From Broad Doorways to Needle's Eye: Generational Decline in Wisdom According to the Talmud (Eruvin 53a)
Outline
R' Yoḥanan's Learning Experience with R' Oshaya and his students1
Generational Decline in Wisdom
The Passage
R' Yoḥanan's Learning Experience with R' Oshaya and his students
R' Yoḥanan spent2 two-and-a-half weeks with R' Oshaya but learned only one thing from him (I skip this, since it's technical).
R' Yoḥanan also stated that during those 2.5 weeks, he learned the “heart” (לב, meaning, personality/character) and wisdom of all twelve of R' Oshaya's students.
R' Yoḥanan and R' Yehuda HaNasi described the crowded conditions when studying with R' Oshaya and R' Elazar ben Shamua respectively, where students had to sit 4 or 6 people per square cubit (meaning, 4-6 people to ~1.5 square feet; clearly hyperbolic), respectively.
R' Yoḥanan compared R' Oshaya to R' Meir: both of their colleagues didn’t fully understand their ideas.3
אמר רבי יוחנן:
שמונה עשר ימים גידלתי אצל רבי אושעיא בריבי
ולא למדתי ממנו אלא דבר אחד :
[...]
אמר רבי יוחנן:
שנים עשר תלמידים היו לו לרבי אושעיא בריבי,
ושמונה עשר ימים גידלתי ביניהן,
ולמדתי לב כל אחד ואחד,
וחכמת כל אחד ואחד
[...]
ואמר רבי יוחנן:
כשהיינו לומדין תורה אצל רבי אושעיא,
היינו יושבין ארבעה ארבעה באמה.
אמר רבי:
כשהיינו לומדין תורה אצל רבי אלעזר בן שמוע,
היינו יושבין ששה ששה באמה.
אמר רבי יוחנן:
רבי אושעיא בריבי בדורו, כרבי מאיר בדורו,
מה רבי מאיר בדורו, לא יכלו חבריו לעמוד על סוף דעתו —
אף רבי אושעיא, לא יכלו חבריו לעמוד על סוף דעתו.
R' Yoḥanan said:
I spent eighteen days with R' Oshaya the Distinguished [Beribbi],
and I learned from him only one matter:
[...]
R' Yoḥanan say:
R' Oshaya the Distinguished had twelve students,
and I spent eighteen days among them,
and I learned the heart of each and every one, i.e., the nature and character of each student,
and the extent of the wisdom of each and every one
[...]
And R' Yoḥanan said about that period:
When we were studying Torah with R' Oshaya,
it was so crowded with students that we would sit four in each square cubit.
Similarly, R' Yehuda HaNasi said:
When we were studying Torah with R' Elazar ben Shamua,
we would sit six in each square cubit.
R' Yoḥanan said about his teacher:
R' Oshaya the Distinguished was as great in his generation as R' Meir was in his generation:
Just as with regard to R' Meir, in his generation his colleagues were unable to fully grasp the profundity of his thinking due to the subtlety of his great mind,
so it was with R' Oshaya; his colleagues were unable to fully grasp the profundity of his thinking.
Generational Decline in Wisdom
R' Yoḥanan compares the wisdom (לבן - literally: “the heart”) of different generations of Sages using metaphors of doorways / entrances (פתח - literally: “an opening”):
The early Sages' wisdom is like the large doorway to the Second Temple Entrance Hall (אולם; this was 20 by 40 cubits).
The later Sages' wisdom is like the smaller doorway to the Second Temple Sanctuary (היכל; this was 10 by 20 cubits).
His own generation's wisdom is like “the eye of a very fine (סידקית) needle”.
The Talmud interprets that "early Sages" refers to R' Akiva or R' Elazar ben Shamua (the latter was mentioned in the previous section), while the "later Sages" refers to R' Elazar ben Shamua or R' Oshaya (mentioned in the previous section as well).
