Ta'anit 21 The Benefits of Righteousness: Gam Zeh Letovah

We are treated to a sequence of stories, aggadot, in today's daf.  The first aggadot are related to crumbling walls.

1) Rabbi Yochanan and his teacher/colleague Ilfa decide to find employment instead of continuing to be poor students of Torah. They sit by a wall about to fall and eat bread.  While there, two ministering angels decide to allow them to live, for one of the two has not yet achieved his potential.  Only Rabbi Yochanan could hear the angels.  He decided to return to the study hall "for the poor shall never cease out of the land" (Deuteronomy 15:11).  Ilfa, known as the Master, was challenged for his decision to continue to make money.  He would be the head of the academy rather than Rabbi Yochanan had he decided to return to the study hall!  Ilfa tells them that he could have answered any question about a baraita of Rabbi Chiyya and Rabbi Oshaya while tied to a mast of a ship, falling to his death in the water if he was wrong.

2) An old man taught from a baraita that we should follow the wishes of a person who is on their deathbed.  The Gemara uses the example of a man who wishes for his sons to be given a sela every week.  If what he intended to say was a shekel, then they should each be given a shekel.  Rabbi Meir shared his opinion: "It is a mitzva to fulfill the statement of the dead."

3) Nachum of Gam Zu had his hands and legs amputated, was blind and had boils over his body. The legs of his bed were in buckets of water to stop insects from crawling onto him.  The students asked him how this happened.  He replied that he brought it onto himself. When travelling with three donkeys and three types of nourishment, he came across a poor person begging for food.  Nachum of Gam Zu agreed to give him food but only after he unloaded the donkeys.  By that time, the poor person had died.  In his grief, Nachum of Gam Zu fell on his face asking forgiveness: May my eyes be blinded, my hands and legs be amputated, as my eyes, hands as legs had no compassion on your eyes, hands and legs.  His mind did not rest until he added, May my body be covered with boils.  When the students said "wot to us that we have seen you in this state", he said "Woe is me if you had not seen me in this state, as this is my atonement."

4) Nachum of Gam Zu was named for his expression, "this too is for good", or "gam ze letova".    One story about this attitude tells us that Nachum Gam Zu was chosen to bring a chest of fewels to the house of the emperor as a gift.  Overnight at an inn, the jewels were stolen and earth was placed in the chest.  Gam ze letovah, he thought.  Arriving at the palace, the earth was seen as mockery.  "I will kill all Jewish emissaries!" he said.  Gam ze letovah, replied Nachum of Gam Zu. He added, "Perhaps this earth is from the earth of Abraham - when Abraham threw earth, it turned to swords; stubble turned to arrows (as interpreted from Isaiah, 41:2)."  The Romans took the chest with them when they attempted again to conquer a territory.  The province was defeated and Nachum of Gam Zu's chest was refilled with jewels.   Back at the same inn, the people learned of his story.  They then brought more earth to the king's palace, but it did not lead to similar results and the residents were put to death.

We take a break to return to more direct interpretation of the Mishna.  The rabbis wonder how we should define pestilence.  A certain proportion of people must have died over a specific period of time to name that tragedy as pestilence.  Pestilence is a reason for rabbis to declare a fast.  To clarify how we should respond when calamities happen over the course of one day, the rabbis compare this guideline to Rabbi Meir's teaching about oxen who gore more than once in a day.

Further, the rabbis discuss how to limit the spread of plague and pestilence.  Of note: we are required to fast if Gentile towns are facing epidemics.  As well, we are required to fast if pigs are infected, for their intestines are said to be similar to those of humans.  Gentiles will be liable to become infected and then Jews will be vulnerable based on our contact with Gentiles.  The rabbis use the metaphor of Eretz Yisroel as a lady - if she is afflicted, how much more so will her maidservant, Babylonia (ie. the Diaspora) be afflicted?  We learn that the diaspora is to fast when Eretz Yisroel is faced with a fast.

5) We return to a story about the merits of ordinary people.  Abba the Bloodletter received great honours compared with Abaye and Rava.  Abaye seemed jealous.  He learned that Abba the Bloodletter would do his bloodletting according to the laws of modesty.   Further, he would allow people to pay privately, so that noone would know if someone paid or not.  When Torah scholars came to him, Abba the Bloodletter would give money to them, telling them that eating healthy food would help the conditions that brought them in for bloodletting.  Abaye sent Sages to investigate: they were offered money, food, and mats to sleep upon.

We will learn the rest of this story tomorrow.

Each of these stories reinforce the notion of good behaviour and good intentions leading to good results.  We know that the rabbis often faced pretty terrible circumstances.  Even so, the rabbis encouraged kindness, generosity, thoughtfulness and respectful behaviour by reminding each other that their suffering was leading toward something better.