Pesachim 110 a, b

Pairs are dangerous. To have sex twice in a row is perilous - and to have sex even once following another activity, like drinking, in pairs, is even more risky.  Pairs are indeed powerful, and we have to keep track of how many glasses of wine we have drunk to ensure that we don't end on an even number (so says Rava).   Abaye and Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak both had others keep track for them (Abaye had his mother do this job).  Ulla teaches that 10 cups are fine, as mourners are to drink 10 cups with their meal, and how could we put mourners in peril?  The rabbis then prove that 8 cups and 6 cups and 4 cups are similarly not dangerous.  All of these cups combine for the good but not for the bad.

In a humorous aside, Rava bar Livai was injured after drinking four cups, but his injury was chalked up to the fact that he interrupted Rava during a lecture, which did not go unpunished.  We learn in a note that pirka, the public lecture, was delivered before Festivals to the entire community.  Usually a rabbi would lecture on the halacha of that Festival, and students did not question their rabbis openly during the pirka.

Rav Yosef teaches us about Yosef the Demon, who may have been understood as a human who was an expert on demons, or a demon who spoke with the Sages to explain demonic behaviour.    Ashmedai is the king of the demons.  Rab Pappa learned from Yosef the Demon that intention makes a difference when demons decide whether or not to kill those who drink two and four cups.  The Gemara tells us what to do if we are in doubt about how much we drank, and it sounds to me like a skipping game of my youth.  We hold our thumbs with our opposite fists, and recite that "you, [my thumbs] and I are three", not a pair.  If the demon responds with "You and I are four", we should respond with "You and I are five".  Should the demon continue his challenge with "You and I are six", we should continue this 'game' until the demon explodes in anger at 101.

Ameimar learned from the chief of witches an incantation: "Hot feces in torn date baskets in your mouth, witches; may your hairs fall out; your crumbs should scatter; your spices should scatter; the wind should carry away the fresh saffron that you witches hold.  As long as I was shown favour and you showed me favour, I did not come here.  Now that I have come here, your favour toward me has cooled and you should find favour."  Our notes share a shortened, more logical version of this incantation.

We learn that in Eretz Yisroel, people were not particular with pairs. But in the east, people took the danger of pairs seriously.  We are told again that the rabbis determined that those who cared about pairs were haunted by demons who cared about pairs.  Those who did not care about pairs were left alone by these demons.

The Gemara shares the story of a man who bursts due to his wife's witchcraft after drinking to such excess (more than 16 cups) that he forgot to protect himself and ended his drink on an even number.

Rav Avira teaches us that only things made by Heaven are susceptible to the danger of pairs; loaves and vessels are not vulnerable.   Additionally the Gemara teaches that guests and women, among others, are not affected by the danger of pairs.  This is because only more spiritually elevated people are open to the wrath of demons.  Thus we are concerned about 'important' women; women with power in the community and/or learned women.

The rabbis continue to discuss which permutations of pairs are dangerous and which are safe - two glasses of beer and one cup of wine?  Wine-based drinks?  The rabbis share a mnemonic to help us remember the rules of ritual impurity - which inform our understanding of the combination of two different drinks or foods with regard to pairs.  My understanding is that different fabrics are more or less susceptible to ritual impurity based upon their value. If a small fabric of high value attaches to a larger fabric of lesser value, the combined fabrics only contract ritual impurity if they are the size required to contract ritual impurity by the larger, less valuable fabric.  Thus with wine and beer, where wine is the more valuable drink - more prone to danger from pairs - wine will combine with beer to create a safe number, but beer cannot influence wine's pairings in a similar way.

The daf ends with a new argument.  Rav Mesharshiya argues about the importance of timing - whether or not it is necessary for a person to drink at one sitting; during the meal and/or before the meal.

One thought on this extremely thought-provoking daf with regard to the notion of demons targeting only those who believe in the danger of pairs.  This is telling, particularly in modern times.  When we have a fear that is unreasonable; a fear that is based on something that is beyond our control - it has power over us simply because we believe.  The demons will attack us when we believe that they will attack us.  When we do not fear those things, whatever they might be, we may or may not be attacked by demons - but certainly we have a more pleasant, less 'demon-filled' experience along the way.  Thus the demonic attack is less painful, less powerful.

From this very bizarre daf, an interesting lesson for life...