1Rebbi Jonah said, it is written 10 Is. 53:12 . The verse continues: For he offered himself to death and counted the sinners. This applies to R. Aqiba who was a martyr and organized religious tradition in a systematic corpus. : Therefore, I shall distribute to him in public, and with the powerful he shall have part in booty , that is Rebbi Aqiba who organized interpretation of Scripture, practice, and homiletics 11 The reading of B: Mishnah, interpretation of Scripture, and practice, seems preferable since R. Aqiba had no reputation in homiletics and as a matter of principle homiletics about biblical verses is not to be systematized. . But some say, this refers to the men of the Great Assembly, who organized principles and details 12 They find in the work of the Great Assembly the essence of Second Temple and later rabbinic Judaism, the effort to turn the mostly disjointed statements of the Torah into a systematic code of laws. .
2Rebbi Abbahu said, it is written 13 1 Chr . 2:55. The families of counters, dwellers of Yabeṣ. Why does the verse say, counters ? Because they formulated the teaching numbers, numbers 14 In B: ciphers, ciphers. . “Five shall not lift heave. 15 Mishnah Terumot 1:1. ” “Fifteen women free their co-wives. 16 Mishnah Yebamot 1:1 . ” “Thirty-six extirpations in the Torah. 17 Mishnah Keritut 1:1 . ” “Thirteen matters about the carcass of a pure bird. 18 Mishnah Ṭehorot 1:1. ” “Four main categories of torts. 19 Mishnah Bava Qamma 1:1 . ” “Thirty-nine categories of work.”
3Rebbi Aḥa said, for Ezra the priest, the counter 20 Ezra 7:11 . . But just as he was counting in the Torah so he was counting in the words of the Sages 21 The principles of mesorah , to fix the text of Scriptures by noting the number of occurrences of certain forms, is attributed to Ezra in Megillah 4:1 (47d l. 49), Babli Megillah 3a . Similarly, the fixation of mishnaiot by numbers is attributed to him. .
4Rebbi Ḥaggai in the name of Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman. The earlier generations ploughed, and sowed, and weeded, and trimmed, and hoed, cut, made sheaves, threshed, winnowed, milled, sifted, made dough, kneaded, and baked. But we do not even have a mouth to eat 22 Even though the earlier generation organized the study of religious texts in a systematic way, still we have difficulty following them. . 23 From here to the end of the next paragraph the text is from Demay 1:3, Notes 131–137 ( ד ). Rebbi Abba bar Zemina said in the name of Rebbi Ze`ira: If the earlier generations were angels, we are men; if they were men, we are donkeys. Rebbi Mana said, at that moment 24 When a great scholar ate ṭevel without suspecting that it was not tithed. they said, we are not even comparable to the she-ass of Rebbi Phineas ben Yair.
5Robbers stole the she-ass of Rebbi Phineas ben Yair at night. She was hidden with them for three days during which she did not eat anything. After three days, they took counsel to return her. They said, remove her lest she die with us. They let her out; she returned to her master’s door and started braying. He said to them, open to that poor creature because for three days now she did not taste anything. They opened for her and she entered. He said to them, give her something to eat. They put oats before her but she did not eat. They said to him, rabbi, she does not want to eat. He asked them, did you put it in order? They said: Yes. He asked them, did you remove its demay ? They said, did the rabbi not teach us: “He who buys seeds for animals, flour for tanning, oil for lighting, is free from demay ”? He said to them, what can we do with this poor creature since she is very restrictive for herself? They removed the demay and she ate.
6Petaḥiah of the nests 4 He organizes the sale of “nests”, couples of pigeons or turtle doves, needed for several purification rites. . Come and see how great the power of this man was, for he “had original ideas 5 In the interpretation of biblical verses. and explained them, and he knew seventy languages 6 In Ezra 2:2 and Neḥemiah 7:7 in the list of returnees from Babylonia one finds Mordecai Bilshan, where the traditional interpretation is to consider the second name not as an independent (Babylonian) name but an epithet “linguist” of Mordecai. (In modern Hebrew, by mispronunciation “linguist” is balshan .) A linguist is a person who knows the languages of all of the 70 peoples enumerated in Gen . 7 . .” It was stated: A Synhedrion of which two know how to speak 25 As a minimum two members of the Synhedrion have to be able to interrogate any witness in his own language and the rest of them have to be able to understand the answer. The Court may not use interpreters. In the Babli, Sanhedrin 17b , the reference is not to the Synhedrion as Supreme Court but to any court of criminal jurisdiction. and all of them are able to hear is acceptable 26 As a minimal requirement. as Synhedrion. Three is average, four is wise, and in Jabneh there were four, Ben Azzai and Ben Zoma, Ben Ḥanikai and Rebbi Eleazar ben Matthew.
