Talmud sobre Jó 37:27

“Nor the Creation to two.” Rebbi Abba in the name of Rav Jehudah: This is Rebbi Aqiba’s, but following Rebbi Ismael one investigates what happened. Since Rebbi Jehudah bar Pazi was sitting and explaining that originally the world was water in water; this implies that practice follows Rebbi Ismael. Rebbi Jehudah bar Pazi was preaching⁹The original meaning of דרש “to investigate” has been changed into the later Amoraic-Medieval “to preach” and the interpretation of the Mishnah changed accordingly.: Originally the world was water in water. What is the reason? God’s wind was hovering over the water¹⁰Gen. 1:2.. Then He turned it into snow, He throws his ice like small breads¹¹Ps. 147:17.. Then He turned it into land, for He will tell the snow, be land¹²Job 37:6.. And the land stands on water, to Him Who spreads the earth over the water¹³Ps. 136:6. Babli 12b.. And the water stands on mountains, on mountains shall the water stand¹⁴Ps. 104:6.. And the mountains stand on wind, behold the Maker of mountains and Creator of wind¹⁵Am. 4:13.. And the wind depends on storm, the wind storm executes His word¹⁶Ps. 148:3. And the Holy One, praise to Him, turned storm into a kind of amulet and hung it on His arm, as it is said, and below eternal arms¹⁷Deut. 33:27..

Rebbi Yoḥanan¹⁵The Rome ms. has “R. Ḥanina” and that must be the correct reading since R. Yoḥanan belongs to the generation after R. Jonathan but R. Ḥanina (the Amora) was an older colleague of R. Jonathan and should be mentioned first. and Rebbi Jonathan went to make peace in the Southern settlements. They came to a place where they found the reader saying¹⁶In the first benediction of the ‘Amidah. The parallel in the Babli (33b) is in the name of R. Ḥanina only who notes there that the three attributes we mention are only permitted because Moses used them in the Torah and the Men of the Great Assembly adopted them for prayer.
In the Babli, R. Ḥanina let the reader finish and only afterwards asked him: Did you finish all that can be said about your Creator? This argument also is accepted by the Yerushalmi since the explanations of the verses that follow are based on the principle that God’s infinity cannot be expressed in finite words. In the Yerushalmi tradition, anyone who deviates from the pattern instituted by the Sages has to be stopped in the middle of his prayer.: “The great God, the strong and awe-inspiring, the noble and overpowering;” they stopped him and told him: you are not permitted to add to the formula the Sages coined for benedictions. Rav Huna in the name of Rav: (Job 37:23) “The All-powerful, we did not find for Him the fullness of His might,” we did not find out the might and strength of the Holy One, praise to Him¹⁷It is too much for finite man.! Rebbi Abbahu in the name of Rebbi Yoḥanan: (Job 37:20) “Can it be told to Him if I should speak, if a man tells, he certainly will be swallowed up.” If a man comes to tell the strengths of the Holy One, praise to Him, he sets himself up to be swallowed away from the world. Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman said (Ps. 106:2) “Who can tell the strengths of the Eternal?” For example, I and my colleagues¹⁸Not Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman but King David, meaning that Psalms cannot be composed without inspiration. This side remark is only brought as preliminary to Rebbi Abun’s interpretation.. Rebbi Abun said: “Who can ever tell the strengths of the Eternal?” Jacob¹⁹In the parallel in the Babli (Megillah 18a) he is called Rebbi Yehudah from Kefar Giboraia. His birthplace is a village North of Safed. He is mentioned as being in Tyre, where Rebbi Ḥaggai had him whipped because he proposed the principle of patrilineal descent for Jews [Midrash Qohelet rabba 7(44), Bereshit rabba 7(3), Bemidbar rabba 19]. of Kefar Naburaia explained in Tyre: (Ps. 65:2) “Silence is praise for You, God in Zion!” The medicine for everything is silence; like a priceless²⁰Greek τιμή “value, price”. jewel: everyone who adorns himself with it, diminishes it.

