Talmud - Gittin 68a גיטין ס״ח א׳

A silver cup was stolen from us, and they searched everyone for it. When they were checking they found the piece of meat wrapped in his scarf.

The Exilarch’s servants said to the Exilarch: See Master, i.e., the Exilarch, Rav Sheshet does not desire to eat, rather he wishes only to afflict us. Even after everything that was done for him he did not eat from the Exilarch’s meal. Rav Sheshet said to them: I ate and I tasted the taste of white leprous spots in the meat and therefore I did not eat it. They said to the Exilarch: We did not prepare an animal with white spots today. Rav Sheshet said to them: Check the skin in the place of the portion that I was given. He issued this instruction in accordance with the statement of Rav Ḥisda, as Rav Ḥisda said: Black spots within white skin and white spots within black skin are an affliction and a sign of disease. They checked and found that the animal was afflicted in this manner, and the Exilarch’s servants became even angrier with him.

When Rav Sheshet was exiting the house of the Exilarch the servants dug a pit and placed a reed mat [tzifta] on top of it so that the pit would not be noticed. And they said to Rav Sheshet: The Master, i.e., Rav Sheshet, should come and rest for a short time, and they intended for him to fall and be hurt. Rav Ḥisda, who was also present, snorted [neḥar] to him from behind in order to signal to him. Rav Sheshet said to a child who was there: Recite your verse for me that you studied today. The child said to him: “Turn to your right or to your left” (II Samuel 2:21). Rav Sheshet, who was blind, said to his servant: What do you see? His servant said to him: I see a mat that has been placed on the ground. Rav Sheshet said to him: Turn away from it and we will go around it.

After Rav Sheshet left the Exilarch’s house, Rav Ḥisda said to him: From where did the Master, i.e., Rav Sheshet, know that the servants had dug a pit in that place? Rav Sheshet said to him: There were several matters that raised my suspicions. One, that the Master, i.e., Rav Ḥisda, snorted to me to signal that I should beware. And additionally, when the child recited the verse for me it alluded to this matter. And additionally, servants are suspect of not acting according to a high standard, and I suspected that they would attempt to cause me harm.

§ After mentioning the spirit named kordeyakos on the previous daf the Gemara relates other matters connected to spirits and demons. It is written: “I got myself sharim and sharot, and human pleasures, shidda and shiddot” (Ecclesiastes 2:8). The Gemara explains: “Sharim and sharot”: These are types of musical instruments. “And human pleasures”: These are pools and bathhouses. “Shidda and shiddot”: Here, in Babylonia, they interpreted these words in the following manner: Male demons [shidda] and female demons [shiddetin]. In the West, Eretz Yisrael, they said that these words are referring to carriages [shiddeta].

Rabbi Yoḥanan says: There were three hundred types of demons in a place named Shiḥin, but I do not know what the form or nature of a demon itself is.

The Master said: Here they interpreted it: Male demons and female demons. The Gemara asks: Why was it necessary for Solomon, the author of Ecclesiastes, to have male demons and female demons? The Gemara answers: As it is written with regard to the building of the Temple: “For the house, when it was being built, was built of stone made ready at the quarry; and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was being built” (I Kings 6:7). Solomon said to the sages: How shall I make it so that the stone will be precisely cut without using iron? They said to him: There is a creature called a shamir that can cut the stones, which Moses brought and used to cut the stones of the ephod.

Solomon said to them: Where is it found? They said to him: Bring a male demon and a female demon and torment them together. It is possible that they know where, and due to the suffering they will reveal the place to you. Solomon brought a male demon and a female demon and tormented them together, and they said: We do not know where to find the shamir. Perhaps Ashmedai, king of the demons, knows.

Solomon said to them: Where is Ashmedai? They said to him: He is on such-and-such a mountain. He has dug a pit for himself there, and filled it with water, and covered it with a rock, and sealed it with his seal. And every day he ascends to Heaven and studies in the heavenly study hall and he descends to the earth and studies in the earthly study hall. And he comes and checks his seal to ensure that nobody has entered his pit, and then he uncovers it and drinks from the water in the pit. And then he covers it and seals it again and goes.

Solomon sent for Benayahu, son of Jehoiada, a member of the royal entourage, and gave him a chain onto which a sacred name of God was carved, and a ring onto which a sacred name of God was carved, and fleeces of wool and wineskins of wine. What did Benayahu do? He went and dug a pit lower down the mountain, below the pit dug by Ashmedai, drained the water, and plugged it with the fleeces of wool so that Ashmedai’s pit was emptied. And he dug a pit higher up the mountain, above Ashmedai’s pit. And he poured the wine into it so that the wine filled Ashmedai’s pit, and he plugged the lower and upper pits that he dug. He climbed up and sat in a tree.

When Ashmedai came he checked his seal, opened the pit, and found it to be filled with wine. He said that it is written: “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is riotous; and whosoever wallows in it is not wise” (Proverbs 20:1), and it is written: “Harlotry, wine, and new wine take away the heart” (Hosea 4:11). He concluded: I will not drink this wine. Eventually, when he became thirsty, he was unable to resist the wine and he drank, became intoxicated, and fell asleep.

Benayahu descended from the tree, came, and threw the chain around Ashmedai, and enclosed him within it. When Ashmedai awoke he struggled to remove the chain. Benayahu said to him: The name of your Master is upon you, the name of your Master is upon you, do not tear the chain. God’s name is written on this chain, and it is forbidden to destroy it.

When Benayahu took Ashmedai and came to Jerusalem he reached a palm tree and Ashmedai rubbed against it and knocked it down. He reached a house and knocked it down. He reached a small shack [kuva] belonging to a certain widow. This widow emerged,

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

Gittin 68a explores Rav Sheshet's ability to detect blemished meat and the plot to trap him, revealing sharp discernment despite his blindness.