| 23a. שאינו נוקם ונוטר כנחש אינו תלמיד חכם והכתיב (ויקרא יט, יח) לא תקום ולא תטור ההוא בממון הוא דכתיב דתניא איזו היא נקימה ואיזו היא נטירה נקימה אמר לו השאילני מגלך אמר לו לאו למחר אמר לו הוא השאילני קרדומך אמר לו איני משאילך כדרך שלא השאלתני זו היא נקימה,ואיזו היא נטירה א"ל השאילני קרדומך אמר ליה לא למחר א"ל השאילני חלוקך אמר לו הילך איני כמותך שלא השאלתני זו היא נטירה,וצערא דגופא לא והא תניא הנעלבין ואינן עולבין שומעין חרפתן ואינן משיבין עושין מאהבה ושמחין ביסורין עליהן הכתוב אומר (שופטים ה, לא) ואוהביו כצאת השמש בגבורתו,לעולם דנקיט ליה בליביה והאמר רבא כל המעביר על מדותיו מעבירין לו על כל פשעיו דמפייסו ליה ומפייס,ומה הן מוציאין אחת או שתים וכו' השתא שתים מוציאין אחת מבעיא,אמר רב חסדא לא קשיא כאן בבריא כאן בחולה והתניא אחת מוציאין שתים אין מוציאין במה דברים אמורים בבריא אבל בחולה אפילו שתים מוציאין והיחידין מוציאין שתים ואין מונין להן אלא אחת,ואין מונין לו אלא אחת והתניא אין מוציאין לא שליש ולא גודל מפני הרמאים ואם הוציא שליש מונין לו גודל אין מונין לו ולא עוד [אלא] שלוקה מן הממונה בפקיע,מאי מונין לו נמי אחת,מאי פקיע אמר רב מדרא מאי מדרא אמר רב פפא מטרקא דטייעי דפסיק רישיה,אמר אביי מריש הוה אמינא הא דתנן בן ביבאי ממונה על הפקיע אמינא פתילתא כדתנן מבלאי מכנסי הכהנים ומהמייניהן מהן היו מפקיעין ובהן היו מדליקין כיון דשמענא להא דתניא ולא עוד אלא שלוקה מן הממונה בפקיע אמינא מאי פקיע נגדא,מעשה שהיו שניהן שוין ורצין ועולין בכבש ת"ר מעשה בשני כהנים שהיו שניהן שוין ורצין ועולין בכבש קדם אחד מהן לתוך ארבע אמות של חבירו נטל סכין ותקע לו בלבו,עמד רבי צדוק על מעלות האולם ואמר אחינו בית ישראל שמעו הרי הוא אומר (דברים כא, א) כי ימצא חלל באדמה ויצאו זקניך ושופטיך אנו על מי להביא עגלה ערופה על העיר או על העזרות געו כל העם בבכיה,בא אביו של תינוק ומצאו כשהוא מפרפר אמר הרי הוא כפרתכם ועדיין בני מפרפר ולא נטמאה סכין ללמדך שקשה עליהם טהרת כלים יותר משפיכות דמים וכן הוא אומר (מלכים ב כא, טז) וגם דם נקי שפך מנשה [הרבה מאד] עד אשר מלא ירושלים פה לפה,הי מעשה קדים אילימא דשפיכות דמים השתא אשפיכות דמים לא תקינו פייסא אנשברה רגלו תקינו אלא דנשברה רגלו קדים,וכיון דתקינו פייסא ארבע אמות מאי עבידתייהו אלא לעולם דשפיכות דמים קדים ומעיקרא סבור אקראי בעלמא הוא כיון דחזי אפילו ממילא אתו לידי סכנה תקינו רבנן פייסא,עמד רבי צדוק על מעלות האולם ואמר אחינו בית ישראל שמעו הרי הוא אומר כי ימצא חלל באדמה אנן על מי להביא על העיר או על העזרות וירושלים בת אתויי עגלה ערופה היא והתניא עשרה דברים נאמרו בירושלים וזו אחת מהן | 23a. b who does not avenge /b himself b and bear a grudge like a snake /b when insulted b is not /b considered b a Torah scholar /b at all, as it is important to uphold the honor of Torah and its students by reacting harshly to insults. The Gemara asks: b But isn’t it written /b explicitly in the Torah: b “You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge /b against the children of your people” (Leviticus 19:18)? The Gemara responds: b That /b prohibition b is written with regard to monetary /b matters and not personal insults, b as it was taught /b in a i baraita /i : b What is revenge and what is bearing a grudge? Revenge /b is illustrated by the following example: b One said to /b his fellow: b Lend me your sickle, /b and b he said: No. The next day he, /b the one who had refused to lend the sickle, b said to /b the other person: b Lend me your ax. /b If he b said to him: I will not lend to you, just as you did not lend to me, that is revenge. /b , b And what is bearing a grudge? /b If b one said to /b his fellow: b Lend me your ax, /b and b he said: No, /b and b the next day he, /b the one who had refused to lend the ax, b said to /b the other man: b Lend me your robe; /b if the first one b said to him: Here it is, /b as b I am not like you, who would not lend to me, that is bearing a grudge. /b Although he does not respond to his friend’s inconsiderate behavior in kind, he still makes it known to his friend that he resents his inconsiderate behavior. This i baraita /i shows that the prohibition relates only to monetary matters, such as borrowing and lending.,The Gemara asks: b But /b does the prohibition against vengeance really b not /b relate also to matters of b personal anguish /b suffered by someone? b Wasn’t /b it b taught /b in a i baraita /i : b Those who are insulted but do not insult /b others, b who hear themselves /b being b shamed but do not respond, who act out of love /b for God, b and who /b remain b happy in /b their b suffering, about them the verse states: “They that love Him be as the sun when it goes forth in its might” /b (Judges 5:31). This i baraita /i shows that one should forgive personal insults as well as wrongs in monetary matters.,The Gemara responds that the prohibition against taking vengeance and bearing a grudge indeed applies to cases of personal