The Purse, the Grave, and the Lentil: A Dramatic Talmudic Tale of Trust and Treachery (Yoma 83b)
Intro
Hebrew Wikipedia, שם המעיד על בעליו – ויקיפדיה, my translation:1
A name that reflects its bearer is a name of a person or place which, according to the principle of “names have an impact” (שמא גרים - Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berakhot, 7a, and the Latin equivalent: nomen est omen = "the name is a sign"), indicates the traits or essence of its subject.
The Passage
Pt1
R' Meir, R’ Yehuda, and R' Yosei2 were traveling together. R' Meir had a practice of analyzing names to discern a person's character, while the other two did not. They sought lodging at an inn, and when they asked the innkeeper his name, he replied, "Kidor."
R' Meir believed this indicated wickedness, based on a verse from Deuteronomy. R' Yehuda and R' Yosei entrusted their purses to the innkeeper, but R' Meir, suspicious, hid his purse at the innkeeper’s father’s grave.
ותו:
רבי מאיר ורבי יהודה ורבי יוסי הוו קא אזלי באורחא,
רבי מאיר הוה דייק בשמא, רבי יהודה ורבי יוסי לא הוו דייקי בשמא.
כי מטו לההוא דוכתא, בעו אושפיזא.
יהבו להו.
אמרו ליה: מה שמך?
אמר להו: ״כידור״.
אמר: שמע מינה אדם רשע הוא, שנאמר: ״כי דור תהפוכות המה״.
רבי יהודה ורבי יוסי אשלימו ליה כיסייהו.
רבי מאיר לא אשלים ליה כיסיה,
אזל אותביה בי קיבריה דאבוה.
And furthermore, it is told:
R' Meir and R' Yehuda and R' Yosei were walking on the road together.
R' Meir would analyze names and discern one’s nature from his name, while R' Yehuda and R' Yosei were not apt to analyze names.
When they came to a certain place, they looked for lodging
and were given it.
They said to the innkeeper: What is your name?
He said to them: My name is Kidor.
R' Meir said to himself: one can learn from this that he is a wicked person, as it is stated: “For they are a generation [ki dor] of upheavals” (Deuteronomy 32:20).
R' Yehuda and R' Yosei entrusted their purses to him.
R' Meir did not entrust his purse to him
but went and placed it at the grave of the innkeeper’s father.
Pt2
That night, the innkeeper's dead father appeared to the innkeeper in a dream, telling the innkeeper about the hidden purse at the dead father's grave.
When the innkeeper mentioned the dream to the Sages the next morning, they dismissed the dream as meaningless, since it was dreamt on a Friday night. R' Meir, however, guarded his money all day.
אתחזי ליה בחלמיה: תא שקיל כיסא דמנח ארישא דההוא גברא.
למחר אמר להו: הכי אתחזי לי בחלמאי.
אמרי ליה: חלמא דבי שמשי לית בהו ממשא,
אזל רבי מאיר ונטריה כולי יומא
ואייתיה.
The innkeeper’s father appeared to the innkeeper in a dream and said to him: Go take the purse placed at the head of that man, i.e., the innkeeper’s father.
The following day, he said to the Sages: This is what appeared to me in my dream.
They said to him: Dreams during twilight on Shabbat evening have no substance and should not be trusted.
Even so, R' Meir went and guarded his money all that day
and then took it.
Pt3
The next day, the Sages asked for their purses, but the innkeeper denied ever receiving them.
R' Meir criticized them for not analyzing the innkeeper's name. When they asked why he hadn't warned them, R' Meir explained that he could only suggest caution, not certainty of wickedness.
למחר אמרו ליה: הב לן כיסן.
אמר להו: לא היו דברים מעולם.
אמר להו רבי מאיר: אמאי לא דייקיתו בשמא?
אמרו ליה: אמאי לא אמרת לן מר?
אמר להו: אימר דאמרי אנא חששא, אחזוקי מי אמרי?!
The next day, the Rabbis said to the innkeeper: Give us our purses.
He said to them: These matters never occurred; you never gave me any purses.
R' Meir said to them: Why didn’t you analyze his name to learn that he is a wicked man?
They said to him: Why didn’t the Master tell us?
He said to them: I said one should be suspicious, but have I said a person should be established as wicked?! Could I say to you with certainty that he is wicked based on his name alone?
Pt4
To retrieve their purses, they dragged the innkeeper to a store, and saw lentils on his mustache, indicating his last meal. They used this as a sign to convince his wife to return their money.
The innkeeper, in a rage, killed his wife for this act.
משכוהו ועיילוהו לחנותא,
חזו טלפחי אשפמיה,
אזלו,
ויהבו סימנא לדביתהו,
ושקלוה לכיסייהו,
ואייתו.
אזל איהו
וקטליה לאיתתיה.
[...]
What did they do? They dragged the innkeeper and brought him to a store and gave him wine to drink.
After he drank the wine, they saw lentils on his mustache, showing that he had eaten lentils that day.
They went
and gave this sign to his wife. They said that the innkeeper had ordered that their money be returned to them upon the sign that he ate lentils at his last meal.
And they took their purses
and went.
He went
and killed his wife out of anger that she did this.
[...]
Story of R' Yehuda and R' Yosei - “Bala”
Eventually, R' Yehuda and R' Yosei adopted R' Meir’s practice of name analysis, avoiding a host named Bala (Bella?) due to its negative connotation from scripture.
ולבסוף הוו דייקי בשמא.
כי מטו לההוא ביתא דשמיה ״בלה״,
לא עיילו לגביה.
אמרי: שמע מינה רשע הוא.
דכתיב:
[...]
And in the end, they too, R' Yehuda and R' Yosei, would analyze names.
When they came to a house of a landlord named Bala,
they did not enter.
They said: Conclude from here that he is certainly wicked,
as it is written:
[...]
See also Hebrew Wikipedia, מדרש שם – ויקיפדיה.
These three tannaim are of the 4th generation of tannaim (circa 2nd century CE in Eretz Yisrael), and some of the most quoted sages in the Mishnah.
The whole story appears in Aramaic (=Stam); it’s therefore clearly a late retelling.