Menachot 64: Greek Wisdom; Omer, Pigs

In amud (b) of today's daf, we are introduced to a new Mishna.  It teaches that the omer sacrifice brought on the second day of Pesach should be harvested near the Temple after being brought from Gaggot Tzerifin, a place far away from Jerusalem.  

We learn in a baraita that in 65 BCE, the queen of Shelomtzion left her kingdom to her son Hyrcanus. Aristoblus, her other son, challenged his elder brother and won the kingdom.  Hyrcanus used Herod's father, Antimater, to create an army and attack the city.  Aristoblus was forced into Jerusalem.  Jews there at the time purchased animals from these intruders and used them for daily sacrifices in the Temple.

The baraita teaches that a person there who knew Greek wisdom suggested to the men outside of the city that the Temple service was what kept Jerusalem from being conquered.  The next day, Jews were offered a pig instead of their other sacrificial animals.  We are told that the pig reached out with its hooves halfway up the wall, causing the ground to shake.  From this point forward the Sages forbid both teaching Greek wisdom to children and raising pigs in Israel.

Steinsaltz commentary tells us that this story is in Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews 14:2).  Apparently the Jews inside the city offered 1000 drachmas for each Pesach sacrifice.  The story ended with a storm that eradicated Israel's harvest.  It is suggested that this might explain why the "earth shook" with the movement of the pig.  Steinsaltz also tells us that "Greek wisdom" refers to Greek culture, music, literature, riddles, allusions, etc.  The person who understood Greek wisdom was only able to communicate that knowledge to a small number of people in the Jewish community.