Heavenly Greetings: The Righteousness of a Bloodletter (Taanit 21b-22a)
Outline
Greetings from Heavenly Yeshiva
The righteous deeds of Abba the Surgeon
Abaye sent a pair of Sages to investigate the extent of Abba the Bloodletter’s righteousness
Rava
The passage
Greetings from Heavenly Yeshiva
This passage discusses the differing frequencies with which three individuals, Abba Umna,1 Abaye, and Rava, received heavenly greetings from the Heavenly Yeshiva.2
Abba received greetings daily, Abaye weekly on the eve of Shabbat (מעלי יומא דשבתא), and Rava annually on the eve of Yom Kippur. Abaye felt distressed because he did not understand why Abba Umna, a surgeon, received more frequent divine communications than he did.
The explanation given to Abaye was that he could not perform the good deeds that Abba did. The Talmud explains his good deeds in the next section.
אבא אומנא, הוה אתי ליה שלמא ממתיבתא דרקיעא, כל יומא,
ולאביי: כל מעלי יומא דשבתא,
לרבא: כל מעלי יומא דכיפורי.
הוה קא חלשא דעתיה דאביי, משום דאבא אומנא.
אמרו ליה: לא מצית למיעבד כעובדיה.
Abba the Bloodletter would receive greetings from the yeshiva on High every day,
and Abaye would receive these greetings every Shabbat eve,
and Rava would receive greetings only once a year on Yom Kippur eve.
Abaye was distressed due to Abba the Bloodletter, as he did not understand why Abba received greater honor than he did.
They said to him: You are unable to perform what he does, and therefore you do not merit the same honor.
The righteous deeds of Abba the Surgeon
The Talmud explains the righteous deeds of Abba Umna that merited him daily heavenly greetings. Abba Umna conducted his surgery practice with exceptional modesty and sensitivity.
He separated men from women during the procedures and used a specially designed garment with a strategic opening to ensure that women were not exposed during the bloodletting.
He also maintained a hidden area for payment, allowing those who could not afford his services to avoid embarrassment. Additionally, Abba did not charge Torah scholars (צורבא מרבנן) for his services and would even provide them with money afterwards to buy nutritious food necessary for recovery post-surgery.
ומאי הוו עובדיה דאבא אומנא —
דכי הוה עביד מילתא, הוה מחית גברי לחוד ונשי לחוד,
ואית ליה לבושא דאית ביה קרנא, דהוות בזיעא כי כוסילתא.
כי הוות אתיא ליה איתתא, הוה מלביש לה, כי היכי דלא ניסתכל בה.
ואית ליה דוכתא דצניעא, דשדי ביה פשיטי דשקיל,
דאית ליה — שדי ביה, דלית ליה — לא מיכסיף.
כי הוה אתרמי ליה צורבא מרבנן, אגרא מיניה לא שקיל.
ובתר דקאי, יהיב ליה פשיטי, ואמר ליה: זיל אברי נפשך.
The Gemara asks: And what were these righteous deeds of Abba the Bloodletter?
The Gemara explains that when he would perform a matter of bloodletting, he would bring in men separately from women, for reasons of modesty.
And he had a special garment that had a slit in the place of the incision [kusilta] where the bloodletting instrument was inserted.
When a woman came to him, he would have her dress in that garment, so that he would not see her exposed.
And furthermore, he had a hidden place where he worked, where customers would place the coins [peshitei] that he would take as his fee.
In this manner, one who had money would throw it there, while one who did not have money was not embarrassed.
When a Torah scholar came to him for bloodletting, he would take no pay from him,
and after the scholar arose, Abba would give him money and say to him: Go and purchase food with this money to heal yourself, as it is important to eat healthy food after bloodletting.
Abaye sent a pair of Sages to investigate the extent of Abba the Bloodletter’s righteousness
The passage describes a test conducted by Abaye to assess Abba Umna's righteousness further. Abaye sent two Sages to stay with Abba Umna, who provided them with hospitality, including food, drink, and mats to sleep on.
In the morning, the Sages took the mats and later asked Abba to appraise them in the market. When Abba gave a price, they revealed that they had taken the mats from him. Despite realizing the theft, Abba assumed they needed the mats for a noble cause, such as raising funds for ransoming prisoners, and chose not to confront them.
Upon learning the truth, when the Sages offered to return the mats, Abba explained that he had mentally designated them for charity from the moment he noticed they were missing and insisted they remain dedicated to that purpose, refusing to take them back.
יומא חד שדר אביי זוגא דרבנן למיבדקיה.
אותבינהו, ואכלינהו, ואשקינהו,
ומך להו ביסתרקי בליליא.
לצפרא, כרכינהו, ושקלינהו, וקמו, ונפקו להו לשוקא, ואשכחינהו.
אמרו ליה: לשיימיה מר היכי שוו.
אמר להו: הכי והכי.
אמרו ליה: ודלמא שוו טפי?
אמר להו: בהכי (שקלינהו) [שקלי להו].
אמרו ליה: דידך ניהו, ושקלינהו מינך.
אמרו ליה: במטותא מינך, במאי חשדתינן?
אמר להו: אמינא, פדיון שבויים איקלע להו לרבנן, ואכסיפו למימר לי.
אמרו ליה: השתא נשקלינהו מר!
אמר להו: מההוא שעתא, אסחתינהו מדעתאי לצדקה.
One day, Abaye sent a pair of Sages to investigate the extent of Abba the Bloodletter’s righteousness.
Abba the Bloodletter sat them down, and gave them food to eat, and gave them something to drink.
And at night he spread out mats [bistarkei] for them to sleep on.
In the morning, the Sages rolled up these rugs and took them, and they arose and went out to the market with them.
And when Abba found them,
the Sages said to him: Let the Master appraise these rugs, how much they are worth.
He said to them: Their value is such and such.
They said to him: But perhaps they are worth more.
He said to them: This is what I paid for them.
They said to him: The rugs are yours and we took them from you.
After explaining the reason for their actions, the Sages said to him: Please tell us, what did you suspect of us? You knew that we had taken your rugs, and yet you did not say anything.
He said to them: I said to myself, certainly an unexpected opportunity for a ransom of prisoners became available for the Sages, and they required immediate funds, but they were too embarrassed to say so to me or to ask for money. Instead, they took the rugs.
The Sages said to him: Now that we have explained the situation, let the Master take back the rugs.
He said to them: From that moment when I realized they were missing, I put them out of my mind and consigned them for charity. As far as I am concerned, they are already designated for that purpose, and I cannot take them back.
Rava
Rava felt distressed because he received heavenly greetings only once a year on Yom Kippur eve, whereas Abaye received them every Shabbat eve (as mentioned in the beginning of the sugya).
In response to his distress, it was explained to Rava that he should find solace in the fact that his virtuous actions had a significant impact, namely, his merit was so great that it afforded protection to his entire city.
הוה קא חלשא דעתיה דרבא משום דאביי,
אמרו ליה: מסתייך דקא מגנית אכולה כרכא.
Rava was distressed due to the fact that Abaye received greetings from Heaven every Shabbat eve, while Rava received such greetings only once a year, on Yom Kippur eve, as stated above.
They said to him: Be content that through your merit you protect your entire city.
אבא אומנא - “Abba Umna” - likely the best translation for this name is roughly “Father Surgeon”.
On the honorific title “Abba”, see my previous piece. The Christian title abbot stems from the same word.
מתיבתא דרקיעא - on this institution, see my previous piece, f. 1.