From Eunuch-ville to Bald-town: A Eunuch and the Bald R' Yehoshua ben Korḥa Trade Insults Over Physical Shortcomings (Shabbat 152a)

This verbal sparring highlights mutual ridicule based on physical shortcomings.¹

Outline

1. Pt1 - “Bald-town” vs. “Eunuch-town”

2. Pt2 - A “bald buck vs. a “castrated goat”

3. Pt3 - No horse, donkey, or shoes, vs. no beard, wife, or children

4. Pt4 - Quarrel vs. Rebuke

The Passage

Shabbat.152a.5-6

Pt1 - “Bald-town” vs. “Eunuch-town”

A eunuch² provoked R' Yehoshua ben Korḥa by asking, "How far is it to Karḥina?",³ mocking R' Yehoshua's baldness.⁴

R' Yehoshua responded by alluding to the eunuch's castration, saying, "It's the same distance as to Gazania (גוזניא - “Eunuch-town”),⁵ alluding to the Aramaic word for castration. 

אמר ליה ההוא גוזאה לרבי יהושע בן קרחה: מהכא לקרחינא כמה הוי? 

אמר ליה: כמהכא לגוזניא. 

Having quoted some aphorisms of the Sages, the Gemara relates the following conversation: 

A certain eunuch who was an apostate said the following to R' Yehoshua ben Korḥa as a provocation: How far is it from here to Karḥina? The provocateur’s intention was to hint to the fact that R' Yehoshua ben Korḥa was bald [kere’aḥ]. 

He said to him: It is the same as the distance from here to the mountains of Gozen, hinting at the eunuch’s castration, which in Aramaic is goza (Rav Ya’akov Emden). 

Pt2 - A “bald buck vs. a “castrated goat”

The eunuch continued the exchange by saying, "A bald buck⁶ is sold for four [dinars]," mocking R' Yehoshua's baldness. 

R' Yehoshua retorted, "A castrated [goat] (עיקרא שליפא) is sold for eight".

אמר ליה: ברחא קרחא בארבעה. 

אמר ליה: עיקרא שליפא בתמניא.

The apostate said to him: A bald buck is sold for four dinar. 

He said to him: A castrated goat [ikkara shelifa] is sold for eight.

Pt3 - No horse, donkey, or shoes, vs. no beard, wife, or children

The eunuch continues his insults, criticizing R' Yehoshua for not wearing shoes,⁷ implying that being barefoot places him below basic human dignity. 

The eunuch compares riding a horse to being a king, riding a donkey to being free,⁸ and wearing shoes to being human (בר איניש). He concludes that someone who does none of these three is worse than someone who is buried (חפיר וקביר).

R’ Yehoshua ben Korḥa responds by saying “ eunuch, eunuch!”, and pointing out that he lacks three key blessings: the glory of a beard, the joy of a wife, and the "portion of the Lord"—children. He thanks God (המקום) for denying the eunuch all three.

חזייה דלא סיים מסאניה, 

אמר ליה: 

1. דעל סוס — מלך, 

2. דעל חמור — בן חורין,

3. ודמנעלי בריגלוהי — בר איניש. 

דלא הא ולא הא — דחפיר וקביר טב מיניה. 

אמר ליה: 

גוזא גוזא, תלת אמרת לי, תלת שמעת: 

1. הדרת פנים — זקן, 

2. שמחת לב — אשה, 

3. ״נחלת ה׳ — בנים״. 

ברוך המקום שמנעך מכולם. 

The apostate saw that R' Yehoshua ben Korḥa was not wearing shoes. 

He said to him: 

1. One who rides on a horse is a king. 

2. One who rides on a donkey is a free man. 

3. And one who wears shoes is at least a human being. 

One who does neither this nor that, someone who is buried in the earth is better than him. 

He said to him: Eunuch, eunuch, you said to me three things, and now hear three things: 

1. The glory of a face is the beard, 

2. the joy of the heart is a wife, 

3. and “the portion of the Lord is children” (Psalms 127:3); 

blessed is the Omnipresent who has denied you all of them, for a eunuch does not have a beard, a wife or children. 

Pt4 - Quarrel vs. Rebuke

They conclude the exchange:

The eunuch mocks R’ Yehoshua by asking if a bald man, (typically seen as non-confrontational), would start an argument.⁹

 R’ Yehoshua retorts by questioning whether a castrated goat (עיקרא שליפא - the same expression as used by him earlier to refer to the eunuch), which symbolizes weakness or impotence, has the authority to rebuke (תוכחה) others.

אמר ליה: קרחא מצוי?! 

אמר ליה: עיקרא שליפא תוכחה!

He said to him: Does a bald man quarrel? 

He said to him: Does a castrated male goat speak words of rebuke?

1. For another passage that discusses disabilities, see my previous piece: “ ‘Unusual In His Skin’: Talmudic Discourse on the Cushi and other Types of People With Notable Physical Appearances (Berakhot 58b and Moed Katan 16b)“.

This dialogue is embedded within a broader sugya on aging, that I discussed in my previous series, part 2 here.

2. גוזאה  - literally: “one who is cut”.

3. קרחינא - “Bald-town” - a fictitious place.

4. R' Yehoshua's surname ben Korḥa - בן קרחה - is understood to mean “the Bald”; Korḥa being related to the Hebrew word קרח - “bald”. Meaning, Korha is not his father’s name, even though it’s in the format of a patronymic (“ben X”).

For an extensive list of such surnames, with the format “ben X”, see my piece on my Academia page (registration required): “Ben Bag Bag, Ben He He, and Beyond: Patronymics in Hebrew and Aramaic in Late Antiquity Which Are Not Father’s Names“.

See my recent piece here for another example:

בן חמצן - "the Grabber" (Steinsaltz translates it incorrectly as “son of…”.)

5. See Jastrow:

pr[oper] n[ame] pl[ural] (a fictitious denom[inative] of גַּוָּוזָא II)".Gavzania (Eunuchia), a fictitious place.

6. ברחא קרחא - the same term is used in two other places in the Talmud, see here.

7. מסאניה.

Going bearfoot was unusual, but not unheard of (he also may have been wearing sandals, which were considered lower-class than shoes, and are contrasted with shoes elsewhere in the Talmud).

See also Taanit.23b.4:

מאי טעמא כולה אורחא לא סיים מר מסאניה וכי מטי למיא סיים מסאניה?

אמר להו: כולה אורחא חזינא, במיא לא קא חזינא.

The Sages continued to ask Abba Ḥilkiyya about his unusual behavior.

What is the reason that the entire way the Master did not wear his shoes, but when he reached water he put on his shoes?

He said to them: The entire way I can see and take care where I walk, and therefore there is no need for me to wear out my shoes, but in the water I cannot see. Therefore, I put on my shoes to avoid hurting myself.

And see Eruvin.100b.10

ואיבעית אימא,

הא והא בימות החמה,

ולא קשיא:

הא — דסיים מסאניה,

הא — דלא סיים מסאניה.

And if you wish,

say instead that both baraitot are referring to the summer,

and it is not difficult:

This baraita, which permits walking on grass, is referring to a case where one is wearing his shoes,

whereas that other baraita, which prohibits it, deals with a situation where one is not wearing his shoes, as the grass might get entangled between his toes and be uprooted.

And see the passage I discuss, where black shoes are a proscribed.

8. בן חורין. Alternatively: “aristocratic.” Compare the usage here (בני חורין).

9. מצוי. Cognate with Hebrew מצה (sense #2). Cf. Jastrow.