Rebbi Yoḥanan¹⁵The Rome ms. has “R. Ḥanina” and that must be the correct reading since R. Yoḥanan belongs to the generation after R. Jonathan but R. Ḥanina (the Amora) was an older colleague of R. Jonathan and should be mentioned first. and Rebbi Jonathan went to make peace in the Southern settlements. They came to a place where they found the reader saying¹⁶In the first benediction of the ‘Amidah. The parallel in the Babli (33b) is in the name of R. Ḥanina only who notes there that the three attributes we mention are only permitted because Moses used them in the Torah and the Men of the Great Assembly adopted them for prayer.
In the Babli, R. Ḥanina let the reader finish and only afterwards asked him: Did you finish all that can be said about your Creator? This argument also is accepted by the Yerushalmi since the explanations of the verses that follow are based on the principle that God’s infinity cannot be expressed in finite words. In the Yerushalmi tradition, anyone who deviates from the pattern instituted by the Sages has to be stopped in the middle of his prayer.: “The great God, the strong and awe-inspiring, the noble and overpowering;” they stopped him and told him: you are not permitted to add to the formula the Sages coined for benedictions. Rav Huna in the name of Rav: (Job 37:23) “The All-powerful, we did not find for Him the fullness of His might,” we did not find out the might and strength of the Holy One, praise to Him¹⁷It is too much for finite man.! Rebbi Abbahu in the name of Rebbi Yoḥanan: (Job 37:20) “Can it be told to Him if I should speak, if a man tells, he certainly will be swallowed up.” If a man comes to tell the strengths of the Holy One, praise to Him, he sets himself up to be swallowed away from the world. Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman said (Ps. 106:2) “Who can tell the strengths of the Eternal?” For example, I and my colleagues¹⁸Not Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman but King David, meaning that Psalms cannot be composed without inspiration. This side remark is only brought as preliminary to Rebbi Abun’s interpretation.. Rebbi Abun said: “Who can ever tell the strengths of the Eternal?” Jacob¹⁹In the parallel in the Babli (Megillah 18a) he is called Rebbi Yehudah from Kefar Giboraia. His birthplace is a village North of Safed. He is mentioned as being in Tyre, where Rebbi Ḥaggai had him whipped because he proposed the principle of patrilineal descent for Jews [Midrash Qohelet rabba 7(44), Bereshit rabba 7(3), Bemidbar rabba 19]. of Kefar Naburaia explained in Tyre: (Ps. 65:2) “Silence is praise for You, God in Zion!” The medicine for everything is silence; like a priceless²⁰Greek τιμή “value, price”. jewel: everyone who adorns himself with it, diminishes it.

It has been stated in the name of Rebbi Joshua⁸⁶Rebbi Joshua ben Ḥananiah, one of the two foremost students of Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai, of the first generation after the destruction of the Second Temple. He is known for his cosmological opinion, explained in the first chapters of Seder ‘Olam, that the world was created in Nisan. Here he disagrees with the opinion of the later rabbis, discussed up to now, that the width of the sky is a parcourse of several years. In the Babylonian Talmud Ḥagigah 15a, R. Joshua seems to oppose the opinion of Simeon ben Zoma who defines the spread between the lower (terrestrian) and the upper (heavenly) waters to be three digits; smaller measures there are only given by late Amoraïm.: the thickness of the sky is two fingers wide. The words of Rebbi Ḥanina⁸⁷Even though his words are reported by Rebbi Aḥa of the fourth generation of Amoraïm, R. Ḥanina here is R. Ḥanina bar Ḥama of the first generation. The verse from Job is ambiguous as are most verses of that book. The verb תרקיע is usually taken to mean “to reach the sky”; here it is taken in the sense “to work metal into thin sheets” indicated in the previous section by R. Yehudah ben Pazi. disagree, as RebbiAḥa said in the name of Rebbi Ḥanina (Job37:18) “Go to spread the skies with Him; they are strong like a cast mirror.” “Go to spread”, that shows that they are made like sheet metal. I could think that they are not sturdy but the verse says “strong”. I could think that they might weaken⁸⁸At some time in the future. The Targum to Job translates “mirror of refined metal”. The implication here seems to be from the passive participle מוצק “being cast” (or “refined”) in a timeless manner., the verse says “like a cast mirror;” at every moment they appear recast.

