Of Serpents and Sages: The Stories of the Snakebite Deaths of Ben Dama and the Pumbedita Official (Avodah Zarah 27b; Shabbat 109b-110a)

The Death of Ben Dama: A Tale of Healing, Heresy, and Halachic Boundaries (Avodah Zarah 27b); A Snake of the Rabbis: Punishment for Defying Rabbinic Decrees (Shabbat 109b-110a)

Intro

The Death of Ben Dama

This story centers on Ben Dama, the nephew of R' Yishmael, who was bitten by a snake. When Ya’akov of Sekhanya, a heretic and follower of Jesus the Nazarene, offered to heal him, R' Yishmael refused to allow it, due to the prohibition against receiving healing from heretics, and emphasizing the importance of adhering to rabbinic principles. Despite Ben Dama’s desperate plea to justify the treatment from a Torah verse, he succumbed to the snakebite before articulating his argument.

R' Yishmael posthumously praised Ben Dama for maintaining the purity of both his body and soul and for not violating rabbinic decrees.

A Snakebite in Pumbedita

The second tale recounts an official in Pumbedita who was also bitten by a snake. Desperate attempts to locate a white donkey fetus—the Talmudic remedy—proved futile when all available donkeys were found to be unfit for the treatment, and the only viable option was devoured by a lion.

The incident culminates in Abaye’s diagnosis: the official was bitten by a “snake of the Rabbis,” a punishment for defying a decree issued by Rav Yitzḥak bar Bisna against specific wedding practices. This punishment, grounded in rabbinic interpretation of Ecclesiastes 10:8, serves as a cautionary tale about the spiritual and communal consequences of ignoring rabbinic authority.

Outline

1. The Death of Ben Dama: A Tale of Healing, Heresy, and Halachic Boundaries (Avodah Zarah 27b)

   1. The Death of Ben Dama

   2. R' Yishmael's Post-Mortem Declaration

   3. Fortunate or Fatal?: Snakebitten but Treatable

2. A Snake of the Rabbis: Punishment for Defying Rabbinic Decrees (Shabbat 109b-110a)

   1. Healing Snakebites with the Fetus of a Healthy White Donkey

   2. A Snakebite in Pumbedita: The Futile Search for the Fetus of a Healthy White Donkey

   3. Post-Mortem Diagnosis: It Was a Snake of the Rabbis

The Death of Ben Dama: A Tale of Healing, Heresy, and Halachic Boundaries (Avodah Zarah 27b)

Avodah_Zarah.27b.5-9

The Death of Ben Dama

The Talmud quotes a baraita that prohibits engaging in dealings (ישא ויתן) with heretics (מינין) and forbids seeking medical treatment from them,¹ even if the lack of treatment will result in death.

An incident is then recounted: Ben Dama (בן דמא), R' Yishmael’s nephew, was bitten by a (poisonous) snake.²

Ya’akov of Sekhanya³ offered to treat him, but Rabbi Yishmael forbade it.

Ben Dama begged his uncle to allow the treatment, promising to prove its permissibility from the Torah, but he died before he could give his argument.

לא ישא ויתן אדם עם המינין

ואין מתרפאין מהן, אפילו לחיי שעה

מעשה בבן דמא, בן אחותו של ר' ישמעאל, שהכישו נחש

ובא יעקב איש כפר סכניא לרפאותו

ולא הניחו ר' ישמעאל

וא"ל:

ר' ישמעאל אחי!

הנח לו, וארפא ממנו

ואני אביא מקרא מן התורה שהוא מותר

ולא הספיק לגמור את הדבר, עד שיצתה נשמתו ומת

A person may not engage in dealings with heretics,

and one may not be treated by them even in a case where it is clear that without medical attention one will experience only temporal life.

There was an incident involving Ben Dama, son of R' Yishmael’s sister, in which a snake bit him.

And following the attack, Ya’akov of the village of Sekhanya, who was a heretic, a disciple of Jesus the Nazarene, came to treat him,

but R' Yishmael did not let him do so.

And Ben Dama said to him:

R' Yishmael, my brother,

let him treat me, and I will be healed by him.

And I will cite a verse from the Torah to prove that accepting medical treatment from a heretic is permitted in this situation.

But Ben Dama did not manage to complete the statement before his soul departed from his body and he died.

R' Yishmael's Post-Mortem Declaration

R' Yishmael declared Ben Dama fortunate (אשריך) “as your body is pure, and your soul departed in purity”.⁴

He then praised Ben Dama for not violating the teachings of “his colleagues” (חביריך - i.e., the Sages), who would quote the verse from Ecclesiastes 10:8: “And who breaks through a fence, a snake shall bite him.” (This verse is interpreted to refer to the consequences of disregarding rabbinic teachings: being bitten by a snake.)

