Gemara Clarity

Nedarim 49b

נדרים מ״ט ע״ב

Learn Nedarim 49b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Nedarim 49b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Praying daily for the sick, the משנה's ruling on thick porridge, and stories about porridge and about רבי יהודה's health, simple life and poverty

Overview

The amud opens by asking whose opinion we follow when we pray every day for the sick. The answer is רבי יוסי, who holds that people are judged every day, and the wording of the prayer teaches that מריעי refers to the רבנן. The גמרא then returns to the משנה's rule that someone who vowed off pot-cooked food may still eat a thick dish. It notes that this does not match the Babylonians, who eat thick porridge together with bread. This leads to a string of stories about porridge: which bread goes best with it, eating it with the fingers or with a fork, how far it is worth traveling for it, and when you may spit it out even before a king. Next come stories about רבי יהודה. He ate hard-to-digest figs, explained his healthy face by beets, wisdom and good digestion, and rejected accusations of drinking and of earning forbidden money. He and רבי שמעון carried loads to show that work brings honor, and he made a joyful ברכה over the one cloak he shared with his wife. The amud ends with רבי יהודה refusing a cloak that רבן שמעון בן גמליאל sent him for a public fast, and the story continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

כְּמַאן מְצַלִּינַן

In accordance with whom do we pray

עַל קְצִירֵי וְעַל מְרִיעֵי

for the sick and for the suffering?

[כְּמַאן — כְּרַבִּי יוֹסֵי].

[In accordance with whom? In accordance with Rabbi Yosei.]

מִדְּאָמַר קְצִירֵי וּמְרִיעֵי,

From the fact that he said 'the sick and the suffering,'

The steps (29)

  1. QuestionWhose view supports praying daily for the sick?
  2. ResponseThe answer: like רבי יוסי
  3. StatementTwo words, two groups: the sick and the רבנן
  4. StatementThe משנה's rule on thick porridge is not the Babylonian custom
  5. Proofרבי זירא: Babylonians eat bread with bread
  6. Questionרב חסדא's question to the people of הוצל
  7. StatementHow רבא ate it
  8. QuestionWhy is רב הונא eating with his fingers?
  9. Responseרב: porridge tastes better by hand
  10. StatementHow far to travel for porridge and for ox meat
  11. StatementDo not spit before your teacher, except gourd and porridge
  12. StatementFingers or fork: the fork-eater complains
  13. ResponseThe finger-eater answers back
  14. QuestionWhy won't you eat the figs?
  15. ResponseThese figs never leave the stomach
  16. RejectionAll the better: they will fill us up tomorrow
  17. Statementרבי טרפון notices רבי יהודה's healthy face
  18. ResponseBeets made our faces healthy
  19. ChallengeA noblewoman accuses רבי יהודה of drinking
  20. Resolutionרבי יהודה swears he barely drinks and credits his wisdom
  21. ChallengeA heretic says רבי יהודה looks like a lender or a pig farmer
  22. Resolutionרבי יהודה says both jobs are forbidden and gives a bodily reason
  23. Statementרבי יהודה carries a jug and praises work
  24. Statementרבי שמעון carries a basket and says the same thing
  25. Statementרבי יהודה's wife makes a cloak that they both wear
  26. Statementרבי יהודה makes a joyful ברכה on the cloak
  27. StatementA public fast is declared and רבי יהודה does not come
  28. StatementPeople explain he has nothing proper to wear
  29. StatementA cloak is sent, but רבי יהודה refuses it