Pt2 Between Heat and Harvest: The Talmud on Winds and the Timing of Selling Agricultural Products (Gittin 31b-32a)
This is the second and final installment of a two-part series. The first installment is here; outline is there.
Story: Geneiva's Encounter with Rav Huna and Rav Ḥisda: A Discussion on the Four Winds
The Talmud recounts a story where Rav Huna and Rav Ḥisda were sitting together when Geneiva (גניבא) passed by. One suggested standing in respect, as Geneiva was a Torah scholar (בר אוריין), but the other objected, calling Geneiva a quarrelsome person.1
Geneiva then approached them and asked what they were discussing. They replied that they were talking about winds. Geneiva quoted a teaching of Rav Ḥanan bar Rava in the name of Rav: four winds blow each day, with the north wind blowing alongside the other three. Without the north wind, the world could not survive for even an hour.
Additionally, the south wind is the most powerful, but it is controlled by an angel called Ben-Netz (בן נץ).2 If not for this angel, the south wind would destroy the world, as homiletically derived from a verse in Job 39:26.
רב הונא ורב חסדא הוו יתבי.
חליף ואזיל גניבא עלייהו,
אמר חד לחבריה: ניקום מקמיה, דבר אוריין הוא.
אמר ליה אידך: מקמי פלגאה ניקום?!
אדהכי אתא איהו לגבייהו,
אמר להו: במאי עסקיתו?
אמרו ליה: ברוחות.
אמר להו:
הכי אמר רב חנן בר רבא, אמר רב:
ארבע רוחות מנשבות בכל יום,
ורוח צפונית מנשבת עם כולן;
שאלמלא כן, אין העולם מתקיים אפילו שעה אחת.
ורוח דרומית קשה מכולן,
ואלמלא בן נץ מעמידה,
מחרבת כל העולם כולו מפניה,
שנאמר: ״המבינתך יאבר נץ, יפרש כנפיו לתימן״.
The Gemara relates that Rav Huna and Rav Ḥisda were sitting,
and Geneiva passed by them.
One said to the other: Let us stand before him, as he is a son of the Torah.
The other said to him: Shall we stand before a quarrelsome person?!
In the meantime, Geneiva came to them
and said to them: With what were you dealing when you were sitting together?
They said to him: We were dealing with winds.
He said to them:
This is what Rav Ḥanan bar Rava says that Rav says:
Four winds blow on each day,
and the north wind blows together with each of the other three;
as, if this were not so and the northern wind did not blow, then the world would not survive for even one hour.
And the south wind is harsher than all of them,
and were it not for the angel called Ben Netz, who stops it from blowing even harder,
then it would destroy the entire world before it,
as it is stated: “Does the hawk [netz] soar by your wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south?” (Job 39:26).
Story: Discussion of Heat from winds and its effects
The Talmud recounts a story in which Rava and Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak are sitting together when they see Rav Naḥman bar Ya’akov passing by in a gold carriage3 with a green cloak (סרבלא דכרתי).
Rava goes to greet him, but Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak initially does not, assuming Rava needs the Exilarch's connections while he does not. When Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak realizes it is Rav Naḥman bar Ya’akov, he also goes to greet him.
Rav Naḥman bar Ya’akov comments on the hot wind, called "Shadya" (שדיא), which Rava explains causes miscarriages, and Shmuel adds that even pearls4 in the sea decay in its wake. R' Yoḥanan states that it even spoils semen in a woman’s womb.5
Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak says all these ideas come from the same verse in Hosea, which mentions an east wind6 drying up springs, fountains, and spoiling precious treasures, Hosea.13.15 :
כי הוא בין אחים יפריא
יבוא קדים, רוח יהוה
ממדבר עלה
ויבוש מקורו
ויחרב מעינו
הוא ישסה אוצר
כל כלי חמדה
For though he flourish among reeds,
A blast, a wind of GOD,
Shall come blowing up from the wilderness;
His fountain shall be parched,
His spring dried up.
That [wind] shall plunder treasures,
Every lovely object.
Each phrase is interpreted to describe different forms of harm caused by the wind.
Rava then praises Rav Naḥman bar Ya’akov’s precision in interpreting verses, attributing it to his training in Sura.
רבא ורב נחמן בר יצחק הוו יתבי;
הוה חליף ואזיל רב נחמן בר יעקב,
דיתיב בגוהרקא דדהבא
ופריס עליה סרבלא דכרתי.
רבא אזל לגביה, רב נחמן בר יצחק לא אזל לגביה.
אמר: דלמא מאינשי דבי ריש גלותא נינהו; רבא צריך להו, אנא לא צריכנא להו.
כדחזא דרב נחמן בר יעקב הוה, אזיל לגביה.
גלי לדרעיה, אמר: שדיא נשיב!
אמר רבא,
הכי אמר רב: אשה מפלת בו;
ושמואל אמר: אפילו מרגלית שבים מרקבת בו;
רבי יוחנן אמר: אפילו שכבת זרע שבמעי אשה מסרחת בו.
אמר רב נחמן בר יצחק, ושלשתן מקרא אחד דרשו:
״כי הוא בין אחים יפריא
יבוא קדים
רוח ה׳
ממדבר עולה
ויבוש מקורו וגו׳״.
״יבוש מקורו״ – זו מקורה של אשה.
״ויחרב מעיינו״ – זה שכבת זרע שבמעי אשה.
״הוא ישסה אוצר כל כלי חמדה״ – זו מרגלית שבים.
אמר רבא:
עדי סוראה הוא, דדייקי קראי!
The Gemara also relates that Rava and Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak were sitting,
and Rav Naḥman bar Ya’akov was passing by them
while sitting on a gilt carriage [goharka]
and with a green cloak [sarbela] spread over him.
