Gemara Clarity

Eruvin 19a

עירובין י״ט ע״א

Learn Eruvin 19a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Eruvin 19a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

How a person should accept Divine judgment: the contrast between a human king's justice and the justice of הקדוש ברוך הוא (רבי ירמיה בן אלעזר), leading into a teaching of רבי יהושע בן לוי.

Overview

This amud opens with the last words of a פסוק from the previous teaching. רבי ירמיה בן אלעזר then contrasts a human king, who must gag a condemned man, with הקדוש ברוך הוא: the person judged by ה׳ stays silent, praises Him, and feels as if he is bringing a קרבן. רבי יהושע בן לוי's reading of 'עוברי בעמק הבכא' teaches that sinners in גיהנם admit ה׳ judged them fairly. The גמרא challenges this from ריש לקיש, who says the wicked never repent. It answers that ריש לקיש means the sinners of the nations, because he also teaches that the fire of גיהנם has no power over Jewish sinners. אברהם אבינו brings Jewish sinners out of גיהנם, and רב כהנא questions ריש לקיש's reading of 'הפושעים'. Next come the three entrances of גיהנם and its seven names, the reasons 'גיהנם' and 'תפתה' are not counted as names, and the possible entrances to גן עדן. Finally the גמרא returns to the משנה about the boards around a well. It explains 'tied, not untied' and 'one team enters and one leaves', and begins a ברייתא on a cow's size that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

לְמַטָּעֵי כָרֶם״.

for planting vines."

וְאָמַר רַבִּי יִרְמְיָה בֶּן אֶלְעָזָר:

And Rabbi Yirmeya ben Elazar said:

בֹּא וּרְאֵה

Come and see

שֶׁלֹּא כְּמִדַּת הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא

that not like the attribute of the Holy One, Blessed be He,

The steps (34)

  1. ProofClosing words of the previous verse
  2. StatementA human king must gag the condemned man
  3. StatementBefore ה׳, the condemned man is silent on his own
  4. StatementHe even praises ה׳ and feels he is offering a sacrifice
  5. QuestionLinking to רבי יהושע בן לוי's verse
  6. ResponseExplaining the words of the verse: who the sinners are and how they are punished
  7. ResponseThe sinners admit that ה׳ judged them fairly
  8. ChallengeChallenge: ריש לקיש says the wicked never repent
  9. ResolutionAnswer: Jewish sinners versus sinners of the nations
  10. ProofSupport for the answer from another statement of ריש לקיש
  11. ProofThe golden altar never burned, and Jewish sinners are full of מצוות
  12. ProofEven the 'empty' ones are full of מצוות, so how much more so
  13. ChallengeBut a verse says sinners pass through the valley of weeping
  14. Resolutionאברהם אבינו lifts his children out, except one kind of sinner
  15. Challengeרב כהנא: does 'He who brings out' mean He is still doing it?
  16. RejectionSo 'those who rebel' means those who already rebelled
  17. Statementגיהנם has three entrances
  18. ProofThe entrance in the מדבר: קורח went down alive
  19. ProofProof for the entrance in the sea
  20. ProofProof for the entrance in ירושלים
  21. ChallengeIs there a fourth entrance between two date palms?
  22. ResolutionThe palms are the ירושלים entrance
  23. StatementThe seven names of גיהנם
  24. ProofA פסוק for each of the seven names of גיהנם
  25. ChallengeWhy isn't 'גיהנם' itself on the list?
  26. Resolutionגיהנם is a description, not a name
  27. ChallengeWhy isn't 'תפתה' on the list?
  28. Resolutionתפתה describes who falls there
  29. StatementWhere the entrance to גן עדן would be
  30. Statementאביי and רבא praise the fruits of בבל
  31. ChallengeWhy does the משנה add 'not untied'?
  32. Resolution'Tied' means really tied, not just close together
  33. Statement'One entering and one leaving' means whole teams
  34. StatementHow big is a cow? The ברייתא's measurements