Bread, Vows, Witchcraft, and Intoxication: Insights from Rabban Gamliel's Journeys (Eruvin 64b-65a)

Outline

1. Story of Rabban Gamliel found loaves of bread

2. Story of Rabban Gamliel asked to dissolve a person's vow

3. The magical danger of found food; from the destruction of the Temple onward, all Jews could be considered intoxicated

The Passage

Eruvin.64b.5-65a.4

Story of Rabban Gamliel found loaves of bread 

The Talmud cites a beraita that recounts an incident with Rabban Gamliel, who was riding a donkey from Akko to Keziv with his student R' Elai walking behind him. 

Rabban Gamliel found loaves of bread (גלוסקין) on the road and instructed R' Elai to take them. Later, Rabban Gamliel met a certain gentile and said to him: “Mavgai (מבגאי), take these loaves from Elai”. 

R' Elai conversed with the gentile and discovered that he was from “towns of guardsmen”,¹ and that his name was indeed Mavgai. R' Elai asked if Rabban Gamliel knew him previously, as he knew his name. The gentile replied that they had never met. 

The beraita concludes that Rabban Gamliel knew the gentile’s name through the Holy Spirit (רוח הקודש).²

It additionally concludes that at that time, we learned three halakhic principles from Rabban Gamliel's behavior; the first being that if a person sees food lying on the ground, he must stop and pick it up. (I skip the next two learnings, which are technical.)

[...]

תניא: 

מעשה ברבן גמליאל, 

שהיה רוכב על החמור, 

והיה מהלך מעכו לכזיב, 

והיה רבי אילעאי מהלך אחריו. 

מצא גלוסקין בדרך, 

אמר לו: אילעאי, טול גלוסקין מן הדרך. 

מצא גוי אחד, אמר לו: מבגאי, טול גלוסקין הללו מאילעאי.

ניטפל לו רבי אילעאי, אמר לו: מהיכן אתה? 

אמר לו: מעיירות של בורגנין. 

ומה שמך? 

מבגאי שמני. 

כלום היכירך רבן גמליאל מעולם? 

אמר לו: לאו.

באותה שעה למדנו, שכוון רבן גמליאל ברוח הקודש. 

ושלשה דברים למדנו באותה שעה: 

1. למדנו שאין מעבירין על האוכלין.

2. ולמדנו ש[...] 

3. ולמדנו ש[...]

taught in a baraita: 

There was an incident involving Rabban Gamliel, 

who was riding a donkey 

and traveling from Akko to Keziv, 

and his student R' Elai was walking behind him. 

Rabban Gamliel found some fine loaves of bread on the road, 

and he said to his student: Elai, take the loaves from the road. 

Further along the way, Rabban Gamliel encountered a certain gentile and said to him: Mavgai, take these loaves from Elai.

Elai joined the gentile and said to him: Where are you from? 

He said to him: From the nearby towns of guardsmen. 

He asked: And what is your name? 

The gentile replied: My name is Mavgai. 

He then inquired: Has Rabban Gamliel ever met you before, seeing as he knows your name? 

He said to him: No.

The Gemara interrupts the story in order to comment: At that time we learned that Rabban Gamliel divined the gentile’s name by way of divine inspiration that rested upon him. 

And at that time we also learned three matters of halakha from Rabban Gamliel’s behavior: 

1. We learned that one may not pass by food, i.e., if a person sees food lying on the ground, he must stop and pick it up.

2. We also learned that [...]

3. And we further learned that [...]

Story of Rabban Gamliel asked to dissolve a person's vow 

Rabban Gamliel, upon arriving in Keziv, was asked to dissolve a person's vow (נדר - neder). However, Rabban Gamliel had consumed Italian wine (יין האיטלקי), which is especially intoxicating.

He therefore decided to wait until the effects of the wine dissipated before addressing the issue, leading the petitioner to follow him for three Roman miles (מיל) until they reached the Ladder of Tyre.³ There, Rabban Gamliel dismounted, wrapped himself in his shawl, and dissolved the vow.

From this story, four halakhic lessons were learned:

1. Italian wine is especially intoxicating.

2. An intoxicated person should not issue halakhic rulings.

3. Traveling helps to dispel the effects of wine.

4. Vows should only be annulled while seated, not while standing, walking, or mounted.

כיון שהגיע לכזיב, בא אחד לישאל על נדרו. 

אמר לזה שעמו: כלום שתינו רביעית יין האיטלקי? 

אמר לו: הן. 

אם כן, יטייל אחרינו עד שיפיג יינינו.

וטייל אחריהן שלשה מילין, עד שהגיע לסולמא של צור. 

כיון שהגיע לסולמא דצור, ירד רבן גמליאל מן החמור, ונתעטף, וישב, והתיר לו נדרו.

והרבה דברים למדנו באותה שעה:

1. למדנו שרביעית יין האיטלקי משכר, 

2. ולמדנו שיכור אל יורה, 

3. ולמדנו שדרך מפיגה את היין, 

4. ולמדנו שאין מפירין נדרים לא רכוב, ולא מהלך, ולא עומד, אלא יושב.

[...]