Rava went to him, but Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak did not go to him.
He said: Perhaps they are members of the house of the Exilarch. Rava needs them, but I do not need them.
When he saw that it was Rav Naḥman bar Ya’akov, he also went to him.
Rav Naḥman bar Ya’akov uncovered his arm due to the heat and said: The wind called Shadya is blowing.
Rava says that this is what Rav says about this wind:
A woman miscarries in its wake.
And Shmuel says: Even a pearl [margalit] that is in the sea decomposes in its wake.
R' Yoḥanan says: Even the semen that is in a woman’s womb putrefies in its wake.
Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak, who was present, said about their statements: And the three of them derived their statements from one verse, as it is stated:
“For though he be fruitful among the reed-plants,
an east wind shall come,
the wind of the Lord coming up from the wilderness,
and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up; he shall spoil the treasure of all precious vessels” (Hosea 13:15).
The statement that a woman miscarries in its wake is based on the phrase “His spring shall become dry,” as this is referring to a woman’s womb.
With regard to the phrase “And his fountain shall be dried up,” this is referring to the semen that is in a woman’s womb.
And with regard to the phrase “He shall spoil the treasure of all precious vessels,” this is referring to a pearl in the sea.
Rava says: This Sage is from Sura, as they are precise with verses.
Even the Firmest Connections Loosen: Interpretations of the Biblical word 'yafri'
The Talmud discusses the meaning of the phrase in the verse quoted previously: “Though he be fruitful [yafri] among the reed-plants.”
All three subsequent interpretations suggest that even tightly connected or firmly placed objects are loosened or separated7 by the wind discussed previously (Shadya/east wind).
Rava interprets yafri as causing separation, explaining that even the handle (שופתא) in the hole (קופינא) of a hoe (מרא) becomes loose.
Rav Yosef extends this idea, stating that even a peg (סיכתא) hammered into a wall (דפנא) loosens.
Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov adds that even a reed (קניא) woven into a basket (כופתא) will come undone.
מאי ״כי הוא בין אחים יפריא״?
אמר רבא: אפילו שופתא בקופינא דמרא – רפיא.
רב יוסף אמר: אפילו סיכתא בדפנא – רפיא.
רב אחא בר יעקב אמר: אפילו קניא בכופתא – רפיא.
The Gemara asks: What is the meaning of: “Though he be fruitful [yafri] among the reed-plants”?
Rava said: Even the handle in the hole [kofina] of the hoe [mara] becomes loose [rafya], as he understands the word yafri to refer to separating connected items.
Similarly, Rav Yosef said: Even the peg hammered into the wall becomes loose.
Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said: Even the reed woven into the basket becomes loose.
פלגאה - literally: “a disputer, controversialist”, i.e. engages in public controversies.
Geneiva, although a scholar, was infamous for causing significant trouble for the Babylonian rabbis and was eventually handled by non-Jewish government authorities, an outcome the rabbis perceived as divine intervention.
See earlier in the tractate (around 23 pages before), Gittin.7a.5-7, where Geneiva is described as someone who “tormented” Mar Ukva, the Exilarch. Mar Ukva considered turning him over to the authorities (מלכות), but ultimately, the government apprehended Geneiva without needing to be informed.
שלח ליה מר עוקבא לרבי אלעזר:
בני אדם העומדים עלי, ובידי למסרם למלכות, מהו?
[…]
Mar Ukva, the Exilarch in Babylonia, sent a letter to Rabbi Elazar, who was in Eretz Yisrael, in which the following was written:
With regard to people who stand over and torment me, and I have the power to deliver them into the hands of the government, what is the halakha? May I hand them over to the authorities or not?
[…]
שלח ליה: קא מצערי לי טובא, ולא מצינא דאיקום בהו.
Mar Ukva sent word to him again: They are tormenting me a great deal and I cannot stand them.
Geneiva was subsequently taken away by the government in a “collar” (a Latin word):
הדבר יצא מפי רבי אלעזר, ונתנוהו לגניבא בקולר.
The matter emerged from the mouth of Rabbi Elazar, and Geneiva, Mar Ukva’s tormentor, was placed in a neck iron [kolar], as one sentenced by the government.
It’s clear from the conclusion of the story that the implicit reference throughout is specifically to Geneiva, despite him not being named explicitly until the end.
Netz in Hebrew is a “hawk”, as in the verse cited. So the angel “Ben-Netz” is the “hawk angel”.
Compare the cherubim in Ezekiel's vision, described as having faces of a lion, an ox, an eagle, and a human (Ezekiel 1:10). And see Wikipedia, “Cherub” > “Appearance”.
גוהרקא. Jastrow:
a corrupt[ion] of גרהוקא, carruca, καροῦχα, καῤῥοῦχα, a carriage used by persons of distinction
See my piece here for another passage where this is used:
אמר לי: בכולהו מצית אסתכולי בהו, לבר מגוהרקא דרבי חייא דלא תסתכל ביה.
מאי סימנייהו?
בכולהו, אזלי מלאכי כי סלקי ונחתי, לבר מגוהרקא דרבי חייא, דמנפשיה סליק ונחית.
Elijah said to me: You may gaze at all of them except for those in the chariot [miguharka] of R' Ḥiyya, upon whom you may not gaze.
I asked Elijah: What are the signs of R' Ḥiyya’s chariot, so I will know when not to look?
He said: Angels accompany all of the other Sages’ chariots as they ascend and descend, except for the chariot of R' Ḥiyya, which ascends and descends of its own accord, due to his greatness.
מרגלית - from Greek.
מעי - literally: “intestines”.