Sotah 49a

סוטה מ״ט ע״א

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

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Topic

Teachings on תלמידי חכמים, the growing curse since the חורבן, wartime decrees, and qualities lost with the deaths of great sages

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a teaching: when the young children of רשעים die early, that loss already counts as their fathers' punishment. Next comes a series of sayings from רבי אילעא בר יברכיה about תלמידי חכמים. The תפילות of דוד and חבקוק saved them from poverty. Scholars who walk together must talk in Torah. Scholars who fight over הלכה bring harm on each other. Then come the rewards for learning in poverty: one's תפילה is answered, one sees the שכינה, and even the heavenly פרגוד stays open. The גמרא goes back to the משנה. רבא shows that each day since the חורבן is worse than the one before, and that the world survives through the קדושה דסידרא and יהא שמיה רבא. Two stories about fragrant dates and grandchildren show that love flows down the generations. A new משנה lists the wartime decrees and the qualities that ended when great sages died. The גמרא then brings רבי פנחס בן יאיר and רבי אליעזר הגדול on how society fell after the חורבן, and that list continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (29)

1. StatementYoung children who die take away their fathers' future punishment
2. Statementדוד's prayer saved ישראל from lowly jobs
3. Statementחבקוק's prayer saved תלמידי חכמים from sharing one cloak
4. StatementScholars walking together must speak Torah
5. StatementScholars who keep fighting over הלכה end up with one dead and one exiled
6. StatementA Torah scholar who learns in poverty has his prayer answered
7. StatementHe is filled with the radiance of the שכינה
8. StatementEven the heavenly פרגוד is not closed before him
9. StatementBack to the משנה: since the בית המקדש was destroyed, no day is without a curse
10. Statementרבא: each day is more cursed than the day before
11. QuestionWhich morning is the verse talking about?
12. RejectionIt can't mean tomorrow morning
13. ResponseIt means the morning that already passed
14. ChallengeThen how does the world keep existing?
15. ResolutionThe world stands on the קדושה דסידרא and the יהא שמיה רבא after אגדתא
16. ProofProof from איוב: where there are 'orders', light appears from darkness
17. StatementLost טהרה took away taste and smell, and lost מעשר took away the richness of grain
18. Proofרב הונא's son smells the hidden fragrant date
19. Statementרבה gives the date to his own son, and love flows downward
20. StatementA grandson raised by his grandfather says he is not his son
21. StatementNew משנה: decrees against bridegrooms' crowns and drums in the war of אספסיינוס
22. StatementDecrees made in the war of טיטוס
23. StatementThe bride's carriage: banned, then permitted
24. StatementQualities that ended when great sages died
25. Statementרבי יוסי the Small and why he had that name
26. StatementThe list ends with רבן יוחנן בן זכאי through רבי
27. Statementרבי פנחס בן יאיר: What society lost when the בית המקדש fell
28. ConclusionOnly our Father in Heaven is left to rely on
29. Statementרבי אליעזר הגדול: Each level of learned people slid down a rung