Supernatural Fruit and Fatal Beauty: R' Yosei of Yokrat, the “merciless” sage who wished his son and daughter to die (Taanit 23b-24a)
Pt1
The Talmud recounts a story about R' Yosei bar Avin, who at first studied with R' Yosei of Yokrat, but at some point left to study under Rav Ashi.
Rav Ashi did not initially recognize him. One day, R' Yosei bar Avin qualified Rav Ashi's statement about a certain Shabbat law cited in the name of Shmuel (I elide this part, which is technical and not related to the story).
Rav Ashi (who, as mentioned, didn’t recognize him) questioned why this unknown questioner didn't attribute this statement to R' Yosei bar R' Avin! To which R' Yosei bar Avin revealed his identity. Rav Ashi then inquired if R' Yosei had previously studied under R' Yosei of Yokrat, to which he answered yes.
Rav Ashi then asked why he left R' Yosei of Yokrat, to which R' Yosei bar Avin explained that R' Yosei of Yokrat was severe and unforgiving, even to his own children.
The next two sections will elaborate on two incidents demonstrating R' Yosei of Yokrat's severity.
רבי יוסי בר אבין הוה שכיח קמיה דרבי יוסי דמן יוקרת.
שבקיה, ואתא לקמיה דרב אשי.
יומא חד שמעיה דקא גריס,
אמר שמואל: [...]
אמר ליה: ולימא מר [...]
אמר ליה: ולא סבר לה מר דההיא רבי יוסי בן רבי אבין אמרה?
אמר ליה: אנא ניהו.
אמר ליה: ולאו קמיה דרבי יוסי דמן יוקרת הוה שכיח מר?!
אמר ליה: הין.
אמר ליה: ומאי טעמא שבקיה מר, ואתא הכא?
אמר ליה: גברא דעל בריה ועל ברתיה לא חס, עלי דידי היכי חייס?!
The Gemara cites another story involving a complaint. R' Yosei bar Avin was frequently found before R' Yosei from Yokrat.
At some point he left him and came to study before Rav Ashi, who did not recognize him.
One day R' Yosei bar Avin heard Rav Ashi studying and reciting the following statement.
Shmuel said: [...]
R' Yosei bar Avin said to Rav Ashi: And let the Master say [...]
Rav Ashi said to him: And doesn’t the Master maintain that R' Yosei ben R' Avin said this ruling? Why didn’t you state it in his name?
R' Yosei bar Avin said to him: I am he.
Rav Ashi said to him: And didn’t the Master sit before and frequent the study hall of R' Yosei from Yokrat?
R' Yosei bar Avin said to him: Yes.
Rav Ashi said to him: And what is the reason that the Master left him and came here?
R' Yosei bar Avin said to him: I was concerned and departed because he is so severe and unforgiving. He is a man who has no mercy on his own son, and no mercy on his daughter. How, then, could he have mercy on me?
Pt2 - Incident with his son
One day, R' Yosei of Yokrat hired laborers to work in his field but didn't provide them with food, and they grew hungry. They told his son about their hunger. Sitting under a fig tree, the son commanded the tree to yield fruit, which it did, and the laborers ate.
Later, R' Yosei arrived and apologized for his lateness, explaining he had been engaged in a mitzva. The workers praised him, saying that just as he had satisfied their needs, may God satisfy him, and they recounted the incident with his son.
R' Yosei then rebuked his son for troubling God to make the fig tree bear fruit out of season, stating that his son would die young as a consequence.1
בריה מאי היא?
יומא חד, הוו אגרי ליה אגירי בדברא,
נגה להו, ולא אייתי להו ריפתא,
אמרו ליה לבריה: כפינן!
הוו יתבי תותי תאינתא, אמר: תאנה, תאנה! הוציאי פירותיך, ויאכלו פועלי אבא.
אפיקא, ואכלו.
אדהכי והכי, אתא אבוה
אמר להו: לא תינקטו בדעתייכו, דהאי דנגהנא, אמצוה טרחנא, ועד השתא הוא דסגאי.
אמרו ליה: רחמנא לישבעך, כי היכי דאשבען ברך.
אמר להו: מהיכא?
אמרו: הכי והכי הוה מעשה.
אמר לו: בני, אתה הטרחת את קונך להוציא תאנה פירותיה שלא בזמנה — יאסף שלא בזמנו.
The Gemara asks: What is the incident involving his son?
One day R' Yosei from Yokrat hired day laborers to work his field.
It grew late and he did not bring them food.
The workers said to the son of R' Yosei from Yokrat: We are starving.
They were sitting under a fig tree, so the son said: Fig tree, fig tree. Yield your fruits, so that my father’s workers may eat.
The fig tree yielded fruit, and they ate.
In the meantime, his father came
and said to the workers: Do not be angry with me for being late, as I was engaged in a mitzva, and until just now I was traveling for that purpose and could not get here any sooner.
They said to him: May the Merciful One satisfy you just as your son satisfied us and gave us food.
He said to them: From where did he find food to give you?
They said: Such-and-such an incident occurred.
R' Yosei from Yokrat said to his son: My son, you troubled your Creator to cause the fig to yield its fruit not in its proper time, so too, you will die young.
Pt3 - Incident with his daughter
R' Yosei of Yokrat had a daughter who was beautiful (בעלת יופי). One day, R' Yosei saw a man piercing a hole in the hedge around his property to look at her. When R' Yosei confronted the man, the man replied that if he couldn't marry her, he at least wanted to look at her.
R' Yosei then told his daughter that she was causing people distress and commanded her “to return to her dust”, meaning that she should die to prevent others from sinning because of her beauty.2
ברתיה מאי היא?
הויא ליה ברתא בעלת יופי,
יומא חד, חזיא לההוא גברא דהוה כריא בהוצא, וקא חזי לה.
אמר לו: מאי האי?
אמר ליה: רבי, אם ללוקחה לא זכיתי — לראותה לא אזכה?!
אמר לה: בתי, קא מצערת להו לברייתא, שובי לעפריך, ואל יכשלו ביך בני אדם.
The Gemara asks: What is the incident involving his daughter?
He had a beautiful daughter.
One day R' Yosei from Yokrat saw a certain man piercing a hole in the hedge surrounding his property and looking at his daughter.
R' Yosei said to him: What is this?
The man said to him: My teacher, if I have not merited taking her in marriage, shall I not at least merit to look at her?!
R' Yosei said to her: My daughter, you are causing people distress. Return to your dust, and let people no longer stumble into sin due to you.
This story is written in Aramaic, but two of the key quotes are in Hebrew:
The son, commanding the fig tree to supernaturally produce figs:
תאנה, תאנה! הוציאי פירותיך, ויאכלו פועלי אבא.
R’ Yosei’s final ominous line:
בני, אתה הטרחת את קונך להוציא תאנה פירותיה שלא בזמנה — יאסף שלא בזמנו.
Here again, the story is in Aramaic, but the two key quotes are in Hebrew:
The voyeur’s rhetorical question:
רבי, אם ללוקחה לא זכיתי — לראותה לא אזכה?!
And R’ Yosei's final line:
שובי לעפריך, ואל יכשלו ביך בני אדם.
On the voyeur's statement, compare the story in tractate Sanhedrin, and the man who wanted to see a woman naked, or else he would die.