Talmud zu Zechariah 9:78

⁸⁹Babli 29a; Mekhilta dR. Ismael Bo Chap. 14; Sifry Num.84, 161; Ex. rabba15(17). Rebbi Simeon ben Yoḥay stated: Every place to which Israel was exiled, the Divine Presence was exiled with them. They were exiled to Egypt and the Divine Presence was exiled with them. What is the reason? ⁹⁰1S. 2:27.Was I not revealed to your Father’s house when they were in Egypt, the house of Pharaoh? They were exiled to Babylon and the Divine Presence was exiled with them. What is the reason? ⁹¹Is. 43:14.On your behalf I was sent to Babylon. They were exiled to Media and the Divine Presence was exiled with them. What is the reason? I installed My throne in Elam⁹²Jer.49:38., but Elam is nothing else but Media as you are saying, when I was in the Capital city of Susa which is in the province of Elam⁹³Dan. 8:2. The identification is erroneous.. They were exiled to Ionia and the Divine Presence was exiled with them. What is the reason? I shall awake your sons, Zion, over your sons, Ionia⁹⁴Sach. 9:13.. They were exiled to Rome and the Divine Presence was exiled with them. What is the reason? ⁹⁵Is. 21:11,12. The previous paragraph is the introduction to this sermon.He calls to me from Se`ir: watchman, what time is it in the night? Israel said to Isaiah: our teacher Isaiah, what will lead us out from this night? He told them, wait until it will be asked. After he asked, he returned to them and they asked him, watchman, what time is it in the night? He said to them, the watchman said, there comes morning and also night. They said to him, and also night? He told them, not as you understand it. But “morning” for the just ones, and “night” for the evildoers. “Morning” for Israel and “night” for the peoples of the world. They asked him, when? He said to them, any time you want, He wants: if you desire to ask, ask. They asked him, what obstructs? He told them, repentance: repent, come.

Assyrian has a script but no language; Hebrew has a language but no script. They choose for themselves Assyrian script and Hebrew language²⁸⁵This refers to the tradition quoted in the Babli, Sanhedrin 21a: “Originally the Torah was given to Israel in Hebrew script and the Holy Language. It was given to them a second time in the days of Ezra in Assyrian script and Aramaic language. Israel chose for themselves Assyrian script and the Holy language.” For this entire passage the Babli reference is Sanhedrin 21b–22a.. Why is it called Assyrian? Because it is beautiful script; Rebbi Levi said, because they brought it with them from Assyria²⁸⁶In the first version the name of the script has nothing to do with Assyria. In the second it is asserted that it is the Aramaic script of what earlier was Assyria.. It was stated: Rebbi Yose said, Ezra was worthy that the Torah could have been given through him, only Moses’s generation preceded him. Even though the Torah was not given through him, but he gave writing and language²⁸⁵This refers to the tradition quoted in the Babli, Sanhedrin 21a: “Originally the Torah was given to Israel in Hebrew script and the Holy Language. It was given to them a second time in the days of Ezra in Assyrian script and Aramaic language. Israel chose for themselves Assyrian script and the Holy language.” For this entire passage the Babli reference is Sanhedrin 21b–22a.; and the script of the letter written in Aramaic and explained in Aramaic²⁸⁷Ezra 4:7.. And they could not read this script²⁸⁸Dan. 5:8.; this teaches that it was given on that day²⁸⁹The Babylonian sages could not read the script on the wall because it was new. This claims divine origin for the square script.. Rebbi Nathan says, the Torah was given in paleo-Hebrew; this follows Rebbi Yose²⁹⁰The Babylonian R. Nathan follows the Babylonian tradition that traces Targum Onkelos to Ezra and asserts that he transcribed the Torah into Aramaic script.. Rebbi said, the Torah was given in Assyrian, but when they sinned it was changed into paleo-Hebrew. When they merited it in the days of Ezra it was changed into Assyrian: Also today I shall return to you what was told to change²⁹¹Zach. 9:12. The translation here tries to express the homily implied by the quotes.; he shall write for himself this changing Torah in a scroll²⁹²Deut. 17:18., a script which in the future is apt to change. It was stated: Rebbi Simeon ben Eleazar says in the name of Rebbi Eleazar ben Protos who said it in the name of Rebbi Eleazar from Modiin, the Torah was given in Assyrian script. What is the reason? The hooks of the pillars²⁹³Ex. 27:10., that the letters vav of the Torah look like pillars²⁹⁴In paleo-Hebrew the letter vav, meaning “hook”, really looks like a hook on a stick. In square script the hook is lost, only the stick is left.. Rebbi Levi said, for him who said, the Torah was given in paleo-Hebrew, the letter ayin was a miracle²⁹⁵This does not refer to the Torah but to the stone tablets. From the description that the tablets were written on both sides it is inferred that the letters pierced the stone; the same letters were visible on both sides. This creates a problem for circular shaped letters, ayin in paleo-Hebrew and samekh in square script.. He who said, the Torah was given Assyrian, the letter samekh was a miracle. Rebbi Jeremiah in the name of Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba and Rebbi Simon both were saying, in earlier copies of the Torah neither he nor final mem were closed²⁹⁶The open final mem is exemplified in the Aramaic inscription of King Uziahu’s ossuary. In early Medieval mss. the he looks like a ח, only that the left leg is not at the left end but touching the vertical bar somewhat to the right. The open he is recommended in the Babli, Menaḥot 29b. For a thorough discussion, cf. S. Liebermann, Tarbiz 4 (1933) pp. 292–293.. Therefore samekh was closed²⁹⁷This justifies R. Levi’s remark that only samekh but not final mem represented a problem..

And bring them closer to Torah. How so? This teaches us that a person should prevail upon others and bring them under the wings of the Divine Presence, just as Abraham prevailed upon those around him and brought them under the wings of the Divine Presence. [And not only Abraham, but also Sarah, as it says (Genesis 12:5), “Abram took his wife Sarai, and his nephew Lot, and all of their possessions, and the souls they had made in Haran.” But even if everyone in the world got together, they would be unable to create even one mosquito! So what does it mean when it says, “the souls they had made in Haran”? It teaches us that the Holy Blessed One considered it as if they had actually made new souls.
When a person does not give part of what he earns to his fellows in this world, then he will not be given anything in the World to Come, as it says (Ecclesiastes 4:1), “Look at the tears of the oppressed, and they have no comforter. Power is in the hand of their oppressors, and they have no comforter.” Why does it say “they have no comforter” twice? This refers to people who eat and drink in this world, and their sons and daughters are successful, but in the World to Come they have [nothing and they have no] comforter. For if a person has something stolen from him in this world, or if someone he knows dies, then his children, siblings, and other relatives come and comfort him. Could it be that the same is true in the World to Come? That is why the verse then says (Ecclesiastes 4:8), “He has neither son nor brother.”
So, too, with someone whose sexual transgression produces a mamzer [a child born of certain forbidden sexual relations]. They say to him: Empty one! You have ruined yourself and you have ruined him as well! [For this mamzer would have wanted to study Torah with the rest of the students] who sit and study in Jerusalem. But this mamzer would go with them only up to Ashdod, and then would stop there and say: Woe is me! If I were not a mamzer, I would have gone to sit and study among the students whom I have been studying with until now. But because I am a mamzer, I cannot sit and study among these students. For a mamzer cannot enter Jerusalem at all, as it says (Zechariah 9:6), “The mamzer will stay in Ashdod, (and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.”