anguish; however, b actually, /b the scholar may b keep /b resentment b in his heart, /b though he should not act on it or remind the other person of his insulting behavior. The Gemara asks: b But didn’t Rava say: /b With regard to b whoever forgoes his reckonings /b with others for injustices done to him, the heavenly court in turn b forgoes /b punishment b for all his sins? /b The Gemara answers: Indeed, even a scholar who is insulted must forgive insults, but that is only in cases where his antagonist b has sought to appease /b him, in which case he should allow himself to b be appeased /b toward him. However, if no apology has been offered, the scholar should not forgive him, in order to uphold the honor of the Torah.,§ The mishna describes that the lottery between competing priests is conducted by the priests extending their fingers for a count. And the mishna elaborated: b And what /b fingers b do they extend /b for the lottery? They may extend b one or two /b fingers, and the priests do not extend a thumb in the Temple. The Gemara asks: b Now /b that the mishna states that the priest may extend b two /b fingers, is it b necessary /b to state that they may also extend b one /b finger?, b Rav Ḥisda said: /b This is b not difficult. Here, /b when the mishna speaks of extending one finger, it is referring to b a healthy person /b , who has no difficulty extending just one finger without extending a second one. b There, /b when the mishna mentions two fingers, it is referring to b a sick person, /b for whom it is difficult to extend a single finger at a time. b And /b so b it was taught /b in a i baraita /i : b They /b may b extend one /b finger, but b they /b may b not extend two. In what /b case b is this statement said? /b It is said b in /b reference to b a healthy person; however, a sick person /b may b extend even two /b fingers. b And /b the sick priests who sit or lie b alone, /b separately from the other priests, b extend two /b fingers, b but /b their two fingers are b counted only as one. /b ,The Gemara asks: b And /b are the sick priest’s two fingers really b counted as only one? Wasn’t it taught /b in a i baraita /i : The priests may b not extend the third /b finger, i.e., the middle finger, b or the thumb, /b together with the index finger, b due to /b concern for b cheaters. /b One who sees that the count is approaching him might intentionally extend or withdraw an extra finger so that the lottery will fall on him. b But if he does extend the third /b finger b it is counted for him. /b This is because the third finger cannot be stretched very far from the index finger, so that it is easily recognizable that both fingers are from the same person, and this is not taken as an attempt to cheat. If he extends his b thumb, /b however, b it is not counted for him, and moreover /b he is punished with b lashes /b administered by b the person in charge of the i pakia /i . /b The implication of the i baraita /i is that when the third finger is extended along with the index finger, both fingers are counted.,The Gemara answers: b What /b does the i baraita /i mean when it says that if the priest extended his middle finger along with his index finger, b it is counted for him? /b It b also /b means, as stated earlier, that the two fingers are counted as b one. /b ,The i baraita /i mentions lashes administered by the person in charge of the i pakia /i . b What /b is b a i pakia /i ? Rav said: /b It is b a i madra /i . /b However, the meaning of that term also became unclear over time, so the Gemara asks: b What is a i madra /i ? Rav Pappa said: It is a whip [ i matraka /i ] /b used by b the Arabs, the end of which is split /b into several strands. That is the i pakia /i mentioned above, which was used for punishing the priests.,Apropos this discussion, b Abaye said: At first I would say /b as follows: b When we learned /b in a mishna that b ben Beivai was in charge of the i pakia /i , I would say /b that it means that he was in charge of producing b wicks, as we learned /b in another mishna: b They would tear /b [ b i mafkia /i /b ] strips b from the priests’ worn-out trousers and belts and /b make wicks out of them, b with which they lit /b the lamps for the Celebration of Drawing Water. But b once I heard that which is taught /b in the previously cited i baraita /i : b And moreover, /b he is punished with b lashes /b administered by b the person in charge of the i pakia /i , I /b now b say: What /b is b a i pakia /i ? /b It is b lashes. /b Ben Beivai was in charge of corporal punishment in the Temple.,§ It was taught in the mishna: b An incident /b occurred where b both of /b the