잠언 30:32의 탈무드

¹³¹A short version of this is in Babli, 105a. There, Levi actually did not know how to respond. The Yerushalmi version is also in Gen. rabba 81(2). The people of Simonia came to Rebbi and told him, please give us a man who preaches, judges, runs the synagogue, teaches reading, teaches Mishnah, and looks after all our needs. He gave them Levi bar Sisi. They made him a big platform¹³²Greek βῆμα “speaker’s platform”. and sat him on it. They came and asked him, how does the handless [woman] perform ḥalîṣah? He did not respond. If she spat blood” He did not respond. They said, maybe he is not competent in studies, let us ask him in homiletics. They came and asked him, what is that which is written: “Truly, I shall tell you what is traced in writing, it is true.¹³³Dan. 10:21.” If it is true, why is it traced, and if traced, why is it true? He did not respond. They came to Rebbi and told him, that required one we asked you for? He told them, by your lives, I gave you one who is my equal! He sent to bring him and examined him. He asked him, what if she spat blood. He said, if it contains some fluid of spittle it is valid. How does the handless [woman] perform ḥalîṣah? He said, with her teeth. What is that which is written: “Truly, I shall tell you what is traced in writing, it is true.” If it is true, why is it traced, and if traced, why is it true? He said, until the decision of the court is sealed, it is traced. After it has been sealed, it is true. He asked him, and why did you not give any answers? He said to him, they made me a big platform and sat me on it; by that my spirit became bloated¹³⁴He forgot all he knew.. He quoted about him: “If you became subject to contempt when you rose, if you planned, hand to mouth¹³⁵Prov. 30:32.”; why did you become contemptible in the words of the Torah? That you used them to aggrandize yourself.

Whoever abases [mithnabbel] himself in connection with words of Torah⁹i.e. is not ashamed to ask questions which may at first sound foolish; cf. Ber. 63b (Sonc. ed., p. 402). will in the end be exalted on its account, as it is stated If thou hast done foolishly [nabalta] in lifting up thyself,¹⁰Prov. 30, 32. [which means,] if you have abased yourself for words of the Torah, in the end you will be exalted.

Hate power. How so? This teaches that a person should not place a crown on his own head. But others can place it upon him, as it says (Proverbs 27:2), “May a stranger praise you, but not your own mouth; a foreigner, but not your own lips.”
Rabbi Akiva said: Anyone who raises himself above the words of Torah is like a carcass cast off on the side of the road. Everyone who passes it sits down and puts his hand out to check for breath, and then backs away from it and leaves, as it says (Proverbs 30:32), “If you degrade yourself with arrogance, and if you scheme, a hand to your mouth.” [(Ben Azzai said: Learn this idea out of the verse itself:)] If a person degrades himself for words of Torah by eating rotten dates, and dressing in filthy clothes, and sitting and watching at the door of the sages, then all who pass by will say, “Perhaps he is an idiot.” But in the end, you will find that he has the whole Torah with him. (Rabbi Yosei would say:) Anyone who raises himself above the words of Torah, in the end they will debase him; but anyone who debases himself for the sake of the words of Torah, in the end they will elevate him.