ Yehuda ben Beteira and a student - Jeremiah 23:29

The Passage

https://chavrutai.com/yerushalmi/Shabbat/1#4

Mishnah (#1 = Mishnah Shabbat 1:4)

#1 (= Mishnah_Shabbat.1.4)

In the upper chamber of Ḥananiah ben Ḥizqiah ben Garon; Beit Shammai outnumbered Beit Hillel, and eighteen decrees were enacted

אילו מהלכות שאמרו בעליית חנניה בן חזקיה בן גרון

כשעלו לבקרו.

נמנו ורבו בית שמאי על בית הלל

ושמונה עשר דבר גזרו בו ביום

These are of the halachot which were pronounced at the upper floor of Ḥananiah ben Ḥizqiah ben Garon,

when they came to visit him.

They voted and the House of Shammai had the majority over the House of Hillel;

18 items they decreed (גזרו) on that day.

Talmud Yerushalmi (#2)

#2

אילו מהלכות שאמרו בעליית חנניה בן חזקיה בן גרון

כשעלו לבקרו כול׳.

Mishnah:

“These are of the halachot which were pronounced at the upper floor of Ḥananiah ben Ḥizqiah ben Garon,

when they came to visit him,” etc.

That day was as grievous for Israel as the day of the making of the biblical Golden Calf

אותו היום היה קשה לישראל כיום שנעשה בו העגל.

“This day was hard for Israel like the day on which the Golden Calf was made.

R’ Eliezer; R’ Yehoshua - dispute how to characterize the day of the eighteen decrees: R’ Eliezer sees it as “filling the measure” beneficially; R’ Yehoshua sees it as damaging dilution; Each gives a container metaphor

רבי ליעזר אומר: בו ביום גדשו את הסאה.

רבי יהושע אומר: בו ביום מחקו אותה.

R’ Eliezer said: on that day they filled the bushel to overflow ( גדשו את הסאה).

R’ Yehoshua said: on that day they filled the bushel to the rim (מחקו אותה).

אמר לו רבי ליעזר:

אילו היתה חסירה ומילאוה --

יאות.

לחבית שהיא מליאה אגוזין.

כל מה שאתה נותן לתוכה שומשמין --

היא מחזקת.

R’ Eliezer said to him:

if it was deficient and they filled --

[it it would have been] reasonable (יאות),

as with an amphora (חבית) full of nuts;

if you fill it with sesame seeds --

it will be strengthened.

אמר לו רבי יהושע:

אילו היתה מליאה וחיסרוה --

יאות.

לחבית שהיתה מליאה שמן.

כל מה שאתה נותן לתוכה מים --

היא מפזרת את השמן.

R’ Yehoshua said to him:

if it had been full and they diminished it --

[it would have been] reasonable,

as with an amphora filled with oil;

if you add water to it --

it dilutes the oil.2

R’ Yehoshua of Ono - disciples of Beit Shammai stood below and killed disciples of Beit Hillel during the confrontation over the decrees (#3)

#3

תנא רבי יהושע אונייא:

תלמידי בית שמי עמדו להן מלמטה

והיו הורגין בתלמידי בית הלל.

R’ Yehoshua from Ono stated:

The students of the House of Shammai were standing downstairs

and killing the students of the House of Hillel.

Baraita - Only six (Shammaites) went up to the attic; the others stood below with swords and spears (ie. coercion and intimidation)

תני:

ששה מהן עלו

והשאר עמדו עליהן בחרבות וברמחים.

It was stated:

6 of them [=Shammaites] went up;

the rest were standing around them with swords and lances.

Baraita - three sets of eighteen: eighteen decreed, eighteen decided by majority, and eighteen disputed (#4)

#4

תני:

1. שמונה עשר דבר גזרו

2. ובשמונה עשרה רבו

3. ובשמונה עשרה נחלקו.

It was stated:

1. 18 things they decided,

2. in 18 they were a majority

3. and in 18 they were divided.3

Decree list: on non-Jews’ bread, cheese, oil, women, semen, urine, the laws of a baal keri, and the impurity of foreign lands - list of 8 items

ואילו הן שגזרו:

1. על פיתן שלגוים

2. ועל גבינתן

3. ועל שמנן

4. ועל בנותיהן

5. ועל שכבת זרען

6. ועל מימי רגליהן

7. ועל הילכות בעל קרי

8. ועל הילכות ארץ העמים.

The following they decided:

1. About non-Jews’ bread (פיתן),

2. and about their cheeses,

3. and about their oil,

4. and about their daughters,

5. and about their semen,4

6. and about their urine,

7. and about the rules of a person with an emission,5

8. and about the rules of the land of non-Jews.6

תמן תנינן:

אילו פוסלין את התרומה:

1. האוכל אוכל ראשון.

2. והאוכל אוכל שיני.

3. והשותה משקין טמאין.

4. והבא ראשו ורובו במים שאובין.