priests b were equal /b as they were b running and ascending on the ramp, /b and one of them shoved the other and he fell and his leg was broken. b The Sages taught /b in the i Tosefta /i : b An incident /b occurred where there were b two priests who were equal /b as they were b running and ascending the ramp. One of them reached the four cubits before his colleague, /b who then, out of anger, b took a knife and stabbed him in the heart. /b ,The i Tosefta /i continues: b Rabbi Tzadok /b then b stood up on the steps of the Entrance Hall /b of the Sanctuary b and said: Hear /b this, b my brothers of the house of Israel. /b The verse b states: “If one be found slain in the land... /b and it be not known who had smitten him; b then your Elders and your judges shall come forth /b and they shall measure…and it shall be that the city which is nearest to the slain man…shall take a heifer” (Deuteronomy 21:1–3). And the Elders of that city took that heifer and broke its neck in a ritual of atonement. But what of b us, /b in our situation? b Upon whom /b is the obligation b to bring the heifer whose neck is broken? /b Does the obligation fall b on the city, /b Jerusalem, so that its Sages must bring the calf, b or /b does the obligation fall b upon the /b Temple b courtyards, /b so that the priests must bring it? At that point b the entire /b assembly of b people burst into tears. /b , b The father of the boy, /b i.e., the young priest who was stabbed, b came and found that he was /b still b convulsing. He said: May /b my son’s death b be an atonement for you. /b But b my son is still convulsing /b and has not yet died, and as such, b the knife, /b which is in his body, b has not become ritually impure /b through contact with a corpse. If you remove it promptly, it will still be pure for future use. The i Tosefta /i comments: This incident comes b to teach you that the ritual purity of utensils /b was b of more concern to them than the shedding of blood. /b Even the boy’s father voiced more concern over the purity of the knife than over the death of his child. b And similarly, it says: “Furthermore, Manasseh spilled innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another” /b (II Kings 21:16), which shows that in his day as well people paid little attention to bloodshed.,The Gemara asks: b Which incident came first, /b the one about the broken leg reported in the mishna or the one about the slain priest in the i Tosefta /i ? b If we say /b that the incident of b bloodshed /b came first, this raises a problem: b Now, /b if in response to a case of b bloodshed they did not establish a lottery /b but continued with the running competition, can it be that in response to an incident of a priest’s b leg being broken they did establish /b a lottery? b Rather, /b we must say that the case in which the priest’s b leg was broken /b in the course of the race b came first, /b and as the mishna states, the establishment of the lottery was in response to that incident.,The Gemara asks: If the running competition was abolished immediately after the incident of the broken leg and a lottery was instituted to replace it, b once they established the lottery, what were they doing /b still running to within b the four cubits /b in the incident that led to the priest’s murder? b Rather, actually, /b it is necessary to return to the approach suggested earlier, b that /b the case involving b bloodshed came first. Initially, /b the Sages b thought that it was merely a random, /b i.e., isolated, b event, /b and because it was extremely unlikely for a murder to happen again they did not abolish the competition due to that incident. Then, b once they saw that in any event /b the priests b were coming to danger, /b as one of them was pushed and broke his leg, b the Sages established a lottery. /b ,The Gemara returns to the incident of the slain priest and discusses several details of it. It was related that b Rabbi Tzadok stood up on the steps of the Entrance Hall /b of the Sanctuary b and said: Hear /b this, b my brothers of the house of Israel. /b The verse b states: “If one be found slain in the land, /b etc.” But what of b us, /b in our situation? b Upon whom /b is the obligation b to bring /b the heifer whose neck is broken? Does the obligation fall b upon the city, /b Jerusalem, b or /b does the obligation fall b upon the /b Temple b courtyards? /b The Gemara asks: Is b Jerusalem subject to bringing a heifer whose neck is broken? Wasn’t it taught /b in a i baraita /i : b Ten things were said /b about b Jerusalem /b to distinguish it from all other cities in Eretz Yisrael, b and this is one of them: /b |