7Rav Ḥisda said, once the Land of Israel was dry (and they collected from Gaggot-Ṣerifin 27 Mishnah Menaḥot 10:2 . Ṣerifin probably is Serafand in the plain NE of Jerusalem. .) [and they did not know from where to bring 28 As spelled out in the Mishnah (and B), the problem was to find barley grain for the `omer which must be brought from the produce of the Land. Babli Menaḥot 64b . . There was there a mute person who put one hand on roofs and another on a shed. They brought him before Petaḥiah, who told them, is there a place called Gaggot-Ṣerifin or Ṣerifin-Gaggot ? They went there and found.] Rebbi Yose ben Rebbi Abun said, once the entire world 29 In B: The Land of Israel. The Mishnah refers to wheat grain for the Two Breads. was burned and they did not know from where to bring. There was there a mute person who put one of his hands over his eyes and one hand on a door lock. They brought him before Petaḥiah, who told them, is there a place called `Ein-Sokher 30 A place near Sichem (Nablus.) or Sokher-Ayin . They went there and found.
8Three women brought their nests 31 Since Petaḥiah was in charge of these, it was his duty to instruct the officiating Cohanim in the correct way to sacrifice the birds. As obligatory offerings of a woman after prolonged menstruation as zavah , one bird is to be an elevation offering and the other a purification offering. As thanksgiving offerings both birds are elevation offerings. . One said, לְעֵינָתִי; and one said, לְיַמָּתִי, and one said, לְזִיבָתִי. About the one who said 32 Since עַיִין means both “eye” and “wellhead, spring”. לְעֵינָתִי, they wanted to say, her menstrual flow is like a well. He said, she was dangerously sick in her eye. About the one who said לְיַמָּתִי, they wanted to say, her menstrual flow is like the sea. He said, she was in danger on the sea. About the one who said לְזִיבָתִי, they wanted to say, she was really a zavah 33 While in Mishnaic Hebrew זִיבָה means the state of a zavah it is asserted here that after the alef became silent it also could not carry a separate vowel. Therefore זְאֵב “wolf” became זֵאב and since the ־ֵ was pronounced as η, it sounded like זִיב. More than 70 languages, the administrator of nests had to know all local dialects. . He told them, a wolf 34 The stone floor, which was unhealthy in winter. came to snatch her son.
9“Ben Aḥiyyah for indigestion.” Since the Cohanim were walking barefoot on the floor 34 The stone floor, which was unhealthy in winter. , and were eating meat 35 Since the priests are obligated to eat the meat of all purification and reparation offerings in the Temple on the day of the sacrifice and the following night, and in addition to the meat they have only baked goods made from flour offerings and water, for the week of their service their diet is very unbalanced and unhealthy. , and drinking water, they got indigestion. He knew which wine was good for the intestines and which was noxious 36 The translation is tentative. Brill proposes to read מְמַסְמֵס “massages”. The reading of B, “eliminates intestines” is difficult to understand. for intestines.
10“Onias the digger of ditches.” He was digging ditches and caves 37 To create miqwaot for pilgrims to the Temple. and knew which rock cools the water and which rock was dry and how far its dryness extended. Rebbi Aḥa said, but (he) [his son] 38 Reading of B and the corrector, to be deleted. died of thirst. 39 The text also is in Yom Ṭov 3:9 (Note 124, צ ). Rebbi Ḥanina said, anybody who says that the All-Merciful is indulgent, his intestines shall dissolve themselves; for He is forbearing and then collects His due. Rebbi Aḥa said, it is written 40 Ps. 50:3 . , His surroundings are very hairy . He is exact with them like a hair’s width. Rebbi Yose said, not because of this reason, but because what is written 41 Ps. 89:8 . , He is awesome on His surroundings , His fear on those near Him is greater than those far away.