Abaye, Rava, and Rav Ashi, riffing on R’ Yoḥanan’s final statement that his own generation's wisdom is like “the eye of a very fine needle”,4 metaphorically compare their own generation's struggles with understanding traditions,5 logical reasoning (סברא), and forgetfulness (שכחה) to a peg in a wall (גודא), a finger in wax (קירא), and a finger in a pit (בירא), respectively.6
אמר רבי יוחנן:
לבן של ראשונים -- כפתחו של אולם,
ושל אחרונים -- כפתחו של היכל,
ואנו — כמלא נקב מחט סידקית.
ראשונים — רבי עקיבא,
אחרונים — רבי אלעזר בן שמוע.
איכא דאמרי:
ראשונים — רבי אלעזר בן שמוע,
אחרונים — רבי אושעיא בריבי.
ואנו -- כמלא נקב מחט סידקית.
אמר אביי: ואנן, כי סיכתא בגודא לגמרא.
אמר רבא: ואנן, כי אצבעתא בקירא לסברא.
אמר רב אשי: אנן, כי אצבעתא בבירא לשכחה.
Similarly, R' Yoḥanan said:
The hearts, i.e., the wisdom, of the early Sages were like the doorway to the Entrance Hall of the Temple, which was twenty by forty cubits,
and the hearts of the later Sages were like the doorway to the Sanctuary, which was ten by twenty cubits.
And we, i.e., our hearts, are like the eye of a fine needle.
He explains:
The term early Sages is referring to R' Akiva,
and the term later Sages is referring to his student, R' Elazar ben Shamua.
Some say that
the term early Sages refers to R' Elazar ben Shamua
and that the term the later Sages refers to R' Oshaya the Distinguished.
And we are like the eye of a fine needle.
On the topic of the steady decline of the generations, Abaye said: And we, as far as our capabilities are concerned, are like a peg in the wall with regard to Torah study. Just as a peg enters a wall with difficulty, our studies penetrate our minds only with difficulty.
Rava said: And we are like a finger in wax [kira] with regard to logical reasoning. A finger is not easily pushed into wax, and it extracts nothing from the wax.
Rav Ashi said: We are like a finger in a pit with regard to forgetfulness. Just as a finger easily enters a large pit, similarly, we quickly forget our studies.
גידלתי - literally: “grew".
לעמוד על סוף דעתו - literally: “to stand at the end of their knowledge”, an idiom.
מלא נקב מחט סידקית. On this common talmudic metaphor for a very narrow opening, see Wikipedia, “Eye of a needle“:
The term "eye of a needle" is used as a metaphor for a very narrow opening. It occurs several times throughout the Talmud […]
The Babylonian Talmud applies the aphorism to unthinkable thoughts. To explain that dreams reveal the thoughts of a man's heart and are the product of reason rather than the absence of it, some rabbis say:
They do not show a man a palm tree of gold, nor an elephant going through the eye of a needle (B.T. Berakhot 55b).
A midrash on the Song of Songs uses the phrase to speak of God's willingness and ability beyond comparison to accomplish the salvation of a sinner:
The Holy One said, open for me a door as big as a needle's eye and I will open for you a door through which may enter tents and camels.
Rav Sheishet of Nehardea applied the same aphorism to the reasoning for which the sages of Pumbedita were evidently famous: "Are you from Pumbedita, where they push an elephant through the eye of a needle?" (Baba Metzia, 38b).
גמרא, see also תלמוד בבלי – ויקיפדיה subsection “תלמוד או גמרא”.
Compare Yeridat ha-dorot - Wikipedia:
Yeridat ha-dorot (Hebrew: ירידת הדורות), meaning literally "the decline of the generations", or nitkatnu ha-dorot (נתקטנו הדורות), meaning "the diminution of the generations", is a concept in classical Rabbinic Judaism and contemporary Orthodox Judaism expressing a belief in the intellectual inferiority of subsequent, and contemporary Torah scholarship and spirituality in comparison to that of the past
And compare also Declinism - Wikipedia:
Declinism is the belief that a society or institution is tending towards decline.
And see my recent series on the extended passage in the Mishnah at the end of tractate Sotah, for a similar sentiment, final part here.