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Bava Metzia 85b

בבא מציעא פ״ה ע״ב

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Topic

The honor of Torah and the greatness of רבי חייא, with stories of אליהו and of רבי's doctor שמואל ירחינאה

Overview

This amud is a long run of אגדה about the honor of Torah and the greatness of רבי חייא. It opens with God's own answer to why ארץ ישראל was destroyed: the people forsook His Torah. רב explains this means they did not say a ברכה before learning. רב חמא and עולא teach that a scholar from an unlearned home stands out like a coin rattling in an empty jug. רבי ירמיה and רבי זירא teach that whoever humbles himself for Torah becomes great in עולם הבא. Then a series of stories praises רבי חייא: a בת קול tells ריש לקיש that רבי חייא spread Torah more widely than he did. רבי חייא describes how he made sure Torah would never be forgotten, and in a dream his place in heaven is too fiery even for רבי יוחנן. In the stories with אליהו, רבי חייא's chariot rises on its own, and his prayer with his sons is so powerful that heaven has to stop it. The amud ends with שמואל ירחינאה healing רבי's eye and explaining, from אדם הראשון's book, why he never received סמיכה. That explanation continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

אָמְרוּ חֲכָמִים וְלֹא פֵּירְשׁוּהוּ,

The Sages said it, and they did not explain it;

אָמְרוּ נְבִיאִים וְלֹא פֵּירְשׁוּהוּ,

the prophets said it, and they did not explain it,

עַד שֶׁפֵּירְשׁוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא בְּעַצְמוֹ,

until the Holy One, Blessed be He, explained it Himself,

שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר:

as it is said:

The steps (39)

  1. StatementNo human could explain why the land was lost until God did
  2. StatementForsaking the Torah means not blessing before learning
  3. StatementWisdom rests quietly in one scholar and stands out in another
  4. ProofA folk saying: one coin rattles loudly in an empty jug
  5. ChallengeWhy would the פסוק tell us something so obvious?
  6. ResolutionWhoever makes himself small for Torah becomes great in the next world
  7. Statementריש לקיש cannot find רבי חייא's grave and is upset
  8. ResponseA בת קול: you analyzed Torah like him, but you did not spread it like him
  9. Statementרבי חנינא boasts that his sharp reasoning could restore the Torah
  10. Responseרבי חייא answers that he keeps the Torah from being forgotten
  11. Statementרבי חייא describes how he spreads Torah, from flax seeds to teaching children
  12. Proofרבי praises the deeds of רבי חייא
  13. QuestionAre רבי חייא's deeds greater even than רבי's?
  14. ResponseNot greater than רבי יוסי
  15. Statementרבי זירא's dream: who sits next to whom in the next world
  16. ChallengeWhy isn't רבי יוחנן next to רבי חייא?
  17. Resolutionרבי חייא's place is too fiery even for רבי יוחנן
  18. StatementA Sage whose eyes looked burned every evening
  19. QuestionAsking what happened to his eyes
  20. Responseאליהו warns him not to look at רבי חייא's chariot
  21. QuestionHow can he recognize רבי חייא's chariot
  22. Responseרבי חייא's chariot moves by itself
  23. StatementHe looked, was blinded, and was healed at רבי חייא's grave
  24. Statementאליהו comes late to רבי's ישיבה on ראש חודש
  25. Questionרבי asks אליהו why he was late
  26. Responseאליהו wakes each of the אבות to pray
  27. ChallengeWhy not wake them all together
  28. ResolutionTheir joint prayer would bring משיח too early
  29. QuestionIs anyone in this world like the אבות
  30. Responseרבי חייא and his sons are like the אבות
  31. Statementרבי חייא's prayer brings wind and rain
  32. QuestionHeaven asks who revealed the secret
  33. Responseאליהו is found out and punished
  34. Statementאליהו comes as a fiery bear and stops the prayer
  35. StatementA new story: רבי's doctor and his eye trouble
  36. Statementרבי turns down two treatments
  37. ConclusionThe medicine under the pillow heals רבי
  38. Statementרבי tries to give שמואל סמיכה but fails
  39. Resolutionשמואל says it is written in אדם הראשון's book