קרא עליו ר' ישמעאל:

אשריך בן דמא!

שגופך טהור, ויצתה נשמתך בטהרה

ולא עברת על דברי חביריך

שהיו אומרים (קהלת י, ח): "ופורץ גדר, ישכנו נחש"

[...]

R' Yishmael recited with regard to him:

Fortunate are you, Ben Dama,

as your body is pure and your soul departed in purity,

and you did not transgress the statement of your colleagues,

who would state the verse: “And who breaks through a fence, a snake shall bite him” (Ecclesiastes 10:8), i.e., one is punished for ignoring an ordinance of the Sages.

[...]

Fortunate or Fatal?: Snakebitten but Treatable

The Talmud questions how Ben Dama could be praised as fortunate for avoiding the violation of rabbinic teachings—punishable by being bitten by a snake (as stated in Ecclesiastes 10:8)—when he was actually bitten by a snake.

It clarifies that the “snake” mentioned in the verse from Ecclesiastes 10:8 is a “snake of the rabbis” (חויא דרבנן), which has no remedy.⁵

אמר מר:

לא עברת על דברי חביריך

שהיו אומרים: "ופורץ גדר' ישכנו נחש"

איהו נמי, חויא טרקיה?!

חויא דרבנן, דלית ליה אסותא כלל

The Master said above:

You did not transgress the statement of your colleagues,

who would state the verse: “And who breaks through a fence, a snake shall bite him.”

The Gemara asks: But Ben Dama was also bitten by a snake, even before this declaration of R' Yishmael, so how can he be considered fortunate?

The Gemara explains: The snake mentioned in the curse of the Sages is different, as it has no remedy whatsoever. Although Ben Dama was bitten by a snake, he could have been healed.

A Snake of the Rabbis: Punishment for Defying Rabbinic Decrees (Shabbat 109b-110a)

Shabbat.109b.11-110a.1

Healing Snakebites with the Fetus of a Healthy White Donkey

The Talmud advises that someone bitten (טרקיה) by a snake should use the fetus (עוברא) of a white donkey as a remedy by tearing it open and applying it to the bite.

However, the Talmud qualifies this is only effective if the mother donkey is not a tereifa (an animal with a condition that will cause it to die within twelve months).

האי מאן דטרקיה חיויא —

ליתי עוברא דחמרא חיורתי,

וליקרעיה,

ולותביה עילויה.

והני מילי דלא אישתכח טרפה.

One who was bitten by a snake

should have the fetus of a white donkey brought to him,

and it should be torn open

and placed on the snakebite.

The Gemara says: And this applies only when the mother does not have a condition that will cause it to die within twelve months [tereifa].

A Snakebite in Pumbedita: The Futile Search for the Fetus of a Healthy White Donkey

The Talmud recounts an incident in Pumbedita involving an official (בר קשא) bitten by a snake. To treat the bite, white donkeys were sought (as their fetus counteracts snake venom, as in previous section).

However, all thirteen white donkeys in the city were discovered to be tereifot (i.e. unhealthy; rendering them irrelevant to be used for treatment, as stated in the previous section).

When they located another donkey outside the city, it was eaten by a lion before they could retrieve it (leaving the treatment unattainable).

ההוא בר קשא דפומבדיתא דטרקיה חיויא,

הוה תליסרי חמרי חיורתא בפומבדיתא,

קרעינהו לכולהו, ואישתכחו טריפה.

הואי חדא בההוא גיסא דפומבדיתא, עד דאזלי מייתי לה, אכלה אריא.

The Gemara relates: There was a certain Jewish official in Pumbedita that was bitten by a snake.

There were thirteen white donkeys in Pumbedita

and they tore them all open and they were found to be tereifot.

There was one donkey on the other side of Pumbedita, and until they went to bring it, a lion ate it.

Post-Mortem Diagnosis: It Was a Snake of the Rabbis

Abaye suggested that the bitten official may have been punished by a "snake of the Rabbis," which comes as a punishment for violating a rabbinic decree, and which has no cure, as stated in Ecclesiastes 10:8 (in rabbinic interpretation).

The people confirmed this, explaining that the official had defied a rabbinic ruling by Rav Yitzḥak bar Bisna (רב יצחק בר ביסנא):

After Rav died, Rav Yitzḥak bar Bisna banned the use of myrtle (אסא) and palm branches (גידמי) at weddings (בי הילולא) with drums.⁶ The official disregarded the ban and brought myrtle and palm branches to a wedding hall with drums. Subsequently, a snake bit him, and he died.

