Sanhedrin 93: The Power of Righteousness and the Continual Search for Answers

A brief set of thoughts about today's daf:

The rabbis speak further about the three children of Ruth who survive Nebuchadnezzar's furnace.  These are Chananya, Mishael, and Azariya.  They are held up as representatives of the Jewish people; how could we worship idols if these three were saved from flames?  In addition, they are used as an example of strength in numbers. When Yehoshua, the Kohen Gadol, enters the furnace later, his clothing is singed.  This is thought to be proof that he is not as righteous as the three Sages together.  

One story after another teaches us about the brutality of the time.  Who will survive being burned alive?  How do we harm pigs to ensure that they will not breed?  Does righteousness guarantee our protection from harm?  Will there always be a Nebuchadnezzar?  The Kohen Gadol permitted his children to marry women forbidden to kohanim.  Is this his punishment?  Is sexual immorality the most upsetting transgression to G-d?  

We are told about Bar Koziva, knows by many different names, claimed for the two and a half years of his rule that he the Moshiach.  He was tested - the Moshiach is supposed to be able to judge only using the sense of smell - and he failed.  Will there always be false moshiachs; those who claim to be more righteous than they are?  Should these people be tested?  Or ignored; isolated?  

We like to thing of ourselves as more sophisticated than our ancestors; our cell phones and technology shielding and and serving us.  In truth, we live in times just as brutal, just as driven by fundamentalism and desperate questioning.