전도서 1:19의 Related

[If one of the three] pilgrimage festivals passed and one did not bring a Festival offering, he is not liable to bring it (Chag. 1:6), as it says (Ecc. 1:15), "What is crooked cannot be made straight [and what is lacking cannot be reckoned]." Rabbi Shimon ben Manasya says, he who steals from a person is able to return what he has stolen, [and] one who robs can return what he has robbed, [and] one who has sexual relations with a man's wife and [thereby] renders her forbidden is banished and departs from this world. [By contrast, once a Festival has passed, the opportunity to bring an offering for that Festival is forever lost,] and about this it is said, "What is crooked cannot be made straight." Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says, we do not say, "Inspect this camel lest it have a blemish!" [or] "Inspect [this] pig, lest it have blemish!" (since camels and pigs can never be "made straight," i.e., fit for sacrifice). Rather, we only inspect [kosher animals that are potentially] fit [for sacrifice]. And what is this [thing that cannot be made straight]? A Torah scholar who separated himself from the Torah, and about him it is said, "What is crooked cannot be made straight," and moreover it says (Ps. 37:21), "The wicked borrows and does not repay." Rabbi Yehuda ben Lakish says about him (i.e., a wayward Torah scholar), it says (Prov. 27:8), "Like a bird that wanders from its nest, [so too is a man who wanders from his home]," and moreover (Jer. 2:5), "What wrong did your fathers find in Me that they distanced themselves from Me, etc."

A scroll on which the writing has become erased and eighty-five letters remain, as many as are in the section beginning, "And it came to pass when the ark set forward" (Numbers 10:35-36) defiles the hands. A single sheet on which there are written eighty-five letters, as many as are in the section beginning, "And it came to pass when the ark set forward", defiles the hands. All the Holy Scriptures defile the hands. The Song of Songs and Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) defile the hands. Rabbi Judah says: the Song of Songs defiles the hands, but there is a dispute about Kohelet. Rabbi Yose says: Kohelet does not defile the hands, but there is a dispute about the Song of Songs. Rabbi Shimon says: [the ruling about] Kohelet is one of the leniencies of Bet Shammai and one of the stringencies of Bet Hillel. Rabbi Shimon ben Azzai said: I have received a tradition from the seventy-two elders on the day when they appointed Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah head of the academy that the Song of Songs and Kohelet defile the hands. Rabbi Akiba said: Far be it! No man in Israel disputed that the Song of Songs [saying] that it does not defile the hands. For the whole world is not as worthy as the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel; for all the writings are holy but the Song of Songs is the holy of holies. If they had a dispute, they had a dispute only about Kohelet. Rabbi Yohanan ben Joshua the son of the father-in-law of Rabbi Akiva said in accordance with the words of Ben Azzai: so they disputed and so they reached a decision.