Three Charges, Many Miracles: The Trial of R’ Elazar ben Perata (Avodah Zarah 17b)
Outline
“Why did you teach Torah; steal?”
“Why didn’t you come to the house of Abidan?“
“Why did you free your slave?”
The Passage
The trial of R' Elazar ben Perata, with many miraculous events
The Talmud describes the trial of R' Elazar ben Perata by the Romans.1
אתיוהו לרבי אלעזר בן פרטא
The Gemara returns to the description of the trial of the Sages. The Romans brought R' Elazar ben Perata for his trial
“Why did you teach Torah; steal?”
He was accused of teaching Torah (תנית) and stealing.
R' Elazar ben Perata responded to the accusations by arguing that one cannot be both a scholar and a thief, as they are mutually exclusive roles.2
When questioned why he was called "rabbi" (רבי) if he did not teach Torah, he claimed that “rabbi” referred to him being the “master” of weavers.3
To test this, the Romans presented him with two coils (קיבורי) of woven wool to identify the warp and woof (שתי וערב).
A miracle occurred: a female hornet (זיבוריתא) sat on the warp, and a male hornet sat on the woof, allowing R' Elazar to correctly identify them.
אמרו: מאי טעמא תנית, ומאי טעמא גנבת?
אמר להו: אי סייפא לא ספרא, ואי ספרא לא סייפא
ומדהא ליתא, הא נמי ליתא
ומ"ט קרו לך רבי?
רבן של תרסיים אני
אייתו ליה תרי קיבורי
אמרו ליה: הי דשתיא והי דערבא?
איתרחיש ליה ניסא, אתיא זיבוריתא, אותיבא על דשתיא, ואתאי זיבורא, ויתיב על דערבא
אמר להו: האי דשתיא, והאי דערבא
and said: What is the reason that you taught Torah, and what is the reason that you stole, as these were the crimes of which he was accused.
R' Elazar ben Perata said to them: If one is an armed robber [sayafa], he is not a scholar [safra], and if one is a scholar he is not an armed robber, i.e., I am accused of two mutually exclusive crimes;
and from the fact that this characterization is not true, one may also conclude that that characterization is also not true.
They asked him: But if you do not teach Torah, then what is the reason that they call you rabbi?
He answered: I am the master [rabban] of weavers [tarsiyyim].
In order to ascertain whether R' Elazar ben Perata was in fact an expert weaver, they brought him two coils of wool and said to him: Which is the warp, and which is the woof? The threads used for each differ in their thickness and strength and would be immediately recognizable to an expert.
A miracle occurred, as a female hornet came and sat on the coil of warp, and a male hornet came and sat on the coil of woof.
R' Elazar ben Perata said to them: This is a coil of warp, and that is a coil of woof. He realized that the male hornet was a sign that the coil was the woof, as the woof is threaded through the warp, while the warp, which is fixed in the loom and receives the woof, was the one on which the female hornet sat, as the female of a species receives the male.
“Why didn’t you come to the house of Abidan? “
The Romans then interrogated why R' Elazar did not attend “the house of Abidan”.4
He explained that he feared being trampled5 due to his age. Miraculously, an old man was trampled that day, proving his concern valid.
א"ל: ומ"ט לא אתית לבי אבידן?
אמר להו: זקן הייתי, ומתיירא אני, שמא תרמסוני ברגליכם
[אמרו]: ועד האידנא, כמה סבי איתרמוס?!
אתרחיש ניסא, ההוא יומא אירמס חד סבא
The Romans said to him: And what is the reason that you did not come to the house of Abidan? This was a gathering place where debates on wisdom and faith were conducted.
R' Elazar ben Perata said to them: I was old and feared that perhaps I would be trampled under your feet, due to the huge crowds.
The Romans said: And until now, how many elders have been trampled there, that you would be worried about such a possibility?!
The Gemara comments: A miracle occurred, and on that day, one old man was trampled.
“Why did you free your slave?”
Another accusation was that R' Elazar had emancipated his slave.6 He denied the accusation.
When a witness stood to testify against him, Elijah, incarnated as a Roman nobleman7 intervened, predicting that a miracle would protect R' Elazar. Ignoring the warning, the witness prepared to testify.
Elijah then grabbed a letter intended for the Roman emperor (בי קיסר), carried by the witness, and threw it 400 parsangs.
The witness left to retrieve it and did not return, leading to the dismissal of all charges against R' Elazar ben Perata.
ומ"ט קא שבקת עבדך לחירות?
אמר להו: לא היו דברים מעולם
קם חד [מינייהו] לאסהודי ביה
אתא אליהו, אידמי ליה כחד מחשובי דמלכותא
א"ל:
מדאתרחיש ליה ניסא בכולהו, בהא נמי אתרחיש ליה ניסא,
וההוא גברא בישותיה הוא דקא אחוי
ולא אשגח ביה, קם למימר להו
הוה כתיבא איגרתא, דהוה כתיב מחשיבי דמלכות, לשדורי לבי קיסר,
ושדרוה על ידיה דההוא גברא
אתא אליהו, פתקיה ארבע מאה פרסי
אזל, ולא אתא
The Romans asked R' Elazar ben Perata: And what is the reason that you emancipated your slave?
R' Elazar ben Perata said to them: This matter never happened.
One of them stood to testify against him,
and Elijah came disguised as one of the of the Roman noblemen,
and he said to that individual:
From the fact that miracles occurred for R' Elazar ben Perata in every other case, in this instance as well a miracle will occur for him,
and that man, i.e., you, is only demonstrating his wickedness, since you cannot succeed in your aim and are merely showing yourself to be desperate to cause harm.
