Taanis 19b

תענית י״ט ע״ב

Taanit 19b

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

Open Taanis 19b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

When to sound the alarm over drought, famine and other disasters, and the meaning of rain since the חורבן

Overview

This amud first finishes defining בצורת and כפנא. One test is how far food must travel; רבי חנינא adds a test of price and whether food can be found at all. רבי יוחנן adds that when people have no money, even cheap food means famine, and he remembers seeing this in טבריה. The גמרא then explains how rain can help plants but not trees, trees but not plants, or both but not the בורות. It ends that section with a single downpour, which fills the pits but helps nothing that grows. Two ברייתות then set the rules for sounding the alarm: deadlines of פסח and סוכות, cases of disease and locusts, and what happens in שביעית. Next, רבי אלעזר בן פרטא teaches that rain has been meager since the חורבן, and he explains different kinds of rainy years with parables. Last, the story of נקדימון בן גוריון begins: he borrows water for the pilgrims, and the officer mocks him as the deadline runs out. The story continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (26)

1. StatementFinishing the definition: drought versus famine by distance
2. Statementרבי חנינא: drought versus famine by price and availability
3. Statementרבי יוחנן: when money is scarce, they cry out immediately
4. Proofרבי יוחנן's memory of hunger in טבריה
5. StatementHow rain can help plants but not trees, or trees but not plants
6. StatementHow rain can help both plants and trees but not fill the cisterns
7. QuestionHow can rain fill the cisterns but help neither plants nor trees?
8. ResponseThe answer: a single heavy downpour
9. StatementDeadlines for sounding the alarm over trees and water pits
10. StatementWhat 'immediately' means
11. StatementThe alarm is only for the affected district
12. StatementDiphtheria: alarm only when it kills
13. StatementLocusts in any amount, and grasshoppers in dispute
14. StatementTrees in the other six years, water pits even in שביעית
15. Statementרבן שמעון בן גמליאל: trees too in שביעית, for the poor
16. StatementSounding the alarm for aftergrowths in the seventh year
17. StatementSince the בית המקדש was destroyed, rain has been meager
18. StatementRain on time is like getting food on Sunday
19. StatementLate rain is like getting food on Friday
20. StatementHeavy rain is like getting all the food at once
21. StatementA year of little rain is like food given bit by bit
22. StatementAnother parable: plenty of water for kneading clay
23. StatementThe pilgrims have no water, and נקדימון makes a deal
24. StatementDeadline day: the morning demand
25. StatementNoon and afternoon: the officer keeps asking
26. StatementThe officer mocks נקדימון