5. וטהור שנפלו על ראשו ורובו שלשת לוגין מים שאובין.

6. והספר והידים והטבול יום.

7. והאוכלים והכלים שניטמאו במשקין.

There we have stated:

“The following make terumah unusable:

1. One who eats food impure in the 1st [degree],

2. and one who eats food impure in the 2nd [degree],7

3. and one who drinks impure drinks,

4. and one who comes with his head and most of his body in drawn water,8

5. and a pure person on whose head and most of his body fell 3 log drawn water,

6. and a [biblical] scroll,9 and hands, and the Ṭevul yom,

7. and food and vessels which became impure by fluids.”

Rabbis of Caesarea - only seven of the decrees were from items where one side actually had the majority, with a list of the other items (#5)

#5

רבנן דקיסרין אמרו:

אילו שגזרו ממה שרבו שובעה אינון.

The rabbis of Caesarea said:

of those which they decided there were 7 of those where they had a majority.

Additional list of decrees - handing one’s wallet to a non-Jew before Shabbat, preventing a zav from dining with a zavah, impurity transmission by movables, harvesting in a beit ha-pras, vessels under a pipe, and six doubtful cases for burning terumah - a list of 6 items

ואילין אינין חורנייתא:

1. מי שהחשיך בדרך -- נותן כיסו לנכרי.

2. כיוצא בו: לא יאכל הזב עם הזבה, מפני הרגל עבירה.

3. כל המיטלטלין מביאין טומאה כעובי המרדע.

4. כיצד בוצרין בית הפרס.

5. המניח כלים תחת הצינור.

6. על ששה ספיקות שורפין את התרומה.

The others are the following:

1. A person being on the road when it gets dark10 -- gives his wallet to a non-Jew.

2. Similarly, the zav should not eat with a zavah, because of inducement to sin.

3. All movables (מיטלטלין) transmit impurity by the thickness of the yoke.

4. How one harvests grapes in a beit ha-pras.11

5. One who puts vessels under the pipe.

6. For 6 doubts (ספיקות) one burns terumah.

R’ Yosei b. Avin - Adds growths of terumah to the list of decrees

אמר רבי יוסי בירבי בון:

אף גידולי תרומה.

R’ Yosei ben R’ Avin said:

also the growth of terumah.

R’ Shimon ben Yohai - expanded list of that day’s decrees concerning various non-Jewish foods, language, testimony, gifts, intermarriage, and firstlings - List of 18 items

אילו הן שגזרו:

אילין עשרתי קדמייתא

והשאר מן מה דתני רבי שמעון בן יוחי:

בו ביום גזרו

1. על פיתן

2. ועל גבינתן

3. ועל יינן

4. ועל חומצן

5. ועל צירן

6. ועל מורייסן

7. על כבושיהן

8. ועל שלוקיהן

9. ועל מלוחיהן

10. ועל החילקה

11. ועל השחיקה

12. ועל הטיסני

13. ועל לשונן

14. ועל עדותן

15. ועל מתנותיהן

16. על בניהן

17. ועל בנותיהן

18. ועל בכוריהן.

The following they decided:

the first 10

and the remainder from what R’ Shimon ben Yoḥai stated:

On that day12 they decided

1. about their [=non-Jews’] bread,

2. and their cheeses,

3. and their wine,

4. and their vinegar,

5. and their fish brine (צירן),

6. and their muries,

7. and their preserves (כבושיהן),

8. and their parboiled food (שלוקיהן),

9. and their corned food (מלוחיהן),

10. and on split grain (חילקה),

11. and on ground food (שחיקה),

12. and on peeled barley (טיסני),

13. on their language (לשונן),

14. and on their testimony,

15. and on their gifts,

16. on their sons,

17. and on their daughters,

18. and on their firstborns (בכוריהן).

I checked this using the GitHub repository EzraBrand/bible-rabbinic-index, which builds a concordance between Bible verses and Talmudic passages. The project processes the complete Steinsaltz English translation of the Bavli and extracts biblical quotations when they appear in bold and are followed by a parenthetical citation such as (Genesis 1:5). That produces a large verse-to-passage index that can then be counted.2

Top 20 Most-Cited Verses in the Talmud

Here are the results from the concordance data (17,138 citations across 6,303 unique verses):

Using the repository’s exported CSV, the most cited verse in the dataset is Deuteronomy 24:1, with 53 citations. That is the verse about a man writing a bill of divorce.3 After that come Deuteronomy 25:5 with 46 citations, Leviticus 7:18 and Deuteronomy 22:29 with 34 each, and Deuteronomy 25:9 with 33. The top ten also include Leviticus 5:1, Leviticus 27:10, Numbers 5:13, Leviticus 6:2, and Leviticus 27:32.

By Book

Leviticus dominates with 4,170 citations (24%), followed by Deuteronomy (2,492) and Exodus (1,911). The Torah accounts for ~66% of all citations; Psalms leads among Ketuvim at 1,026.

