Talmud do Jeremiasza 3:20

BARAITHA.⁵K 16. The elders were once sitting in the gate when two young lads passed by; one covered his head and the other uncovered his head. Of him who uncovered his head R. Eliezer remarked, ‘He is a bastard’; R. Joshua remarked, ‘He is the son of a niddah’; R. ‘Aḳiba said, ‘He is both a bastard and the son of a niddah’. They said to R. ‘Aḳiba, ‘How did your heart induce you to contradict the opinion of your colleagues?’ He replied, ‘I will prove it concerning him’. He went to the lad’s mother and found her sitting in the market selling beans. He said to her, ‘My daughter, if you will answer the question which I will put to you, I will bring you to the World to Come’. She said to him, ‘Swear it to me’. R. ‘Aḳiba, taking the oath with his lips but annulling it in his heart, said to her, ‘What is the status of your son?’ She replied, ‘When I entered the bridal chamber I was niddah and my husband kept away from me, but my best man had intercourse with me and this son was born to me’. Consequently the child was both a bastard and the son of a niddah. It was declared, ‘R. ‘Aḳiba showed himself to be a great man when he contradicted his teachers’. At the same time they added, ‘Blessed be the God of Israel Who revealed His secret to R. ‘Aḳiba b. Joseph’.
GEMARA. Where can R. ‘Aḳiba [find support for his opinion] from the Torah? For it is written, They have dealt treacherously against the Lord, for they have begotten strange children.⁶Hosea 5, 7. Dealt treacherously means nothing else than immorality, as it is stated, Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband;⁷Jer. 3, 20. and strange children mentioned in the verse are none but the bastard.
‘One uncovered his head’: infer from this that bare-headedness is a gross form of bold-facedness. ‘R. ‘Aḳiba, swearing with his lips’: how could he do this seeing that it is written, Or if any one swear clearly with his lips to do evil?⁸Lev. 5, 4. But not in his heart.⁹An oath to be valid must be uttered with the lips and needs no confirmation by a decision of the mind. Here R. ‘Aḳiba uttered the oath with his lips and therefore it was valid, and no annulment in the mind could render it invalid. Cf. Shebu. 26b (Sonc. ed., p. 143). [An oath] needs no [confirmation by the decision of the] mind. He swore to her in a manner similar to which R. Joḥanan swore to the heathen lady and said to her, ‘I will bring you to the God of Israel’,¹⁰[Cf. Marmorstein, Studies in Jewish Theology, p. 167.] but annulled the oath in his mind.
‘And my best man had intercourse with me.’ How did he chance to be there? As it has been taught:¹¹Keth. 12a (Sonc. ed., p. 63). Formerly the best man slept in the house where the bridegroom and bride slept to examine¹²Emending leshammesh in V to lemashmesh in agreement with Keth. which Rashi explains, ‘So that they should not deceive one another with respect to the evidence of virginity’. the bridegroom and bride [when they entered] the bridal chamber. When the husband discovered that she was niddah he kept away from her. But are best men appointed who are of doubtful character? No; but he pursued her.¹³lit. ‘he attached himself to her’. ‘It was declared: “R. ‘Aḳiba showed himself to be a great man” ’, etc. They¹⁴R. Eliezer and R. Joshua. are described as ‘his teachers’ and also as ‘his colleagues’! When they saw that he prevailed over them, they acknowledged him as ‘colleague’.