Chagigah 5 - February 14, 13 Adar 1

Today’s daf is sponsored by Caroline Ben-Ari in honor of the birth of Maeve Ray Winestock, “the ‘rainbow baby’ of my niece Gabi and her husband Benji.”

Rabbi Yochanan had a series of psukim that used to cause him to cry. If God is going to be incited to destroy us or if God doesn’t trust his righteous ones (as the verses in Job seem to indicate) what hope does humanity have? Once Rabbi Yochanan saw a man picking unripe figs, and the man explained that this was a metaphor for God sometimes killing the righteous before they sin. Another time, a young scholar died and the comment was made that he could have lived. However, in that instance, he acted irreverently. Another verse that causes Rabbi Yochanan to cry relates to Malachi 3:5, which seemingly says that God judges man and testifies against him, and the continuation of this verse was explained by other amoraim. Rabbi Yochanan also cried when he recited the verse from Kohelet 12:14 that speaks about God judging us for inadvertent sins, not just deliberate ones.  The verse speaks about “hidden things” which are interpreted as things that a person does (like spitting) that offend others. The final part of that verse says “whether good or bad” which means good acts that have a bad side to them. Some examples are giving charity in public (which creates embarrassment), giving charity to a woman (which suggests impropriety) or even sending meat to one’s wife on Friday afternoon which hasn’t had the sciatic nerve removed – which might cause her to forget to remove it. Rabbi Yochanan also cried at the verses which said that God punishes us with “evils” and “troubles.” This doubling is interpreted as punishments that have mutually exclusive cures, or loans that come with burdensome payback plans. These verses also are explained to be referring to “hester panim” and financial burdens imposed by gentile regimes which the rabbis understood to be something every Jew must undergo. Rava, who seemingly had a great relationship with King Shapur and didn’t suffer very much explains that in fact, people didn’t know how he had to bribe King Shapur. “Hester panim” is counterbalanced by God continuing to protect us, and this was reflected in a public debate between Rabbi Yehoshua ben Hanania and a heretic in front of the Roman Caesar. There is a debate whether a man is accountable for frivolous conversations between himself and his wife during intimate moments, and Rav Kahana was so committed to learning from his teacher Rav, that he slept under his bed, until Rav reprimanded him. Though God hides Himself, there is a debate whether God cries for the Jews and for the Temple. In addition, God cries for bittul Torah. Various sages are lauded for their capacity to study Torah or see other sages even for a short time, highlighting the significance of every moment of Torah.