Chagigah 5a

חגיגה ה׳ ע״א

Learn Chagigah 5a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Early death, and the פסוקים about strict Divine judgment that made רבי יוחנן cry

Overview

This amud opens with the end of a story about רב ביבי בר אביי and the מלאך המות. The מלאך המות explains how he took a woman before her time, and he says that her lost years are given to a תלמיד חכם who lets go of insults. The גמרא then goes back to a list of frightening פסוקים that made רבי יוחנן cry. These include ה׳ being 'incited' against איוב and ה׳ not trusting even His holy ones, which a story about a fig picker helps explain. Next comes the פסוק in מלאכי, where ה׳ is both judge and witness. Other sages draw lessons from that same פסוק: light sins are weighed like severe ones, twisting a גר's case is like twisting ה׳'s, and true regret brings forgiveness right away. רבי יוחנן also cried over ה׳ judging 'every hidden thing, whether good or bad'. The גמרא gives examples such as disgusting someone without meaning to, or giving צדקה in a way that embarrasses the poor person or brings suspicion on a woman. Finally it explains 'evils and troubles' in two ways, and the amud ends with רב's teaching on הסתר פנים, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (32)

1. StatementHow the messenger took the woman
2. ChallengeAre you allowed to take someone early?
3. ResolutionSome people are swept away without judgment
4. ChallengeEach generation has a fixed time
5. ResolutionHeld until the generation's time is complete
6. QuestionWhat happens to the lost years?
7. ResponseThe years go to a forgiving Torah scholar
8. Statementרבי יוחנן cries: a servant whose master is incited
9. Statementרבי יוחנן cries: He does not trust His holy ones
10. StatementThe fig picker who took the unripe figs
11. ChallengeChallenge from the young student who died
12. ResolutionThat student disrespected his teachers
13. Statementרבי יוחנן cries: ה׳ is both judge and witness
14. Statementרבי יוחנן בן זכאי: small sins weighed like big ones
15. StatementTwisting a convert's case is like twisting ה׳'s case
16. StatementSomeone who regrets a sin is forgiven right away
17. Statementרבי יוחנן cries over being judged for hidden things
18. QuestionWhat counts as a 'hidden thing'?
19. ResponseDisgusting someone without meaning to
20. QuestionHow can a good deed be judged?
21. ResponseGiving צדקה in public
22. Proofרבי ינאי scolds a man who gave in public
23. ResponseGiving charity to a woman in private
24. ResponseSending uncut meat to one's wife before Shabbat
25. ChallengeBut רבא himself sent such meat
26. Resolutionרבא's wife was an expert
27. Statementרבי יוחנן cries over 'many evils and troubles'
28. QuestionWhat are 'evils and troubles'?
29. ResponseTroubles whose cures clash, like hornet and scorpion
30. Responseשמואל's example: the lender who rescues and then presses
31. Statementרבא's folk saying that illustrates שמואל
32. StatementAnyone who never experiences God hiding His face is not 'from them'