The Gemara resumes the narrative: When Rabban Gamliel arrived in Keziv, a person came before him to request that he dissolve his vow. 

Rabban Gamliel said to the one who was with him, i.e., R' Elai: Did we drink a quarter-log of Italian wine earlier? 

He said to him: Yes. 

Rabban Gamliel replied: If so, let him journey after us until the effect of our wine is dispelled, after which we may consider his issue.

And that person journeyed after them for three mil, until Rabban Gamliel arrived at the Ladder of Tyre. 

When he arrived at the Ladder of Tyre, Rabban Gamliel alighted from his donkey and wrapped himself in his shawl in the customary manner of a judge, who wraps himself in a shawl in order to sit in awe at the time of judgment, and he sat and dissolved his vow.

The Gemara continues: At that time we learned many matters of halakha from Rabban Gamliel’s conduct:

1. We learned that a quarter-log of Italian wine intoxicates, 

2. and we learned that one who is intoxicated may not issue a halakhic ruling, 

3. and we learned that walking on a path dispels the effect of wine, 

4. and lastly we learned that one may not annul vows when he is either mounted on an animal, or walking, or even standing, but only when he is sitting.

[...]

The magical danger of found food; from the destruction of the Temple onward, all Jews could be considered intoxicated

The halakhah learned from the incident involving Rabban Gamliel emphasizes the importance of respecting food by not passing by it but picking it up instead. However, R' Yoḥanan, citing R' Shimon bar Yoḥai, clarifies that this ruling applied only in earlier generations when Jewish women did not practice witchcraft.⁴ In later generations, due to the fact that Jewish women now practice witchcraft, one should pass by food to avoid potential magical danger. 

An anonymous Sage is quoted⁵ as elaborating that if the loaves are whole, one should pass them by as they might be used for witchcraft, but if they are in pieces, one should pick them up, as pieces are not used for such purposes. 

Rav Asi challenges this by referring to a verse indicating that pieces of bread can be involved in witchcraft, but the Talmud clarifies that the verse refers to pieces of bread being taken as wages, not used in witchcraft itself.

Rav Sheshet, citing R' Elazar ben Azarya, argues that from the destruction of the Temple onward, all Jews could be considered intoxicated and therefore not responsible for their sins, as indicated by Isaiah 51:21. 

אמר מר: ואין מעבירין על האוכלין. 

אמר רבי יוחנן, משום רבי שמעון בן יוחאי: 

לא שנו אלא בדורות הראשונים, שאין בנות ישראל פרוצות בכשפים. 

אבל בדורות האחרונים, שבנות ישראל פרוצות בכשפים — מעבירין.

תנא: שלימין מעבירין, פתיתין אין מעבירין. 

אמר ליה רב אסי לרב אשי: ואפתיתין לא עבדן?! והכתיב: ״ותחללנה אותי אל עמי בשעלי שעורים ובפתותי לחם״! 

דשקלי באגרייהו.

אמר רב ששת, משום רבי אלעזר בן עזריה: יכול אני לפטור את כל העולם כולו מן הדין מיום שחרב בית המקדש ועד עכשיו, שנאמר: ״לכן, שמעי נא זאת ענייה, ושכורת ולא מיין״.

The Gemara continues with its analysis of the baraita. The Master said previously: One of the halakhot learned from the incident involving Rabban Gamliel was that one may not pass by food; rather, one must treat the food with respect and pick it up. 

R' Yoḥanan said in the name of R' Shimon bar Yoḥai: 

They taught this ruling only in the early generations, when Jewish women were not accustomed to using witchcraft. 

However, in the later generations, when Jewish women are accustomed to using witchcraft, one may pass by food, as a spell might have been cast on the bread, and one must not put himself in unnecessary danger.

A Sage taught: If the loaves are whole, one may pass them by, as they might have been placed there for the purposes of witchcraft; however, if they are in pieces, one may not pass them by, because bread in pieces is not used for witchcraft. 

Rav Asi said to Rav Ashi: Do they not perform magic with pieces of bread?! Isn’t it written in the verse that deals with witchcraft: “And you have profaned Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread” (Ezekiel 13:19)? 

The Gemara answers: The verse does not mean that they used pieces of bread in their witchcraft, but rather that they took such pieces as their wages.

Rav Sheshet said in the name of R' Elazar ben Azarya: I can make an argument that exempts the entire world from judgment, from the day that the Temple was destroyed until now. As it is stated: “Therefore, hear now this, you afflicted and drunken, but not from wine” (Isaiah 51:21), which teaches that in the wake of the destruction of the Temple, all Jews are considered intoxicated and are not responsible for any sins they commit.

1. בורגנין - according to Jastrow, this word stems from Greek púrgos, meaning “burgus, little turret, isolated place of residence, often used as a station for travellers, castellum”.

2. Steinzaltz mistakenly interprets that this is the anonymous editor of the Talmud, not the beraita itself: “The Gemara interrupts the story in order to comment [...]”.

3. סולמא של צור - for another mention of this place, see my previous piece here.

4. פרוצות בכשפים - literally: “promiscuous/loose with witchcraft”.

5. תנא - on the formulas used in the Talmud for anonymous sages being quoted, see my previous piece here.