Talmud - Shabbat 139a שבת קל״ט א׳

clear halakha and clear teaching together, but rather there will be disputes among the Sages.

It was taught in a baraita that Rabbi Yosei ben Elisha says: If you see a generation that many troubles are befalling it, go and examine the judges of Israel. Perhaps their sins are the cause, as any calamity that comes to the world comes due to the judges of Israel acting corruptly, as it is stated: “Please hear this, heads of the house of Jacob, and officers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert all equity, who build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. Their heads they judge for bribes, and their priests teach for hire, and their prophets divine for money; yet they lean upon the Lord, saying: Is not the Lord in our midst? No evil shall befall us” (Micah 3:9–11).

The Gemara comments: They are wicked, but they placed their trust in the One Who spoke and the world came into being, the Almighty. Therefore, the Holy One, Blessed be He, brings upon them three calamities corresponding to the three transgressions for which they are responsible, as it is stated in the following verse: “Therefore, because of you, Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the Temple Mount as the high places of a forest” (Micah 3:12).

And the Holy One, Blessed be He, will not rest His Divine Presence on the Jewish people until evil judges and officers shall be eliminated from the Jewish people, as it is stated: “And I will turn My hand upon you, and I will purge away your dross as with lye, and I will remove all your alloy. And I will restore your judges as at first, and your counselors as at the beginning; afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, a faithful city” (Isaiah 1:25–26).

Ulla said: Jerusalem will be redeemed only through righteousness, as it is stated: “Zion will be redeemed with justice and those who return to her with righteousness” (Isaiah 1:27).

Rav Pappa said: If the arrogant will cease to exist, the Persian fire priests will cease to exist as well. If the deceitful judges will cease to exist, the royal officers [gazirpatei] and taskmasters will cease to exist.

He explains: If the arrogant will cease, the Persian fire priests will cease, as it is written: “And I will purge away your dross [sigayikh] as with lye, and I will remove all your alloy [bedilayikh].” This teaches that when the conceited and haughty [sigim] are purged, the priests of fire, who are separated [muvdalim] from the fear of God, will also cease.

He said: If the deceitful judges cease, the royal officers and taskmasters will cease, as it is written: “The Lord has removed your judgment, cast out your enemy” (Zephaniah 3:15).

Rabbi Mallai said in the name of Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon: What is the meaning of that which is written: “The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the rod of the rulers” (Isaiah 14:5)? He explains: “The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked”; these are the judges who have become staffs for their attendants. The attendants abuse people, and the judges provide the attendants with legal backing and moral support. “The rod of the rulers”; these are the Torah scholars who are members of the families of the judges. These Torah scholars assist their relatives, the judges, conceal their faults. Mar Zutra said: These are the Torah scholars who teach communal halakhot to ignorant judges. They teach ignorant judges just enough Torah and modes of conduct to prevent the people from realizing how ignorant they are, enabling them to maintain their positions.

Rabbi Eliezer ben Mallai said in the name of Reish Lakish: What is the meaning of that which is written: “For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue utters wickedness” (Isaiah 59:3)?

He explains: “For your hands are defiled with blood”; these are the judges who take bribes in their hands. “And your fingers with iniquity”; these are the scribes of the judges, who write falsehood with their fingers. “Your lips have spoken lies”; these are the legal advisors. “Your tongue utters wickedness”; these are the litigants themselves.

And Rabbi Mallai said in the name of Rabbi Yitzḥak from Migdal: From the day that Joseph took leave from his brothers, he did not sample a taste of wine, as it is written: “They shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of he who was separated [nezir] from his brothers” (Genesis 49:26). The language of the verse alludes to the fact that Joseph conducted himself like a nazirite and abstained from wine.

Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, said: Joseph’s brothers too did not sample the taste of wine during the intervening period, due to their remorse, as it is written: “And they drank and became drunk with him” (Genesis 43:34). By inference: Until now there was no drunkenness, as they abstained from drinking. And the other Sage, Rabbi Mallai, holds: It was drunkenness of which there was none; however, there was drinking on the part of the brothers during the intervening years.

And Rabbi Mallai said: It is stated in the verse: “And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and He said: Is there not Aaron your brother the Levite, I know that he can surely speak, and also behold, he is coming out to greet you, and he will see you and be glad in his heart” (Exodus 4:14). Rabbi Mallai taught that as reward for Aaron’s lack of jealousy at seeing his brother Moses rise to greatness, as it is stated: “And he will see you and be glad in his heart,” he merited to become the High Priest, and for the breastplate of judgment to rest on his heart.

The Gemara returns to the laws of a canopy. The inhabitants of the town of Bashkar sent to Levi: What is the halakha with regard to spreading a canopy on Shabbat? Additionally, what is the halakha with regard to hops in a vineyard? Do they constitute a prohibited mixture of diverse kinds? Finally, what is the halakha with regard to one who died on a Festival? How can the people attend to his burial?

As the messenger was going with the question, Levi died. Shmuel said to Rav Menashya: If you are wise and able to respond, send them answers to their questions. He sent them: With regard to a canopy, we reviewed all aspects of the matter of the canopy, and we did not find any permissible aspect.

The Gemara asks: And let him send them that it can be permitted in accordance with the opinion of Rami bar Yeḥezkel. The Gemara answers: He did not want to reveal that leniency to them, because they are not well versed in Torah, and they would not distinguish between permitted and prohibited methods of spreading the canopy.

He also told them: Hops in a vineyard are a forbidden mixture of diverse kinds. The Gemara asks: And let him send them the message that it is permitted in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Tarfon, as it was taught in the Tosefta: With regard to hops, Rabbi Tarfon says: They do not constitute a prohibited mixture of food crops in a vineyard, and the Rabbis say: They constitute a forbidden mixture of food crops in a vineyard. And we maintain that anyone who is lenient with regard to the halakhot of diverse kinds in Eretz Yisrael, even if the halakha is not ruled in accordance with his opinion, the halakha is ruled in accordance with his opinion outside of Eretz Yisrael, where the halakhot of diverse kinds apply only by rabbinic law. The Gemara explains: He did not reveal this leniency to them, because they were not well versed in Torah.

With regard to the matter of hops in a vineyard, the Gemara relates that Rav would announce: One who seeks to sow hops in a vineyard, let him sow. In contrast, Rav Amram Ḥasida would administer lashes for sowing hops in a vineyard.

The Gemara relates that Rav Mesharshiya would give a peruta to a gentile child, and the child would sow hops for him. The Gemara asks: And let him give the peruta to a Jewish child, who is also not obligated in mitzva observance. The Gemara answers: He may come to continue this habit and violate the prohibition as an adult. The Gemara asks: And let him give the peruta to an adult gentile. The Gemara answers: He may come to confuse him with a Jew.

With regard to a person who died on a Festival, he sent them in response: If a person died on a Festival, neither Jews nor Arameans, i.e., gentiles, should attend to his burial, neither on the first day of a Festival, nor on the second day of a Festival observed in the Diaspora.

The Gemara asks: Is that so? Didn’t Rabbi Yehuda bar Sheilat say that Rabbi Asi said: There was an incident in the synagogue of the settlement of Maon on a Festival adjacent to Shabbat. A person died,

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

Shabbat 139a explores how corrupt judges bring calamity upon the world and how Jerusalem's redemption depends on justice and righteousness.