Bibbia Ebraica
Bibbia Ebraica

Talmud su Genesi 24:31

וַיֹּ֕אמֶר בּ֖וֹא בְּר֣וּךְ יְהוָ֑ה לָ֤מָּה תַעֲמֹד֙ בַּח֔וּץ וְאָנֹכִי֙ פִּנִּ֣יתִי הַבַּ֔יִת וּמָק֖וֹם לַגְּמַלִּֽים׃

E disse: Vieni, benedetto dal Signore. Perché stai qui fuori? mentre io ho sgomberata la casa, ed (anche) il luogo pei cammelli.

Avot D'Rabbi Natan

There is another story of a young woman who was kidnapped, and two pious men went to pay her ransom. One of them was arrested and accused of robbery and sent to prison. Every day, his wife would bring him bread and water. One day, he said to her: Go to my friend [the other pious man] and tell him that I am being held in prison [(and accused of soliciting a prostitute), while he just sits in his house and does nothing to help the young woman. His wife replied: It’s bad enough that you are being held in prison, but now you also engage in this kind of foolishness?] He said to her: Please, just go and say this to him. So she went and related this to his friend. What did the friend do? He went and brought silver and gold, and other men with him, and got them both released. When the first man got out, he said: Let me sleep next to the young woman in bed, but with her clothes on. In the morning, he said to them: Now immerse me in water, and then immerse her in water. They did so. Then he said to them: What did you suspect during my immersion? They said to him: We said to ourselves, all that time that he was in prison, he was hungry and thirsty, and now he is out in the fresh air…so this all warmed up your flesh and you were overstimulated, so perhaps you had an ejaculation [and that is why you had to immerse]. He said: And what did you suspect during her immersion? They said to him: After all that time that she was among the idolaters, perhaps she ate and drank from their foods, and now you were telling us to immerse her so that she would be purified. He said to them: That is in fact just what happened, and you, who have judged me favorably, will be judged favorably by the Omnipresent God.
Just as the early righteous people were pious, so too were their animals. They say that Abraham’s camels would not go into a house that had idols in it, as it says (Genesis 24:31), “I have cleared the house, and made space for the camels.” [“I have cleared the house” – of idols. But what do you learn from “and made space for the camels”?] That teaches us that they would not go into the house of Lavan the Aramean until all the idols were cleared out.
There is a story that Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa’s donkey was stolen by robbers. They put it in the courtyard and placed straw, barley, and water in front it, but it would not eat or drink. They said: How can we leave it here? It will just die and rot in the courtyard. So they opened the door and put the animal outside, and it started walking and kept going until it reached [the home of] Rabbi Hanina ben Dosa. When it got there, his son heard it braying. He said: Father, isn’t this voice is like the voice of our animal? He said: Son, open the door for it, for it is clearly dying of hunger. He got up and opened the door, and put straw and barley and water in front of it, and it ate and drank. That is why they say: Just as the early righteous people were pious, so too were their animals.”
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