The pattern is clear: the Talmud most heavily cites legal verses dealing with marriage/divorce, sacrifices, vows, and evidentiary procedure.

The most heavily cited verses here are mostly legal verses. They cluster around divorce, levirate marriage, sacrificial law, testimony, vows, valuation, suspected adultery, and tithing. That fits the structure of the Talmud, which spends much of its energy on close legal reading. A verse rises to the top when it becomes a hinge for repeated interpretation, dispute, or derivation across many sugyot.4

Appendix - Most Cited Verse - Deuteronomy 24:1 - Bill of divorce (get) - All Talmudic Citations

The verse, Deuteronomy 24:1:

כי יקח איש אשה

ובעלה

והיה אם לא תמצא חן בעיניו

כי מצא בה ערות דבר

וכתב לה ספר כריתת

ונתן בידה

ושלחה מביתו

When a man has taken a wife,

and married her (בעלה),

and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes,

because he has found some unseemliness in her:

then let him write her a bill of divorce,

and give it in her hand,

and send her out of his house.

Summary of all 53 Talmudic citations of Deuteronomy 24:1 from the concordance:5

Patterns

The Talmud mines this single verse for an extraordinary range of halakhot across four major legal domains:

• Gittin (divorce law) — 19 citations: the mechanics of writing, delivering, and validating a get. Almost every word is parsed: “writes,” “for her,” “scroll,” “gives,” “in her hand,” “sends her out.”

• Kiddushin (betrothal) — 14 citations: “when a man takes a woman” is the primary source for all three modes of betrothal (money, document, and sex).

• Sotah (suspected adultery) — 8 citations: “unseemly matter [davar]” creates a verbal analogy with witness law (Deut 19:15) to establish evidentiary standards.

• Scattered tractates — acquisition law (Bava Metzia), slave emancipation (Gittin 41b), Nazirite vow (Nazir 2a), material validity (Sukkah 24b).

The famous Beit Shammai / Beit Hillel / R. Akiva dispute at Gittin 90a is the headline: what constitutes grounds for divorce — sexual misconduct only (ervat davar), any fault (davar), or even finding someone better (”no favor in his eyes”)?

5

For full links and passages, see https://chavrutai.com/biblical-index/book/deuteronomy_part2 > Chapter 24.

Screenshot:

Several dangerous medical states - fever, stings, thorns, eye pain, after bloodletting, etc

Rav Yehuda - Lists several dangerous medical states and dangerous or beneficial combinations involving fever, stings, thorns, eye pain, bloodletting, fish, and certain foods - A list of 5 medical states

אמר רב יהודה:

1. זיבורא,

2. ודחרזיה סילוא,

3. וסמטא,

4. ודכאיב ליה עינא,

5. ואתי עילויה אישתא —

כולהו בי בני סכנתא.

Rav Yehuda says:

With regard to

1. one who suffers from the sting of a hornet,

2. or the prick of a thorn [silva],

3. or an abscess,

4. or one whose eye pains him,

5. or one overcome by a fever,

bathing in a bathhouse is a life-threatening danger for all of these.

Several dangerous and beneficial pairings are listed

Table summarizing:1

1 - Fever/radish; chills/beets

1. חמה

   1. לחמה,

2. וסילקא

   1. לצינא,

וחילופא --

סכנתא.

Additionally,

1. eating radish [ḥamma]

   1. is good for a fever [ḥamma],

2. and eating beets [silka]

   1. is good for chills [tzina],

but the reverse, i.e., eating radish when one has chills or beets when one has a fever --

poses a danger.

2 - Scorpion/hot foods, hornet/cold foods

1. חמימי

   1. לעקרבא

2. וקרירי

   1. לזיבורא,

וחילופא --

סכנתא.

Similarly,

1. eating hot foods

   1. is good for the sting of a scorpion,

2. and cold foods

   1. are good for a hornet sting,

but the reverse --

poses a danger.

3 - Thorn/hot water, facial wound/cold water

1. חמימי

   1. לסילוא

2. וקרירי

   1. לחספניתא,

וחילופא --

סכנתא.

1. Hot water

   1. is good for a thorn embedded in one’s skin,

2. and cold water

   1. is good for facial wounds2

but the reverse --

presents a danger.

4 - Vinegar after bloodletting, and small fish after fasting

1. חלא

   1. לסיבורי,

2. ומוניני

   1. לתעניתא,

וחילופא --

סכנתא.

1. Vinegar

   1. is good for one to consume after bloodletting3

2. and eating small fish (מוניני)

   1. is good for one who has completed a fast,

but the reverse --

is a danger.

After bloodletting

Additional dangerous combinations are listed involving bloodletting together with cress, fever, or eye pain

1. תחלי וסיבורא

   1. סכנתא,

2. אישתא וסיבורא

   1. סכנתא,

3. כאיב עינא וסיבורי

   1. סכנתא.