Talmud - Shabbat 127b שבת קכ״ז ב׳

The Gemara answers: These too, hospitality toward guests and visiting the sick, are in the category of acts of loving-kindness. A different version of that answer: These matters on the longer list are attributable to those, the matters on the shorter list.

The Sages taught in a baraita: One who judges another favorably is himself judged favorably. And there was an incident involving a certain person who descended from the Upper Galilee and was hired to work for a certain homeowner in the South for three years. On the eve of the Day of Atonement, he said to the homeowner: Give me my wages, and I will go and feed my wife and children. The homeowner said to him: I have no money. He said to him: In that case, give me my wages in the form of produce. He said to him: I have none. The worker said to him: Give me my wages in the form of land. The homeowner said to him: I have none. The worker said to him: Give me my wages in the form of animals. He said to him: I have none. The worker said to him: Give me cushions and blankets. He said to him: I have none. The worker slung his tools over his shoulder behind him and went to his home in anguish.

After the festival of Sukkot, the homeowner took the worker’s wages in his hand, along with a burden that required three donkeys, one laden with food, one laden with drink, and one laden with types of sweets, and went to the worker’s home. After they ate and drank, the homeowner gave him his wages.

The homeowner said to him: When you said to me: Give me my wages, and I said: I have no money, of what did you suspect me? Why did you not suspect me of trying to avoid paying you? The worker answered, I said: Perhaps the opportunity to purchase merchandise [perakmatya] inexpensively presented itself, and you purchased it with the money that you owed me, and therefore you had no money available. The homeowner asked: And when you said to me: Give me animals, and I said: I have no animals, of what did you suspect me? The worker answered: I said: Perhaps the animals are hired to others. The homeowner asked: When you said to me: Give me land, and I said: I have no land, of what did you suspect me? The worker answered: I said: Perhaps the land is leased to others, and you cannot take the land from the lessees. The homeowner asked: And when you said to me: Give me produce, and I said: I have no produce, of what did you suspect me? The worker answered: I said: Perhaps they are not tithed, and that was why you could not give them to me. The homeowner asked: And when I said: I have no cushions or blankets, of what did you suspect me? The worker answered: I said: Perhaps he consecrated all his property to Heaven and therefore has nothing available at present.

The homeowner said to him: I swear by the Temple service that it was so. I had no money available at the time because I vowed and consecrated all my property on account of Hyrcanus, my son, who did not engage in Torah study. The homeowner sought to avoid leaving an inheritance for his son. And when I came to my colleagues in the South, the Sages of that generation, they dissolved all my vows. At that point, the homeowner had immediately gone to pay his worker. Now the homeowner said: And you, just as you judged favorably, so may God judge you favorably.

On a similar note, the Gemara relates that the Sages taught in a baraita: There was an incident involving a certain pious man who redeemed a young Jewish woman from captivity. When they arrived at the inn he had her lie beneath his feet. The next day, he descended, and immersed in a ritual bath to purify himself before Torah study and prayer, and taught his students. This conduct could arouse suspicion that the pious man kept the maiden for himself, as immersion in the morning is customary for men who have experienced a seminal emission by engaging in sexual relations.

And the pious man said to his students: When I had her lie beneath my feet, of what did you suspect me? They said to him: We said: Perhaps there is a student among us whose conduct is not established before the rabbi, and he wanted to make certain that this student would not inappropriately accost the young woman. Therefore, the rabbi kept the woman close by.

He said to them: When I descended and immersed, of what did you suspect me? They answered: Perhaps due to the exertion of travel, a seminal emission befell the rabbi. He said to them: I swear by the Temple service that it was so. And you, just as you judged me favorably, so may God judge you favorably.

The Sages taught a similar baraita: Once there was a certain matter needed by Torah scholars. They wanted to discuss an issue with a certain matron whose company was kept by all the prominent people of Rome. The Torah scholars wanted to address the government on behalf of the Jewish people, and they sought the matron’s advice. They said: Who will go? Rabbi Yehoshua said to them: I shall go.

Rabbi Yehoshua and his students went to her. When he arrived with his students at the entrance of her house, he removed his phylacteries at a distance of four cubits from the door, and entered, and locked the door before them. After he emerged, he descended and immersed in a ritual bath, and taught his students. Here too, this was conduct that could arouse suspicion that something improper transpired.

And he said to his students: When I removed the phylacteries, of what did you suspect me? They said to him, we said: The rabbi must hold that sacred items may not enter a place of impurity. Therefore, it would have been inappropriate to enter the house with phylacteries.

