"Even if all the seas would be ink": Further Poetry of the Talmud (Shabbat 11a; Berakhot 17a; Moed Katan 25b)
See my previous piece, on elegeic poems in the Talmud, tractate Moed Katan. Some of the sources are from the Sefaria sourcesheet of Olivia Devorah Tucker, “Poetry of the Talmud”. Compare also Simon Sekles’s 1880 book, The poetry of the Talmud. (I skimmed through part of the book, it seems interesting.)
I added bolding and line numbering to highlight the poems.
An Ode to Government
Shabbat.11a.5 (see footnote):1
ואמר רבא בר מחסיא אמר רב חמא בר גוריא אמר רב:
אם יהיו כל הימים דיו,
ואגמים קולמוסים,
ושמים יריעות,
וכל בני אדם לבלרין —
אין מספיקים לכתוב חללה של רשות.
מאי קראה -- אמר רב משרשיא: ״שמים לרום וארץ לעומק ולב מלכים אין חקר״.
And Rava bar Meḥasseya said that Rav Ḥama bar Gurya said that Rav said:
Even if all the seas would be ink,
and the reeds that grow near swamps would be quills,
and the heavens would be parchment upon which the words would be written,
and all the people would be scribes;
all of these are insufficient to write the unquantifiable space of governmental authority, i.e., all the considerations with which a government must concern itself and deal.
Rav Mesharshiya said: What is the verse that alludes to this? “The Heavens on High and the land to the depth and the heart of kings are unsearchable” (Proverbs 25:3).
Since this is about the Roman government, it makes sense that of the major symbols used are loan words (see my piece on the Synagogue of Alexandria):
Kolamos (קולמוס) - quill - from Greek and Latin - κάλαμος - kalamos - anything made of reed or cane. Cognate with modern English calamari (From Latin calamus, “a reed pen”, because of the ink emitted by squids).
Lavlar (or lablar) - (לבלר) - scribe - from Latin - librarius - scribe. Cognate with Modern English library.
When the Sages took leave of the study hall of Rabbi Ami
כי הוו מפטרי רבנן מבי רבי אמי, ואמרי לה מבי רבי חנינא, אמרי ליה הכי:
״עולמך תראה בחייך,
ואחריתך לחיי העולם הבא,
ותקותך לדור דורים.
לבך יהגה תבונה,
פיך ידבר חכמות ולשונך ירחיש רננות,
עפעפיך יישירו נגדך,
עיניך יאירו במאור תורה,
ופניך יזהירו כזוהר הרקיע,
שפתותיך יביעו דעת,
וכליותיך תעלוזנה מישרים,
ופעמיך ירוצו לשמוע דברי עתיק יומין״.
When the Sages who had been studying there took leave of the study hall of Rabbi Ami, and some say it was the study hall of Rabbi Ḥanina, they would say to him the following blessing:
May you see your world, may you benefit from all of the good in the world, in your lifetime,
and may your end be to life in the World-to-Come,
and may your hope be sustained for many generations.
May your heart meditate understanding,
your mouth speak wisdom, and your tongue whisper with praise.
May your eyelids look directly before you,
your eyes shine in the light of Torah,
and your face radiate like the brightness of the firmament.
May your lips express knowledge,
your kidneys rejoice in the upright,
and your feet run to hear the words of the Ancient of Days, God (see Daniel 7).
The first three lines are parallel with each other (about reward; lines #1-3), and the last seven lines are parallel with each other (describing body parts; lines #4-11).
Bar Avin prays for Rava
Interestingly, this poem is in that same sugya in tractate Moed Katan, and is seemingly mentioned there simply by association, because it’s also a poem, despite it not being an elegy.
רבא, כי הוה אתא לדגלת, אמר ליה לבר אבין: קום אימא מילתא.
קאי ואמר:
באו רוב שלישית במים,
זכור ורחם.
תעינו מאחריך כאשה מבעלה,
אל תזניחנו כאות מי מרה.
When Rava once came to the Tigris River, and he was concerned that he might be swept away by the water, he said to bar Avin: Rise and say a prayer on our behalf.
He rose and said:
Most of the third, a poetic reference to the Jewish people (Isaiah 19:24), has come in the water, implying that Rava was equal in importance to the majority of the Jewish people.
Remember then and have mercy on us.
Although we have strayed from you like an unfaithful woman strays from her husband,
do not forsake and punish us like the sign of the bitter water, with which a woman suspected of adultery is tested. That is to say, do not punish us with water.
In the context of two previous poetic statements cited from “Rava bar Meḥasseya said that Rav Ḥama bar Gurya said that Rav said” (Shabbat.11a.3-4), which are also in sets of four lines:
ואמר רבא בר מחסיא אמר רב חמא בר גוריא אמר רב:
תחת ישמעאל ולא תחת נכרי.
תחת נכרי ולא תחת חבר.
תחת חבר ולא תחת תלמיד חכם.
תחת תלמיד חכם ולא תחת יתום ואלמנה.
ואמר רבא בר מחסיא אמר רב חמא בר גוריא אמר רב:
כל חולי, ולא חולי מעים.
כל כאב, ולא כאב לב.
כל מיחוש, ולא מיחוש ראש.
כל רעה, ולא אשה רעה.
And Rava bar Meḥasseya said that Rav Ḥama bar Gurya said that Rav said:
It is preferable to be under the yoke of Ishmael and not under the yoke of a stranger, the Romans;
under a stranger and not under a Ḥabar, a Persian Zoroastrian fire priest;
under a Ḥabar and not under a Torah scholar, as if one offends a Torah scholar who is greater than he, the scholar will be exacting with him and he will be punished at the hand of Heaven;
under a Torah scholar and not under an orphan or a widow, as they are easily insulted and God promised to hear their cries and punish those who offend them.
And Rava bar Meḥasseya said that Rav Ḥama bar Gurya said that Rav said:
It is preferable to suffer from any extended illness and not from an intestinal illness.
Similarly, it is preferable to suffer any pain, even if it is sharp and excruciating, and not heart pain;
any slight ache and not a headache;
any evil and not an evil wife.
On the final line, the “evil wife” (isha ra’ah - אשה רעה), considered here to be the ultimate evil, compare my previous piece: “"Preparing Her Mouth" and "Turning Her Back": The Talmud on the “The Bad Wife” (Yevamot 63b)“