Talmud su Isaia 26:20

Rebbi Jeremiah asked: May he who ate vegetable recite Grace? Rebbi Jeremiah seems to contradict himself⁷⁸The contradiction will be explained in the following lengthy story.! It has been stated: 300 nezirim⁷⁹People who made a vow to abstain from all grape products, let their hair grow, and kept themselves in strict ritual purity for a certain amount of time. At the end of that time, the nazir could terminate his vow only if he offered a sheep as holocaust sacrifice, a female sheep for a sin-offering, and a goat for a family sacrifice (Num. 6). Most of these nezirim were poor people who relied on charity to fulfill their obligations in the Temple. came in the days of Simeon ben Shetaḥ⁸⁰President of the Synhedrion in the times of the Hasmonean king Alexander Yannai and brother of queen Shlomẓion (Salome Alexandra).. For 150 of them he found an opening⁸¹An “opening of regrets”, an argument that made the nazir regret his original decision to become a nazir; this invalidates the vow retroactively so that no sacrifice may be brought., for 150 of them he did not find an opening. He came to king Yannai and said to him: There are here 300 nezirim who need 900 sacrifices. You should give half of them from your side, I shall give half from my side. The king sent him 450 animals. An informer went around and said that the other one had not given anything from his own money. King Yannai heard about it and got angry. Simeon ben Shetaḥ feared and fled⁸²In the parallel in the Babli (48ab), Simeon ben Shetaḥ went into hiding because Alexander Yannai sided with the Sadducees when it was reported to him that some Pharisees thought him to be unfit as priest.. After some time, important people from the Persian empire came to king Yannai⁸³During all of the Second Commonwealth and certainly during the reign of Alexander Yannai, the Jewish state relied on contributions from the Jews in the diaspora, both from Rome and from Persia (then, Parthia). It may be assumed that the delegation brought the yearly subsidy and, therefore, was in a position to enforce their will.. At the meal, they said to him: We remember that there was here an old man who gave us a rabbinic discourse. He told them what had happened. They said to him, send and bring him! He sent and gave him his word⁸⁴That it was safe and nothing would happen to him. In the Babli, it was the queen, Simeon’s sister, who arranged matters.; he came and sat between king and queen. He said to him, why did you trick me? He said, I did not trick you; you with your money and I with my learning, as it is written (Eccl. 7:12) “In the shadow of wisdom, in the shadow of money⁸⁵Wisdom and money are equivalent to give protection..” He said to him, why did you disappear? He said to him, I heard that my lord was angry with me and I wanted to fulfill the verse (Is. 26:20) “Hide a little bit until the rage passes;” he used about himself (Eccl. 7:12): “Knowledge is an advantage, wisdom lets its possessor live.” He said to him, why did you sit between king and queen? He said to him, it is written in the book of Ben Sirach⁸⁶This verse cannot be reconstructed with confidence, since the manuscripts of the Babli and parallel sources all have different versions.: “Esteem it and it will raise you and set you between princes.” He said, bring him a cup that he may recite Grace. He took the cup and said: “Let us give praise for the food that Yannai and his company ate.” He said to him, are you still obstinate as ever? He said to him, what should I say, “for the food that we did not eat?” He said, bring him something that he may eat. They brought, he ate and recited: “For the food that we ate.” Rebbi Yoḥanan said, his colleagues disagree with Simeon ben Shetaḥ. Rebbi Jeremiah said, about the first action⁸⁷That he tricked Yannai to give the animals for sacrifices under false pretenses, even though formally Simeon ben Shetaḥ was correct. The second action was that he refused to recite Grace without having eaten at least a minimal meal.