Rebbi Yoḥanan and Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish⁸⁹The brother-in-law and, according to Babylonian tradition, student of R. Yoḥanan. They both elaborate on the verse from Job treated by R. Yoḥanan’s teacher R. Ḥanina.. Rebbi Yoḥanan said: Usually when someone stretches the ropes of a tent, in time the ropes will loosen. But here (Is. 40:22) “He stretched them like a tent to sit in,” and it said (Job 37:18): “they are strong.” Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said: “Usually if someone casts a vessel, in time it will rust. But here “like a cast mirror,” all the time they look like newly cast. Rebbi Azariah⁹⁰One of the teachers of the fifth generation of Galilean Amoraïm. In Bereshit rabba 12, R. Azariah explicitly objects to the opinion that everything that has generations will wilt and die, including sky and earth. His statement here seems to say that the generations of the sky are the astronomical periods and that nevertheless everything is as on the day when sky and earth were created. comments on the remark of Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish (Gen. 2:1–3) “The sky and the earth and all their hosts were completed. God finished on the Seventh Day … and God blessed the Seventh Day.” What is written after that? (Gen. 2:4) “These are the generations of the skies.” What has one to do with the other? Only that a day comes and goes, a week comes and goes, a month comes and goes, a year comes and goes⁹¹The use of masculine forms for both masculine and feminine is not uncommon in the Yerushalmi.. And it is written (Gen. 2:4) “These are the generations of the skies and the earth when they were created, on the day that the Eternal, God, created earth and heaven.”

He who sees the sun at its turning point¹³⁶According to the Babli (59b), this is the moment when the sun would stand at the point where it was created if the Julianic calendar could be extrapolated backwards. It is not permissible to read the Yerushalmi by the interpretations of the Babli. Usually, a “turning point” of the sun is either a solstice or an equinox; it also could just mean “the sun turning”. The latter meaning is implied by the Tosephta (6:6): “He who sees sun, moon, fixed stars, planets, says: Praise to the Maker of Creation. Rebbi Yehudah says, he who recites a benediction over the sun is on the way of heretics. Similarly, Rebbi Yehudah used to say, he who sees the ocean frequently has to recite a benediction if it has changed.” Here it is clear that the entire statement refers to weather-related phenomena; the following statement of R. Ḥuna therefore should not be taken to refer to the clear sky only (as it is taken in the Babli) but for all celestial phenomena when they are observed in an unpolluted sky. The coastline of the ocean may have changed during a storm; after the clearing of the sky R. Jehudah requires a new benediction., the moon at its turning point, and the sky in its purity, says: Praise to the Maker of Creation. Rebbi Ḥuna says, that means in the rainy season and only after three days. That is what is written (Job 37:21): “Now they do not see light, etc.¹³⁷The end of the verse: “He is lucent in the skies, a wind passed by and purified them,” shows that the sky is really radiant only if the sun comes out after a long rain.
A parallel Yerushalmi source, Midrash Wayiqra rabba 23(8) reads: “ ‘Now they do not see light,’ we have formulated: He who sees the sun at its turning point, the moon in its spherical shape, the stars in their paths, the planets in their order, says: Praise to the Maker of Creation. Rebbi Ḥuna says, that means in the rainy season and only after three days.” Rabbenu Ḥananel, in his commentary to the Babli, takes sun, moon, stars, and planets all together and requires a benediction if any of them has not been seen for a prolonged time.”

R. Levi in the name of Bar Nazira¹²⁶Name from the parallel in the Midrash. The text here has ר׳ בזירה, an otherwise unknown person.: Thirty-six hours did Man enjoy the light that was created on the First Day of Creation¹²⁷The vanished light of the Creation is reserved for the just in the future world (Babli Ḥagigah 12a). Psalm 139 is ascribed to David in the Book of Psalms, but in all of talmudic literature it is taken to describe the experiences of Adam., twelve on Friday, twelve in the night of Sabbath, and twelve during the day of Sabbath; in this light Adam saw from one end of the world to the other. In this unending light, the entire Creation started singing God’s praise as it is said (Job 37:2), “All under the heavens sing to Him, His light is on the corners of the world.” When the Sabbath ended, darkness came. Adam was afraid that this was what was said (Gen. 3:15): “You will crush its head and it will crush your heel;” certainly it will crush me, so he said (Ps.139:11), “But the darkness will crush me.” R. Levi said: At this moment the Holy One, praised be He, let him find two flintstones that he knocked against each other¹²⁸In the Babli (Pesaḥim 54a), the discovery of man-made fire is called “a heavenly inspiration.” and made fire; that is what is said (Ps. 139:11), “Now the night is light for me,” and he praised the Creator of the illuminating fire. Samuel says: Therefore we give praise for the [man-made] fire at the end of Sabbath because that was the time of its first production.

