Pt1 "Alas!": Thirteen Additional Stories Regarding the Reliability and Validity of Testimony About a Husband’s Death in the Context of Remarriage (Yevamot 121b-122b)
Story of R’ Oshaya and the 85 Elders; Story of “Who is from the house of Ḥivvai? Ḥivvai has died!”; Story of “Alas for the brave horseman who was in Pumbedita, for he is dead!”
Part one of a three-part series. This part contains stories #1-3 (see the outline below). Continuation of the previous three-part series: “Endless Water” (Yevamot 121a-b), final installment of that series here.
Intro
The Talmudic sugya discusses various scenarios concerning the reliability and validity of testimony, especially that of testimony a by a gentile (גוי - goy) regarding the deaths of Jewish men, particularly in cases affecting the marital status of their wives.1
Outline
Story of R’ Oshaya and the 85 Elders
Story of “Who is from the house of Ḥivvai? Ḥivvai has died!”
Story of “Alas for the brave horseman who was in Pumbedita, for he is dead!”
Story of “Who is from the house of Ḥasa? Ḥasa has drowned!”
Story of “Harvest the fodder and give it to my animals on Shabbat, and if not, I will kill you!”
Story of “Alas for the Jew who was with me on the road, for he died, and I buried him!”
Story of “Alas for the group of collared people, for they died, and I buried them!”
Story of “Alas for those 60 people who were walking on the road to Betar, for they died, and I buried them!”
Mishnah - Story of someone who stood at the top of a mountain and said: “So-and-so, son of so-and-so, from such and such a place died”
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”
Mishnah - Story of the discussion between R’ Akiva and Nehemiah from Beit Deli in Neharde’a
Mishnah - Story of “B’nei Levi”, who went to Tzo’ar, and the Innkeeper
Story of R’ Tarfon and Yohanan ben Yonatan Ari, from Kefar Shihlah
The passage
Story of R’ Oshaya and the 85 Elders
An incident involved R’ Oshaya,2 who, while with eighty-five Elders, allowed women to remarry based on the testimony of gentiles.
However, the other sages disagreed with R’ Oshaya's decision, maintaining a stance that the testimony of gentiles should not be relied upon in such matters.
[...]
מעשה באושעיא ברבי, שהתירם עם שמנים וחמשה זקנים
אמר להם:
[...]
ולא הודו לו חכמים.
[...]
an incident occur[ed] involving R' Oshaya the Distinguished, who permitted women to marry based upon the testimony of gentiles while he was with eighty-five Elders
He said to the Elders:
[...]
But the Rabbis did not concur with him on this, and they maintained that one may not rely upon the testimony of a gentile at all.
[...]
Story of “Who is from the house of Ḥivvai? Ḥivvai has died!”
In this anecdote, a gentile was heard repeatedly asking for individuals from “the house of Ḥivvai” 3 and announcing that Ḥivvai had died.
Based on this gentile's report, Rav Yosef permitted Ḥivvai’s wife to remarry.
כי ההוא דהוה קאמר ואזיל: ״מאן איכא בי חיואי? מאן איכא בי חיואי? שכיב חיואי״,
ואנסבה רב יוסף לדביתהו.
Like that gentile who was going around saying: Who is from the house of Ḥivvai; who is from the house of Ḥivvai? Ḥivvai has died.
And based upon this report, Rav Yosef allowed Ḥivvai’s wife to marry.
Story of “Alas for the brave horseman who was in Pumbedita, for he is dead!”
In this anecdote, a gentile announced the death of a distinguished horseman4 who had been in Pumbedita, proclaiming that he had died.
Based on this gentile's report, Rav Yosef, and some say his student Rava, permitted Ḥivvai’s wife to remarry.
ההוא דהוה קאמר ואזיל: ״ווי ליה לפרשא זריזא, דהוה בפומבדיתא, דשכיב״,
ואנסבה רב יוסף, ואיתימא רבא, לדביתהו.
There was also a certain gentile who was going around saying: “Alas for the brave horseman who was in Pumbedita, for he is dead”.
And Rav Yosef, and some say Rava, allowed his wife to marry.
Four of these stories start with an announcement by an unnamed person of “Alas!”, in Steinzaltz’s translation. In the original Hebrew, this word can be one of the following:
ווי - ( ״ווי ליה לפרשא זריזא דהוה בפומבדיתא דשכיב״) - compare Greek ouaí: “Traditionally compared with the set Latin vae, Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌹 (wai), etc., from Proto-Indo-European *wáy, but it is not derivable from there through regular sound laws. Beekes argues for a Semitic loanword; compare e.g. Hebrew אוֹי (oy). Cognacy with Sanskrit उवे (uve) through *uwáy is likewise not without phonological problems. Ultimately expressive.“
חבל - (״חבל על יהודי שהיה עמי בדרך, שמת בדרך, וקברתיו״) - khavál - “pity, woe”
Here surnamed with “the Distinguished” - ברבי.
[C]ontr[action] of בי רבי, belonging to a school of an eminent teacher, v. בֵּי 4) B’rabbi, B’ribbi, title of scholars, most frequently applied to disciples of R[abbi] Judah han-Nasi and his contemporaries, but also to some of his predecessors, and sometimes to the first Amoraim […]
חיואי, an otherwise unknown person.