But the man paid him no heed, and he stood to say his testimony to them.
At that time there was a written letter that was composed by some of the most important people of the Roman Empire in order to send it to the Emperor’s court,
and they had sent it in the possession of that man, i.e., the potential witness.
Elijah came and threw it a distance of four hundred parasangs.
The man went and did not come back, and therefore all the charges against R' Elazar ben Perata were dropped.
R' Elazar ben Perata fl. early 2nd century CE.
As with the trials described in the Talmud of R’ Eliezer (see yesterday’s piece here) and R' Hanina ben Teradyon (to be discussed in my next piece), preumably related to Hadrianic persecutions after the Bar Kochba revolt.
For another story of a trial of rabbi before the Romans, compare the story in my piece here, section “Dialogue #8 - Roman Emperor vs. R' Tanḥum: Proposes unification of Jews and Romans into one people; Sentenced to Death by Wild Beasts; and Miraculous Deliverance“.
His response is crafted as a literary aphorism, incorporating wordplay that hinges on the similar sounds of saif (sword) and sefer (book), referring to the respective tools of robbers and scholars:
אי סייפא, לא ספרא,
ואי ספרא, לא סייפא
If a sword (סייפא - saif), not a book (ספרא),
and if a book, not a sword.
תרסיים. Usually spelled with a ט instead of ת. See Jastrow, טרסי I:
1) weaver of metallic thread, artistic weaver, differ[ent] fr[om] גרדי.—Pl[ural] טרסיים. Ab[odah] Zar[ah] 17b Ar[uch] a. Ms. Pes. (ed[ition] תרס׳, [see] Rabb[inowicz] D[ikdukei] S[oferim] a[d] l[loc] note 40).
Succ[ot] 51b וט׳ בפ"ע וכ׳ ([see] Rabb[inowicz] D[ikdukei] S[oferim] a[d] l[loc] note 400) artistic weavers apart and common weavers apart; Tosef[ta] ib[id.] 4:6.
Sabb. 47a מטה של ט׳ the weavers’ horizontal loom or frame for embroidery (differ. in Rashi). —
2) worker in copper, bronze etc. Ḥull. 57b מטלית של ט׳ the bronzers’ apron.
בי אבידן- a place of debates.
There’s much scholarly discussion on the meaning and etymology of this term. It was likely a Zoroastrian institution.
For another mention of being crushed and trampled by crowds in the Talmud (being crushed or trampled by a crowd is a significant risk wherever there are crowds and little or no crowd control, especially for the elderly), see my previous pieces:
“Crowds, Crushes, and Censuses: Talmudic Historical Anecdotes of The Pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover in the Late Second Temple Period (Pesachim 64b)“, section “Historical Incident: “The Crushed Passover””:
תנו רבנן:
מעולם לא נתמעך אדם בעזרה,
חוץ מפסח אחד שהיה בימי הלל,
שנתמעך בו זקן אחד,
והיו קוראין אותו ״פסח מעוכין״.
The Sages taught:
No one was ever crushed (נתמעך) by the great throngs of people in the Temple courtyard (עזרה),
except for one Passover in the days of Hillel (fl. early 1st century CE)
when an old man was crushed,
and they called that Passover the Passover of the crushed (מעוכין).
הא רב נחמן שרא לה לילתא למיפק אאלונקי!
שאני ילתא דבעיתא.
אמימר ומר זוטרא מכתפי להו בשבתא דרגלא
משום ביעתותא,
ואמרי לה משום דוחקא דצבורא.
Didn’t Rav Naḥman permit his wife Yalta to go out on a Festival on a chair borne on poles (אלונקי) that rested on the shoulders of the bearers?
The Gemara answers: Yalta is different, as she was afraid (בעיתא) of falling and therefore required this special arrangement.
The Gemara relates that Ameimar and Mar Zutra would be carried to their places in the study hall on the shoulders of their students for the public lecture delivered on the Shabbat of the Festival (רגלא).
They would be carried in that manner due to their fear of falling.
And some say the reason was due to the pushing of the crowd (דוחקא דצבורא), as these Sages were afraid of being crushed by the large number of people attending the lecture.
In fact, in ancient Rome, there was no outright prohibition on freeing slaves (known as manumission), but there were various legal restrictions, limitations, and social implications designed to regulate and control the process. These measures were aimed at maintaining social order and preventing an excessive increase in the number of freed individuals, known as liberti (“freedmen”).
Despite these restrictions, manumission remained relatively common in Rome compared to other ancient societies. Freedmen often became important contributors to Roman commerce and urban development, and their integration helped sustain the Roman economy and culture.
In contrast, there’s a halachic prohibition on freeing slaves, see Hebrew Wikipedia, עבד כנעני, section מצוות לעולם בהם תעבודו, my translation:
The Commandment: "you shall keep them in servitude forever" (לעלם בהם תעבדו)
There is a positive commandment (מצוות עשה) from the Torah prohibiting the release of a non-Israelite slave (עבר כנעני). This commandment is derived from the verse, "You shall serve them forever" (Leviticus 25:46).
חד מחשובי דמלכותא - literally: “one of the important ones of the empire/kingdom“.
See my piece on talmudic stories of incarnations of God, Elijah, and Satan: ““He appeared to him as a [X]”: Talmudic Stories of Incarnations of God, Eliyahu, Satan, and Demons“.