אמר להו אביי:

דילמא חיויא דרבנן טרקיה, דלית ליה אסותא,

דכתיב: ״ופרץ גדר ישכנו נחש״.

אמרו ליה:

אין רבי,

דכי נח נפשיה דרב,

גזר רב יצחק בר ביסנא דליכא דלימטי אסא וגידמי לבי הילולא [בטבלא],

ואזל איהו, אמטי אסא וגידמי לבי הילולא בטבלא.

טרקיה חיויא, ומית.

Abaye said to them:

Since all of these things have happened, perhaps a snake of the Rabbis bit him, for which there is no cure,

as it is written: “One that digs a pit will fall into it, and one who breaches a fence will be bitten by a snake” (Ecclesiastes 10:8). Perhaps this person violated a rabbinic decree, also known as a fence, and was bitten by a snake as punishment. That bite has no cure.

They said to him:

Yes, my teacher, it is so,

as when Rav died

Rav Yitzḥak bar Bisna ruled that one may not bring myrtle and palm branches to a wedding hall to accompany bells,

and he went and brought myrtle and palm branches to the wedding hall with bells.

Therefore, a snake bit him. And it is reported that ultimately the official died.

1. Compare the Mishnah that this sugya is on, Mishnah_Avodah_Zarah.2.2, which prohibits receiving healing from non-Jews:

מתרפאין מהן רפוי ממון,

אבל לא רפוי נפשות

One may be treated by gentiles, provided that it is monetary treatment,

but not personal treatment.

2. Stories of death by snakebite, and fear of fatal snakebites, is found a number of times in the Talmud, as well as the Bible. For example:

• Here (on the biblical Nehushtan, which was a bronze image of a serpent on a pole, that protected from snakes and snakebites)

• Here (on killing snakes on Shabbat, and encountering dangerous snakes in general)

• Here, section ‘Mishnah - Story in Tzalmon of someone who said “I am so-and-so, son of so-and-so. A snake bit me and I am dying” ‘ (story of a man killed by a snakebite.

• Here, section “Outhouse Story in Roman Eretz Yisrael: R’ Elazar, the Roman, and the Serpent“, for the story of the Roman in the outhouse, where a snake (דרקונא) “ripped out his intestines“ (שמטיה לכרכשיה).

See also the extended sugya of the supposed danger of uncovered water, due to snakes having drunk from the water and left their poison; see משקים שנתגלו – ויקיפדיה.

Compare also a fatal bee (זיבורא) bite in my piece “The Laughing Sage and the Stung Scholar: The Story of the Osctracism of the Rabbi With the Bad Reputation (Moed Katan 17a)”, section “Pt3 - Death by being stung by a wasp on his penis, and burial in a cave“:

אתא זיבורא וטרקיה אאמתיה, ושכיב.

A wasp came and stung the ostracized scholar on his penis, and he died.

3. יעקב איש כפר סכניא - a heretic and known for other rabbinic sources to be a disciple of Jesus, i.e. an early Christian, who were known for their miraculous abilities to heal.

4. יצתה נשמתך בטהרה - this same line is used in the Talmud about Rabba bar Nahmani, see my piece “Pt2 Sage on the Run: The Fleeing and Death of Rabba bar Naḥmani (Bava Metzia 86a)“, section “Death“:

כי הוה קא ניחא נפשיה, אמר: טהור, טהור.

יצאת בת קול ואמרה: אשריך רבה בר נחמני שגופך טהור, ויצאתה נשמתך בטהור.

As he was dying, he said in response to the dispute in heaven: It is pure; it is pure.

A Divine Voice emerged from heaven and said: Happy are you, Rabba bar Naḥmani, as your body is pure and your soul left you with the word: Pure.

A similar line appears in the Mishnah, end of Tractate Kelim (Mishnah_Kelim.30.4), my translation:

אמר רבי יוסי: אשריך כלים, שנכנסת בטמאה, ויצאת בטהרה

R’ Yosei said: "Fortunate are you (אשריך), [Tractate] Kelim, for you began with impurity [but] ended with purity."

5. In contrast, Ben Dama's snake bite was potentially treatable; in this case, had R' Yishmael allowed treatment by Ya’akov of Sekhanya.

6. טבלא - from Greek tabála, or from Persian tabil⁠ / tabir (see etymology in Wiktionary at the hyperlink).