Ze'iri

First Generation Amoraim

A first-generation Amora. He was a disciple of Rabbi Hiyya the Great, as we find: "It is written in Ze'iri's notebook: 'I asked my teacher' — and who was he? Rabbi Hiyya. 'And I asked him: What is the ruling regarding kneading on Shabbat?' And he told me: 'It is forbidden.'" [שבת קנו.] He was a colleague of Rav and remained in the Land of Israel even after Rav's descent to Babylonia.

When Rabbi Elazar ascended from Babylonia to the Land of Israel, he saw Ze'iri and asked him: "Who here in the Land of Israel teaches the Mishnayot and Baraitot that Rav stated concerning the laws of measurements?" Ze'iri pointed to Rav Yitzchak bar Avdimi. [ב"ב פז.] Afterward, Ze'iri also descended to Babylonia and taught Torah there, and all the disciples of Rav and Shmuel – Rav Giddal, Rav Acha bar Ashi, Rav Yitzchak ben Bich, Rav Hisda, and others – also learned Torah from him. [ברכות כב.]

His Piety

Ze'iri entrusted the money of orphans that was in his care to his hostess, while he went to Rav's house of study. Before he could return, the hostess died.

What did Ze'iri do? He went to the cemetery and asked her: "Where is the orphans' money?"

She replied to him: "Go take them from the hole in the threshold of the house where the door pivots, in such and such a place. And I have a request for you! Tell my mother to send me my comb and the kohl stick, meaning her makeup implements, with that certain woman who is supposed to arrive here for burial tomorrow!" And all this she said out of the anguish she felt because she died young. [ברכות חי:]

His Importance

Ze'iri happened to be in Alexandria in Egypt and bought himself a donkey so that he could move around easily.

Ze'iri went to water his donkey from the river, and suddenly the enchantment disappeared from the donkey, and it turned from a donkey into a wooden beam, because water dissolves and dissipates enchantment.

Ze'iri returned to the merchants from whom he had bought the donkey and demanded his money back! Ze'iri told them: "I asked for a donkey, not a wooden beam from a bridge!"

The merchants said to him: "If you were not Ze'iri, and a great man, we would not return your money to you!" And they said to him in astonishment, "Is there anyone who buys something in a city full of enchantments and does not check the item with water before buying it, lest it be enchanted?!"

Caution Regarding Sorcery

Yannai also happened to be at an inn and asked for a cup of water! They brought him a drink of flour mixed with water. Suddenly, he noticed the lips of the woman who hosted him muttering, and he understood that she was a sorceress. He spilled a little of the drink on the ground, and it turned into scorpions! Yannai understood that he had been subjected to sorcery, but he pretended as if he did not know about it and as if he was drinking from the potion.

Yannai said to the woman: "I drank from your water; you too, drink from my potion!" He also prepared a potion of sorcery and gave it to the woman to drink, and the woman turned into a donkey.

Yannai rode on her and went with her to the marketplace. Her friend passed by in the marketplace and released her from the enchantment, and suddenly all the crowd in the market saw Yannai riding a woman in the marketplace! [סנהדרין סז:]

His Acuteness

Rav Hisda said: Sharika Tuyya, that is: to anoint roasted meat with oil and eggs while it is hot but not scalding (so that a hand would recoil from it), in order to cook the oil and eggs, is permitted on Shabbat. And we do not say that there is a resemblance to repairing something. Pi'afuei Bei'i, that is: to whisk eggs in a bowl is forbidden due to appearance, as it looks as if one intends to put them into a pot that is cooking.

Ze'iri's wife prepared sharika tuyya for Hiyya bar Ashi, but he did not eat it. She said to him: "I prepared it for your teacher Ze'iri, and he ate, and you do not eat!"

And so they said: Ze'iri had a reason why he ate, because Ze'iri said: "A person may pour clear wine and clear water into a strainer on Shabbat and is not concerned about the prohibition of sifting, even though they become clearer, because his view is: since they can be drunk without filtering, it is not considered the labor of sifting."

Similarly here: since the roast can be eaten even without the sharika tuyya, it is not considered to be an act of repairing. [שבת קט.]