Shabbos 31a

שבת ל״א ע״א

Shabbat 31a

Learn Shabbos 31a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

הלל's patience versus שמאי's strictness, and why יראת ה׳ is the treasure that gives תורה its value.

Overview

This amud shows how much patience and humility matter, and then how important יראת שמים is. First, a man bets four hundred זוז that he can make הלל angry. He rudely interrupts הלל three times on ערב שבת with insulting questions, but הלל answers each one calmly and never gets upset. Next, a ברייתא tells of three non-Jews who wanted to convert on strange conditions: rejecting תורה שבעל פה, learning the whole תורה on one foot, and becoming כהן גדול. שמאי sends each of them away, but הלל accepts each one and gently guides him to the truth. The three converts later agree that שמאי's impatience nearly drove them away, while הלל's patience brought them under the wings of the שכינה. Then ריש לקיש and רבא explain a פסוק in ישעיה, about the six orders of the משנה and about the six questions a person is asked at judgment. Both conclude that all of this counts only together with יראת ה׳, and רבא shows this with a parable about wheat stored without a preservative. The amud ends as רבה בר רב הונא begins a teaching about a person who has תורה but lacks יראת שמים, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (30)

1. StatementTwo men make a bet about angering הלל
2. StatementThe man rudely calls הלל on Friday afternoon
3. QuestionFirst insulting question about Babylonians' heads
4. QuestionSecond visit: question about the eyes of Tadmor's people
5. QuestionThird visit: question about Africans' wide feet
6. Statementהלל sits down and invites all his questions
7. StatementThe frustrated man insults הלל and reveals the bet
8. Conclusionהלל's reply: losing the money is worth it
9. StatementA non-Jew asks שמאי how many Torahs there are
10. StatementThe non-Jew rejects the Oral Torah, and שמאי sends him away
11. Statementהלל converts him and teaches the letters, then reverses them
12. ChallengeThe convert objects that yesterday he was taught differently
13. Resolutionהלל: you trusted me for the letters, so trust me for the Oral Torah
14. StatementA second non-Jew wants the whole Torah on one foot
15. Statementהלל: What is hateful to you, do not do to others
16. StatementA third non-Jew hears about the כהן גדול's garments and wants to be כהן גדול
17. Statementשמאי pushes him away; הלל converts him
18. Statementהלל tells him to first learn the rules of the kingdom
19. QuestionThe convert asks who the verse about the זר is talking about
20. ConclusionThe convert reasons a קל וחומר and realizes he cannot be כהן גדול
21. StatementThe convert tells שמאי he now understands
22. StatementThe convert blesses הלל for his patience
23. ConclusionThe three converts compare שמאי and הלל
24. Statementריש לקיש matches a verse to the six orders of the משנה
25. ConclusionEven so, fear of ה׳ is the treasure
26. Statementרבא: the questions asked at the heavenly judgment
27. ConclusionWithout fear of ה׳, none of it counts
28. ProofParable of wheat stored without a preservative
29. StatementA seller may mix preservative into grain
30. Statementרבה בר רב הונא introduces a person who has תורה but lacks something