[They asked Rebbi Eliezer,] how far does honoring father and mother go? He said to them, you are asking me? Go and ask Dama ben Netinah. Dama ben Netinah was the head of the city council. Once his mother was slapping him in front of the entire council and a slipper fell from her hand, and he handed it back to her so that she should feel no inconvenience. Rebbi Ḥizqiah said: He was a Gentile from Ascalon and the head of the city council. He never sat on the stone on which his father used to sit and when his father died, he worshipped the stone. Once the jaspis of Benjamin was lost. They inquired, who would have one of similar quality? They were informed that Dama ben Netinah did. They went to him and agreed on 100 denars. He went to the upper floor to bring it and found his father sleeping. Some say that the key to the chest was in his father’s fingers; some say his father’s foot was resting on the chest. He descended to them and told them: I could not bring it to you. They thought, maybe he wants more money, and raised the price to two hundred, then to a thousand. When his father woke up from his sleep, he went up and brought it to them. They wanted to give him according to the amount last mentioned, but he refused. He said: Do I sell my father’s honor for money? I will not have any advantage from honoring my father. What reward did the Holy One, praise to Him, give him? Rebbi Yose bar Abun said: The following night, his cow gave birth to a red heifer and Israel gave him its weight in gold and took it. Rebbi Sabbatai said (Job 37:23), it is written: “Justice and much charity He will not suppress.” The Holy One, praise to Him, will not wait to give the reward for good deeds to the Gentiles.

“But what can I do since you are misbehaving before the Omnipresent like a son who misbehaves towards his father who does his will.” Rebbi Berekhia, Rebbi Abba bar Cahana, Rebbi Ze`ira in the name of Rav Jehudah. But some say it in the name of Rav Ḥisda, and some say it in the name of Rav Mattanah. You decide the command and He confirms it for you¹¹²Job 22:28. All these verses are interpreted to show that God executes the judgment of the just.. Why does the verse say, “for you”? But even if I am saying so and you are saying otherwise, yours is enduring, Mine is not enduring. On your paths shines light; Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said, this is rainfall. As heavy as He has loaded the rain-cloud, His light will disperse the cloud¹¹³Job 37:11; justifying Onias against Simeon ben Shataḥ.. For those humbled you order elevation¹¹⁴Job 22:29.; if I said to humble them and you say to elevate them, yours is enduring, Mine is not enduring. And the one of low eyes will be saved; I said to bring their eyes down by misfortune but you are saying to save them, yours is enduring, Mine is not enduring. I said, may the not-innocent escape¹¹⁵Job 22:30.? But you [said]¹¹⁶Corrector’s addition., he shall escape even though he is not innocent, yours is enduring, Mine is not enduring. What means, and he will escape by the purity of your hands, by the choice of your hands, by the merit of meritorious deeds and good works which were in your hands from before.