He asked: When I locked the door, of what did you suspect me? They said to him: We said: Perhaps there is a discreet royal matter that must be discussed between him and her and should not be revealed.

Rabbi Yehoshua asked: When I descended and immersed, of what did you suspect me? They said to him, we said: Perhaps a bit of spittle sprayed from her mouth onto the rabbi’s clothes. The Sages decreed that the legal status of a gentile is like that of a zav; their bodily fluids transmit ritual impurity. Rabbi Yehoshua said to them: I swear by the Temple service that it was so. And you, just as you judged favorably, so may God judge you favorably.

We learned in the mishna: One may move ritually pure teruma on Shabbat. The Gemara objects: That is obvious. The Gemara answers: It is necessary to teach this only in a case in which it is placed in Israelite hands. Lest you say: Since it is not suitable for the Israelite to eat, he is prohibited to move it on Shabbat; therefore, it teaches us that since it is suitable for a priest to eat, one may well move it on Shabbat.

And we also learned in the mishna: One may move doubtfully tithed produce. The Gemara asks: With regard to doubtfully tithed produce, why may one move it? It is not suitable for him to eat. The Gemara answers: Since if he so desires, he may renounce all his property, declaring it ownerless, and he would then be poor, and the doubtfully tithed produce would be suitable for him, now too it is suitable for him. A pauper may eat doubtfully tithed produce, as we learned in a mishna: One may feed the poor doubtfully tithed produce and soldiers [akhsanya] doubtfully tithed produce. And Rav Huna said that it was taught: Beit Shammai say: One may neither feed the poor doubtfully tithed produce nor feed soldiers doubtfully tithed produce. And Beit Hillel say: One may feed the poor doubtfully tithed produce and feed soldiers doubtfully tithed produce. The halakha is in accordance with the opinion of Beit Hillel.

We learned in the mishna: And one may move first tithe whose teruma of the tithe has already been taken. The Gemara poses a question: It is obvious that if the teruma was already tithed it is non-sacred produce in every sense. The Gemara explains: It was necessary to teach this halakha only in the following case: A Levite preceded the priest while the grain was still on the stalks and brought it to the threshing floor, and before the grain was threshed, the teruma of the tithes was taken and the teruma gedola was not taken.

And the above mentioned halakha is in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Abbahu, as Rabbi Abbahu said that Reish Lakish said: With regard to first tithe, in a case in which the Levite preceded the priest while the grain was still on the stalks, one is exempt from separating teruma gedola from it, as it is stated: “And you shall set apart from it a gift for the Lord, even a tenth part of the tithe” (Numbers 18:26). By inference: A tenth part of the tithe, i.e., the teruma of the tithe, I, God, said to you that you must take, and not both teruma gedola and the teruma of the tithe.

Rav Pappa said to Abaye: If so, even if the Levite preceded the priest after the kernels of grain were removed from the stalks and placed in a pile, the Levite should also be exempt from taking teruma gedola. Abaye said to him: With regard to your claim, the verse states: “From all that is given to you, you shall set apart that which is the Lord’s teruma” (Numbers 18:29). God’s teruma, i.e., teruma gedola, must be taken from all the Levites’ gifts.

The Gemara asks: What did you see that led you to require teruma gedola from first tithe that was taken from grain in piles, and not from first tithe that was taken from grain on stalks? Abaye answers: This, stalks that were threshed and placed into piles, are completely processed and have become grain, and that, grains that have remained on the stalk, have not yet become grain. The verse states the following with regard to teruma gedola: “The first of your grain” (Deuteronomy 18:4) is given to the priest. Once it is considered grain, the rights of the priest take effect and the Levite is required to separate teruma gedola.

We learned in the mishna: One may move second tithe that was redeemed. The Gemara asks: This is obvious. The Gemara answers: It was necessary to teach this halakha only in a case where the consecrated property was not completely redeemed, i.e., where one gave payment for the principal, the value of the tithe, but he did not give payment for the fifth that he must add when redeeming items that he consecrated. And the mishna teaches us that failure to add the fifth does not invalidate the redemption, and the second tithe assumes non-sacred status from the moment that one pays the principal.

And we learned in the mishna: One may move even dry lupine, which is not fit for consumption by a person, because it is goat food. The Gemara comments: This applies only when lupine is dry. However, when it is moist, no it is prohibited to move it. What is the reason for this prohibition? Since lupine is extremely bitter when wet, an animal will not eat it.

Traduction : The William Davidson digital edition of the Koren Noé Talmud, with commentary by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz.

Shabbat 127b explores judging others favorably, illustrated by a parable of a worker patiently trusting his employer despite repeated excuses.