Kiddushin 40b

קידושין מ׳ ע״ב

Learn Kiddushin 40b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Merit and sin, the greatness of Torah learning, and conduct that disqualifies a witness

Overview

This amud opens with a teaching that a person should picture himself as exactly half guilty and half meritorious, so every single מצוה or עבירה tips his scale. רבי אלעזר ברבי שמעון widens this to the whole world. רבי שמעון בן יוחי adds that a צדיק who rebels at the end loses his merits, and a רשע who does תשובה has his past erased. ריש לקיש explains that the צדיק loses his merits only if he regrets the good he did. A new משנה teaches that someone involved in מקרא, משנה and דרך ארץ will not quickly sin. The גמרא explains why צדיקים suffer and רשעים prosper in this world, using a tree parable. It then tells how the sages in לוד decided that learning is greater than doing, because learning leads to doing. It shows that learning comes first in time, in judgment and in reward. Finally it rules that a person lacking Torah and proper conduct, or one who eats in the marketplace, is unfit to be a witness. בר קפרא begins a teaching about an angry person that continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (20)

1. StatementPicture yourself as exactly half guilty and half meritorious
2. StatementOne person's deed can tip the whole world
3. StatementThe end of a person's life decides: the rebelling צדיק and the returning רשע
4. ChallengeShouldn't the rebelling צדיק at least be half and half?
5. Resolutionריש לקיש: he regrets his earlier good deeds
6. StatementThe three-strand cord: Bible, משנה and proper conduct
7. StatementWhy the righteous suffer in this world
8. StatementWhy the wicked prosper in this world
9. QuestionThe elders in Lod ask: is learning or doing greater?
10. Responseרבי טרפון says doing; רבי עקיבא says learning
11. ConclusionEveryone agrees: learning is greater because it leads to doing
12. Proofרבי יוסי: Torah learning came years before the land-based מצוות
13. ChallengeThe math for יובל seems off by one year
14. Resolutionיובל takes effect at the start of its year
15. StatementA person is judged first on Torah learning
16. StatementThe reward for Torah learning also comes first
17. StatementA person with no Torah and no proper conduct cannot be a witness
18. StatementEating in the marketplace is like a dog, and some say it disqualifies a witness
19. ConclusionThe הלכה follows the stricter opinion
20. Statementבר קפרא begins a teaching about an angry person