Abraham our forefather was tested with ten trials before the Holy Blessed One, and he emerged from each one complete.
They are as follows: Two when God said to him, “Go forth!” Two with his two sons. Two with his two wives. One with the war of the kings. One at the Covenant of the Parts. One in Ur Kasdim. One with circumcision. (The Covenant of the Parts.) And why so many? So that when Abraham our forefather comes to take his reward, the angels will say: More than us, more than anyone, Abraham deserves his reward, as it says (Ecclesiastes 9:7), “Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart.”
Because Abraham was tested with ten trials, and emerged from each one complete, the Holy Blessed One performed ten miracles for his children in Egypt, and brought ten plagues, and performed ten more miracles at the sea, and brought ten more plagues upon the Egyptians at the sea.
The Egyptians roared at the top of their lungs, and so the Holy Blessed One thundered back across the sea, as it says (Job 37:5), “God thunders marvelously with His voice.” The Egyptians came to the sea with bows and arrows, and so the Holy Blessed One appeared before them with a bow and arrow, as it says (Habakkuk 3:9), “Bared and ready is Your bow,” and (Psalms 18:15), “He sent forth His arrows and scattered them….” The Egyptians came to the sea with swords, so the Holy Blessed One came upon them with swords (and mercy), as it says (ibid.), “He sent forth His arrows and scattered them; He discharged lightning and routed them.” And lighting always means a sword, as it says (Ezekiel 21:14–15), “The sword, the sword has been sharpened and polished, sharpened in order to slaughter, so that it sparkles like lightning.” The Egyptians came proudly with shield and armor, and so the Holy Blessed One did the same, as it says (Psalms 35:2), “Grab shield and armor and rise to my defense.” The Egyptians came with spears, and so did the Holy Blessed One, as it says (Habakkuk 3:11), “Your flashing spear in brilliance.” The Egyptians came with rocks and slings, and the Holy Blessed One outdid them with hailstones, as it says (Psalms 18:13), “(Out of the brilliance before Him,) hail and fiery coals pierced His clouds.”
When our ancestors stood at the sea, Moses said to them: Arise and cross! They said to him: We will not cross until the sea begins to split open. So Moses took his staff and struck the sea, and it began to split open, as it says (Habakkuk 3:14), “You will split open the heads of his warriors with your staff.” Moses said to them: Arise and cross! They said to him: We will not cross until the sea becomes like a valley before us. So Moses struck the sea and it became like a valley before them, as it says (Psalms 78:13), “He split the sea and passed them through,” and (Isaiah 63:14), “Like a beast going down into the valley.” Moses said to them: Arise and cross! They said: We will not cross until it is divided into sections, as it says (Psalms 136:13), “Who divided the Sea of Reeds into sections.” Moses said to them: Arise and cross!. They said: We will not cross until it becomes solid matter. So Moses took his staff and struck the sea, and it became mud, as it says (Habakkuk 3:15), “You led Your horse into the sea, onto solid waters.” Moses said to them: Arise and cross! They said: We will not cross until it becomes a desert. So Moses took his staff and struck the sea, as it says (Psalms 106:9), “He led them through the depths as if it were the desert.” Moses said to them: Arise and cross! They said: We will not cross until it becomes all smashed up into particles. So Moses took his staff and struck the sea, as it says (Psalms 74:13), “You smashed the sea with Your might.” Moses said to them: Arise and cross! They said: We will not cross until it becomes a bed of rocks. He took his staff and struck the sea, as it says (there), “You broke the heads of crocodiles on the water.” And they could not be broken like this except on rocks. Moses said to them: Arise and cross! They said: We will not cross until it becomes dry land. So Moses took his staff and struck the sea, as it says (Psalms 66:6), “He turned the sea into dry land,” and (Exodus 14:29), “And the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea.” Moses said to them: Arise and cross! They said: We will not cross until it becomes walls. So Moses took his staff and struck the sea, as it says (Exodus 14:22), “And the water became a wall for them, on their right and on their left.” Moses said to them: Arise and cross! They said: We will not cross until goatskins (nodot) [to drink from] appear before us. So Moses took his staff and struck the sea, as it says (Exodus 15:8), “[The walls] stood like a stack (ned) of flowing water.” (And where do we learn that between the sections, fire came down and, as it says [Isaiah 64:1], “Like fire kindles brushwood, and fire boils water to announce Your name to Your antagonists”?) And so the goatskins would draw oil and honey into the mouths of the babies, who would nurse from them, as it says (Deuteronomy 32:13), “He nursed him with honey from the rock.” And some say that fresh water flowed from the sea, and they would drink it between the sections of the sea, since seawater is usually salty, for it says, “flowing,” which always means sweet, as it says (Song of Songs 4:15), “A well of fresh water, flowing from the Lebanon.” And the Clouds of Glory were above them, so that the sun would not oppress them. And this is how the Israelites crossed the water, in order that they would feel no pain.
Rabbi Eliezer would say: The sea depths were arched over them from above, and the Israelites crossed through, so that they would feel no pain. Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon would say: The upper waters and the lower waters tossed the Egyptians, as it says (Exodus 14:27), “The Eternal tossed the Egyptians into the sea.”