Today’s daf TB Shabbat 119 is the source of many interesting
and/or well-known traditions and stories. I am sure that in your own course of
study you have come across them, but did not know where they came from. I
decided that I would share with you the most famous ones so that you would know
the source. All quotations are from Sefaria.org.
“And Abaye
said: May I receive my reward because when I see a young Torah scholar who has completed a
tractate that he studied I make a feast for the Sages.” This is the source of a siyum (סיום), a completion of a tractate, with a seudat mitzvah (סעודת מצוה), a meal
engendered by an observance of a mitzvah. A seudat
mitzvah is a festive meal that usually includes meat which is a symbol of
joy. There is a tradition of only eating dairy during the first nine days of
the Hebrew month of Av (excluding Rosh Hodesh Av and Shabbat, this year from
July 22-July 30) to reduce joy because on the ninth day of the month the first
Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in the year 586 BCE and
the second Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. We fast
for 25 hours on Tishe B’Av (9th of Av) mourning the destruction of
the Temples and the ensuing exile. One summer when I was a teacher at Camp
Ramah, I finished the tractate Ta’anit, held a siyum, and invited the entire
camp to a (pre-planned) meat meal afterwards.
“The Gemara now returns to
the issue of delight in and deference to Shabbat. Rabbi Ḥanina would wrap
himself in his garment and stand at nightfall on Shabbat eve, and say:
Come and we will go out to greet Shabbat the queen. Rabbi Yannai put on his
garment on Shabbat eve and said: Enter, O bride. Enter, O bride.” This Gemara is the inspiration for the
refrain of Lecha Dodi.
“The Gemara relates with
regard to Yosef who cherishes Shabbat: There was a gentile in his
neighborhood whose property was extremely plentiful. The astrologers said to
the gentile with regard to all his property: Yosef who cherishes Shabbat
will consume it. The gentile went and sold all of his property, and
with the money he received he bought a pearl, and he placed it in his
hat. When he was crossing a river in a ferry, the wind blew his hat and
cast it into the water, and a fish swallowed it. The fish was
caught and removed from the water and it was brought to shore adjacent
to nightfall on Shabbat eve. The fishermen said: Who buys fish at
a time like this? The townspeople said to the fishermen: Go
bring it to Yosef who cherishes Shabbat, as he regularly purchases
delicacies in deference to Shabbat. They brought it to him and he
purchased it. He ripped the fish open and found a pearl inside it. He
sold it for thirteen vessels filled with golden dinars (Tosafot).”
This is a very famous story that is told and retold. I tried, but failed to
find on YouTube Lenny Solomon and Schlock Rock’s, a funny Jewish parodist
teaching yiddishkeit, version of this story which has a very funny ending for
people of a certain age (my age). I shall search my library for the title of
the CD that contains it. In the meantime search for him on YouTube and enjoy
his music.
Both in formal and informal educational
settings the following two stories are taught to encourage the observance of
Shabbat. “The Roman emperor said to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Ḥananya: Why does the
fragrance of a cooked Shabbat dish diffuse? He said to him: We have a
certain spice called dill [shevet], which we place in the cooked
dishes and its fragrance diffuses. The emperor said to him: Give us
some of it. He said to him: For anyone who observes Shabbat, the
spice is effective, and for one who does not observe Shabbat, it is not
effective.”
Rabbi Yosei bar Yehuda
says: Two ministering angels accompany a person on Shabbat evening from the
synagogue to his home, one good angel
and one evil angel. And when he reaches his home and finds a
lamp burning and a table set and his bed made, the good angel says: May it be
Your will that it shall be like this for another Shabbat. And the evil angel
answers against his will: Amen. And if the person’s home is not
prepared for Shabbat in that manner, the evil angel says: May it be Your
will that it shall be so for another Shabbat, and the good angel answers
against his will: Amen.
We
know that we say amen after every blessing we hear. By saying amen we are
affirming that we agree with the contents of that blessing. But do you know the
reward for saying amen? Do you know that it could be an acronym as well? “Reish
Lakish said: One who answers amen with all his strength, they open the gates of
the Garden of Eden before him, as it is stated: “Open the gates, and a
righteous nation shall come who keeps the faith” (Isaiah
26:2). Do not read: Who keeps [shomer] the faith [emunim],
but rather: Who say [she’omerim] amen. What is the allusion of the
word amen? Rabbi Ḥanina said: It is an acronym of the words: God,
faithful King [El Melekh ne’eman].” Rashi explains that we should answer amen with intention and the
Tosefot as that we should say amen out loud as well.
I encourage you study the rest of today’s daf because it contains so many
other pearls of wisdom.
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