Pesachim 113 a, b

Another delightful window into the minds of our Sages as they share advice with their sons and their communities.  Most of this blog will be a recounting of these lists, as they are entirely engaging with no commentary.  But I will make my own list to begin:

• These lists remind me of modern self-help books, for example "Four ways to improve your financial future" or "Seven mistakes that will lead to heartache".  
• Our Sages tell us more about themselves and the contexts of their lives than anything else.  When one rabbi specifically mentions three different ways that girls and women will lead to the his downfall if he is not careful, certainly we can understand that gender and power were prominent issues in his life.  Perhaps he was abusive; perhaps he lived with horrible women.  Either way, he used his power as a Torah scholar to validate his views.

And with that introduction, here we go:

Rav to Rav Asi:

• Don't live in a city where horses do not neigh and dogs do not bark [for security reasons]
• Don't live in the city where the mayor is a doctor [see yesterday's daf; conflicted roles and possibly directed at Asi himself]
• Do not marry two women
• marry a third woman [so that one wife will tell you what the other two are plotting]

Rav to Rav Kahana:

• Turning over a carcass is better than turning over one's word/promise
• Skin a carcass in the market and take payment, but do not say 'I am a priest' or 'I am a great man and this matter disgusts me'
• If you go up to the roof, bring your food with you
• If one hundred pumpkins in the city are one zuz [inexpensive], place them in the corners of your clothes [treat them well]

Rav to Chiyya, his [sickly] son,

• Do not drink medications [lest you become addicted]
• Do not leap over a ditch
• Do not pull out a tooth
• Do not provoke a snake
• Do not provoke a gentile

Rav said that there are three things one should not provoke: a small gentile, a small snake, and a small Torah scholar, as all will grow up and look to avenge this wrong.

Rav to Ayvu, his son: 

• I struggled to teach you halacha but did not succeed so I will teach you mundane matters
• Sell your merchandise while the dust is still on your feet
• Anything you sell you might regret except for wine [which may go bad]
• Open your purse [to accept payment] and then open your sack [to give your goods]
• Better to earn a kav from the ground than a kor from the roof [to make less money but have greater safety]
• Dates in your storeroom: run to the brewery to sell them
• Keep up to three se'a of dates

Either Rav pappa or Rav Chisda said, "If I were not a beer manufacturer I would not have become wealthy".  Sudana, Arabic for brewer, means a pleasant secret [sod na'e] and acts of loving kindness.

Rav Pappa:

• Anything that you acquire through transfer of ownership requires collection
• Any sale on credit is uncertain and even if it comes to fruition, the money is bad [difficult to collect]

Rabbi Yochanan speaks of the people of Jerusalem:

• When you go to war, don't go out first - go out last; you will enter the city of refuge fist
• Better to make Shabbat like a weekday  and not be beholden to anyone
• Exert yourself to be with one upon whom the hour smiles

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi:

• Do not indulge  in a shameful act in public because of the incident that occurred [between David and Bathsheva]
• If your daughter is grown, better that you free your Canaanite slave and give him to her [than let her find a husband on her own]
• Be careful with your wife with regard to her first son-in-law.  Why? Rav Chisda said because of licentiousness and Rav Kahana said because she might give him your money.  

Ravbi Yochanan says that three people are among those who inherit the World-to-Come:

• One who lives in Eretz Yisroel
• One who raises his songs to study Torah
• One who saves a small amount of wine, even when poor, to recite havdala after Shabbat

also, he said that there are three types of people who are proclaimed as good by G-d each day:

• The single man who lives in a city and does not sin
• A poor person who returns a lost object to its owners
• A wealthy person who tithes his produce in private

Rav Safra's face lit up at this, but he was knocked down by Rava, who explained that this is for other scholars like Rab Chanaina and Rav Oshaya who were cobblers who would not even look up to meet the eyes of the prostitutes in their shop.

The Gemara speaks of three people who are loved by G-d and three people who are hated by G-d:

• One who does not get angry
• One who does not get drunk
• One who is forgiving

and

• One who says one thing with his mouth and another in his heart
• One who knows testimony about another but does not testify for him
• One who observes a sin but as a single witness does testify [serving only to ruin a reputation]

The Gemara cites instances of this type of incident, and questions whether a Jew is allowed to hate another Jew.  Leviticus 19:17 tells us "you shall not hate your brother in your heart".  The rabbis tell us that it is in fact a mitzvah to hate a Jew who has sinned, for Proverbs 8:33 tells us that The fear of G-d is to hate evil".  The Gemara goes on to discuss whether or not one should share this kind of damaging information with the trangressor's teacher.

The Sages taught that there are three people whose lives are not lives [due to suffering]: the compassionate, the hot tempered, the delicate.  They taught that three groups hate other members of the same group: dogs, rooster and the Persian priests.  And prostitutes.  And Torah scholars in Babylonia.

Is that a joke in the midst of these lists??

Converts, slaves and ravens love each other, for they are humble and fearful.   No one can endure four types of people: an arrogant pauper, a wealthy person who denies monetary wrongs, a lecherous old man, and a leader who uses power over the community with no reason.  And one who divorces his wife once, twice, and then takes her back again.  The Gemara shares some sympathy for this man, stating that he might be stuck in this situation earlier because he cannot afford the ketuba and needs someone there to care for their children.

Canaan commanded his sons with five matters, normal behaviour for slaves: love one another, love robbery, love promiscuity, hate your masters, and do not speak the truth.

I find this last statement fascinating for its lack of insight.  From the 'owner's' perspective, slaves love these things and hate their masters and they lie.  But from the perspective of a person who is 'owned', any sexual behaviour would be judged as promiscuity, and affection for each other as love, any opportunity to get what they need to survive - through robbery, or lying - would be justified.  Could it be that our Sages were so far removed from the experience of being a slave in Egypt that they would judge their own slaves this harshly?

Six matters regarding a horse: it loves promiscuity & war, it's demeanour is arrogant, it hates sleep, it eats much and excretes little.  And it will try to kill its master in war.  

Seven are ostracized by Heaven: a Jew without a wife, one with a wife but no sons, one with sons who are not raised to study Torah, one who does not tefillin and tzitzit, one with no mezuza, one who goes without shoes.  And one who does not celebrate together over a brit.

And a few more things:

• "You shall be wholehearted with the Lord your G-d" (Deuteronomy 18:13) teaches us not to consult with astrologers.  
• "Because a surpassing spirit was in him, the king thought to set him over the whole realm" (Daniel: 6:4) teaches that when we know that another person is greater than us in even one respect, we must treat him with respect.

This suggests to me that we must treat every single person with respect, as everyone is better than us at something. 

• Rabba bar bar Chana tells us that after a woman observes her days of ritually pure blood, she cannot engage in intimacy right away. When is she permitted?  Rav tells us that she must wait a set interval of time for the ritual impurity of niddah - either one day or one night.

Our daf ends with one paragraph regarding many different names for the same Sage.