Rebuking the Kings: Two Tales of Respect, Condemnation, and the Temptation of Idolatry in Amoraic Reflections on Biblical Monarchs With No Share in the World-To-Come (Sanhedrin 102a-b)
Outline
R’ Abbahu's Resolve: Resumes Condemnation of Unrepentant Kings Despite Earlier Decision Not To
Rav Ashi’s Dream Encounter with King Manasseh: A Lesson in Humility and the Earlier Powerful Temptation for Idolatry
The Passage
R’ Abbahu's Resolve: Resumes Condemnation of Unrepentant Kings Despite Earlier Decision Not To
The Talmud recounts that R' Abbahu regularly (רגיל) gave lectures about the three biblical kings who, according to the Mishna, have no share in the World-to-Come.1
When he fell ill, he decided (קביל עליה) to stop lecturing on this topic. However, after recovering, he resumed the lectures. His students questioned him, referencing his earlier decision to stop.
R' Abbahu responded by asking rhetorically if the kings had repented. Since they hadn’t, he saw no reason to hold back from his criticisms.
ר' אבהו הוה רגיל דהוה קא דריש בשלשה מלכים
חלש, קביל עליה דלא דריש
כיון דאיתפח, הדר קא דריש
אמרי: לא קבילת עלך דלא דרשת בהו?!
אמר: אינהו מי הדרו בהו, דאנא אהדר בי?!
The Gemara relates: R' Abbahu was accustomed to lecture at great length about the three kings enumerated in the mishna, who have no share in the World-to-Come.
He fell ill, and he undertook that he would not lecture about those kings.
Once he recovered, he then lectured on that topic.
His students said to him: Did you not undertake that you will not lecture about them?!
R' Abbahu said: Did they repent, that I will reconsider and refrain from condemning them?!
Rav Ashi’s Dream Encounter with the biblical King Manasseh: A Lesson in Humility and the Earlier Powerful Temptation for Idolatry
Rav Ashi concluded a lecture, announcing he would discuss the three biblical kings listed in the Mishnah (same as in the previous section) the next day, casually referring to them as "friends" (חברין).2
That night, Manasseh (one of the three wicked biblical kings listed in the Mishnah) appeared to him in a dream, offended by Rav Ashi's casual reference to them as “friends”.
Manasseh challenged Rav Ashi's knowledge by asking where to begin cutting a loaf of bread when reciting the blessing on bread (המוציא).
When Rav Ashi admitted ignorance, Manasseh taught him that the loaf should be cut from the crusted (קרים) part.
Rav Ashi then questioned why someone so wise (חכימתו; i.e. in halacha) would engage in idol worship.
Manasseh replied that Rav Ashi would have enthusiastically worshipped idols too, if he had lived then.3
Humbled, Rav Ashi later began his lecture by referring to the kings with no share in the World-to-Come as “masters / great ones” (רבוותא).
רב אשי אוקי אשלשה מלכים
אמר: למחר נפתח בחברין
אתא מנשה, איתחזי ליה בחלמיה
אמר:
חברך וחבירי דאבוך קרית לן?!
מהיכא בעית למישרא המוציא?
אמר ליה: לא ידענא
א"ל: מהיכא דבעית למישרא המוציא לא גמירת, וחברך קרית לן?!
א"ל: אגמריה לי, ולמחר דרישנא ליה משמך בפירקא
א"ל: מהיכא דקרים בישולא
א"ל: מאחר דחכימתו כולי האי, מאי טעמא קא פלחיתו לעבודת כוכבים?
א"ל: אי הות התם, הות נקיטנא בשיפולי גלימא, ורהטת אבתראי
למחר, אמר להו לרבנן: נפתח ברבוותא
One day Rav Ashi ended his lecture just before reaching the matter of the three kings.
He said to his students: Tomorrow we will begin the lecture with our colleagues the three kings, who, although they were sinners, were Torah scholars like us.
Manasseh, king of Judea, came and appeared to him in his dream.
Manasseh said to him angrily: You called us your colleague and the colleagues of your father?! How dare you characterize yourself as our equal?
Manasseh said to him: I will ask you, from where are you required to begin cutting a loaf of bread when reciting the blessing: Who brings forth bread from the earth?
Rav Ashi said to him: I do not know.
Manasseh said to him: Even this, from where you are required to begin cutting a loaf of bread when reciting the blessing: Who brings forth bread from the earth, you did not learn, and yet you call us your colleague?!
Rav Ashi said to Manasseh: Teach me this halakha and tomorrow I will lecture and cite it in your name during my public lecture delivered on the Festival.
Manasseh said to him: One cuts the loaf from where it crusts as a result of baking.
Rav Ashi said to him: Since you were so wise, what is the reason you engaged in idol worship?
Manasseh said to him: Had you been there at that time, you would have taken and lifted the hem of your cloak and run after me due to the fierce desire to engage in idol worship and due to the fact that it was a common faith.
The next day Rav Ashi said to the Sages as a prelude to his lecture: We will begin with the treatment of our teachers, those kings who were greater than us in Torah knowledge but whose sins caused them to lose their share in the World-to-Come.
On this Mishnah, refer to my previous piece, as well as my recent series on the Talmud’s expansion on this Mishnah, on Jeroboam’s wickedness, second part here.
Compare my piece here on the similar talmudic story of Rav Huna being insulted for being referred to with the same term -- “my friend” (חברין) -- in correspondence with Rav Anan. The phrase “our friend/colleague Huna” appears 11 times in the Talmud Bavli, see search results here.
Compare Bava_Batra.157a.11:
אמר להו רב נחמן:
זעירא חברין תרגמה:
Rav Naḥman said to the Sages:
Zeira, our colleague, interpreted it:
Another recurring phrase in the Talmud is “our Babylonian friends/colleagues”:
חברין בבלאה or חברין בבלאי
See, for example, Zevachim.30b.7:
אמר עולא, ואיתימא רב אושעיא:
אפשר ידעין חברין בבלאה
[…]
Ulla said, and some say it was Rav Oshaya who said:
Perhaps our colleagues, the Babylonians, know
[…]
See search results here (6 results).
Notably, the unrelated but homonymic word habarin, based on the biblical word haver (חבר) for sorcerers, is used in the Talmud to refer to Zoroastrian magi (priests), see for example Kiddushin.72a.10:
אמר ליה רבי ללוי:
[…]
הראני חברין.
דומין למלאכי חבלה
R’ Yehuda HaNasi said to Levi:
[…]
Show me Ḥabbarin (חברין), Persian priests.
Levi said to him: They are similar to angels of destruction.