The text here is clearly corrupt since by the statement of the Talmud, Rebbi Jeremiah disagrees with Simeon ben Shetaḥ about the recitation of Grace. The correct text, that R. Abba refers to the first action and R. Jeremiah to the second, is in the Yerushalmi source Midrash Bereshit rabba 51. [In the Babli, 48a, it is R. Abba the son of R. Ḥiyya bar Abba in the name of R. Yoḥanan who declares that Grace cannot be recited by someone who did not eat bread. But the Babli cannot be used for the text of the Yerushalmi.]; Rebbi Abba said, about the second action. Rebbi Jeremiah seems to contradict himself! There he wondered about it and here⁸⁸In his theoretical question he wonders, in his critique of Simeon ben Shetaḥ following R. Yoḥanan he is certain. it is obvious for him! He wondered following the Sages; it is obvious for him following Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel. We have stated about this: If one was lying on a couch and ate⁸⁹In the Midrash, the Rome manuscript, the Tosephta, (and the Babli) “dipped (some vegetable in broth)”. Both in the Yerushalmi, here and Nazir 5:5, and the prints of the Midrash, this is labelled “words of the Sages.” But in the Tosephta (5:20) and manuscripts of the Midrash (and in the Babli 48a), the statement is attributed to Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel. It seems that the attribution here to the Sages is a scribal error since the opinion attributed to Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel in the last baraita is the one given in the Tosephta and R. Jeremiah is reported as following the latter’s opinion in the interpretation of the story of Simeon ben Shetaḥ. with them, even if he did not eat grain the volume of an olive one ‘invites’ with him, the words of the Sages. Rebbi Jacob bar Aḥa in the name of Rebbi Yoḥanan: One never ‘invites’ anyone unless he had eaten grain the volume of an olive⁹⁰In the restrictive spirit of the Yerushalmi as explained earlier.. But did we not formulate, “two bread and one vegetable, then one ‘invites’?” This baraita follows Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel.

¹¹⁸Berakhot 7:2, Notes 79–90. It has been stated: 300 nezirim came in the days of Rebbi Simeon ben Shetaḥ. For 150 of them he found an opening, for 150 of them he did not find an opening. He came to king Yannai and said to him: There are here 300 nezirim who need 900 sacrifices. You should give half of them from your side, I shall give half from my side. The king sent him 450 animals. An informer went around and said that the other one had not given anything from his own money. King Yannai heard about it and got angry. Simeon ben Shetaḥ heard and fled. After some time, important people from the Persian empire came to king Yannai. They said to him: We remember that there was an old man who gave us a rabbinic discourse. They said to him, send and bring him! He sent and gave him his word; he came and sat between king and queen. He said to him, why did you trick me? He said, I did not trick you; you with your money and I with my learning, as it is written (Eccl. 7:12) “In the shadow of wisdom, in the shadow of money.” He said to him, why did you disappear? He said to him, I heard that my lord was angry with me and I wanted to fulfill the verse (Is. 26:20) “Hide a little bit until the rage passes;” he used about himself (Eccl. 7:12): “Knowledge is an advantage, wisdom lets its possessor live.” He said to him, why did you sit between king and queen? He said to him, it is written in the book of Ben Sirach: “Esteem it and it will raise you and seat you among princes.” He said, bring him a cup that he may recite Grace. They brought him a cup and he said: “Let us give praise for the food that Yannai and his company ate.” He said to him, what should I say, “for the food that we did not eat?” He said, bring him something that he may eat. They brought, he ate and recited: “For the food that we ate.” ¹¹⁹This paragraph has no place here, it refers to the discussion in Berakhot. Rebbi Yoḥanan said, his colleagues disagree with Simeon ben Shetaḥ. Rebbi Jeremiah said, about the first action; Rebbi Abba said, about the second action. Rebbi Jeremiah seems to contradict himself! There he wondered about it and here it is obvious for him! He wondered following the Sages; it is obvious to him following Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel. We have stated about this: If one came, was lying on a couch, and dipped with them, even if he did not eat grain the volume of an olive one ‘invites’ with him, the words of the Sages. Rebbi Jacob bar Aḥa in the name of Rebbi Yoḥanan: One never ‘invites’ anyone unless he has eaten grain the volume of an olive. But did we not formulate, “two [eating] bread and one [eating] vegetable, then one ‘invites’?” This baraita follows Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel.